CHAPTER XVI.
The Laboring Classes.
Both slave and free labor existed in Babylonia, but, as has been previously said, there was no special prejudice felt towards the slave. He was often of the same nationality as the owner, was trusted, and often adopted into the family. Parents sold their children into slavery, and in hard times men would even sell themselves to obtain food and shelter. On the other hand, slaves might become free men and might rise to positions of high importance in the state. Having been a slave left no stigma to one who later became free. The slave might accumulate money and so purchase his freedom; freedom might be secured to him because of adoption into a family. While still in servitude he might appear as a witness or party in a suit, and his testimony was valued as much as though he were free. Nevertheless, while enjoying privileges unusual to one in slavery, he was still but a chattel given as security for a debt, offered as part of a dowry, or again, his services might be hired out for a given period, his earnings to go to his owner.
Various measures were taken to protect the slave, as the Code of Hammurabi shows. Fines were imposed for any abuses suffered during a period when he was hired out. This served as a check upon those who otherwise might have caused him to overwork.
Slaves made up quite a portion of the laborers, both in Babylonia and Assyria, although in the latter country less friendly relations seem to have existed between slave and owner, for the great mass of Assyrian slaves had been taken captives in war, and were foreigners, unaccustomed to the ways of the land, and less devoted, probably, to the interests of those who owned them.
Few slaves were bought and sold with the land, and these generally belonged to temple lands. Private farms were worked by slaves privately owned.
Free labor was available, but as a consequence of slavery, wages were low. The grazers were generally free men; they received large herds of cattle and flocks of sheep from several owners, and these they pastured for months together on the west slope of the Euphrates. Because the herds required constant protection from nomadic tribes of the desert, the grazers had to be men of responsibility.
The oldest occupation of the Euphrates valley was agriculture. The soil yielded heavily and early won tribes away from their roving state. Taxes were always paid in kind, and grain was stored for times of scarcity in royal granaries.
For the Babylonian, the year opened in the fall—in Tisri (September), the month of harvest. When his crops were harvested, the farmer paid his tax; if the land was farmed out, the owner paid the tax and the tenant paid his rent. New contracts for land were made at this time of the year.
The ordinary arrangement between landlord and tenant seems to have been that he who rented should pay one-third of the year's produce for the use of the farm, and that he should keep all buildings and ditches in repair. This last stipulation was strongly enjoined, and a fine was inflicted did he fail in this particular.
During the portion of the year when the usual round of sowing and reaping ceased, the canals and ditches needed attention. The entire prosperity of the soil depended upon the maintenance of the irrigation system.
"Ploughing, harrowing, sowing, reaping, and threshing constituted the chief events of the agricultural year. The winters were not cold, and the Babylonian peasant was consequently not obliged to spend a part of the year indoors shivering over a fire. In fact fuel was scarce in the country; few trees were grown in it except the palm, and the fruit of the palm was too valuable to allow it to be cut down. When the ordinary occupations of the farmer had come to an end, he was expected to look after his farm buildings and fences, to build walls and clean out the ditches.
"The ditches, indeed, were more important in Babylonia than in most other parts of the world. Irrigation was as necessary as in Egypt, though for a different reason. The Chaldean plain had originally been a marsh, and it required constant supervision to prevent it from being once more inundated by the waters and made uninhabitable. The embankments which hindered the overflow of the Euphrates and Tigris and kept them within carefully regulated channels, the canals which carried off the surplus water and distributed it over the country, needed continual attention. Each year, after the rains of the winter, the banks had to be strengthened or re-made and the beds of the canals cleared out. The irrigator, moreover, was perpetually at work; the rainy season did not last long, and during the rest of the year the land was dependent on the water supplied by the rivers and canals. Irrigation, therefore, formed a large and important part of the farmers' work, and the bucket of the irrigator must have been constantly swinging."[1]
Large numbers of sheep were raised in these valleys, and the manufacture of wool into dress-stuffs, carpets, and tapestries, made Babylonia famous among the nations of her time. Her rugs and carpets were the pride of her people and large sums were paid for them. Scenes sculptured in bas-relief were seen in tapestries which lined the walls of wealthy homes. Vegetable dyes were used, and gayly colored flowers, bright hues and tints, made attractive decorations for interiors against dull back-grounds of brick. A large proportion of the industrial population was engaged in weaving, dyeing, and preparing these commodities for shops and other places of sale.
Because of the constantly growing demand for wool, many were induced to raise sheep and to trade in the raw wool. Records show that Belshazzar, son of the king and heir to the Babylonian throne, was a wool-merchant on a large scale, his commercial interests being, of course, managed by others.
