TLbc *Clnix>crB(t^ of Cbtcago DATE CULTURE IN ANCIENT BABYLONIA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND LITERATURE IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ORIENTAL LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES IN THE GRADUATE DIVINITY SCHOOL BY AUGUST HENRY PRUESSNER Private Edition, Distributed By THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBRARIES CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Reprinted from The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures Vol. XXXVI, No. 3, April 1920 Zbc Tnntverslts of Cblcago DATE CULTURE IN ANCIENT BABYLONIA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND LITERATURE IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ORIENTAL LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES IN THE GRADUATE DIVINITY SCHOOL BY AUGUST HENRY PRUESSNER Private Edition, Distributed By THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBRARIES CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Reprinted from The Auekican Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures Vol. XXXVI, No. 3, April 1920 ©ift University JUL a oug ^^r DATE CULTURE IN ANCIENT BABYLONIA By a. H. Prdessneb FreoiJort. Illinois In the Revue dWssyriologie of 1913, V. Scheil called attention to the importance of the (iate-pahn culture for ancient Babylonia, and to the comparatively high state of perfection which it had attained.^ His remarks were based on a tablet of his own, coming from Umma, and a fragment of another from Nippur.^ From these documents he draws the following conclusions: 1. That there existed as early as 2400 b.c. in the Tigris-Euplirates Delta large date-palm orchards of many hectares in extent; 2. That the size of orchards was readily estimated, not by the usual field measurements, but by the number of trees in it; 3. That artificial fecundation of the female date tree was em- ployed, and that male trees were grown apart; 4. That the estimation of the produce was made according to •series of trees of practically equal bearing ability, and instead of weight, volume measure was employed; 5. That the maximum yield per tree went as high as 300 ka (105 kilograms, or 141 liters); 6. That accounts in this matter were kept with rigor and pre- ciseness, according to the most rational proceeding-. Since the publication of this short article of Scheil's the subject has received, at least as far as the writer was able to ascertain from the bibliographies at his disposal, no further treatment from Assj'ri- ologists. It certainly does not seem out of place to gather together the facts concerning date culture from the various documents now at our disposal in an attempt to gain a better understanding of this important factor in the economic life of the early inhabitants of the Alesopotamian Delta. ' Dc rcxploilalion ite 'IntlUrs dans Vanciennt Babijlonie. '■ Published by Myrhman in BE. Ill, 63. •213 214 The American Journal of Semitic Languages The writer in undertaking this task is well aware of the disaci- vantage at which he is placed by not having any practical, personal experience in date culture as it is carried on today in those regions. Fortunately there are at his disposal two excellent modern authorities, namely, the reports of two experts of the United States Department of Agriculture, one' having been sent to Algiers' and the other to southern Mesopotamia- to make a thorough study of the subject in question at these two most prominent centers of date growing of our days. These two reports contain a wealth of facts, given in clear, simple language, while their usefulness is still further enhanced by a large number of beautiful half-tone illustrations from actual photo- graphs. With these modern authorities as our guides, we shall now set out on a trip of inspection through the palm groves of ancient Sumer and Akkad. Today the center of the most extensive date-palm plantations in the world is found in the district of Bassorah and Mohammerah along the banks of the Shatt-el-Arab. Travelers entering Meso- potamia from the Persian Gulf by way of this river marvel at the seemingly endless forest of palms, which is estimated to contain some five million trees. The predominance of date culture in this region is due to the fact that the most favorable conditions for the growth of this palm are found here in a happy combination. According to an old Arab saying the date palm will flourish best with her foot in water and her head in hell, and this prerequisite is remarkably well fulfilled in lower Mesopotamia. The summer heat is terrific, and because of the humidity of the air due to the palm groves, which give off a great deal of moisture, very oppressive, and for Europeans almost unbearable. According to Dr. S. M. Zwemer at Bahrein the ther- mometer remains for many days and nights above 100° F. from May to September, while for the Shatt-el-Arab as high as 124° in the shade has been recorded. Hand in hand with this climatic condition, so desirable for date growing, goes the ease with which irrigation is 1 Walter T. Swingle, Thi- Date Palm and Its Utilizutian in the Solilbwe-ftem Slale^i, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Bureau of Plant Industry. Bulletin 53. 