Table Of ContentJLi l-.-.-I.;. - L.~.A I.·.-.~/ !1,- -, ,!. _ ';/-1
LEGAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE
ROYAL COURT OF NINEVEH
PART I
TIGLATH-PILESER III THROUGH
ESARHADDON
Edited by
THEODORE KWASMAN
and
FRONTISPIECE. Bronze lion-weight (665.7 g) inscribed 213 ofa royal minG. From Nimrud. SIMO PARPOLA
BM 91230.
Illustrations
edited by
JULIAN READE
HELSINKI UNIVERSITY PRESS
1991
FOREWORD
The basic manuscript of this volume was prepared by Theodore Kwasman
and Simo Parpola and is the result of both scholars' longstanding interest in
this corpus. The specific contributions of the individual authors are set forth
in more detail in the Preface.
Our thanks are due to the Trustees of the British Museum and to the Musee
du Louvre for permission to publish illustrative material in their keeping and
to LL. Finkel of the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities of the British
Museum for last-minute collations.
We thank the Olivetti (Finland) Corporation for continuing technical sup
port and the Finnish Ministry of Education for generous subsidies to help
offset the costs of publication, and we express our gratitude to the Academy
of Finland for renewing its financial support for the continuation of the
Project.
Helsinki, June 1991 Robert M. Whiting
VII
PREFACE
The present volume is the fruit of a lengthy collaboration between the two
editors going back in part to spring 1976, when Kwasman spent several
months in Helsinki working on the ADD texts with Parpola. At that time, we
computerized practically all the texts published in ADD I on the basis of new
transliterations based principally on the Johns copies but systematically
taking into consideration also the collations by Ungnad published in AR. A
printout of the transliterations and complete word and reverse word indices
were generated from this material and made available to Kwasman in summer
1976, while the text files themselves were incorporated in what was gradually
to evolve into the present SAA database.
In summer 1978, Parpola thoroughly collated a sizeable portion (about 300)
of the texts at the British Museum. The results of this collation were published
in a condensed form, omitting many drawings of collated passages, in Assur
2/5 (1979), pp. 109-197, and incorporated in the database by Parpola in spring
1984. Portions of the corpus not yet incl uded in the database were compu
terized by Raija Mattila in 1986.
In the meantime, Kwasman continued working on the texts on his own,
collating the texts and making a number of important joins in the course of
several study trips to the British Museum. His Ph.D. dissertation on the corpus
(NALK) was completed in early 1988, making it possible for him to accept,
in November 1987, an invitation from Parpola to act as a co-editor of the
present volume.
Since about 2/3 of the texts (with the exception of the dates and the witness
lists) had just been translated in NALK, it was agreed that the translations in
the volume would be based, as far as possible, on NALK, while the translite
rations would, as usual, be based on the Project database. Accordingly, the
translations in NALK were scanned and computerized by Laura Kataja in the
fall of 1989, and the witness lists left untranslated in NALK were machine
translated by a computer programme written by Parpola in spring 1990. The
two sets of translations were subsequently combined and sent for editing to
Kwasman, who had earlier (in summer 1988) received a revised printout of
the whole corpus as well as improved indices generated from it.
In early December 1990, Kwasman briefly visited Helsinki to discuss the
order and selection of texts included in the volume and other editorial matters.
Following Kwasman's departure, Parpola paid a one-week visit to the British
Museum collating close to 200 texts included in the volume.
In detail, the editorial work on this volume and the responsibility for its
individual parts was distributed as follows between the. two editors:
The Introduction in its entirety is by Parpola.
IX
The transliterations essentially are the result of joint work. The readings in
NALK have been carefully checked against the database and all new readings
based on collation have been included insofar as possible. Doubtful readings
have been recollated, and cases where readings in NALK could not be
CONTENTS
accepted are briefly justified in the critical apparatus.
