Gershon Galil The Lower Stratum Families in The Neo-Assyrian Period (Culture and History of The Ancient Near East) 2007 PDF

The Lower Stratum Families in the
Neo-Assyrian Period
Culture and History

of the
Ancient Near East
Founding Editor
M.H.E. Weippert
Editor-in-Chief
Thomas Schneider
Editors
Eckart Frahm, W. Randall Garr, B. Halpern,

Theo P.J. van den Hout, Irene J. Winter
VOLUME 27
The Lower Stratum Families

in the Neo-Assyrian Period
by
Gershon Galil
LEIDEN BOSTON
2007
This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Galil, Gershon.
Lower class families in the Neo-Assyrian period / Gershon Galil.
p. cm.(Culture and history of the ancient Near East ; Vol. 27)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-15512-1 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Working class familiesAssyria. 2. Working classAssyria. 3. Family
Assyria. 4. AssyriaSocial life and customs. I. Title.
HQ506.G35 2007
331.0935dc22
2007060855
ISSN 1566-2055
ISBN 978 90 04 15512 1
Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
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Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
To my qinnu
Shoshi and Noa
CONTENTS
List of Tables ..............................................................................

Preface .........................................................................................
Abbreviations ..............................................................................
xi
xiii
xv
Introduction ................................................................................
PART ONE
Chapter One
The Sources ................................................................................
A. Types of documents ..........................................................
B. Date of documents ...........................................................
C. Provenance of the texts ....................................................
D. The division of the texts into groups for discussion ........
E. The publication of the documents ...................................
F. The Harran Census ......................................................
Appendix A: The sources by Types of Documents ..................
Appendix B: The texts from Nineveh according to their
geographical setting ..........................................................
Chapter Two
A Survey of the Lower Stratum Families ..................................
A. Slaves .................................................................................
B. Pledged Persons .................................................................
C. Land and People ...........................................................
D. Royal Grants and private votive donations ......................
E. The Harran Census ......................................................
F. Deportees and Displaced Persons ....................................
G. Recipients of Rations .......................................................
Appendix A: Tables 117 ..........................................................
19
19
19
22
22
23
28
32
45
47
47
86
94
109
117
136
152
156
viii
contents
Chapter Three
The Terminology, the Formulation of the Texts, and the
Status of the People ................................................................
A. Slaves .................................................................................
B. Pledged People ..................................................................
C. Land and People ...........................................................
D. Royal Grants .....................................................................
G. The Order of the Family Members and its Status .........
Appendix A: Sales of People .....................................................
Appendix B: Sales of Land and People ................................
Appendix C: The Terminology and the Formulation of
the Texts ............................................................................
188
188
199
205
211
214
224
226
228
241
243
PART TWO
Chapter Four
Family Types ...............................................................................
A. Families whose type is clear ..............................................
B. Families whose type is unclear .........................................
259
260
268
Chapter Five
Family Size ..................................................................................
A. Slave Families ....................................................................
B. Pledged Families ................................................................
C. Land and People ...........................................................
D. Royal Grants .....................................................................
G. Deportees and Displaced Persons ....................................
H. Summary ...........................................................................
273
273
277
277
280
280
286
287
Chapter Six
Marriage Patterns .......................................................................
A. The Slave Families ............................................................
B. Pledged Families ................................................................
C. Land and People ...........................................................
D. Royal Grants .....................................................................
292
293
294
294
294
295
contents
ix