2 David Cr. Pairchild. Persian Gulf Dates and Their Introduction into America, Bulletin 54. Date Culture in Ancient Babylonia 215 accomplished.' The banks of the river are so low that the Arabs, while sitting on them can wash their hands in the flood. The influence of the tides of the Persian Gulf reaches far up into the channels of the Euphrates and Tigris. At Bassorah the high tide raises the river about six feet above its low level, and thus twice daily the countless canals and irrigation ditches are filled with the warm water from the river. No power of any kind is needed for this tidal irrigation, except for the task of keeping open the channels.' Also the demand for a slightly alkaline soil is satisfied throughout the delta of the "two rivers." At the period with whicli we are concerned most of the region described above was probably still covered with swamps and lakes. The °*™Maratti, a broad estuary formiqg the mouth of the "two rivers" reached in all probability northward to the region of Ur and Eridu, while eastward the Susiana marshes stretched toward Elam. Sumer, the ancient center of date growing in the south, extended from Eridu northward along the banks of the present Shatt-el-Hai, which was then the main channel of the Tigris. The conditions in this region were without doubt just as favorable as they are today in the Bassorah district. That the ideal free-flow irrigation was possible here, we have by authority of Sir W. Willcocks.* Besides Sumer in the south, Akkad in the north of the delta had its date culture. .' Even today palm groves of considerable extent are found around Bagdad, and at Hillah on the Euphrates. The summer heat is here practically the same as farther south, and irrigation was made easy in the days of Babylonia's glory through proper regulation and distribution of the waters of the Euphrates during the flood season, which lasts throughout the summer until September. The rather large space devoted to the subject of date culture in the Code of Hammurabi testifies to the important position which it occupied in the agricultural life of his empire. For a later time we have the- testimony of Greek travelers in regard to the wealth of Babylonia in date palms; Herodotus informs us that palm trees grew in great numbers over the whole of the flat country. ' Fairchild. op. cit.. p. 10. ^ Ibid., p. 14. ' Sir William Willcocks. From the Garden of Eden to the C'rosalnfj of the Jordan, p. 3. 216 The American Journal of Semitic Languages SECTION I THE PLANTING OF A DATE ORCHARD The date palm propagates its kind in two ways: from seeds and by offshoots from the roots of the parent tree. It has been found, however, that the fruits of trees grown from seeds exhibit marks of deterioration from the original kind. For this reason the tree is propagated in all imj^ortant date-growing regions by transplanting the offshoots, which reproduce exactly the parent variety of dates. Such offshoots are produced very abundantly by young date palms, but care should be taken never to let more than four grow at the same time, since otherwise the gro-\vth of the palm would be unfavor- ably affected. Just as soon as their sex can be recognized they are removed and transplanted. It is very important that the offshoots be planted high enough so that the growing bud in the center is never in danger of being covered with water when irrigated. In order to force the offshoots to take roots and grow the chief requisite is that the ground be kept constantly wet about their bases. If the young plants dry out once they are lost, for the deUcate new roots that are just forming will be killed. The Arabs water the offshoots every day for the first forty days after planting and then twice a week until winter; after which they are watered as often as may be necessary to keep the ground thoroughly moist.' The young plants must also be protected against cold the first winter after they are set out. Under favorable conditions these offshoots begin to bear fruit the third or fourth year after trans- planting. Having obtained this necessary information concerning the requirements for planting a new, or enlarging an existing, date orchard, let us turn to the documents from ancient Babjdonia that have any bearing on our subject. The safest way will be to consult the law of the land first, namely the Code of Hammurabi. Four paragraphs (60-63 incl.) are devoted to questions regarding the planting of date orchards. § 60 : If a man give out a field to a gardener for the purpose of planting a date orchard, the gardener shall plant the orchard; four years he shall take ' Swingle, op. cit., p. 21. Date Culture in Ancient Babylonia 217 care of the orchard, in the fifth year the owner of the orcliard and the gardener shall divide equally (the produce of the orchard) ; the owner of the grove shall choose his share and take it. In this paragraph the great king assumes the case, that a Baby- lonian landlord intrusts to somebody a piece of land to have it con- verted into a palm grove. The offshoots, no doubt, can be procured on the landlord's estate, but the gardener will have to do the trans- planting. For three years he will have to take care of the young palms in the manner described above. In the fourth year, when for the first time a goodly produce could be expected, the owner and the planter were to divide it equally, the owner having the right of first choice. At first sight this remuneration for three years' work seems to be rather meager, a consideration which has led Dr. Kohler to the opinion that this paragraph gave to the gardener legal title to one-half of the orchard which he planted.' This view is, of course, erroneous. The planter got his pay for the years during which he took care of the unproductive young palms from the so-called secondary cultures between the trees. A large percentage