The translations are, as explained above, largely based on Kwasman's work
in NALK but have been thorougly scrutinized and edited by Parpola. The
translations of all witness lists and dates, as well as the normalization of FOREWORD VII
personal names throughout the volume, are based on Parpola's work and have
PREFACE IX
been scrutinized and edited by Kwasman. Texts not included in NALK were
largely translated by Parpola. INTRODUCTION XIII
The headings to the texts were supplied jointly by the two editors.
The Nature of the Nineveh Legal Archive XV
The bibliographical data in the critical apparatus were largely provided by
The Ninevite Legal Texts as Historical Documents XXVlI
K wasman; the other parts of this section are largely the work of Parpola.
On the Present Edition XXXV
The order of texts in the volume and the selection of texts to be included Notes .. XXXIX
is basically the work of Parpola. Abbreviations and Symbols ,. XLII
The meanings of the words included in the glossary were basically supplied
TRANSLITERATIONS AND TRANSLATIONS
by Kwasman during his visit to Helsinki. Otherwise the glossary and all the
indices included in the book are the work of Parpola. Texts from the Reigns of Sargon II and Earlier Kings (1·33) .
Most of the drawings of seal and fingernail impressions published in the
I. Musallim-Issar, Village Manager of the Chief Eunuch (1-9) 3
present volume were made by Parpola in the course of his work at the British
2. Inurta·ila'i (10·16) 11
Museum in July·August 1978 and December 1990. Twenty·two impressions
3. Varia (17-33) 19
not drawn by Parpola (those of nos. 5,7, 17, 19,45,56,60,69,74,76,77,
118, 126, 132, 136, 141, 154, 203, 218, 256, 305, and 625) were drawn for Texts from the Reign of Sennacherib (34·200) 35
the volume by Dominique Coil on of the British Museum; seven further 4. Royal Charioteers 37
impressions (those of nos. 63, 73, 75, 181, 204, 286 and 292) could be 34·56 Summa·ilani, Chariot Driver 38
reproduced from the unpublished University of Munich dissertation of Suo 57-58 Nabfi-sumu-iskun, Sennacherib's Chariot Driver .. 55
zanne Herbordt by the kind permission of the author. I.L. Finkel of the British 5. Bahianu, Village Manager of the Stewardess (60·80) 59
Museum collated 34 tablets and contributed a drawing of one seal impression 6. Harem Governesses and Other Royal Women (81-99) 71
(no. 181). We wish to extend our thanks to these colleagues and the entire 81·87 Addati, Harem Governess. 72
88·95 Ahi-\alli, Harem Woman and Governess 76
staff of the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities for assistance rendered
96 The Lady Barsipitu 82
to us during the study of the texts. 97 The Lady Indibi . 84
The previously unpublished fragment K 16094 included in the volume was 99 A Royal Concubine 86
identified by Parpola and is published here by the kind permission of the 7. Aplaya, 'Third Man' of Arda·Mullissi, Crown Prince (100·108) 89
Trustees of the British Museum. 8. Se' ·madi, Village Manager of the Crown Prince (109·112) . 99
9. Varia (113·200) 105
The checking of the transliterations against the readings in NALK was
chiefly done by J ukka Hartikainen and Katalin Mikl6ssy of the Project staff. Texts from the Reign of Esarhaddon (20 I ·295) 161
Corrections to the database were entered by Laura Kataja and Jukka Harti·
10. Mannu·ki-Arbail, Cohort Commander (201·220) 163
kainen. Katalin Mikl6ssy inked drawings of seal and fingernail impressions
11. Silim·Assur (221·238) 177
for optical scanning.
12. Dannaya (239-246) 189
Galley proofs were read by members of the Editorial Committee, J. N.