G. Recipients of Rations .......................................................
H. Summary ...........................................................................
298
300
300
Chapter Seven
Childless Families ........................................................................
A. Slaves .................................................................................
B. Pledged people ..................................................................
C. Land and People ...........................................................
D. Royal Grants .....................................................................
G. Summary ...........................................................................
302
303
304
304
305
305
306
306
Chapter Eight
Childrens Age ............................................................................
A. Slave Families .....................................................................
B. Land and People ............................................................
C. Royal Grants ......................................................................
D. The Harran Census .......................................................
E. Deportees and Displaced Persons .....................................
309
311
312
313
313
315
Chapter Nine
Single-Parent Families ................................................................
A. Single-Parent Families versus Monogamous and
Polygamous Families .........................................................
B. Families without a Father versus Families without a
Wife/Mother .....................................................................
C. Reasons for the Existence of Single-Parent Families .......
D. Single-Parent Slave Families .............................................
E. Single-Parent Pledged Families .........................................
F. Single-Parent Families listed in Sales and
Lists of Land and People ..............................................
G. Single-Parent Families enumerated in the
Royal Grants .....................................................................
H. Single-Parent Families enumerated in the Harran
Census .............................................................................
I. Single-Parent Families of Deportees and Displaced
Persons ...............................................................................
J. Single-Parent Families of Rations Recipients ..................
319
319
320
321
323
324
324
325
325
325
326
contents
Chapter Ten
Numerical Proportions among Family Members ......................
A. Men Women .................................................................
B. Sons Daughters ............................................................
C. Other family Members .....................................................
D. Male Female .................................................................
327
328
328
329
329
Chapter Eleven
The Number of Generations in the Family ..............................
A. Slaves .................................................................................
B. Pledged people ..................................................................
C. Land and People ...........................................................
D. Royal Grants .....................................................................
334
336
337
338
339
339
340
Summary .....................................................................................
342
Bibliographical Abbreviations ...............................................

Indices
I. Index of Sources .............................................................
Cuneiform Sources ..........................................................
Biblical Sources ................................................................
II. Index of Names ...............................................................
Personal Names ...............................................................
Place Names ....................................................................
God Names ......................................................................
III. Index of Terms ...............................................................
Akkadian and Sumerian Terms ......................................
Aramaic Terms ................................................................
Hebrew Terms .................................................................
IV. Index of Subjects .............................................................
353
373
373
383
384
384
392
393
394
394
396
396
397
LIST OF TABLES
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
Table 7:
Table 8:
Table 9:
Table 10:
Table 11:
Table 12:
Table 13:
Table 14:
Table 15:
Table 16:
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
17:
18:
19:
20:
21:
22:
23:
24:
25:
26:
27:
28:
29:
Slave Families ............................................................

Slave Families: Broken/Unclear Texts ......................
Pledged People ..........................................................
Pledged People: Broken/Unclear Texts ....................
Land and People (A. Legal Transaction) ..............
Land and People (A. Legal Transaction):
Broken/Unclear Texts ...............................................
A Schedule of Land and People ...........................
Royal Grants of Land or Tax Exemption to
Ofcials ......................................................................
Royal Grants of Land or Tax Exemption to
Ofcials: Broken/Unclear Texts ...............................
Royal and Private Votive Donations to Temples .....
The Harran CensusA. Families ........................
The Harran CensusA. Families:
The Harran CensusB. Fathers and Sons ......
The Harran CensusB. Fathers and Sons:
Deportees and Displaced Persons .............................
Deportees and Displaced Persons:
Rations of Barley and Their Recipients ..................
The Terminology used to Dene the People ...........
Guarantee Clauses ....................................................
The Profession of the People ....................................
Family Types .............................................................
Families of Type B3 ..................................................
The Unclear Type Families ......................................
Family Size: Slaves ....................................................
Family Size: Pledged People .....................................
Family Size: Land and People ..................................
Family Size: Royal Grants ........................................
Family Size: Harran Census .....................................
Family Size: Harran CensusFather and Sons .......
157
160
162
163
164
165
167
168
170
171
173
177
179
180
181
183
186
193
195
197
263
266
268
274
278
279
281
283
284
xii
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
Table
list of tables
30:
31:
32:
33:
34:
35:
36:
37:
38:
The Number of Sons ................................................

