Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts, and Letters. By C. H.
W. Johns, M.A. (T. and T. Clark. 12s. net.)—There is a striking sentence in Mr. Johns's preface. He has been insisting on the great debt of modern civilisation to Babylonia. After pointing out that much commonly thought to be Hebrew is really derived from Babylonia, he goes On: "A right-thinking citizen of a modern city would probably feel more at home in ancient Babylon than in mediaeval Europe." The chief foundation for the descriptions, &c., in this volume is the Hammurabi Code, of which Mr. Johns gives a detailed exposition. Of this it stands in need in several ways. Its penalties were not so severe as they seem. Sometimes, Mr. Johns thinks, they were simply deterrent, "a memory of bygone horrors." Here we feel a little doubtful. "There is no proof that such an offering "—here the penalty was the devoting of a child as a burnt-offering—"ever took place." But what proof could there be ? The book is a very valuable contribution to our knowledge of the past.
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