13. Harem Governesses and Other Royal Women (247·256) 197
Postgate, F. M. Fales and R. M. Whiting, who contributed several improve· 247 Governess of the Kilizi Harem 198
ments and eliminated a number of mistakes. 250 Abi·rahi, Sister of the Governess 199
25 I Sadditu, Sister of Esarhaddon 200
252 Abi-rami, Sister of the Queen Mother 201
June, 1991 Theodore Kwasman Simo Parpola
253·254 Issar·duri, The Queen Mother's Scribe 202
255·256 Idu'a, Village Manager of the Queen Mother 204
14. Varia (257'295) 207
15. Remanni-Adad, Assurbanipal's Charioteer (296·350) 239
GLOSSARY AND INDICES 289
x
Xl
STATE ARCHIVES OF ASSYRIA VI
Logograms and Their Readings 289
Glossary 291
Index of Names .. 319
Personal Names 319
Place Names 339
God and Temple Names 342
Subject Index 344
List of Text Headings 355
Index of Texts. 359
By Publication Number 359 INTRODUCTION
By Museum Number 360
List of Joins 363
List of Illustrations 363
COLLATIONS 365
PLATES 371 The bulk of the texts edited in the present volume have seen three major
editions previously. C. H. W. Johns's fundamental Assyrian Deeds and
Documents (ADD) from the turn of the century made practically the entire
legal corpus from Nineveh available to scholars in cuneiform copy, and in
addition presented many of the texts in (summary) English translation along
with extensive commentaries.' For all its merits, this editio princeps is, of
course, longe since outdated, and the need of a more comprehensive critical
edition was already felt early. In 1913, Josef Kohler and Arthur Ungnad
published their Assyrische Rechtsurkunden (AR), a full edition of the entire
Neo-Assyrian legal corpus known at the time, giving the texts in translitera
tion and German translation along with an index of personal names and an
analysis of the corpus from the legal point of view. This edition, superb for
its time, is still very useful today, but later additions to the corpus as well as
advances in N eo-Assyrian studies have rendered it too obsolete in the course
of times.' Specifically, a critical English edition has been a desideratum for
a long time. The need of such an edition was somewhat alleviated, yet by no
means removed, by the appearance ofKwasman's Neo-Assyrian Legal Docu
ments in the [(ouyunjik Collection of the British Museum (NALK, 1988),
which presents about two-thirds of the corpus in English translation and a
new transliteration based on extensive museum work.
Apart from its obvious significance to the study of the legal practices in
the Assyrian empire, the Ninevite legal corpus is a most important historical
source in other respects as well. It derives from the palace area of the Assyrian
capital at the apex of its power and largely relates to business conducted by
the ruling class of the empire; practically every document in the corpus is
closed by a list of witnesses, many of whom belonged to the ruling elite itself,
and, in sharp contrast to'other contemporary texts, practically all them are (or
once were) precisely dated by day, month and eponym year. It is obvious that
such a body of texts is of paramount importance to the study of the prosopo
graphy, chronology and socio-economic history of the period.
Though the importance of the corpus was recognized quite early, the unique
prosopographical and historical information it contains is still far from having
been fully exploited.3 The reason for this is largely to be sought in the
organization and constitution of the available editions. In both ADD and AR,
the texts are arranged according to their legal and juridical content, which of
course is ideal for the legal historian but completely obscures the chronologi-
XII
XIII
STATE ARCHIVES OF ASSYRIA VI NATURE OF THE NINEVEH LEGAL ARCHIVE
cal and archival structure of the corpus. Using these editions in mOre gener
ally oriented research has proved extremely cumbersome and time-consum
ing, since texts related from the archival point of view are widely separated
from each other and no adequate indices are included in the editions.4
In NALK, an attempt was made to arrange the material by archives and thus
to bring associated texts more adequately together. However, since the over
whelming majority of the 'archives' (as defined in NALK)5 consist of one or
two (duplicate) texts only, and since the order in which the 'archives' are The Nature of the Nineveh Legal Archive
presented is alphabetical by archive holder, not chronological, the situation
is not significantly improved.6 It is hoped that the present volume, which
presents the texts in a new, differently organized critical edition, will make The legal texts from Nineveh belong as a major subgroup to a larger whole,
the important evidence they contain better accessible and easier to use in the corpus of Neo-Assyrian legal documents, which, in addition to the Nine
historical research. v ite texts, consists of hundreds of simi lar documents retrieved from other
Assyrian sites.) Formally there is no distinction between the texts from the
other sites and the Nineveh texts, many of which were in fact drawn up outside
Nineveh. An excellent introduction to the Neo-Assyrian legal corpus as a
whole has been recently provided by J. N. Postgate in his Fifty Neo-Assyrian
Legal Documents (1976), pp. I-72,S and there is no need to repeat this
information here.
