His building enterprises
Public buildings demanded large gangs of workmen. They were drawn from the slave and serf population. A great many letters are concerned with the supply and movements of these laborers. Whether forced labor was inflicted as a punishment may be doubted. But the corvée was in full operation. The hire of laborers is referred to, and it is probable that the forced laborers were fed and clothed at [pg 319] the expense of the state. Thus we see that Ḥammurabi was a busy man and worked hard to build up his empire. His successors, though we have fewer of their letters, seem to have been fully as active.
The return of the goddesses of Emutbal to their homes
It is not easy to select specimens for this period. Each letter has an interest of its own, and it is tempting to include most of them. But we may take the two letters referring to the goddesses of Emutbal, because one of them by a series of misreadings and misunderstandings was made to contain the famous reference to Chedorlaomer. The first[815] may be rendered.
To Sin-iddinam say, thus saith Ḥammurabi: Now I am sending Zikir-ilishu, the AB-AB-UL, and Ḥammurabi-banî, the DU-GAB, to bring the goddesses of Emutbal. Do thou forthwith embark the goddesses in a procession-boat (state barge) and let them come to Babylon. Let the hierodules come with them. For the sustenance of the goddesses embark food, drink, sheep, ship's furniture, and travelling expenses for the hierodules, until they reach Babylon. Appoint men to draw the ropes, and biḫru men, that the goddesses may come safely to Babylon. Let them not delay but come quickly to Babylon.
The date of their capture
These goddesses were very likely captured during an expedition to Emutbal which was a border province of Elam. It is natural to associate this with the thirty-first year of Ḥammurabi, for which the full date is:
“The year of Ḥammurabi, the king, in which by the help of Anu and Bêl he established his good fortune, and his hand cast to the earth the land of Iamutbal and Rim-Sin, the king.”[816]
The transport of the goddesses was made possible by the system of canals. Intercommunication was in an excellent state, for Ḥammurabi ordered a man to be sent to Babylon from Larsa, and allowed him two days, travelling day and night. The hierodules are the female attendants of the goddesses. [pg 320] The officers whom Ḥammurabi sent bear titles not yet clearly recognized. The name Ḥammurabi-banî points to a deification of the king. Whether the goddesses reached Babylon and there brought misfortune on the country and so were sent back again, or whether their restoration to their shrines in Emutbal was part of the king's policy for a pacification of the conquered country, does not appear. But we read in another letter:[817]
“To Sin-iddinam say, thus saith Ḥammurabi: The goddesses of Emutbal, which are in thy command, the troops of Inuḫsamar shall bring safely to thee. When they shall reach thee, combine the troops with those in thy hands and restore the goddesses to their shrines.”