Family Size: Deportees and Displaced People .........
Family Size: Summary ..............................................
Family Size: Summary (Before 681 B.C.) .................
Family Size: Summary (After 680 B.C.) ...................
Childless Families ......................................................
Childrens Age ...........................................................
Numerical Proportions among Family Members .....
Numerical Proportions among Family Members:
Males versus Females ................................................
Table 39: The Number of Generations in the Family .............
285
287
289
290
291
307
318
332
333
341
PREFACE
I wish to express my deep gratitude to Professor B. Halpern and to

Professor E. Frahm, editors of the series Culture and History of the Ancient
Near East, for accepting the book for publication in it. Professor Frahm
also made many helpful comments. This is my third book published
by Brill, and it is my pleasure to point out that from volume to volume
I have seen great advances in numerous respects. My appreciation is
owed to the editors of Brill in Boston: Mr. Michael Klein Sworming,
Acquisitions Editor, Mr. Igor Nemirovsky, Editor, and Mr. Michael J.
Mozina, Production Editor, for their efforts, patience and efciency.
I owe a special debt of gratitude to Professor M. F. Fales for discussing with me several issues studied in this book, and to my colleagues,
Professor B. Oded, Professor M. Heltzer and Professor M. Malul, who
kindly read the manuscript and made signicant comments.
I express my thanks to Dr. Karen Radner for sending me the translation of a few unpublished texts from Aur; and I also thank Mr.
Murray Rosovsky for helping me to improve my English style.
My teacher, the late Professor H. Tadmor followed the books progress
with great enthusiasm. He pointed out the importance of presenting a
completely different perspective on the Neo-Assyrian Empire, observing
Neo-Assyrian society through the eyes of the members of the lower
stratum and not concentrating solely on the outlook of the king and
his ofcials. Unfortunately, Professor Tadmor died less than a year ago,
and it is very frustrating that he did not live to see the book. May he
rest in peace, and may his memory be for a blessing.
Last but not least I wish to thank my wife Shoshi, and our daughter
Noa for their patience, friendship and love. On more than one occasion
Noa has jokingly referred to this book as her younger brother, about to
be born. So now after a long pregnancy, and a successful birth, I present
it to my beloved daughter on the occasion of her fth birthday.
Gershon Galil
University of Haifa
27.11.2006
ABBREVIATIONS
Bibliographical Abbreviations are presented below on pp. 353 ff.

Other Abbreviations
A
siglum of texts in the Aur collection of the Istanbul Arkeoloji Mzeleri

A
siglum of texts in the collection of the Oriental Institute,
University of Chicago
A1A5
Family Types, see Chapter IV
AN III
Adad-nrri III
Ar. cap.
Aramaic caption
Ass
siglum of texts excavated in the German excavation in
Aur
Ass
Assurbanipal (in tables 117)
A.
Aur
AV
average
at
attach
B
btussu = young girl, nubile
B1B3
BM
siglum of texts in the collection of the British Museum
BR
brother
Bu
C1C2
CT
Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British
Museum
D
daughter
DeZ
siglum of texts in the National Museum of Deir ez-Zor
Dr-Kat. Dr-Katlimmu
Esa
Esarhaddon
F
father
fPN
female personal name
FT
family type
fSl
female slave
G
a zizibi, ina UGU-(hi) zi-zi = suckling child
xvi
GA, GAB
GP
GS
GT
IM
K
Ki
M
MAss
M.TUR
MM
ND
Nin.
O
P
pir, pirsu
PN
RA.
Rm
S
S II
Sen
SH
Si
Sl
Sm
S n. d.
T
TS
TP III
U
VAT
W
abbreviations
see G
grand total of persons
grandson
grand total
siglum of texts in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad
mother
siglum of texts excavated in the German excavations at
Assur 1990
young girl
siglum of texts in the collection of the Mosul Museum
siglum of texts excavated in the British excavations at
Nimrud (Kalhu), see Wiseman, 1953; Parker, 1954; Parker,
1957; Parker, 1961
Nineveh
siglum of texts in the Royal Museum of Art and History,
Brussels
total of persons
see U
personal name
rations
son
Sargon II
Sennacherib
siglum of tablets excavated in the German excavations at
Tell Sheikh Hamad = Dr-Katlimmu = Magdalu
sister
slave
sons not described as G, U, 3, 4, 5, a
a = a/uhurtu = young, adolescent, adult
total
total of sons
Tiglath-pileser III
UD = pirsu = weaned child
siglum of texts in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin
wife
abbreviations
3
4
5
child of 3 spans height

xvii
INTRODUCTION
The social structure of the Neo-Assyrian Empire has been discussed