of the surface could be sown to good advantage with grain, sesame, millet, or clover. The crop thus produced was evidently at the disposal of the laborer, since no provision whatever is made in regard to it. To this was added in the fourth year one-half of the yield of dates from the grove. §61: If tiie gardener does not complete the planting, but leaves an empty space, that empty space shall be assigned to his share. The import of this provision is very clear. It is to furnish the planter with an incentive to do his duty, and to keep him from loiter- ing. Naturally, since the owner was to select his share first, the empty space would remain for the negligent gardener. § 62; If he do not jilant the field entrusted to him, then in case it is a grain field, the gardener shall pay rent to the owner of the field, for the years during which he has neglected it, on the basis of adjacent fields, and after he has prejjared the field for cultivation, he shall return it to its owner. ' Kohler und Peiser. Hammurabis Gesetz, pp. 112-i:i: " Bl'i dor Datteipanht fiiKlea sioh noch besondere interessante V'etlialtnisse: der Eigner iilx'rliisst dem Laiidmanii ein Gelande zur Uattclbepflanzung; die Pflanzuiig daucrt -4 .lahrc: im ."i. .lahrc Iritt als Belohming fiir die Arbeit Miteigentiim am Grundstiick cin, und der Arheiter wird Eigen- tiinisgenosse, wohei dep bisherige Eigner das Reclit hat seinen Teil auszuwiilileii. § 00." 218 The American Journal of Semitic Languages This paragraph provides redress against a flagrant neglect of duty on the part of the planter. He has not only failed to plant the orchard, but has also allowed the productive field to deteriorate. In such a case the Code stipulated that the neglectful planter must pay to the owner the rate of rent common for such lands. Estima- tion of the yield was made on the basis of that of adjacent fields. Besides paying this rent he had to return the field in a condition fit for immediate cultivation. Should the neglect prove to be serious it might entail for the planter two years of hard work to reclaim (pitu) the field. During this time little produce could be expected, yet the owner demanded the pay of the full legal rate of rent. Cer- tainly, any planter could ill afford the luxuiy of loafing when he undertook to plant a date orchard for a Babylonian landlord. § 63: In case the field was unreclaimed, he shall prepare it for cultiva- tion and return it to the owner of the field, and per IS gan he shall pay 10 gur of grain for one year. The case assumed here is like that of § 62, with the exception that the field in question had been an unreclaimed tract of land. In this case the task technically called tcptitum was imposed upon the planter, i.e., he had to convert the unreclaimed field into produc- tive land, and pay full rent for one year. From these provisions of the Code respecting the planting of date orchards we may safely infer that the young trees planted were exclusively offshoots from parent trees, otherwise a date harvest could not have been expected from them for the fourth year. Seed- lings require from 8-15 years before they produce fruit. Turning now to the contract literature to illustrate the Code with sample cases from actual life we find a great scarcity of material. There is only one tablet which has reference to the planting or rather enlarging of a date grove, namely : VS, VIP' (Dilbat) TRANSLITERATION 1. '^" KirUm ma-la ba-z[u-ii] 2. '^"kiri ^'"samas-tiu-ur-ma-tim 3. itti ''" samas-mu-iir-ma-tim 4. lugal Gis-Sar-E 5. '"■ ''" marduk-na-si-ir Date Culture in Ancient Babylonia 219 6. mar hu-za-lum 7. Nam . Gal . Kid . Kid . A 8. Nam . Mu . /// *"'" 9. lb . Ta . E . A 10. Mu III *<"" i-ka-al-ma "ll. ''1^ kiram u-na-pa-as 12. ''" kirdm za-ka-am 13. a-na be-li-su 14. Gur . Ru . Dam TRANSLATION A date orchard, as much as there is, the orchard of Sama§-nflr-mdtini, from Samas-nur-matim, the owner of the orchard, Marduk-najir, son of Huzalum, lias rented for three years, for the purpose of enlarging it. While he has use of the orchard for three years, he shall enlarge it, and return it in good condition to its owner. Two witnesses, and the date: Sixth Simaiunn, fifth year of Samsu-iluna. Line 4: Semitic equivalent = 6('Z '^"Kirim. Line 7: literally, "for making wide"; Semitic equivalent given in line 11. Line 12: hterally, "a clean orchard." Line 14: Semitic = w-to-o-ar. Samas-nur-matim rents out an already existing palm grove to Marduk-nasir to have it enlarged. The latter shall have usufru('t of the orchard for three years, while he is planting and taking care of the j'oung palms. The provision of § 65 of the Code, that planter and owner shall divide the produce of the planted orchard during the fourth year, does not apply here since the renter has been remunerated for the work performed liy the produce of the existing part of the orchard. Another question that should be treated before dosing this sec- tion pertains to the distance that the trees should be planted apart. Mr. Swingle tells us that the Arabs have been in the habit of placing them very close together. The first French colonists in Algeria followed this custom and jilanted the trees about 20 feet apart. Similar conditions must prevail in the Bassorah district, where, according to Mr. Fairchild, as many as 100 trees are. planted on a "djerib," the latter being a little less than an acre. The French colonists have, however, discovered that far better results are 220 The Ameeican Journal of Semitic Languages obtained' if a much wider space is left between the trees. They now place them from 26 to 33 feet apart. With a distance of 26 feet between the trees about sixty can be planted to an acre. To arrive at a conclusion concerning the habits of the ancient Babylonians in this respect is well-nigh impossible. Their contracts and other documents either state the size of the orchards by the field measure- ments in use without reference to the number of trees on it, or else they give the number of trees on a certain lot without expressing its size in units of square measure. There is a single document which enables us to make some comparisons: VS, XIIPO and 70a (Senkereh) TRANSLITERATION 1. 