the possessions of the god equal to those of the reigning sovereign, if the attacks of neighbouring peoples had not from time to time issued in the loss of a part of it, or if the king himself had not, under financial pressure, replenished his treasury at the expense of the priests.  To prevent such usurpations as far as possible, maledictions were hurled at every one who should dare to lay a sacrilegious hand on the least object belonging to the divine domain; it was predicted of such “that he would be killed like an ox in the midst of his prosperity, and slaughtered like a wild urus in the fulness of his strength!...  May his name be effaced from his stelae in the temple of his god!  May his god see pitilessly the disaster of his country, may the god ravage his land with the waters of heaven, ravage it with the waters of the earth.  May he be pursued as a nameless wretch, and his seed fall under servitude!  May this man, like every one who acts adversely to his master, find nowhere a refuge, afar off, under the vault of the skies or in any abode of man whatsoever.”  These threats, terrible as they were, did not succeed in deterring the daring, and the mighty men of the time were willing to brave them, when their interests promoted them.  Gulkishar, Lord of the “land of the sea,” had vowed a wheat-field to Nina, his lady, near the town of Deri, on the Tigris.  Seven hundred years later, in the reign of Belnadinabal, Ekarrakais, governor of Bitsinmagir, took possession of it, and added it to the provincial possessions, contrary to all equity.  The priest of the goddess appealed to the king, and prostrating himself before the throne with many prayers and mystic formulas, begged for the restitution of the alienated land.  Belnadinabal acceded to the request, and renewed the imprecations which had been inserted on the original deed of gift:  “If ever, in the course of days, the man of law, or the governor of a suzerain who will superintend the town of Bitsinmagir, fears the vengeance of the god Zikum or the goddess Nina, may then Zikum and Nina, the mistress of the goddesses, come to him with the benediction of the prince of the gods; may they grant to him the destiny of a happy life, and may they accord to him days of old age, and years of uprightness!  But as for thee, who hast a mind to change this, step not across its limits, do not covet the land:  hate evil and love justice.”  If all sovereigns were not so accommodating in their benevolence as Belnadinabal, the piety of private individuals, stimulated by fear, would be enough to repair the loss, and frequent legacies would soon make up for the detriment caused to the temple possessions by the enemy’s sword or the rapacity of an unscrupulous lord.  The residue, after the vicissitudes of revolutions, was increased and diminished from time to time, to form at length in the city an indestructible fief whose administration was a function of the chief priest for life, and whose revenue furnished means in abundance for the personal exigencies of the gods as well as the support of his ministers.