The price of wool varied greatly, being sometimes high, sometimes low. It cost little in addition to the wages of the shepherd to pasture flocks west of the river during the greater part of the year, for pasturage there was free to all. For some months, to be sure, sheep had to be sheltered and fed inside enclosures, within or near the city. This was the costly part of sheep-raising.
When the flocks were driven into town, toll per head was exacted at the city gate. Lists of the various tolls collected and turned into the general treasury show them altogether to have been considerable; not only were they collected of all who passed through the gates but a bridge toll was paid by whoever passed over the bridge connecting Babylon and Borsippa, across the river; all ships and sailing crafts, moreover, paid a toll to pass under the bridge.
Enumerations of the trades of Babylonia have been found; these mention the trades of carpenter, smith, metal-worker, weaver, leather-worker, dyer, potter, brick-maker and vintner. The carpenter not only raised the beams and scaffolding of houses, but as well made whatever articles of furniture the times afforded. The brick-maker made tablets for inscriptions as well as bricks for building purposes. The brickyards were always on low land, near the river, where reeds, so useful in brick-making, were abundant. Building bricks were made in different sizes—some nearly a foot square by 2½ inches thick; others about 15 by 15 and three inches in thickness. Chopped reeds were frequently mixed in the bricks themselves, and since the demand for them was constant, they were cultivated and grown in large areas. In a secluded corner of the brickyard, the fine tablets for literary purposes were produced; and here too, dishes and vases of pottery were molded and baked. Thus we see that great activity and divers interests attached to these yards given over to the manufacture of clay articles.
The leather worker found material in abundance, owing to the extensive cattle raising. Harnesses, saddles, and shoes, beautifully decorated, were chief among leather commodities.
The smith excelled in fashioning articles from gold, silver, copper and bronze. Ordinarily the metal was melted and run into molds of clay or stone. The customer usually furnished the ore and paid for the work upon it. Metal workers were held accountable for the excellence of their work, as is shown by guaranties found, whereby they promised to pay heavy fines if during a given term of years, their work should be found imperfect.
The people of Babylonia never succeeded in mastering the bas-relief work, so effectively used in Assyrian palaces. Enamelled tiles took the place of these, and they were either painted in some design and glazed, or simply tinted. "Quite as old as the trade of the carver in ivory was that of the porcelain-maker. The walls of the palaces and temples of Babylonia and Assyria were adorned with glazed and enamelled tiles on which figures and other designs were drawn in brilliant colors; they were then covered with a metallic glaze and fired. Babylonia, in fact, seems to have been the original home of the enamelled tile and therefore with the manufacture of porcelain. It was a land of clay and not of stone, and while it thus became necessary to ornament the plain mud wall of the house, the clay brick itself, when painted and protected by a glaze, was made into the very best and most enduring of ornaments. The enamelled bricks of Chaldea and Assyria are among the most beautiful relics of Babylonian civilization that have survived to us, and those which are now in the Museum of the Louvre are unsurpassed by the most elaborate productions of modern skill."
The trade of the vintner was lucrative. Wines were made from dates and grapes; beer was doubtless made from grain. It seems to have been the custom to supply laborers with beer with their daily rations.
Organizations among workmen corresponded to the guilds of later years. Those who would learn a trade, whether freemen or slaves, had to serve as apprentices a certain time and learn the work thoroughly.
Wages were always so low that they amounted to little. It has been estimated that the average wages of a workman was about 12s., or $3.00 a year; unskilled laborers were contented if merely supplied with food. In the reign of Cambyses a butcher is recorded to have been paid 75 cents for a month's work—freemen had always to compete with slave labor, and if only the employer furnished food and clothing, he could command any amount of labor.
Babylonia early exchanged her grain and dates for the products of other lands. For example, teak-wood and cotton were brought from Arabia, cedar from Lebanon, marble from the east, gold from the peninsula of Sinai. Sometimes the raw materials were made up in Babylonia and returned to the lands from whence they came together with grain, rugs and cloth of wool. Because of her geographical position, Babylonia was able to command an important commercial position, importing and exporting constantly.
"The mass of the people in Babylonia were employed in the two pursuits of commerce and agriculture. The commerce was both foreign and domestic. Great numbers of the Babylonians were engaged in the manufacture of those fabrics, particularly carpets and muslins, which Babylonia produced not only for her own use but also for the consumption of foreign lands. The ordinary trades and handicrafts practised in the East no doubt flourished in the country. A brisk import and export trade was constantly kept up, and promoted a healthful activity throughout the entire body politic. Babylonia is called 'a land of traffic' by Ezekiel, and Babylon 'a city of merchants.' The monuments show that from the very earliest times the people of the low country on the borders of the Persian Gulf were addicted to maritime pursuits and navigated the gulf freely, if they did not even venture on the open ocean....