By contrast, there has been no adequate discussion of the Nineveh legal
corpus as a whole, even though certain aspects of the corpus have been treated
by various scholars.' This introduction accordingly seems the perfect place
for a brief description and discussion of the most important features and
characteristics of the corpus. For the sake of clarity, discussion will be limited
to the barest essentials.
The Archival Background of the Texts
The bulk of the Nineveh legal texts, as indeed the bulk of all texts dis
covered in Niniveh, were excavated at a time when Near Eastern archaeology
still was in its infancy and no accurate methodology for the documentation
of the finds made had yet been developed. As a result, we now lack essential
information about the exact findspots of the excavated tablets. For the over
whelming majority of them, the only available indication about their proven
ance is "from Kuyunjik" (the acropolis of Nineveh), and sometimes even this
general provenance remains doubtful despite the inclusion of a tablet in the
"Kuyunjik Collection."lo This is of course most unfortunate, especially since
a knowledge of the findspot often is of decisive importance in determining
the archival context and function of a legal text.
Of the texts included in the present volume, the (approximate) provenance
of the following four can be established from the published excavation
reports:
No. 88 (DT 12 = ADD 317, 'archive' or dossier of Ahi-lalli, harem
governess, dated 687 B.C.): SW Palace of Sennacherib.11
No. 111 (K 76 = ADD 229, dossier of Se' -madi, village manager of the
crown prince, dated 680 B.C.): SW Palace, "Chamber of Records."12
No. 114 (BM 134582 = Iraq 32 12, fragment dated 702): Chol, i.e. "flat
XIV XV
'iATURE OF THE NINEVEH LEGAL ARCJ-IIVE
STATE ARCHIVES OF ASSYRIA VI
area within the curve of the river and city outer walls."l3
No. 217 (Sm 921 ~ ADD 378. dossier of Mannu-ki-Arbail, cohort comman
der, c. 673 B.C.): Library of the SW Palace.
14
In addition, the provenance of two further documents to be edited in Pt. II
can be similarly established:
Sm 957 ~ ADD 128 (corn loan dated 665 B.C.): SW Palace.
K 296 ~ ADD 642 (dossier of Iddin-Iya, priest of Ninurta, from the
postcanonical [i.e., post-648] period): SW Palace, "Chamber of Records."
This is not much, but provides some extremely valuable clues to the
archival background of the whole corpus.
As can be seen, practically all the texts in the above list originate from the
palace of Sennacherib in the SW corner of the mound of Kuyunjik (Figs. 1
and 2), constructed in 703-694 B.C. and occupied throughout the 7th century;
the dates on the tablets (687, 680, *673, 665, post-648) neatly reflect the
occupational history of the palace. Three of them are explicitly said to have
been found in the "Chambers of Records" (the royal library, rooms XL and
XLI of the palace) among thousands of other archival texts and pieces of
literature. It is also explicitly stated in the excavator's report that many more
similar documents were found in these rooms.1S This means that many more
texts included in the present volume must have been deposited in the royal
library. It is possible, with the help of the archival connections shown in the
above list, to pinpoint at least some of these with reasonable confidence.
