The civilization of Babylonia and Assyria

Its remains, language, history, religion, commerce, law, art, and literature

by Morris Jastrow | 1915 | 168,585 words

This work attempts to present a study of the unprecedented civilizations that flourished in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley many thousands of years ago. Spreading northward into present-day Turkey and Iran, the land known by the Greeks as Mesopotamia flourished until just before the Christian era....

We are now ready to take up some illustrations of legal procedure and of business methods in the time of the first dynasty of Babylon and of later periods, restricting ourselves mainly to such specimens as will also show the practical workings and application of the regulations in the contemporary code of Hammurapi which we have discussed.

The scope of the published documents from this period [1] is exceedingly extensive, covering all kinds of loans, sales of houses, fields and orchards, mercantile transactions in produce, in live stock and goods, leases of houses, fields, commission brokerage, hire of boats, of animals and of workmen, partnership, surety and guarantees, gifts to members of one's family, inheritance and disinheritance, slave trade, marriage and divorce, adoption, and manumission being some of the subjects covered, besides many instances of lawsuits which illuminate the legal procedure of the courts.

The formulae for loans are much the same as those which we have already come across in Sumerian documents, with interest fluctuating from 5 x /2 to 25 per cent. for loans of money, and from 20 per cent, to 33% for loans of produce. Loans without interest, naturally, were made at all periods as a kind of personal accommodation. Women often appear both as creditors and debtors ; and it is significant that we find a large number of instances of priestesses [2] engaged in money and in produce lending, and in other mercantile transactions.

Fines are occasionally stipulated in case of failure to return the loan at the time agreed upon. The temples in the large centres continue to act as financial institutions, lending money and produce and making investments in real estate, selling property, making labor contracts of all kinds and dealing in slaves.

The kings also engage in mercantile pursuits through their accredited agents; they appear to have utilized their large holdings more particularly for wool-growing, the extensive sheepfolds in various parts of the realm being directly under the supervision of the governors appointed by the king. [3] The breaking of the tablet recording a loan was the formal termination of the transaction. Receipts were also given, though not obligatory. Debts could be transferred, and in case of the death of the debtor, the obligation rested upon the heirs.

Failure to pay gave the creditor the right to levy on the produce or other property of the debtor; and if there was no property, the person of the debtor falls into the hands of the creditor, though he could substitute for his person, his wife, child or slave. To relieve such hardships, the law provided that someone could become surety for the debtor at the expiration of the term of the loan and agree to reimburse the creditor within a short period.

Precautions were also taken against usurious rates of interest, though the creditor usually succeeded in driving a sharp bargain by being permitted to lend produce at the current price at the time of the loan usually in the winter or spring, before the harvest with a return of this amount at the harvest season when the price was considerably lower, and the creditor therefore received more produce back than he loaned.

A promissory note from the days of Darius may be taken as a sample of the general form employed. [4]

"One mina and five shekels of silver (due) Nabu-mukin-zer, son of Idinna, son of Gakhul, from Nabu-tabni-usur, son of Apia, son of Gakhal. Monthly for each mina one shekel of silver shall increase against him apart from his share of a record of a seed field on the Kish highway, held in partnership with his brothers, as a pledge for Nabu-mukin-zer. The total amount of silver against him he shall pay.

Witness: Nabu-etir, son of Nergal-ushallim, son of Sha-nashishu, Bel-iddin, son of Tabnea, son of Warad-Nergal, Nabu-napishti-usur, son of Shuma, the fisherman, Nabu-mukin-zer, the scribe, son of Shamash-akh-iddin, son of Nashishu. Babylon, month of Simanu, [5] 23rd day, 4th year of Darius, [6] king of Babylon, king of the lands."

The interest here, as in general throughout the later periods, is at the rate of twenty per cent, per year, though in Assyria it fluctuated from twenty per cent, to as high as a hundred per cent. Attached to the record of a loan is a reference to another document, previously drawn up, in which Nabu-tabni-usur has given Nabumukin-zer his share of a sown field held in common with a brother as a guarantee a collateral, as we would say, to obtain the loan.

Loans could of course be made for any specified time, but in an agricultural country it is in the fall and more especially in the spring that farmers and land owners needed money to pay their laborers and to provide seed and other necessities of the fields, which they could return at harvest time. A loan of this kind made in Sippar reads: [7]

"One shekel of silver for Mar-irsitim, 1/3 shekel for Ilu-abi, the sons of Makhnubtim( ?), at the usual rate of interest of the Shamash temple, received from A-rishat, the priestess of Shamash, daughter of Shamshatum. At the time of the harvest they will repay the silver with the interest. In the presence of Akhuni, son of Lu-Gul . . . and of Sin-magir, the diviner, in the month of Gan-Gan-e [8] in the year when the throne of Innina was made." [9]