extensively in the literature. Dozens of studies have been devoted to
various aspects of this subject, but to date no monograph has studied all
the evidence concerning the family in the period under consideration.1
Many studies have treated social stratication in the Neo-Assyrian
Empire in particular, and in the Ancient Near East in general,
and several major views have been put forward. Soviet researchers,
continuing in the path of Karl Marx, including Jakobson, Diakonoff,
and Dandamaev, divided that society into three main classes, upper,
middle, and lower, according to two principal criteria: ownership of the
means of production and organization of labor.2 By their approach,
members of the upper class were the owners of the means of production
(primarily land). They did not engage in productive labor but lived of
the prots deriving from the productive labor of their workers and their
slaves, the members of the lower class. The upper class was small in
size, but was exploitative and ruled society. It consisted of the royal
family, the senior bureaucracy at the palace and the temples, and also
the big landowners, merchants, and businessmen. Members of the
middle class were owners of means of production who did engage in
productive labor. They did not exploit the labor of others, nor was
their labor exploited by others. This class consisted mainly of free
farmers and craftsmen. Members of the lower class lacked means of
production, and engaged in productive labor for their masters in the
upper class. They were exploited by the upper class and depended on
them economically. This class consisted of free people and semi-free
people, including tenants and day-laborers, as well as slaves.
1
For previous studies on the structure of the society of the Neo-Assyrian Empire
see: Jakobson, 1969a; Jankovska, 1969; Postgate, 1969; van Driel, 1970; Zablocka, 1971;
Diakonoff, 1972; Garelli, 1972; Gelb, 1972; Zablocka, 1972; Fales, 1973; Diakonoff,
1974; Postgate, 1974a; Fales, 1975; Peorkov, 1978; Gelb, 1979; Oded, 1979 (Ch. V);
Postgate, 1979; Grayson, 1982; Fales, 1984; Fales, 1984a; Zablocka, 1986; Postgate,
1987a; Roth, 1987; Fales, 1989; Postgate, 1989; Zaccagnini, 1989a; Fales, 1990a; Snell,
1993; Zaccagnini, 1994; Postgate, 1995; Fales, 1997; Radner, 1997 (Ch. VII); Galil,
1998; Garelli, 1998; Jas, 2000a; Radner, 2000; van Driel, 2000; Fales, 2001.
2
See Jakobson, 1969a; Diakonoff, 1972, esp. pp. 42, 4748; Dandamaev, 1984,
esp. pp. 658659.
introduction
A different approach was taken in the studies by Gelb.3 In his opinion, society in the Ancient Near East was divided into three different
classes: the upper, the semi-free serfs, and the slaves. The upper class
and the slave class were small in size, while the serf class was the main
layer in society. However, Gelb maintained that in economic terms it
was preferable to divide this society into two classes: the ruling class
and all the rest:4
In the economic sense, we may very well distinguish not three, but two
classes, the master class and the rest of the population. The latter would
include all the dependent labor, composed not only of serfs and slaves,
but also of the so-called free peasantry and craftsmen, who, while theoretically free and independent, sooner or later became dependent on the
large landowners for water, draft animals, seed grain, and other means
of production.
The major difference between these two approaches lies in the status
of the free farmers and the craftsmen: in Gelbs thinking, these two
groups in fact belonged to the lower, subservient class, not to the middle
class. Gelb indeed divides the society in the Ancient Near East into
classes, but he also stresses, rightly, that the use of the term class is
problematic, as the polarity of the classes in the Ancient Near East
was not as pronounced as in the Greek-Roman period or among the
various castes in India.5 In my opinion, the denition of the socioeconomic status of some of the families in the Neo-Assyrian period is
particularly problematic, because, for example, there were craftsman
families whose heads serve as goldsmiths, as masters of the goldsmiths
guild, and as mayors in the Assyrian administration.6 In Gelbs view
they were craftsmen, so they should apparently be numbered among
all the rest. But despite their being craftsmen, it is clear that such a
family was part of the master class even by Gelbs denition, because
the family head also held a senior post in the Assyrian administration.
Furthermore, we have evidence of craftsmen owning land and slaves.
So what class did they belong to? According to the Soviet school they
were seemingly of the middle class because they were possessors of a
See Gelb, 1972; Gelb, 1976; Gelb, 1979.