5 gan+20 sar ^^'^kiriivi 2. lib-ba 25 ">"■ gisimmari 3. ita '«"fciVi a-pil-i-li-su 4. "^ i-li-i-di-nam 5. u nu-ur-'^^^ Kab-ta 6. ''" kir-Qm e-ie-e^p^-''" iUar 7. itti e-te-el-pi-''" istar 8. lugal Gis . Sar . E 9. '" a-pil-i-li-su 10. In . Si . Sam 11. 65 siklu kaspim 12. Sam . Ti . La . Bi . Su 1. Ill . Na . An . Lai TRANSL.VTION Seventy sars of date orchards, in it 25 date palms, by the side of the orchards of Apil-ilisu, Ili-idinam, and Nilr-Kabta, the orchard of Etel-pi- Istar, from Etel-pi-Istar, owner of the orchard Apil-ilisu has bought. 6| sekels of silver, its full price, he has paid. Date: Rim-Sin, Isin 10. The statement important for our investigation is contained in lines 1 and 2, namely, that there are 25 trees in this grove of 70 sars. Accepting Thureau-Dangin's calculations' of old Babylonian square measure, this surface would be a little less than half an acre. A distance of 30 feet between the trees would correspond to about 1 Journal Asiatique. 1009. pp. 79 It.: 'L'U. le (Ja et la Mine." Date Culture in Ancient Babylonia 221 50 trees per acre. If it be permissible to draw conclusions from a single tablet, its testimony would tend to show that the Babylonians left such ample space between the trees as modern scientific date growers find it most advantageous to give. SECTION II ' CARE REQUIRED BY DATE PALMS Before taking up the study of this topic from the standpoint of the cuneiform documents let us again first consult our modern authorities. As regards the care of the soil, Mr. Fairchild informs us that just before a plantation is set out with suckers the soil is dug over by hand to a depth of 18 inches, and this digging is repeated eveiy four years. Weed- ing is done when necessary and the surface of the ground occasionally stirred.' The chief care required by date palms is that they be irrigated as often as needful. The soil should be kept in proper state of tilth, which is usually done by growing some crop between the rows, especially when the palms are young. The leaves are trimmed off as they die, and care is taken not to allow too many offshoots to grow up at the base of the stem, for they draw on the strength of the parent plant. In general not more than three or four offshoots should be allowed to grow at once. At least one should always be left attached to the mother plant to be used to replace it in case of accident. Old palms, ten to fifteen years after planting, which have developed a good trunk 4^10 feet high, do not produce offshoots, and such trees require no attention other than the cutting away of dead leaves, the pollination of the flowers, and the gathering of the fruit.^ Having provided ourselves with these few elementary facts concerning the proper care of date palms, we are so much the better equipped for the task of discovering traces of these facts in the cuneiform texts. That the Babylonians thought it necessary to have the soil of their orchards dug over is evident from the following tablet: R23,^ transl. by Schorr, Altbabylonische Rechisurkunden, p. 189 TRANSLITERATION 1 . '«" kirum ma-la ba-zur-u 2. i-na a-ah-hi "'''•" Puralli ' Faircliild, op. cil., p. 19. 2 Swingle, op. cit., p. 25. 3 Ranke, Babylonian Legal and Burliness Documents, Scries .\, Vol. VI, Part I. 222 The American Journal of Semitic Languages 3. itli su-lu-ur-lum 4. maral '■'"■ i-lwm-ba-ni 5. "■• u-?i-bi-tui/i 6. mar pur- *'" adad 7. ^^^kiram a-nasa-ka-nv-lim 8. u-se-zi. 9. ''" kiram i-ra-hi-ik 10. a-ra-am zi-na-hmi 11. i-na-^a-ar 12. a-«a bi-ha-al '*" A-irtm 13. i-za-az 14. ma-na-ah-ti '^"kirim 15. i-ma-ru-ma 16. i-pa-al-su 17. [ri-ib-ga-ti IS. i-ma-rii 19. eklam ki-ma e.klim 20. i-Ao-fli TRANSLATION A date orchard as much as there is, on the bank of the Euphrates, from Sukirtum, the daughter of Isum-bani, Usibitum, the son of Bur-Adad, has rented the orchard for caretaking. He shall spade the orchard; of the blossoms he shall take care; for any damage to the grove he will be held responsible. Any deterioration of the orchard they will estimate and he shall refimd; the spading they will inspect, field for field he will enjoy accordingly. NOTES Lines 7 and 8 : ana mkanutim. usezi, technical term for the renting of a date orchard, corresponding to ana irisidim itsezi in renting grainfields. Line 9: i-ra-bi-ik, according to Schorr from L pSI ; compare Aram. SECT'S pi"l = to spade a garden. Levy, Neuhebr. Worterbuch. , Line 10: ardin zinatum: these terms will be explained later in connection with the pollination of the date trees. Lines 14-16: Schorr translates, "Sobald er (sc. der Eigentumer) die Aus- lagen fiir den Garten geprilft haben wird, wird er sie ihm zuriick erstatten"; i.e., any expenses which the renter may have while taking care of the orchard will be refunded by the owner. This makes good reading but does not reproduce the original. First of all the owner is not a man; the verb should therefore have the