We see from this and from many other instances that the rate of interest in temple transactions was fixed presumably twenty or twenty-five per cent. and that a priestess could act as a money lender. In the same way we find another priestess lending produce at interest. [10]

"181 Gur of grain, on interest at the usual rate (sc. of the Shamash temple), from Nishi-inishu, the priestess of Shamash, daughter of Khuzalum, Sin-imgurrani, son of Sin-rabi, has received. At the harvest in the month of Shandutim [11] he shall measure out the grain and its interest. In the presence of Warad-Sin, son of Mar-irsitim, Etel-pi-Adad, son of Belanum, son of Mar-ibik-irsitim. Month of Dul-azagga, [12] first day in the year when the throne of Nannar was made." [13]

An interesting loan made by four persons through a palace commissioner, payable on demand, reads as follows: [14]

"One talent [15] of wool of the palace, [16] worth 10 shekels of silver which Ilushu-ibni, overseer of the merchants, has received from the palace through ( ?) Utul-Ishtar, the scribe, Taribum, son of Ibi-Shamash, Ibku-Mamu( ?), Beliatum, sons of Ilushu-bani, and Kubburum have borrowed from Ilushu-ibni, the agent. On the day that the palace demands it, the money shall be brought to the palace. In the presence of Warad-ilishu, the scribe, month of Kin-Innina, [17] 22d day, in the year when Ammi-ditana set up his image as leader of the army." [19]

In the case of purchases, the greatest care was taken in the formal deed to protect the purchaser against fraud or even unintentional deception by the assurance on oath of the seller that he renounces all claims for all times as a consequence of the bona fide sale. Not infrequently the further assurance is included that the seller guarantees through a third party against any claims on the property or object sold.

This precaution was particularly required in the sale of land or houses which, as forming part of a family estate, could not as a survival of earlier conditions of family joint-ownership be disposed of by the head of the family, to the detriment of his heirs, or of those otherwise entitled to a share of the estate. The heirs and possible claimants are accordingly at times brought into the proceedings when a sale of a house or field is consummated, to guarantee the purchaser against future trouble.

The purchase was ordinarily a cash transaction, though there are instances of part cash payment and the rest on credit. Certain formalities were observed at the sale, noticeable among which is, in the case of deeds drawn in Sippar, Babylon and Dilbat, the handing over of a staff by the seller to the purchaser [19] as a symbol of the agreement. A still older custom that can be traced back to pre-Sargonic days [20] is the addition of a small bonus over and above the price agreed upon, equivalent to about five per cent, of the total value in the case of real estate and from one per cent, to five and a fourth per cent, in the case of slaves. [21]

It may be, as has been suggested, that the custom which is encountered also in Graeco-Egyptian documents is to be traced back to an earlier prohibition of disposing of land as belonging to the gods, leading to a fictitious sale by giving not the purchase price but a higher amount, so as to lend to the transaction the form of a gift made by the seller rather than an actual bargain.

The most interesting feature of these deeds of sale is the various specifications that they contain, setting forth both the rights and the restrictions imposed upon the purchaser, the exact details regarding the property or objects sold and the terms of the sale. A purchase of a house made by one brother from another is recorded as follows: [22]

"One-third of a Sar and six Gin of improved property,[23] adjoining the house of Ea-idinnam, poultry dealer (?), being the house of Amurru-malik, son of Erish-sumatum, from Amurrumalik, Apil-Amurru, his older brother, has bought. As the full value, he has weighed out nine shekels of silver. For all times, Amurru-malik and his heirs, as many as there may be, renounce any claim on that house. In the name of the king he has sworn."

There follow the names of four witnesses, of the scribe and the official seal-maker, [24] together with the date, the ninth day of the eighth month in the ninth year of Samsu-iluna. [25] The seal of the seller is attached to the document, rolled twice over the tablet in the space just before the date.

In the case of purchase of slaves, the seller assumes the responsibility for the good condition of the slave by agreeing to revoke the sale in case within a month the slave is seized with a sickness known as bennu [26] which would incapacitate him. This is in accord with 278 of the Hammurapi code. [27] A document of this class reads as follows: [28]

"A female slave, Ina-e-ul-mash-banat by name, from the city Ursum, belonging to Damik-Marduk, son of Libit-Ishtar, Usria, son of Warad-za, has bought from Damik-Marduk, son of Libit-Ishtar, her master. As the full price he has weighed % mina and one shekel [29] of silver, besides 2/3 of a shekel as bonus. Three days are allowed for investigation, and one month for a revocation in case of bennu sickness, according to the laws of the king."