If tablets from the dossiers of Ahi-talli, Se' -madi and Mannu-ki-Arbail FIG.!. \I ieH' of Kuyunjikfrom the north-east (1933), with ,va//s of Nineveh ,fields and river Tigris beyond.
were kept in the royal library , it is reasonable to suppose that the rest of their
R.Af. PHOTOGRAPH.
dossiers too (which all together make up about S.5% of the present volume)
was kept there. Furthermore, considering that the AhHalli dossier belongs to
a larger set of transactions of the "central city" harem of Nineveh (nos.
81-99), which in all probability was located within the SW Palace, it stands
to reason that the other harem documents too were preserved with this
dossieLI6 Similarly, one can speculate that if the dossiers of a village manager
(Se' -madi) and a cohort commander (Mannu-ki-Arbail) could be kept in the
royal library, then at least some of the other similar dossiers (e.g., that of
Bahianu, nos. 60-S0)17 should derive from the same place. In fact, it is likely
that most of the major dossiers in the present volume dating from the reigns
of Sennacherib and his successors were deposited in the "Chambers of
Records." However, there is no way of conclusively proving that this was the
case, because it is certain that many documents in the corpus originate from
elsewhere.
A major portion of the tablet finds in Nineveh was made in the Palace of
Assurbanipal (actually, the old "Succession Palace" where Sennacherib had
exercised his duties as crown prince under his father Sargon, restored by
Assurbanipal in 648-645 B.C.) at the north end of the Kuyunjik mound (Fig.
2). It is likely that most if not all the documents from the reigns of Sargon II
and earlier kings included in this volume (nos. 1-33) were found in that
palace.16 Moreover, as the example of no. 114 in the above list shows, the
corpus also includes stray finds from various parts of the citadel and even
outside the citadel propeLI' Many of the isolated documents included in the
"Varia" sections of the present volume probably originate in various depart FIG. 2. Air view of Kuyunjik (/932). Most texts wel.·e found in, t!!e south-west palace of Sennacherib (lower
left), ~vit/J some from the north palace of Assurhal1lpal (up pel 'lgllt).
mental archives of the palace administration, dispersed in the various public
RAF. PHOTOGRAPH,
XVII
XVI
NATURE OF THE NINEVEH LEGAL ARCHIVE
STATE ARCHIVES OF ASSYRIA VI
buildings of the citadel including the above-mentioned two palaces; some, TABLE II. The Chronological Distribution of Datable Legal Textsfrom Nineveh
like no. 114, may even derive from private houses or refuse dumps.2o
However that may be in individual cases, it can be regarded as certain that Year Text no.
the overwhelming majority of the tablets making up the Nineveh legal corpus
747 17
were documents of court officials associated with the North and SW palaces 742 1
739 18
of Kuyunjik and kept in the central archives of these palaces.
