per year as wages (§ 258). The care of the hired animals was strictly guarded. A lion might kill ox or ass, and the
owner had to bear the loss (§ 244). But neglect or ill-treatment had to be paid for (§§ 245, 246), Partial injury was assessed (g§ 247, 248). The hand of God’ was the owner’s loss (§ 249). The responsibility for a savage bull was decided. I£ the animal suddenly got out of hand and killed a, man,
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CODE OF HAMMURABI 593
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it was treated as an accident (§ 250). But if the animal was known to be vicious and his owner took no means to prevent his doing harm, the owner had to pay blood money (§§ 251, 252). The price of a three year old ox was twenty shekels (B® 448).
5. Vast herds and flocks were owned. Hundreds of sheep are named as under the care of one man. The king had occasion to call as many as forty-seven shepherds to account at one time (King, iii: p. 70). The sheep had to be taken some distance to pas- ture. The shepherd gave a receipt for the animals entrusted to him, and was bound to return them with reasonable increase in the amount by breed- ing. He was allowed to use a certain number for his keep and that of his underlings. He had to face perils from wild beasts and robbers. The Suti nomads were specially feared. We find a Sutu hired to protect the flocks from his clansmen (B! 532). The shepherd or herdsman was paid eight GUR of corn per year (§ 261). He had to restore ox for ox, sheep for sheep (§ 263). He had to see that the flock did not waste or prove un- profitable, or else make good the deficiency (§ 264). Wilful embezzlement was to be repaid tenfold (§ 265). Loss by the hand of God or wild beasts was the owner’s loss (§ 266). But carelessness was to be made good (§ 267). When the sheep were taken out or brought home, they had to traverse the meadows, and must be kept from eating the growing crops. To let his flock eat the corn ina field without consent of the owner of the field, was punished by a fine of twenty GUR of corn per GAN. This was when the crop was green and the owner might expect the corn to recover and bear a crop (§ 57). It was worse if the crop was nearly ripe and the sheep had already reached the common fold within the city, where they were fed on corn by the shepherd. If he then allowed them to stray in a standing field of corn, he had to take entire responsibility for the field, and make what he could of it, but had to pay sixty GUR of corn per GAN (§ 58).
vili. SHIPPING, AND TRADE AND COMMERCE.— 1, The shipping trade was considerable. We are not altogether in a position to say what the ships were like at this time, but freight boats of sixty GUR capacity were common, and one of seventy-five GUR is named (King, Letters, iii. p. 67). On the canals, at least, they seem to have been propelled with poles, which were also used to fasten them. They were numerous ; as many as twenty-five to- gether were anchored at the quay of Samas, in Sippara, at one time (S 160). At all times there is evidence of considerable activity in commerce and fishing along these waterways. (For later times, see Meissner and Knudtzon, Vienna Oriental Journal, iv. p. 129f.; Pinches, Sir H. Peck’s Tablets, p. 824.). The temple ships are named in § 8. The same word was used for boatbuilder and boatman. If he had completed (literally ‘caulked,’ ‘closed’) a ship of sixty GUR for a man, he was entitled to two shekels of silver as a fee; the owner probably found the materials (§ 234). He had to give a year’s guarantee with it, replac- ing it with a sound ship if it showed faults within that time (§ 235). The boatman who navigated the ship was paid six GUR of corn per year (§ 239). The hired boatman was responsible for the care of the ship, restoring ship for ship if lost (§ 236) ; also for the cargo, if lost by his carelessness (§ 237). But if he refloated a ship he had sunk, and it was sound, he only paid half value (§ 238). A ship which ran down another at anchor was held re- sponsible for the damage (§ 240). The hire of a passenger or fast boat was two and a half Sz of silver per day (§ 276), that of a freight ship of sixty @UR, a sixth of a shekel of silver per day (§ 277), twelve times as much.
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2. A great deal of business was done by ship, or caravan, with foreign countries. The Code con- templates captives in war carried away from Babylonia being bought abroad by slave-dealers and brought back (§§ 132, 280, 281). Slaves might be sold and transported abroad by merchants (§ 118). We read of a free man who had been sold as a slave to Duplias, perhaps for debt (B? 419). The Code legislates for the case of con- signments of gold, silver, jewels, or portable treas- ures sent by a man resident abroad. The carrier was bound to deliver, or pay fivefold (§ 112). In this period Carchemish wares were already to be found in Babylonian homes (B! 19).