"The products of the various countries of Western Asia flowed into Babylonia down the courses of the rivers. From Armenia came wine, gems, emery, and perhaps stone; from Phœnicia, tin, copper, musical instruments; from Media, silk, gold and ivory."[2]
The Professions: The Banker.
In ancient times, the money-lender was the banker, and lending money was foremost in Babylonian professions. Even members of the royal families were themselves heavy loaners and drew high rates of interest, although, to be sure, their business transactions were carried on by agents.
The rate of interest varied greatly, being generally higher in Assyria. In Babylonia it might be 20%, or again 16%, and was rarely as low as 10%. Cases are on record in Assyria where 25% and 331⁄3% were exacted. As is still customary in the East, interest was computed monthly, and unless the borrower was well known and trusted, it was paid monthly. Security for the full amount was always required.
A great firm of Babylon held a position in that country corresponding to that held by the Rothschilds in England, loaning to the state as well as to private individuals. Personal deeds and documents belonging to citizens were stored in the well-protected chambers of this firm as they are today kept in safety boxes in bank vaults. Banking firms continued for generations, and immense numbers of wills, deeds of sale, business contracts, leases, tax certificates, loans and marriage agreements accumulated within their chambers.
Scribes.
While each one pleaded his own case ordinarily, in the courts of Babylonia, pleas were frequently thrown into form beforehand by a scribe. These scribes performed duties discharged in later times by attorneys at law, as well as those which would of necessity fall to their share. In Babylonia they acted as librarians, authors and publishers, multiplying copies of books and selling them. In Assyria, where the art of reading and writing was not so generally known, they acted as private clerks and secretaries to a wide extent.
Medicine.
We have noted early in our study that medicine had but a small part in Babylonian life. Charms, magic and incantations in a large measure took its place. However, with acquaintance with Egypt, came an impulse to learn of a science which occupied a more important position in the valley of the Nile. While physicians came into prominence in later years, they were never wholly depended upon. The doctor was called to act in unison with the magician and conjurer unless, as was often the case, he himself united the two arts of healing. Herodotus and other travellers have testified to cases similar to the following: "Pressing forward and peeping over the heads of the people, we see a man stretched upon a mattress, and apparently just about to die. A few weeping friends kneel at his side, and we learn that he has been brought from his home, and laid down in the public market place, in the vain hope that some one may propose a remedy which will save his life. This custom, so strange to us, is common in Babylon, they say. When all else has failed, when doctors and sorcerers have done their best, the sick person is transported to the open square, and advice is asked from the crowd which is sure to gather.
"Today, as ever, each has a different remedy to propose, though all are agreed as to the cause of illness. A demon possesses the man, of that there is no question. 'Come away, little one!' cries an old woman, drawing back her grandson. 'Go not too near, lest the evil spirit leave the man, and seize upon thee. Often have I seen it. Bel be praised that I have his image!' And she draws forth a little clay image of Bel, and hangs it carefully on the neck of her grandson. 'Hast thou tried the wool of a young sheep?' asks a woman of the sick man's wife. 'Let a sorcerer tie seven knots in it, on seven moonlight nights. Tie the strands around thy husband's neck, around his limbs, around his head. So shall his soul not leave his body.'
"'Try the recipe of Asshurbanipal the Assyrian,' cries another. 'It is well known and never fails. Six different kinds of wood, a bit of snake skin, some wine, and a piece of ox flesh. Make a paste, and cause the sick man to swallow it.'[3]
"A man hurries up with a handful of clay, and molds a little figure which he displays as the image of the sick man. We cannot see the resemblance, but the crowd presses forward and watches his motions with eager curiosity. He calls for a cup of wine, pours part of it over the image, and after drinking the rest, mutters an incantation. All in vain, while he is yet speaking, the family of the sick man raises a chorus of wails, in which the crowd joins. The man is dead; no charm can avail him more."[4]
The Soldier.
We cannot speak of the vocation of the soldier as we speak of the regular professions of men, but any account of Assyria which failed to give some idea of the army, the very support and strength of that great empire, would be incomplete.
