ditor,
Father V. Scheil, _Professeur a l'Ecole des Hautes-Etudes_, has given as
his reading of the archaic signs. The volume, which appears as _Tome
IV., Textes Elamites-Semitiques_, of the _Memoires de la Delegation en
Perse_ (Paris, Leroux, 1902), is naturally rather expensive for the
ordinary reader. Besides, the rendering of the eminent French savant,
while distinguished by that clear, neat phrasing which is so charming a
feature of all his work, is often rather a paraphrase than a translation.
The ordinary reader who desires to estimate for himself the importance of
the new monument will be forced to wonder how and why the same word in
the original gets such different renderings. Prolonged study will be
needed to bring out fully the whole meaning of many passages, and it may
conduce to such a result to present the public with an alternative
rendering in an English dress. Needless to say, scholars will continue
to use Scheil's edition as the ultimate source, but for comparative
purposes a literal translation may be welcome as an introduction.

The monument itself consists of a block of black diorite, nearly eight
feet high, found in pieces, but readily rejoined. It contains on the
obverse a very interesting representation of the King Hammurabi,
receiving his laws from the seated sun-god Samas, 'the judge of heaven
and earth.' Then follow, on the obverse, sixteen columns of writing with
1114 lines. There were five more columns on this side, but they have
been erased and the stone repolished, doubtless by the Elamite conqueror,
who meant to inscribe his name and titles there. As we have lost those
five columns we may regret that he did not actually do this, but there is
now no trace of any hint as to who carried off the stone. On the reverse
side are twenty-eight columns with more than 2500 lines of inscription.

A great space, some 700 lines, is devoted by the king to setting out his
titles, his glory, his care for his subjects, his veneration of his gods,
and incidentally revealing the cities and districts under his rule, with
many interesting hints as to local cults. He also invokes blessing on
those who should preserve and respect his monument, and curses those who
should injure or remove it. A translation of this portion is not given,
as it is unintelligible without copious comment and is quite foreign to
the purpose of this book, which aims solely at making the Code
intelligible.

I desire to expres