respected the various
deities in whom the various groups of people reposed their faith,
restored despoiled temples, and re-endowed them with characteristic
generosity. By so doing he not only afforded the pious full freedom
and opportunity to perform their religious ordinances, but also
promoted the material welfare of his subjects, for the temples were
centres of culture and the priests were the teachers of the young.
Excavators have discovered at Sippar traces of a school which dates
from the Hammurabi Dynasty. Pupils learned to read and write, and
received instruction in arithmetic and mensuration. They copied
historical tablets, practised the art of composition, and studied
geography.

Although there were many professional scribes, a not inconsiderable
proportion of the people of both sexes were able to write private and
business letters. Sons wrote from a distance to their fathers when in
need of money then as now, and with the same air of undeserved
martyrdom and subdued but confident appeal. One son indited a long
complaint regarding the quality of the food he was given in his
lodgings. Lovers appealed to forgetful ladies, showing great concern
regarding their health. "Inform me how it fares with thee," one wrote
four thousand years ago. "I went up to Babylon so that I might meet
thee, but did not, and was much depressed. Let me know why thou didst
go away so that I may be made glad. And do come hither. Ever have care
of thy health, remembering me." Even begging-letter writers were not
unknown. An ancient representative of this class once wrote to his
employer from prison. He expressed astonishment that he had been
arrested, and, having protested his innocence, he made touching appeal
for little luxuries which were denied to him, adding that the last
consignment which had been forwarded had never reached him.

Letters were often sent by messengers who were named, but there also
appears to have been some sort of postal system. Letter carriers,
however, could not have performed their duties without the assistance
of beasts of burden. Papyri were not used as in Egypt. Nor was ink
required. Babylonian letters were shapely little bricks resembling
cushions. The angular alphabetical characters, bristling with
thorn-like projections, were impressed with a wedge-shaped stylus on
tablets of soft clay which were afterwards carefully baked in an oven.
Then the letters were placed in baked clay envelopes, sealed and
addr