The names of five witnesses and of the scribe are attached to the document which is dated 15th day of the 9th month of the 7th year of Amini-ditana. [30]

The guarantee against the bennu sickness as an assurance that the slave was sold in good condition was extended in Assyria to one hundred days, an indication of the frequency with which the development of the sickness after more than a month must have occurred. Moreover, the seller in Assyria was also obliged to guarantee that the slave was tractable. As in other purchases and agreements, a heavy fine is imposed for any suit brought in future to reclaim the slave. An Assyrian document of this kind recording the sale of three slaves reads: [31]

"Seal of Sharrani, owner of the persons herewith legally transferred. Im-sha-i (?), the slave, . . . Shar-Ashur, Urkit4 . . . total three persons, . . . Akhu-tali (?), the mayoress of the central quarter of the city [32] has acquired for four mina of silver. [33] The silver has been paid in full. These men have been bought and taken over. Revocation or law suit there shall not be. Whosoever presses a suit against the mayoress, shall pay a fine of 15 mina of silver. Against their being seized (with bennu sickness) a guarantee of 100 days, against rebelliousness for all times." [34]

The transaction is attested by nine witnesses, an unusual number in Assyrian documents, and due in this case probably to the fact that three slaves are involved. The date is the 18th of the 12th month in the eponymate of Bel-imur-ani, the general-in-chief , corresponding to the year 685 B.C. in the reign of King Sennacherib. [35]

The position of the slaves in Assyria was much the same as in Babylonia. They could hold property in their own right and could even have slaves of their own. They could act as witnesses and had their seals with which to attest transactions made by them. Slaves could even marry daughters of freemen, and we have also instances in Assyria of a slave with two wives. [36] The law also protected the family of a slave so that the members were not torn away from their surroundings.

In many cases slaves formed an integral part of landed estates and were sold together with their families with the property to which they were attached.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

See the bibliography in Schorr's Altbabylonische Rechtsurkunden, p. xlix-lvi. Schorr's work itself comprises translations of 318 documents with commentary, glossary and indices of proper names. It is a valuable compilation, despite many inconsistencies in the translations, and many omissions in the glossary and indices.

[2]:

Chiefly of the temple of Shamash at Sippar, though this is of course largely accidental, owing to the provenance of many of the documents.

[3]:

An old title of the Babylonian kings frequently introduced in votive and historical inscriptions is "shepherd," which thus turns out to be more than a mere epithetum ornans, and reflects the actual occupation of the rulers, who naturally became the largest land owners in their realm.

[4]:

Clay, Legal and Commercial Documents dated in the Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods (Philadelphia, 1908), No. 105. In the documents of these late periods, the names of individuals are carried back to the third generation, the "grandfather," however, being in many cases the family name. The dating (since the Cassite period), is according to the years of the reigning king.

[5]:

Third month.

[6]:

Corresponding to c. 518 B.C.

[7]:

Ungnad in Vorderasiatische Schriftdenkmaler der Kgl. Museen zu Berlin, Heft viii, Nos. 117-118 (case tablet with seal on the outer tablet).

[8]:

Ninth month.

[9]:

Fourteenth year of Hammurapi, corresponding to c. 2109 B.C.

[10]:

Vorderas. Schriftdenkmaler, etc. Heft viii, Nos. 93-94 (case tablet).

[11]:

A designation of one of the months in the fall of the year.

[12]:

Seventh month.

[13]:

Third year of Hammurapi, c. 2120 B.C.

[14]:

Cun. Texts viii, PI. 36a

[15]:

That is, the weight of 3600 shekels (or 60 mina), equal to about 30 kilograms.

[16]:

That is, royal property. See above p. 338. 130 Sixth month.

[17]:

Sixth month.

[18]:

26th year of Ammi-ditana, corresponding to the year c. 1988 B.C.

[19]:

Bukanu. See Schorr I.e., p. 116 and note on p. 122 with the references there given.

[20]:

Genouillac, TaUettes Sumeriennes Archaiques (Paris, 1909), p. xxxv, seq.

[21]:

So according to Cuq, "Etudes sur les Contracts de I'epoque de la premiere Dynastic "bdbylonienne," in Nouvelle Revue Historique de droit Francais et etranger, vol. xxxiv, p. 463.

[22]:

Poebel, I.e., No. 33.

[23]:

The distinction is thus made between land and ground with a house.

[24]:

Above p. 334.

[25]:

Corresponding to the year c. 2071 B.C.

[26]:

Perhaps "epilepsy".

[27]:

Above p. 314.

[28]:

Vorderas. Schriftdenkmaler, Heft vii, No. 50.

[29]:

That is, 51 shekels a very high price for a slave.

[30]:

Corresponding to c. 2007 B.C.

[31]:

Johns, Assyrian Deeds and Documents, No. 232. The text is defective at the beginning.

[32]:

A curious office to be held by a woman !

[33]:

A high price, being an average of 80 shekels per slave.

[34]:

That is, a guarantee that the three slaves were tractable.

[35]:

On the Assyrian method of dating documents see below p. 351.

[36]:

See Johns, l.c., No. 229.

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