See above, p. 45 _seq._
Line 154. _assat sim?tim_ is the "legitimate wife," and the line
inculcates monogamy as against promiscuous sexual intercourse. We know
that monogamy was the rule in Babylonia, though a man could in addition
to the wife recognized as the legalized spouse take a concubine, or
his wife could give her husband a slave as a concubine. Even in that
case, according to the Hammurabi Code, ยงยง145-146, the wife retained
her status. The Code throughout assumes that a man has only _one_
wife--the _assat sim?tim_ of our text. The phrase "so" (or "that")
before "as afterwards" is to be taken as an idiomatic expression--"so
it was and so it should be for all times"--somewhat like the phrase
_mahriam ? arkiam_, "for all times," in legal documents (_CT_ VIII,
38c, 22-23). For the use of _m?k_ see Behrens, _Assyrisch-Babylonische
Briefe_, p. 3.
Line 158. _i-na bi-ti-ik a-bu-un-na-ti-s?_. Another puzzling line,
for which Langdon proposes "in the work of his presence," which is
as obscure as the original. In a note he says that _apunn?ti_ means
"nostrils," which is certainly wrong. There has been considerable
discussion about this term (see Holma, _Namen der K?rperteile_,
pages 150 and 157), the meaning of which has been advanced by
Christian's discussion in _OLZ_ 1914, p.
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