feminine form if it referred to the owner. Secondly Date Culture in Ancient Babylonia 223 imdruma is plural and not singular. The sense undoubtedly is, that at the end of the period of renting the owner, either with witnesses or with the renter, will insiject the orchard, and if through the neglect of the renter any deterioration in the upkeep of the orchard has taken ijlace, the latter will have to restore the damage. Manahti from nSS has the meaning of ruin, decline, decay, etc.; cf. Delitzsch, HW. Lines 17-20: In like manner they will take note of the portion that has been spaded by the renter, and he will be entitled to the produce of that portion. This provision is found on the ease tablet only. The contract imposes two duties upon the sakinum: (1) he shall spade the garden, (2) he shall watch aram zinatum. This latter provision brings us, as we shall see, face to face with an operation that is of eminent importance in rational date culture, namely the process of artificial pollination. A thorough understanding of this process will, in the writer's opinion, throw light on some difficult passages in the Code and the contract literature. We must therefore take time to let our experts explain it to us. Unlike most fruit trees, the date palm has the male and female flowers on separate individuals In a wild state the date palm is undoubtedly pollinated by the wind, and about one-half of the trees are males The artificial pollination was doubtless discovered by the ancient Assyrians,' and has been practiced for three or four thousand years at least. Because of the great economy of pollen brought about by this practice, one male tree suffices to pollinate from fifty to a hundred females. The male flower cluster of the date jjalm consists of a stalk bearing a considerable number of short twigs to which the flowers are attached, the whole contained in a sheath at first entirely closed, but which finally ruptures, disclosing the flowers The separate twigs to which the male flowers are attached are from 4-6 inches long, and bear anywhere from 20-50 male flowers, each containing 6 anthers full of pollen. One of these twigs suffices to pollinate a whole female flower cluster, and to bring about the development of a bunch of dates. The female flowers, like the male, are Ijorne inside of sheaths which are at first entirely closed. Finally the sheath is split open by the growth of the flowers within, and at this stage ]3ollination is accomplished. The two tips of the cracked-open sheath are separated and the cluster of female ' The author prohahly uses the term .Issi/ria/is in the loose sense iu which it was formerly employed, and included the inhabitants of the Tigris-Euphrates Delta, who were, of course, the date growers. 224 The American Journal of Semitic Languages flowers pulled out. A twig of male flowers is then inserted into a cluster of female flowers and tied in place with a bit of palm leaf or with a string. This completes the process of pollination.' Other facts which should be borne in mind are the following: (1) The female flower clusters do not all appear at the same time, but several weeks may elapse between the appearance of the first and the last clusters. During all this time the trees must be closely observed so that no female clusters may be overlooked. (2) Female flowers may appear at such an early or late date that no male trees are in bloom. Against this emergency the date grower could easily protect himself by storing away some male flower clusters, the pollen of which, it is said, does not deteriorate for at least two years. (3) A female flower cluster not pollinated will grow dates, but such dates are without seeds, they never properly mature, and are without commercial value.^ That artificial pollination of the date palm was practiced during the period of the AssjTian Empire is certain from monumental evi- dence.' For early Babylonia the case is not so clear. Scheil, as we have seen, made the inference that it was employed as early as 2400 B.C. If it was known in the days of Hammurabi, it would indeed be peculiar if his Code should be without any provision in regard to this important work. But there are still two paragraphs on date culture awaiting our investigation, namely, §§64 and 65. Both have caused the translators a lot of trouble. It will be well, therefore, to reproduce them here in transcription and translation as found in Harper's Code of Hammurahi, p. 33. §64 transliteration sum-ma a-ivi-lum kird-su a-na Nu . Gis . Sar a-na ru-ku-bi-im id-di-in Nu . Gis . Sm- a-di kirum sa-ab-tu i-na hi-la-ai kirim si-U-li- in a-na he-el kirim i-na-ad-di-in sa-lu-us-tam su-u i-li-ki. TRANSLATION If a man give his orchard to a gardener to manage, the gardener shall give to the owner of the orchard two-thirds of the produce of the orchard, as long as he is in possession of the orchard; he himself shall take one-third. ' Quoted from Swingle, op. cit., pp. 16, 26, 27. 