See Gelb, 1972, p. 92 and also pp. 4951.
5
See Gelb, 1972, p. 92.
6
For example, Sn-nadi was master of the goldsmiths of the Aur temple and mayor
of the Aur Gate. For his family see Radner, 1999, pp. 1518; PNA, p. 1136b(16). For
another example see Radner, 1999, pp. 2122, 178182; PNA, p. 574a(19).
4
introduction
craft who engaged in productive labor; but in fact they were of the
upper class because they exploited the labor of their slaves.7
In my study I divided society in the Neo-Assyrian Empire into two
main strata: the lower stratum on the one hand, and the middle and
upper stratum on the other. The main yardstick for this division was
ownership of means of production. People assigned to the lower stratum
were in the great majority of cases (with a few exceptions) devoid of
means of production. Similarly, this stratum did not serve in the royal
administration, not even as low-level ofcials. By contrast, members of
the middle and upper stratum were owners of the means of production,
and most of them did serve in the royal administration, on its various
levels, in both the palace and the temple sectors. True, we have little
evidence of a private sector in the Neo-Assyrian Empire generally,
and of free peasants in particular, as Postgate has correctly pointed
out.8 Yet the existence of free peasants and of free craftsmen in the
period under discussion cannot be denied. Poor peasants were forced
to sell their land, usually to wealthy Assyrian ofcials, who sometimes
purchased entire villages. But free peasants endured, usually the strong
and well based ones who managed to survive and did not lose their
land. As for the yardstick of organization of labor, and exploitation
of the labor of members of other classespeople belonging to the
lower stratum (tenants, slaves, and wage-laborers) indeed worked in
productive labor, and their masters and employers beneted from their
labor. However, at least regarding some of the tenants, we shall try to
suggest a rather different denition of the nature of the economic ties
between them and the owners of the land they tilled, and I am not
convinced that the Marxist term exploitation denes the essence of
these relations well.
In light of the model proposed for understanding the social stratication in the period under review, my study is divided into two principal
parts, to be published as two separate volumes. In the rst I treat
families belonging to the lower stratum, which, as stated, were almost
entirely without means of production; in the second volume families
7
For the social stratication of the societies in the Ancient Near East see also Weber,
1921, pp. 22, 3132, 209; Gordon, 1953, pp. 1728; Wittfogel, 1964, pp. 405408;
Brentjes, 1968, pp. 4568; Steiner, 1972, pp. 191205; Gal, 1988; Vargyas, 1988;
Rossides, 1997, pp. 2232; 4041; Reviv, 1993, pp. 542; Jaruzelska, 1998, pp. 1821.
Cf. also BreenRottman, 1995, pp. 1216; 2258.
8
See Postgate, 1989.
introduction
belonging to the middle and upper stratum are the subject. In the latter volume additional criteria will be proposed for distinguishing the
middle and upper stratum from the lower one, including the amount
of assets held by the family and the administrative standing of the family head. Obtaining a post in one of the two chief ruling systems (the
palace and the temple) carried, as we know, many direct and indirect
benets, whose economic sway was no less than that of ownership of
means of production.
The quality of the evidence concerning the families belonging to these
two main strata is decidedly different: the families of the lower stratum
are for the most part mentioned only once. In a single text some three
families gure on average. Mostly we know nothing of the history of
this family prior to its sole mention, and the source offers us a picture
of the situation at one time only. However, in many cases the text
mentions all members of the family, including wives, daughters, other
family members, including brothers and sisters, and more. Regarding
the middle and upper stratum, only in few cases we possess a full picture of all family members; usually only a list of some of the men of
the family can be reconstructed, while the wives and daughters appear
extremely rarely; still, a diachronic, not just a synchronic picture of the
families of the middle and upper stratum can be drawn. Members of
these families are usually mentioned in several sources, and at times a
good idea can be obtained of the nature and scope of their dealings,
of their life expectancy, and of their careers.9
The inscriptions that have come down to us from the Neo-Assyrian
period were written principally by members of the middle and upper
stratum; namely scribes who belonged to the two ruling systems. Not
surprisingly, the searchlight of the writers of the royal inscriptions
shone mainly on the king, and most of the thousands of letters written
in that period focus on him, his ofcials, and his priests.10 By contrast,
these sources offer relatively sparse information about members of the
lower stratum at that time: slaves and pledged people, farmers and
gardeners, shepherds and tenants. But the legal transactions, and
also the administrative texts, contain many data illuminating the families of the lower stratum. This allows a thorough examination of the
9
The inheritance documents are very important sources for reconstructing the
Neo-Assyrian families of the middle and the upper strata. For a study of these texts
see Akerman, pp. 232237.
10
See Parpola, 1981, pp. 117141; Fales, 2001, pp. 99102.
introduction
size, structure, and socio-economic status of these families; and many