737 2
734 19.21
729 5.22
727 23
The Chronological Structure o/the Corpus 723 24
717 10,25
716
The chronological structure of the Nineveh legal corpus, as recovered from 715 12
714
the dated tablets, is illustrated in Table I. As can be seen, the corpus covers 713 6
the reigns of eight successive kings (the 'postcanonical' texts including, 712
711 26
besides texts from the latter part of Assurbanipal's reign, also ones from the 710 13,28.29,30
reigns of his sons Assur-etel-ilani and Sin-sarru-iskun) and spans a period of 709 31.34
70S
some 135 years, from 747 B.C. down to the fall of Nineveh (612 B.C.). This 707 32
706 33
long period of time is not at all, however, evenly covered by the corpus. Only
705
about 7% of the texts date from the reigns of the first three kings, a period of
42 years (some 30% of the total time range of the corpus), and there are only 704 60
703
two isolated texts from the reign of Shalmaneser V. Only from year 702 on 702 113. 114, 115
701
do the numbers of texts per year gradually start to increase (Table II). This 700 35.61.116. /17
is clearly related to the construction history of the SW Palace of Sennacherib 699 119, 120
6n 100,102.118,121,122,123,124,125
(which appears to have be habitable from 703 on even though the building in 697 126.127
its entirety was not finished until 694), and strongly supports the conclusion 696 62.128,129,130
695 36,63.131. 132
drawn above that the majority of the texts derive from this palace. 694 37,38.39,81, ,s3. 84.103.133.134,135.136
693 40,41,64.97.137,138. 139
The majority of the 8th century texts, from the North Palace, are from the
692 42.65,85,141.142,143.144,145,146
691
690 104.105.147, [48
TABLE l. The Chronological Structure of the Nineveh Legal Corpus 689 149
688 66.67,68,69, 106. 150
687 88.151,152.153,154.155,156,157.158.159,160
686 70,89,107,161, 162. 163. 164,166,167. 168,169
number of % of whole % of datable 685 71,72,170,171,172,173,174,175
Reign texts corpus texts 684 43.44.59,73,74, 177
683 90.108,178,179,180.181,182.183.186
682 45,75,76.77,98.187,188,189,190,191. 192
Tiglath-Pileser III .................... . 11 1.4 2.3 681 46.47,91.110,193,194,195,196,197
Shalmaneser V ......... , ............. . 2 0.3 0.4
Sargon II ............................ . 21 2.6 4.3 680 48. Ill. 201,202,203.221,222.257.258.259,260,261,262,263,264
679 204,206.223,224.247,265.268,269,270
Sennacherib .. ' ....................... . 162 20.1 32.5 678 207,208,255,271
Esarhaddon .......................... . 110 13.6 22.6 677 225, 267, 272
676 210,211,212.213,214.215,226,239.240,273.274
Assllrbanipal (Pt. J) ................... . 44 5.5 9.0 675 227,229,230,232,275,276
674 233,241.242,243,252,277.278,279
673 216.280,281
Total (Pt. I) 350 43.5 71.1 672 234,244,245.282,283
671 235.284,296,297.298,299
Assurbanipal (Pt. II) 66 8.2 13.5 670 236.237,286,287,289,290.291.300.301,302.303
669 292,293,304,305.306
Assurbanipal Total (110) ( 13.6) (22.6)
Post-canonical Texts 76 9.5 15.4 668 307,308
Undatable with Known Central Person ." 54 6.7 667 309.310
666 311,312.313,314,315.316,317
Undatable with Unknown Central Person 258 32.1
665 318,319
664 320,321.323,324
663 325,327,328
Total (Pt. II) 454 56.5 28.9 660 329,330,331
GRAND TOTAL 804 100.0 100.0
XIX
XVlII
STATE ARCHIVES OF ASSYRIA VI NATURE OF THE NINEVEH LEGAL ARCHIVE
reign of Sargon II, and it actually seems that many if not all of the earlier TABLE Ill. Central Persons
texts in the corpus also derive from archives belonging to officials of this
king or his son Sennacherib. They will have been brought to Nineveh from 89 (25.4%)
Royal Charioteers
Calah by these officials at the time the latter moved his staff and permanent
residence to the North Palace about 715 B.C." Remanni-Adad, Assurbanipal's Charioteer 55
Summa-ilani, Chariot Driver of the Royal Corps 23
Aplaya, 'Third Man' of Arda-Mullissi, Crown Prince 9
Nabu-sumu-iskun, Sennacherib's Charioteer 2
Central Persons 36 (12.9%)
Village Managers
Bahianu, Village Manager of the Stewardess 21
As already intimated above, from the archival point of view the corpus is Musallim-Issar, Village Manager of the Chief Eunuch 9
composed of two types of legal documents. A large part (in fact, the majority) Se'-madi, Village Manager of the Crown Prince 4
of them are connected to other documents of the corpus through an individual Idu'a, Village Manager of The Queen Mother 2
centrally involved in the transaction, who also appears in the same or similar Harem Governesses and Other Royal Women 29 (8.3%)
capacity in the other documents. Such individuals, who mostly figure in the
52 (15.0%)
deeds as either purchasers or creditors, are referred to in this volume as Other Prominent Officials
central persons, and the dossiers of documents associated with them will be Mannu-ki-Arbail, Cohort Commander (of the Royal Guard?) 20
called 'archives,' however inappropriate this term might be in this usage. The Silim-Assur (title unknown, later Vizier, eponym 659) 18
central persons figuring in the present volume and the sizes of their respective Inurta-ila'i (title unknown) 6
archives are surveyed in Table III. As can be seen, some of them are quite Dannaya (title unknown) 8
large, comprising more than 20 (in one case, more than 50) texts or fragments.