3 Swingle, op. cit., pp. 27-2S. * Cf. Guide to Babylonian and Aasyrian Antiquities (British Museum), 2d ed., PI. X. Date Culture in Ancient Babylonia 225 §65 TRANSLITERATION sum-ma Nu . Gis . Sar kirdm la ti-ra-ak-ki-ib-ma bi-il-tam um-ta-di Nu . Gis . Sar bi-la-at kirtm a-n-a i-te-su li-ma-ad-da-ad\. TRANSLATION If the gardener do not properly manage the orchard, and he diminish the produce, the gardener shall measure out the produce of the orchard on the basis of the adjacent orchards. The important work which the gardener is to perform, and through the neglect of which he may seriou.sly diminish the produce of the date grove, is designated as " rukubum." The term is rendered by Harper to vianage; in this he is followed by Rogers. ' * Ungnad translates bewirtschaften;^ Winckler bearbeiten,^ which practically amounts to the same thing as the English translation above. These renderings, which are not even warranted by any of the meanings of the 1 2D"i , are too general and only a confession that the real significance of the term was not clear to the translators. Consulting Delitzsch, HW, p. 620, we find a secondary meaning for rakdbu which is expressed by the equations: Hi . Nir = r]a-ka-bu Hi . Nir = ri-hu-tu; also (a-a) A=rikibtnm (a-a) A=rihutum.* We may conclude, therefore, that some forms of rakdbu were em- ployed to designate the act of fecundation. This information does, howevet, not take us very far, though it may serve as a hint that we are on the right track. We are obliged to invoke the aid of the cognate languages. Turning to a dictionary of the Talmud,^ we make the discovery that I SS"! in the Hiphil may mean to graft, to ' Rogers. Cuneifor/n Parallels, p. 417. 2 Ungnad in Gressmann, AUorientalische Texte und Bilder, p. lh{). ' Winckler in Der aUe Orient. Hett 4. * Cf. also Muss-Arnolt's Dictionary, p. 96:i. ^ Levy, Neuhebr. titid chaUldisches WOrterbuch iibtr Talmnflim und Midrashim. 226 The American Journal of Semitic Languages place one branch upon another. Reference is made to a passage in the Babylonian Talmud, in which it is stated that it was lawful for the people of Jericho to graft date palms all day on the fourteenth of Nisan' (i.e., on the eve of Passover), because otherwise they would spoil. Evidently we are getting nearer the secret, for n ow there has been established at least a connection between the 1 --'^ and the date palm. Yet it must be remembered that the very nature of this tree makes grafting impossible and unnecessary. The date palm has no branches but only immense leaves, which, if they were grafted on another trunk, would never produce a fruit-bearing crown. Offshoots, however, are never grafted upon another trunk, but are transplanted as soon as they have obtained proper size, which is the safest and least complicated way of propagating a certain kind of date. Grafting is furthermore not an operation which could not be put off a few days longer. Considerations of this nature would lead to the belief that the process referred to is nothing but the pollination of the female flower clusters. But the Babylonian Talmud brings us still nearer the goal. Rabbi Rashi, commenting on the above jjassage, describes the abp-n i5 nnpa bp-ia 'ds-^ "ap; bpi bz ni^"'S ,2 i.e., a soft branch (of the flower cluster) of the male date palm is placed in the split (of the flower cluster) of the female palm, because a female palm does not bear fruit, while a male does.^ After this excursion to the Talmud we should be justified to return to our deserted two paragraphs of the Code and insert in the place of "to manage," to pollinate. § 64: If a man entrust his date grove to a sakinum for pollinating, the sakinum shall give of its produce, foi- the time that he holds the orchard, two-thirds to the owner of the orchard; one-third he himself shall take. § 65: If the sakinum does not pollinate the orchard and thereby diminisii the produce, he shall pay rent on the basis of the adjacent orchards. 2 Pes. 66». > The words in parentheses are inserted b.v tlio writer to sliow what really took place. Kashi evidently knew in a general way of the significance of pollination for the growing of dates, but was lacking in exact knowledge, as his statement, that the male palm was bearing fruit, shows. Date Culture in Ancient Babylonia 227 Among the contracts concerning rent of date groves one of the most interesting is doubtless VS, VIP^ TRANSLITERATION 1. 'f''kiru7n ''"Amurru 2. v^ar a-ra-ah-tum 3. u-at-ru-ium 4. « ta-lu sa li-bu ek-lim ? 5. '■^'^ kiri hu-ra-za-tum 6. illi hu-ra-zor-tum 7. '" a-pil i-li-su 8. mar '" urci^-mii-ba-li-it 9. a-7in sa-ki-nu-tim 10. [76] .Ta.E .A 11. \'f'^ki\ram ■u-ra-ka-ah-ma 12. [si-it\-ii-in 13. he-el 'f'^kiiim 14. [sa]-lu-us-ta-am 15. sa-ki-nu-um 16. i-Zi-fci 17. V bi-la-tim u-ri-e 18. X si-si-iia-tim 19. i-na-ad-di-in TR.\NSLATI0N A date grove of the god Amurru, in the field of the Arahtum-[canal],^ (there are) dry leaves and off.?hoots, — the date grove of Hurazatum, from Hurazatum, Apil-ilisu, the son of UraJ-mubaUt, has rented for caretaking. He shall polhnate the orchard ; two-thirds (of the produce) the owner of the garden, one-third the renter shall take. Five talents of ure, ten male flower clusters he shall give (besides). NOTES Lines 3 and 4, probably best construed as an inserted nominal sentence, descriptive of the condition of the orchard, and calling attention to the work required of the gardener; u-at-ru-tum, lit. "superfluous ones," very likely refers to dead leaves. AVith u-at-rvrlum compare neo-Babylonian ftorattu >Talmudic Xr^^r; = a dried branch. Ta-lu sa li-bu: Sum. ^'"^Gisim- mar . Tur . Tur = talu = liplipu = lipu = oSshoot; Uterally therefore the above term signifies "offshoots of offshoots." Compare with this Mr. Swingle's statement that the offshoots, when uncontrolled, grow unhindered, and rival in size the parent trunk, and they in turn give rise to other offshoots, so that finally the result is an impenetrable thicket with a few tall trunks, and a tangled mass of offshoots at the base; op. cil., p. 15. 