questions can be answered: what terminology is used for dening these
families, what family types existed in that period, what was the size of
the families, what were the patterns of the marriage, and so on.
Before turning to a brief summary of the structure of my study, I
shall deal shortly with a few essential questions: what is a family and
in which cases a group of persons may be dened as a family? And
what was the degree of freedom of the lower stratum families in the
Neo-Assyrian Empire?
What is a Family and in which Cases a Group of Persons May be

Dened as a Family?
A family may be dened as a kinship group containing a number
of people dened by others as a family or dening themselves as a
family, whether blood ties exist among them or not; for kinship is
primarily a sociological, not a biological afnity. Later in the discussion
we shall attempt to determine which group is not a family and what
was the outlook of the contemporaries on these questions. In which
cases a group of persons may be dened as a family? A. In most texts
covered in my study the relationships of the people listed in the text
are explicitly detailed. The head of the family is usually noted by
his personal name, and rarely also by his fathers name and/or his
profession and/or his origins. After him are enumerated the members
of his family, including his wife, his son, his daughter, his brother, his
sister, his mother, with a note of the relationship that clearly ties the
family head to each one of its members (or several of them). In all these
cases it is easy to determine that we are indeed dealing with a family.
B. In cases where the family head is mentioned by his personal name (a
man or a woman) and this is immediately followed by a boy or a girl (all
the more so a baby boy or girl), without any relationship being stated,
it is reasonable to suppose that the text is describing a family. C. In a
few cases the family heads name is mentioned and next to it an adult
family member without the relationship, for example, PN, woman; a
total of two persons. In these cases it is most likely that a family is
listed; yet this is not certain, and it depends on an overall examination
of the nature of the text, its formulation and the terminological usages
current in it. By contrast, if men and women are listed by the personal
names one after the next, there is no way of deciding the connection
introduction
between them; and it is unclear if they are a family, or individuals

without any kinship ties. D. Sometimes a text notes the name of a family
head, followed only by a general count of the family members (at times
this indication is given by the Aramaic caption too). In these cases it
cannot be determined for sure that we have a family here, although
it is possible. At times the head of the family is counted in the total
number of family members, and at times he is not (this can be reckoned
from the formulas indicating both the number of souls and the grand
total, and it also emerges from summaries containing the number of
families enumerated in the text). In these cases too the determination
of whether it is a family depends on an overall examination of the
nature of the text, and of the terminological forms applied in it. E.
In a few cases it is noted explicitly that a number of people constitute
a family, indicated by the term = btu or qinnu, which also mean
family (for these terms see also chapter III below, a discussion on the
terminology). In these cases this is evidently a family, even if the text
does not specify the relationships between its members. F. Should
not two (or more) brothers (or a brother and a sister) be designated a
family? Or are they perhaps not a family? The response of modern
sociology is clear: two brothers are not a family, and they are dened
by what sociological research terms no family. But the response of
the people of the Ancient Near East is different. We have examples in
which the scribe states expressly that the brother and sister, or the two
brothers, are a family (see, e.g., SAA XI 154: a brother and sister are
dened as qinnu). In this case I preferred to take the approach of modern
sociology, and not to include a brother and sister in the enumeration
of families, unless it was a case of a married man whose brother lived
with him (see a detailed discussion in chapter IV on family types). G.
Rarely there is a mixed enumeration of single people and families. But
as a rule the scribes separated the singles from the families, noting the
fact of a person being single after his personal name. So usually, if
several people are enumerated between two families it is reasonable to
think that they are a family, although this requires an examination
of terminological usages of the scribe in the given text. H. By contrast,
I do not count as a family a number of slaves listed by their personal
names in successive order, such as in texts in which the family property
is divided among brothers. This is because there is no proof that these
men and women constituted a family, even if their names are followed
by a total, as this gure counts all the slaves inherited by one of the
sons. I. In three cases we nd a master who has taken a woman for
introduction
his slave. I reckoned these three couples as families, as the amount of