A most interesting fact immediately emerges from a study of the table. The
204 (61.6%)
persons figuring in it represent different professions, but professions largely Total
interconnected with each other and reduceable to a few major classes or types. Other identifiable members of the ruling class 20 (5.7%)
We have, first of all, a group of four royal charioteers whose dossiers, counted
together, alone account for 1/4 of the texts included in this volume. Next,
224 (67.3%)
there are the dossiers of the harem governesses and village managers already Total
discussed, which probably belong together, and counted together account for For this reason, we suggest, their business transactions were kept under royal
another 1/4 of the volume. This leaves us with the dossiers of four prominent control and the relevant documents, or copies of them, had to be stored III the
individuals whose professions are largely unknown, but who include at least
royal archives." . .
one cohort commander and a person (Silim-Assur) promoted to a high state The rest of the corpus not assignable to the central persons hsted 111 Table
office under Assurbanipal. III consists of isolated transactions by a variety of individuals. Some of these
Thus the central persons represented in the present volume can be reduced can be identified as members of the ruling class and include persons such as
to two basic types: persons involved in the administration of the harem Sadditu, sister of Esarhaddon, and Abi -rami, sister of the Queen Mother (nos.
located in the SW Palace, and charioteers and military officers attached to 25lf, both surely residents of the harem); royal eunuchs (nos. 23, 283 and
the service of the king and the crown prince. This basic division also holds 287); further bodyguards, charioteers and military officers (nos. 19, 116, 127,
for the central persons of the later dossiers to be included in Part II of this J 39, 140 and 295), as well as a doctor of Esarhaddon (no. 126).'3 It IS
edition. That documents relating to the administration of the harem should be extremely likely that many more persons figuring in these texts also belonged
kept in the royal archives seems natural, but the presence of dossiers of royal to the ruling class, but their identity largely remalilS to be estabhshed.
charioteers and military officers on the same premises (and not their own
private archives) requires an explanation.
We suggest that the persons concerned constituted a special case because
of the potential danger they posed to the safety of the king. Royal charioteers The Nature of the Transactions
and commanders of the royal bodyguard had unique access to the person of
the king, and it was therefore essential that the latter could absolutely count
By their content, the texts in the present volume fall into two major types,
on their loyalty. This was secured by money, gifts, favours and privileges
purchase documents mostly recording the acqUIsitIOn of landed property and
poured upon the individuals concerned. On the other hand, it was also
slaves by the central persons, and loan documents mostly recording issues of
essential to make sure that the wealth accumulating to these persons did not
money, corn, animals and wine by the same persons. Other types of docu-
swell to such proportions that it in itself started posing a threat to the state.
xx XXI
STATE ARCHIVES OF ASSYRIA VI NATURE OF THE NINEVEH LEGAL ARCHIVE
ments are extremely sparsely represented in the corpus and include a few probably related to different weight systems, occur in the texts. The "royal
court decisions (nos. 35, 133,238,264 and 265) largely relating to economic mina," or the "mina of the country," exemplified by a series of inscribed
affairs" and a building contract (no. 21). A bird's-eye view of the types of lion-weights from Nimrud dating from the reigns of Shalmaneser V through
documents and the quautities in which they are represented in the volume is Sennacherib (Figs. 3 and 4), was an almost exact equivant of the modern kilo.
