Business Documents of Murashû Sons of Nippur Dated in the Reign of Darius II. (424-404 BC) [The Babylonian Expedition of The University of Pennsylvania – Series A: Cuneiform Texts. Volume X]

Clay, Rev. Albert T. (Text by); H. V. Hilprecht (Edited by). Business Documents of Murashû Sons of Nippur Dated in the Reign of Darius II. (424-404 BC) [The Babylonian Expedition of The University of Pennsylvania – Series A: Cuneiform Texts. Volume X]. Philadelphia: Department of Archaeology and Paloeontology of the University of Pennsylvania, 1904. First edition. Large quarto (12 x 9 1/4″). xix, [1], 87, [11]pp (Text); 72, xvii leaves (Plates); [2]pp (Corrections and Additions). Modern olive cloth, with gold lettering to spine.

Sumerian administrative documents pertaining to the Murashû’s Sons, a prominent banking and commercial family in the Babylonian city of Nippur, active during the reigns of Artaxerxes I and Darius II. In 1893 an expedition from the University of Pennsylvania uncovered 730 clay tablets from the family archive dating from 455 to 403 b.c.e. The texts deal with diverse undertakings such as payment of taxes on behalf of others, land management, and the granting of loans to be repaid at a high rate of interest.

This volume contains 72 plates of autograph texts as well as 17 plates of b/w photographic reproductions.

Ex-library bookplate on inside of front cover, and pocket on inside of back cover. Ex-library stamp to top and bottom edges. Binding and interior in very good condition. vg. Hardcover. (45837) $95