money that was paid indicates that these were grown-up maids. In one
case it is even noted by the Aramaic caption: Wife of PN, that is,
she was already regarded as his wife. By contrast, in several documents
we nd that a father has bought a little girl, sometimes an infant, and
plans to marry her to his son (see e.g., CTN III 47). I did not consider
these cases families for obvious reasons. J. Other people mentioned in
a text with a tie to the family head were counted as members of the
family; they include not only brothers, sisters, and a mother, but also
brothers sons and sisters sons, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, and
others, all of them were probably considered an inseparable part of
the family. In cases of slaves of slave families, presumably these were
families which when they had been free kept slaves, and now after they
had become impoverished and bound, their slaves went with them, and
their master did not see t to separate them. K. In the family count I
included also single-parent families, a man or a woman with his/her
child or several children. Similarly I included families consisting of
only a son with his mother (apparently a widow), with the son (not the
mother) established as family head. L. I did not count several nuclear
families as a multiple-family kinship group unless the connection
among the nuclear families was explicitly noted in the text.
What was the Degree of Freedom of the Lower Stratum Families in the
Neo-Assyrian Empire?
Presumably, few will argue with the assertion that the families to be
discussed in this volume of my study were indeed of the lower stratum
in the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Still, it is doubtful that there will be
general agreement regarding the degree of freedom of these people,
and the nature of their relationship with their masters or employers.
Some scholars will argue (and have argued in the past) that all of them
were slaves.11 Others will maintain that some or most of them were
not slaves, but free or semi-free. Researchers have adopted a variety
of terms to dene the status of these people, among them pseudosklaven, tied cultivators, helots, servile labor force, populazione servile,
unfree workmen, semi-free population, dependent persons, serfs, and
11
See Zablocka, 1971; Zablocka, 1972; Zablocka, 1986.
introduction
glebae adscripti.12 In some cases dening a familys degree of freedom