228 The American Journal of Semitic Languages Lines 11-16 contain almost verbatim the provisions of § 64 of the Code. Line 17: ure must be left untranslated at present; it doubtless refers to one of the extremely numerous by-products of the date palm. Line 18: si-si-na-tim = sissinntum and sissinnu, plur. col. of st[)7]-nu = cluster of date blossoms (Datlelrispe) ; cf. Delitzsch, HW, and Muss-Arnolt, p. 775, for references. Our contract helps us to identify the sissinnu, not with the flower cluster in general, but with the male blossom in particular. The renter is to deliver ten of them to the owner, and since the pollen can be kept for years against a case of emergency this stipulation becomes clear. Compare also the cases cited inJVIuss-Arnolt, p. 775: sis-sin-na-su vl e-tir = its male clusters he shall not taCe; or sis-sin-ni i-na-as-si = the male clusters shall be brought, i.e., to the owner. One more tablet should be more closely inspected, namely: VS, VII", transl. by Schorr, 191, KU, III, 661 TRANSLITERATI ON 1. XI gan ejclum '■^'"kirum 2. sa pn-la-ag ''" f/ros 3. itii e-U-e-ri-sa marut na-hi-annum 4. "■ la-ri-bu-um u-se-zi 5. li-ib-ba-am si-na-am 6. i-na-sa-ar 7. um '""siduppi {Ka . Lum) 8. i-na i-li-im 9. su-ku-na-a?n 10. i-sa-kor-nu-su 11. 1 gan eklum Ka . Gar 12. samassanimum ma-la 13. i-ba-su-u 14. sa-lu-m-ta-sa 15. i-na-ad-di-si-im TRANSLATION Eleven gan field, date orchard, of the Uras-canal, from Eli-erisa, daughter of Nal)i-annum, Taribum has rented. He will take care of the poUination. At the time of date harvest, besides the produce of the orchard of which he took care, he shall give her from one gan of his usufruct {eklum Ka . Gar ) sesame, as much as there is, her one-third. NOTES ■ Lines 5 and 6: libbcim sindm ina^ar; libbu"'^ G'isimmari = \it. the heart, i.e., the crowni or leaf tuft of the date palm, which, as we know, constitutes its very life. The above expression is therefore evidently only a circumlocution for rukkubum, "he shall take care of (pollinate) the blossoming trees." The same is true of the phrase found above in R23, a-ra-am zi-na-tum Date Culture in Ancient Babylonia 229 i-na-sa-ar. Delitzsch, HW, equates arum with the date flower s (D attel- bliite). It seems, however, more satisfactory to stay with the l/r!15< from which the forms a-ni-u and u-ru-u are derived, which, according to Dehtzsch, denote "something done to a tree or forest . . . . but what?" HW, p. 130. But the most common meaning of the V HIS is to he or to become pregnant. Would it be too bold a speculation to venture an answer to the above question of Delitszch and translate the phrase in question "of the fecundation of the blossoms he shall take care" ? Lines 8-15: They are interesting in so far as they show how the renter was remunerated. The produce (sukunnum) of the orchard of which he took care (i-sakamisti) evidently went to the owner, but he received the secondary- crop, with the exception of one-third of the sesame from one gan, which the landlady demanded for herself. I-na i-li-im (besides or above) is mistaken by iSchorr for ina ilipu, and therefore translated "at the time when the offshoots will bear." — Babylonische Rechtsurkunden, p. 191. In another type of contracts a fixed amount of dates is required as rent for an orchard. In this manner the owner protected himself against any diminished return from his grove through the negligence of the renter. The owner's demand had to be satisfied first, and the rest of the produce remained for the gardener. A contract of this type is represented in VS, XIII ■« (Date: Hammurabi 23) TRANSLITERATION 1. 4| gur suluppi 2. 2i gur suluppi idam)cuti[?]) 3. naphar 61 gur suluppi E . A 4. 10 biltam u-ru-u 5. 10 biltam zi-zi-na-tum 6. 2X60+30+1 '^" gihimmare 7. biltam ''" kirim 8. sa "^ mUf-na-iDi-ir-tum 9. marat na-bi ^'"sattias i 10. ™ ibik-iltum{tum) 11. mdr i-ku-(:un)-bi-sa{?) 12. is-ba-at 13. warah kislimum 14. i-na bdb ga-gi-im 15. gis-bar ''"samas Ni . Ram . E 16. 10 biltam Ur-ruru 17. 10 biltam zi-zi-nor-tum 18. la-bi-ir-ta-'su 19. i-na-ad-di-in 230 The American Journal of Semitic Languages translation 4i gur of dates 2^ gur of dates a total of di gur of dates rent. 10 talents of ure. 10 talents of flower clusters (of) 251 date palms, rent of the orchard of Munawirtiim, daughter of NabiSamas, which , son of , has taken. In the month of Kislimum, in the gate of the temple compound, he shall pay according to standard measure of the Samas temple. Ten talents of ure, ten talents of flower clusters, his former dues, he shall give. NOTES Line 3: E . A^susA, very likely rent (Abgahe). This document, which is designated in the index to VS, XIII, as a Darlehen (loan), is nevertheless clearly a contract concerning the rent of an orchard. For .similar contracts see VS, VII«, VS, VII'«, VS, VI^^ Th.D. 226. Lines 10 f.: Cf. Ranke, BE, VI, Pt. I, "Concordance of Proper Names." In summing up the results of our investigation of Old Babylonian documents pertaining to date culture, it might be stated that the inferences and conclusions of V. Scheil as stated in the introduction have been verified by direct evidence from the Hamnmrabi period. Above all, artificial pollination was a well-known process, and legally covered by at least two paragraphs of the Code. In other respects the Code gave legal sanction to time-honored customs which had been foniied during many centuries in which the inhabitants of the Euphrates-Tigris Delta had enjoyed the blessings of this remarkable tree. Through them a high degree of efficiency was attained, and the interests of both the owner and renter were safeguarded. SUPPLEMENT DATE CULTURE AS AN ECONOMIC