ds or other gifts. At times, the endowment took the
form of certain quantities of wine, corn, oil, fruits, and the like, for
which annual provision is made; at times, the harvest derived from a
piece of property is set aside for the benefit of the temple. In other
ways, too, the temples acquired large holdings, through purchases of
land made from the income accruing to it, and from the tithes which it
became customary to collect. This property was either farmed through the
authorities of the temple for the direct benefit of the sanctuary, or
was rented out to private parties under favorable conditions. We learn
of large bodies of laborers indentured to temples, as well as of slaves
owned or controlled by the temples. These workmen were engaged for
various purposes,--for building operations, for service in the fields,
for working raw material, such as wool, into finished products, and much
more the like. But, more than this, the temples engaged directly in
commercial affairs, lending sums of money and receiving interest. In
some sanctuaries, a thriving business of barter and exchange was carried
on. Crops are sold, houses are rented by the temple agents, and there
was scarcely an avenue of commerce into which the temples did not enter.
An active business was also carried on in the manufacture and sale of
idols, votive offerings, amulets, and the like. A very large number of
the legal documents found in the Babylonian mounds deal with the
business affairs of the temples.[1432] Such a state of affairs naturally
contributed towards making the temples important establishments and
towards increasing the influence of the priests over the people.

The temples of Assyria play a minor part in the religious life of rulers
and people. True, grand structures were reared in Ashur, Calah, Nineveh,
and Arbela, and no important step was taken by the kings without
consulting Ashur, Ishtar, or Ramman through the mediation of the
priests. The great cities of Assyria also become intellectual centers.
The priests of Arbela created a school of theological thought, but all
these efforts were but weak imitations of the example furnished by the
temples of the south. Even Ashurbanabal, whose ambition was to make
Nineveh the center of religious and intellectual progress, failed of his
purpose. His empire soon fell to decay, and with that decay Nineveh
disappears from the stage of history. Babylon and Borsippa, however,
remain, and continue to hand