Stevenson’s Assyrian and Babylonian Contracts

Dr. James Henry Stevenson studied and translated contract texts from the British Museum, which are written in Assyrian and Babylonian cuneiform along with Aramaic inscriptions. Stevenson admits the cuneiform is difficult, but the Aramaic is far harder to decipher because it was (lightly) scratched into the tablets. For those interested in Semitic paleography, these Assyrian and Babylonian contracts are a helpful guide to understanding the changes Aramaic underwent from the seventh to fifth centuries BCE.