FACTOR The date palm possesses in a high degree the love and esteem of those for whom it pro\ades sustenance. The number of uses to which the tree and its products can be put is phenomenal ; a Persian poem praises enthusiastically 365 ways in which it proves itself the bene- factor of man. Strabo characterizes its usefulness to the Baby- lonians as follows: "All other wants (besides that of grain) are supplied by the date palm." Assyrian monuments are often pictur- ing their soldiers in the act of cutting down and destroying the date groves of besieged or captured cities. These ruthless warriors Date Culture in Ancient Babylonia 231 knew that by this act they woulil deal a death blow to the economic life of their enemiesT] Another witness to the high esteem in which the date palm was held in ancient Babylonia is the Code itself. See §59, which decrees that "if a man, without the consent of the owner of an orchard, cut a tree in that man's orchard he shall pay one-half mina of silver." This extremely heavy fine was, of course, calculated to protect this beneficent tree from any would-be despoiler. The temptation to such a theft, no doubt, was verj^ serious in a country which produced no other kind of lumber. In an attempt to estimate the productivitj' of Babylonian date groves we are almost entirely dependent upon the material used bj' Scheil in the article referred to above. The orchard described on the Nippur fragment shows by far the better record. If we disregard the series of trees of 25 ka, for which the number is missing, it would contain 239 trees; the entire number may have been something like 250 trees. With an average of 50 trees per acre the size of the orchard would amount to about five acres, or 600 sar. The total produce of dates, calculated from the scribe's estimate, would be 56|- gur. The record grove on the Umma tablet contains 341 trees with an esti- mated yield of 26 gur 185 ka. The total for the various groves mentioned on this tablet is 1,332 trees, with an estimated yield of 61 gur 154 ka. The highest yield per tree in the Umma orchards is 60 ka, while in the Nippur grove of the entire number of c. 250 trees there are 104 bearing more than 60 ka, seven trees yielding as high as one gur per tree. The impression which one gains from the Umma tablet is that it deals with young plantations; especially the rather high percentage of unproductive young trees favors this conclusion. The maximum yield in the Nippur grove is one gur per tree from a series of seven. This would correspond to about 105 kilograms (c. 210 pounds) if the value of the ka is taken to equal .47 liters. Mr. V. Scheil regards this to be an extremely light yield when com- pared with modern figures, which often show double that amount. Should we, however, accept the value of the ka to be .81 liters, as more recently proposed by Thureau-Dangin (Revue d'Assyriologie, 1912, p. 24), then this discrepancj' would disappear.^ On this basis ' The writer notices that this value has been accepted by recent French writers on economic topics. It is especially in the realm of agriculture proper that a value higher than .47 liters seems to be almost imperative. 232 The American Journal oi- Seiutic Languages the highest j'ield would be c. 365 pounds, a figure which would still be very moderate, since, according to Mr. Swingle, a yield of from 400- 600 pounds is not infrequent with rich soil and abundant irrigation (op. cit., p. 24). For the Hammurabi period there is only the above-cited contract VS, XIIP' that could be drawn upon for making comparisons. The 251 trees mentioned are evidently the number of date palms found in the orchard. If the 6|- gur of dates constitute about two-thirds of the produce, which the owner could legally demand for himself, then the entire yield was estimated about 10 gur of dates, plus the various by-products. This yield equals nearly. that of the third lot on the Umma tablet, where 291 trees are estimated with 12 gur 218 ka, which would give for 250 trees an average of a little more than 10 gur. There is still another way of arriving at an estimate of the eco- nomic importance of ^ate culture, namely, by comparing the sales value of farm land with that of date orchards. For this purpose Volume VS, XIII proves a regular storehouse of information, for not less than twelve orchard .sales are recorded. Comparing the average sales price of these orchards with the average value of farm lands during this period we will find that the former brought at least double the amount of the latter: VS, XIII Nu. Pi'o.venl- euce Number 31 Sip par Xiunber 57 Senkereh Senkcri-h Nun Jier 74 Sieokcreh Xunber 7S Si'iikcreii Xuii'ltcr NO Senkficli \unil)Or' .SI Senkereh Niiii'.bor .S7 Seiikereli N limbec V/'i Senkereh Xuni-btT 1)4 .^cnkereh NumboT !)S "^enl.ereh Number 9'.( Sr,,!,, r -Ii Arroimt of Land Price Ri'ice per 100 Sars Haninturabi 40 ? Rim-Pin. Isin 2 Risr-Sin. Lsin 2 Rim-Sin, Isin 7 lin .'> .sar 100 sar 70 sar 00 sar :-{l sar '.m sar 100 sar 90 sar l?,\) sar s.iO sar LMKi sai- i::(i sal- 1 h gekEls 7i S3l sekels 14 J sekels 30 sekels 7j sekels c. Gj .Sekels C-. loj Sekels e. 20 sekels 2:' J sekeU 10 sekeU c. 21 .sekels c. 11 sekels c. a 5?kels 12* sekels c. 11' sekels .\.verage price of orcliards = 14 sekels per 100 sare = 252 sekels per 1800 sars .Vverage price paid for farm lauds, computed from 22 sales = 113j sekels per ISOO sars The value of date orchards is therefore more than double that of common farm land. LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 000 918 053 9