uld bequeath at her own death; but
upon her death her portion returned to her own family unless her father
had assigned her the privilege of bequeathing it. That the social
position enjoyed by a votary was considerable is proved by the fact that
many women of good family, and even members of the royal house, took
vows. The existence of the order and its high repute indicate a
very advanced conception of the position of women among the early
Babylonians.

From the code of Hammurabi we also gather considerable information with
regard to the various classes of which the community was composed and
to their relative social positions. For the purposes of legislation
the community was divided into three main classes or sections, which
corresponded to well-defined strata in the social system. The lowest
of these classes consisted of the slaves, who must have formed a
considerable portion of the population. The class next above them
comprised the large body of free men, who were possessed of a certain
amount of property but were poor and humble, as their name, _muslikenu_,
implied. These we may refer to as the middle class. The highest, or
upper class, in the Babylonian community embraced all the officers and
ministers attached to the court, the higher officials and servants
of the state, and the owners of considerable lands and estates. The
differences which divided and marked off from one another the two great
classes of free men in the population of Babylonia is well illustrated
by the scale of payments as compensation for injury which they were
obliged to make or were entitled to receive. Thus, if a member of the
upper class were guilty of stealing an ox, or a sheep, or an ass, or
a pig, or a boat, from a temple or a private house, he had to pay the
owner thirty times its value as compensation, whereas if the thief were
a member of the middle class he only had to pay ten times its price, but
if he had no property and so could not pay compensation he was put to
death. The penalty for manslaughter was less if the assailant was a man
of the middle class, and such a man could also divorce his wife more
cheaply, and was privileged to pay his doctor or surgeon a smaller fee
for a successful operation.

But the privileges enjoyed by a man of the middle class were
counterbalanced by a corresponding diminution of the value at which
his life and limbs were assessed. Thus, if a doctor by carrying out an
operation unskilfully caused t