Thus, if
a builder built a house for a man, and his work was not sound and the
house fell and crushed the owner so that he died, it was enacted that
the builder himself should be put to death. If the fall of the house
killed the owner's son, the builder's own son was to be put to death.
[Illustration: 285.jpg A SMALL CARAVAN IN THE MOUNTAINS OF KURDISTAN.]
If one or more of the owner's slaves were killed, the builder had to
restore him slave for slave. Any damage which the owner's goods might
have suffered from the fall of the house was to be made good by the
builder. In addition to these penalties the builder was obliged to
rebuild the house, or any portion of it that had fallen through
not being properly secured, at his own cost. On the other hand, due
provisions were made for the payment of the builder for sound work; and
as the houses of the period rarely, if ever, consisted of more than one
story, the scale of payment was fixed by the area of ground covered by
the building.
[Illustration: 286.jpg THE CITY OF MOSUL.]
Situated on the right bank of the Tigris opposite the mounds
which mark the site of the ancient city of Nineveh. The
flat-roof ednouses which may be distinguished in the
photograph are very similar in form and construction to
those employed by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians.
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