At first, as in Babylonia, the soldiers when needed were recruited from peasants in the field. When the war was over, they would return to their usual tasks. However, Assyria with her many conquests felt the need of trained soldiers, proficient in military tactics. To the standing army which grew into a strong body, warriors taken captive in other lands were added. In course of a few generations a formidable army was thus brought into being, and the calling of a soldier became a regular profession. Men were required to give evidences of skill before they could take commands of regiments and even before they could command a company of ten. Maspero has made an extended study of military affairs in Assyria and we can do no better than follow the results he has reached in his investigation:
"The Assyrian army is the best organized war machine that the world has yet seen.[5] It is superiority of weapons, not any superiority in courage and discipline, that has secured to the Ninevite kings since Sargon the priority over the Pharaohs of the Delta, of Thebes and Meroe. Whilst the Egyptians, as a rule, still fight without any protection, except the shield, the Assyrians are, so to speak, clothed in iron from head to foot. Their heavy infantry is composed of spearmen and archers, wearing a conical cap ornamented with two side pieces which protect the ears, a leather shirt covered with overlapping metal scales which protects the chest and the upper part of the arms, close fitting breeches, and boots laced in front. The spearmen carry spears six feet long, with an iron or bronze head, a short sword passed through their belt, and an immense metal shield, sometimes round and convex, sometimes rounded at the top and square at the bottom. The archers have no shields; they replace the spear by a bow and quiver, which hang over their back. Their light infantry also includes some spearmen, but they wear a helmet with a curved crest, and are provided with a small round wicker-work shield. The archers have no breastplate, and are associated either with slingers or with soldiers armed with clubs and double-edged axes.
"The spearmen and archers of the line are usually of Assyrian origin or levied in the territories that have been subject to Assyria for a long time; the other troops are often recruited amongst tributary nations, and they wear their national costumes. They are arranged in companies, and manœuvre with a regularity which foreigners themselves admire.... They march with extraordinary rapidity, leaving no stragglers or lame men behind them as they go, and their generals are not afraid to impose fatigues upon them to which the soldiers of other lands would quickly succumb. They either ford the rivers or swim across them upon inflated skins. In wooded countries, each company sends forward a certain number of pioneers, who fell the trees and clear a path.
"The cavalry are divided into two corps, the chariot soldiers and the regular cavalry. The Assyrian war-chariot is much heavier and more massive than the Egyptian.... Like the Egyptian chariots, the Assyrians always charge in a regular line, and there are few troops in the world that can resist their first shock. When a battalion of the enemy sees them coming, rapid and light, their darts pointed, their bows strung, they usually disband immediately after the first volley of arrows, and run away. The line is then broken, and the chariots disperse over the plain, crushing the fugitives beneath their wheels, and trampling them under their horses' feet....
"Formerly the chariots were very numerous in the Assyrian armies. They are less used at the present day, but tradition gives them the post of honour and the king or the chief general always reserves for himself the privilege of leading them into the fight. It is the distinguished branch of the service, the one in which the princes and great nobles prefer to serve, and its weight often decides the fate of the battle.
"Yet now the cavalry commences to rival it, if not in numbers, at least in importance.... The horse was at first ridden bareback; now it is covered with one cloth, or with a complete caparison similar to that of the chariot horses. All the cavalry wear helmets and cuirasses like the infantry of the line, but they have no shields; they replace the floating petticoat by cotton drawers. One-half of them carries the sword and lance, the other half is armed with a bow and sword.
"The lance is eight or nine feet long, the bow is shorter than the bow used by the infantry, and the arrows are scarcely three feet long. Formerly each mounted archer was accompanied by a servant, mounted like himself, who led his horse during the battle so as to leave both his hands free. The art of riding has made such progress during the last few years that the servant has become useless, and has disappeared from the armies. Now lancers and bowmen are all trained to guide their steed by the pressure of the knees, and they may be seen galloping with flying reins, shooting their arrows as they go, or else halting suddenly, they quietly discharge the arrow, then turn and gallop off again....
"The proportion of the different services is always about the same. There are, on an average, one hundred foot soldiers to every ten cavalry and every single chariot; the infantry is really the queen of the Assyrian battles."[6]
THRESHOLD—SLAB IN ASSHURBANIPAL'S PALACE.
[1] Sayce: Baby. and Assy., 88.
[2] Rawlinson: Babylonia.
[3] This reminds one of the snails, etc., that were crushed and brewed in small beer for rickets in New England. See Alice Morse Earle, "Customs and Fashions in Old New England."
[4] Arnold: Stories of Ancient Peoples, 123.
[5] The narrative is set back in the days of Assyrian Empire.
[6] Maspero: Ancient Egypt and Assyria, 320.