A Primer of Assyriology [Illustrated]

This edition features
• illustrations
• a linked Table of Contents, linked Footnotes, and linked Index

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE
Geography — Population and Language — The Chaldaeans — The Kassi — Natural Products — Canals — Architecture — Asphalt and Naphtha — Character of the Babylonians and Assyrians
CHAPTER II
THE DISCOVERY AND DECIPHERMENT OF THE INSCRIPTIONS
The Site of Babylon — The Site of Nineveh — Excavations — The Decipherment of the Inscriptions — The Decipherment tested — Sumerian — Vannic — Other Languages — The origin of the Cuneiform Syllabary — Simplification of the Syllabary
CHAPTER III
BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN HISTORY
Different States in Babylonia — The first Empire — The monuments of Tello — Chronology — The United Monarchy — The rise of Assyria — Babylon a sacred city — Tiglath-pileser I — The First Assyrian Empire — The Second Assyrian Empire — The Babylonian Empire — Cyrus and the Fall of Babylon — Belshazzar — Decay of Babylon
CHAPTER IV
RELIGION
The religions of Babylonia and Assyria — Differences between Babylonian and Assyrian religion — Sumerian religion Shamanistic — Two centres of Babylonian religion — Semitic influence — The goddess Istar — Bel-Merodach — Other deities — Sacred books and ritual — The Priests — The Temples — Astro-theology — Sacrifices and offerings — The Sabbath — Monotheistic tendency — The future life — Cosmology
CHAPTER V
BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN LITERATURE
Aids to the reading of the texts — The libraries — Varieties of literature — The texts autotypes — Astronomy — Mathematics — Medicine and law — History and mythology — The Chaldaean epic and the Deluge — Epic of the Creation
CHAPTER VI
SOCIAL LIFE
The Contract-tablets — Married Life — Burial — Slavery — Lowness of Wages — Property — Taxes — Prices — Usury — The Army — Navy — The Bureaucracy
APPENDIX
Assyrian Measures of Length — Measures of Capacity — Measures of Weight and Coinage — The Months of the Year
Babylonian Kings — Assyrian Kings — High Priests of Assur — Kings of Assyria
Synchronisms between Assyrian and Biblical History
The Principal Deities of Babylonia and Assyria