Late Babylonian Letters. By R. Campbell Thompson, MA. (Luz= and
Co. 15s. net.)—These letters, two hundred and forty- eight in number, belong to the latest period of the cuneiform script. The few that are dated refer us to the years 555-425 B.C., and it may be conjectured with tolerable certainty that the rest are of about the same period. Almost all of them concern domestic affairs, though there are occasional references to civil proceedings, and the last letter of the series concerns a military expedition. This is presumably earlier than the dates given above, though it would hardly be possible to identify the King who is mentioned in it. The first letter also concerns public affairs ; it is a Royal Rescript. The interpretation of the original is not always a matter of certainty, but we can always grasp the general purport. Many of the letters would be more interesting if we were certain of the value of the measures mentioned in them. "Give ninety his of Sour to the workmen who are digging out the river." "After I have made forty-one casks of one-year-old beer and twelve casks of old beer, one mane of silver is not enough." But what were the ha and the mane The letters are transliterated on one page, and rendered into English on the other.
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