presented in Table IV. The weight of the "Carchemish mina," the other common standard, is un
known, but it cannot have differed much from that of the royal mina." The
exchange rate between silver and copper appears to have been 1 : 60, so that
TABLE IV. Types of Document
a talent of copper (or sixty copper minas) corresponded to one silver mina.28
To establish exact correspondencies between ancient and modern curren
Purchases 223 (63.7%) cies is of course impossible, but roughly, an Assyrian silver shekel may be
said to have equalled about 5 US dollars at its current value and much more
in its real purchasing power.29 A silver mina would have been worth sixty
Slaves 109
Land 90 times more, i.e., about $300.
Land and People 10 Now transactions involving modest sums of money (a few shekels of silver
Other 14 only) and small properties (a few decares of land) are extremely poorly
represented in the Nineveh corpus.3() Most of the prices mentioned are defined
Loans lO5 (30.0%) in minas, not shekels, and in some texts truly large quantities of money (up
Money 55 to 60 minas of silver, something like $18,000)3) and property (entire villages
and hundreds of hectares of land)32 change hands. Clearly, the texts record
Silver 45
transactions by very afflueut people, and it is interesting to note, in the light
Copper 8
of what was said above, that the most affluent of all were the royal charioteers
Corn 17 and bodyguards, who easily surpass everybody else in the corpus by the
volume of their investments and spending.33
Barley 16
These nouveaux riches appear to have spent their money mainly in amass
Wheat 1
ing land and slaves all around Assyria.34 Some of them evince a bent for /a
Animals 10 dolce vita by their obvious zeal to acquire vineyards;35 many of them were
Land 5 active as moneylenders.36 It is interesting to note, however, that not all the
Wine 4 loans given by them were meant to bring profit. Other members of the ruling
Oil 1
elite could borrow considerable sums of money and other commodities for no
Men
I
interest," and the interest rates prescribed in loaus of this type in the event
Varia or fragmentary II
of nonpayment could be ridiculously low compared with the rates applying
in normal loans of the period.'8
Total (Purchases and Loans) 328 (93.7%)
Three loans of wine included in the volume (nos. 181/182,232 and 233)
Court decisions 5 fall into this category. In each of them the debtor receives a large amount (up
Building contracts. I to 1,000 litres) of wine, which he is to give back a few months later. No
Varia. 2 interest is prescribed. Only in the event that the wine is not returned, a penalty
Fragmentary and unc1assifiable 16
will apply: the debtor is to repay the wine in silver according to the market
price of Nineveh. This shows that the documents are to be taken as true loans
Grand Total 350
and not, e.g., as retail or wholesale contracts. For if the owner of the wine
was interested in simply converting the wine into money, why would the other
A mere typological survey, however, can only give a superficial idea of the party uot have been required to sell it in Nineveh in the first place, where it
nature of the Nineveh court transactions. To obtain a more satisfactory obviously would have fetched a better price?
pIcture, It IS necessary to take into consideration other matters too, like the One possible explanation for this type of loan could be that the recipient
quantities of money and property involved in the transactions. was a member of the ruling class urgently needing the wine for a particular
The money value of the transactions was mostly expressed in terms of silver purpose, e.g. a party for a large number of guests. Buying the wine at a local
minas divided into 60 shekels, more rarely in terms of copper minas and store in Nineveh would have cost fortunes and was, in fact, unnecessary since
talents .." WhIle a passage II1 the inscriptions of Sennacherib makes it likely the colleague, by virtue of his office, was in control of large quantities of
that comed money already eXIsted," the value of a silver mina almost cer palace wine from which the need could be supplied without any difficulty.
tainly depended on its weight. Two principal varieties of the silver mina, By the repayment deadline the debtor would have had time to acquire the
XXII
XXIII
