count of
the class of tablet and short descriptions of ninety-four exhibited case
tablets. Most of these tablets have been published by Strassmaier or in
_Cuneiform Texts_, but are now indicated by their new registration
numbers.

It will be evident from the above remarks that only a small proportion of
the material in our museums has yet been published. It is greatly to be
desired that every existing tablet should be published, as in no other way
can we hope to solve many important problems. Not only the chronology but
much of the actual history can be recovered from these tablets, while the
names of the witnesses and parties to the transactions will settle the
order of the years which are still doubtful. It is from these deeds that
the greater part of this work will be constructed. They form the
groundwork, while later documents fill in details.

(M31) The years were given names. Thus the second year of Hammurabi is
called "the year in which Hammurabi the king established the heart of the
land in righteousness." The year often received its name from the capture
of some city. Are we to suppose that these events actually occurred on the
first day of the year? If not, by what name was the year called up to the
occurrence of the event in question? There is evidence that some years
passed by two names, one of which was probably conferred after the year
had begun. An examination of all dated tablets would doubtless result in
fixing the time of the year at which the new year-name came into use. This
can only be achieved by the custodians of our great collections. But,
speaking generally, it seems obvious that names were often given to the
years which attached to them a memory of the previous rather than a record
for the current year. When in after years scribes drew up lists of the
dates of a reign, they may well have made mistakes as to the exact year in
which an event took place and have also credited a king with too long a
reign, by counting as separate years two dates which were really the
alternatives for one and the same year. In this way we may perhaps account
for the discrepancies between the Chronicle and the King Lists.

(M32) The tablets often mention the name of the reigning king as well as
the year-name; thus we read as a date, "the year when Samsuiluna was
king," followed by "the year in which the canal of Samsuiluna named
Hegallu was dug," which was the year-name of Samsuiluna's fourth year.
Also the parties