“27 shekels of silver is the weight of one cup, tithe of Ina-Ê-sagila-rêmat, the daughter of the king. By the hands of Bêl-šarra-(bulliṭ), as a king's offering, she has given (it) to the god.... The cup is in the treasure-house.
“Month Ab, day 5th, year 17th, (Nabû-na'id) king of Babylon.”
Though this inscription is defective in places, there is every probability that little or nothing more than the name of the god is wanting. The name of Bêl-šarra-(bulliṭ) shows that the inscription must belong to the time of Nabonidus, and, in fact, the initial wedges of his name are visible.
The name of a second daughter of Nabonidus seems to appear in another inscription from Sippar, though, as it is rather carelessly written, this is doubtful. [pg 451] Notwithstanding the uncertainty attending the name, however, the inscription is worth quoting in full—
“3 gur 75 qa of sesame Ukabu'sama (?), daughter of the king, has sold, through Tattanu, for silver, to Ê-babbara. The silver has not been received.
“Month Ab, day 7th, year 16th, Nabû-na'id, king of Babylon.”
With this we take leave of Nabonidus and his family, as revealed by the contracts and temple accounts from Babylon and Sippar. The picture these and the historical inscriptions give of the Babylonian royal family is not altogether unpleasing, and that this king, with his son, were the last rulers of their race, is greatly to be regretted. But, alas, they had offended the priesthood of Babylon, and all the people accepted, without a murmur, the alien ruler, of a differing faith from theirs, who presented himself, in hostile array, at their doors. It was the beginning of the end of their life as a nation, and who shall say that they did not deserve it? If they had made even a show of resistance, the world could hold them excused, but this was not the case, as their own records show, and whatever Nabonidus's faults may have been, they do not attain to the culpability of the nation, which, instead of protecting him—if for no other reason, it ought to have done this for his son's sake—practically betrayed him to the enemy.
II.
So far, in depicting the life which the Jews, during the Captivity, must daily have seen around them, we have given the tablets whereon the court and its officials are referred to, and though these reveal certain phases of life in Babylonia among the people, typical of the time, they can hardly be held to show the life of the people—those engaged in the life-struggle [pg 452] of which every great city is the battlefield, and has been the battlefield since the first gathering of large bodies of men in one place.
Who among us can estimate the misery caused by the tearing away of the slave from the home of the master with whom he had for many years dwelt in content?—it must have far outweighed the few cases in which a slave in those days benefited by such a change. That the loss of his slaves was sometimes also a wrench to the owner is indicated by the fact that he is generally—if not always—made to say, that he parts with them cheerfully. He had to admit this for the satisfaction of the buyer, who naturally feared that the old master would return and ask for the contract to be annulled, saying that it was all a mistake on his part—he did not really wish to get rid of them, and would like to have them back again.