is not particularly difcult. I refer to sales of people, documenting a
family being sold and passing from the hands of one master to another.
These legal transactions are well known and have been discussed in
extenso in research.13 Most people enumerated in these texts are dened
as slaves, generally by two common terms, ARAD and GEM (for a
detailed discussion of the terminology used in these texts see chapter
III below). These people were deemed the property of their master,
like any other chattel. They were marked by having the name of their
purchaser branded onto their hand or some other part of their body.
They mainly lived in or near their masters house, and were not allowed
to come and go without his permission.14 These sales usually noted
slaves passed from hand to hand, not people bound for the rst time.
The sold slave belonged to his new master, and his former owner could
not buy him or her back without the agreement of the new master or
without a detailed stipulation to this effect on the sale.15
Another group relatively easy to dene is the pledged people: those
who were placed in the creditors hand as a security for debt. It is not
always clear if these people were free or slaves before being consigned as
a pledge.16 If they were slaves before, their status did not change during
the period in which they were pledged, and after payment of the debt
they returned to their previous master. If the debt was not paid they
remained with the creditor, likewise with slave status. In other texts it is
clear that the pledged people were not slaves, but free people. In these
cases a real change takes place in the status of the pledged person, for
he in fact becomes the slave of his holder, and he was usually obliged
to work for him, in lieu of or in addition to the interest payable on the
loan. At the same time, the pledged person was unlike an ordinary slave
because he who held him was not allowed to sell him to anyone else, and
must return the pledge to his owner once the latter paid off his debt.
12
See Johns, ADB, p. 24; Zablocka, 1971, p. 156; Diakonof, 1974; Fales, 1975; Fales,
1979, p. 206; Postgate, 1979, p. 193; Dandamaev, 1984, pp. 585, 659; Dandamaev
Lukonin, 1989, p. 152; Renger, 1995, p. 308; van Koppen, 2001, p. 475.
13
See Postgate, 1976, pp. 1122; Radner, 1997, pp. 315356.
14
See Gelb, 1972; Diakonoff, 1974, pp. 4578; Dandamaev, 1984, pp. 6780; Radner,
1997, pp. 202248, with earlier literature; Baker, 2001, p. 23.
15
See Postgate, 1976, pp. 2829. For restricted conveyances see SAA VI 1: r 59;
132: 910; 257: r 34.
16
For pledged persons see Dandamaev, 1984, pp. 137180; Radner, 1997, pp.
371383; Radner, 2001, pp. 269271.
introduction
In a few texts the previous status of the pledged people is made clear,
but in others it is not certain if they were previously slaves or free. I
chose to study the pledged families separately, and in comparison with
families belonging to other groups in the lower stratum, aware that some
of them could have been slave families, and knowing that some had been
free families before they were pledged. In any event, at least regarding
families that formerly had had the status of free people, there is clearly
a new socio-economic status, a kind of intermediate position between
slaves and free people. As the texts about these pledged people were
not broken up, it is reasonable to suppose that these families eventually
became slaves. It has to be recognized then that in the Neo-Assyrian
Empire a group existed (apparently relatively small) of pledged people,
between free people and slaves, and these families denitely belonged
to the lower stratum in Neo-Assyrian society.
Matters are far more complicated concerning sales of Land and
People. What is the status of the persons and the families listed in these
texts? Are they slaves? Are they free? Are they semi-free? These questions
probably cannot be answered with any certainty, nor is it even clear if
the status of all the people who feature in these texts was identical.17
In any event, several notions may be put forward on this subject; some
of them have already been raised in research. Apparently, the people
mentioned in these sales of Land and People were slaves18 as they
were sold along with the land, and were recorded with the land in
the inventory of sold property. Likewise these people were evidently not
the owners of the land but workers on it (although sometimes they did
own some of the property: see text no. 87, below). It may similarly be
argued that there would be no point in recording the people unless they
were property, that is, slaves. At the same time, it is conceivable that
they would be recorded on the deed even if they were not slaves but
tenants, as land was worth more when sold with permanent workers
(tenants) than without them. An analogy for this could be the purchase
of a factory with skilled workers who know their work well, as against
acquiring one with no workers at all, where they have to be brought in
from elsewhere and trained for the job in new surroundings.
17
See Johns, ADB, pp. 2425; van Driel, 1970; Ellis, 1976, p. 145; Oded, 1979,
pp. 9598, 114.
18
In Mendelsohns opinion they were slaves pure and simple (1949, pp. 110111).
For a same opinion see Zablocka, 1971, p. 156; Zablocka, 1972, p. 212.
10
introduction
Against the assumption that the people listed in sales of Land and
People were slaves, the following arguments can be raised. A. The
usual terms signifying slaves (ARAD, GEM), which are very common in sales of people, are very rare in sales of Land and People.
B. Guarantee Clauses are rare in sales of Land and People, while
in sales of people they are frequent. C. In some sales of Land the
People the price of the transaction is so low as to be unreasonable for
people (if they were slaves) to be included, even if we assume that the
price of the land was very cheap (this matter is considered at length
in chapters IIIII).
On account of the above arguments it is preferable at this stage of
the discussion to keep slave families recorded on sales of people separate from families recorded on sales of Land and People, because
apparently one cannot determine if the latter were slaves or tenant
farmers. Later in this work we shall examine this issue afresh, to see if
it is possible to decide between these two alternatives. Anyhow it is clear
that the families recorded on sales of Land and People belonged to
the lower stratum in the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
The texts of the Harran Census are considered at length in
the literature. In addition to the pioneering work of Johns (ADB), and
the excellent doctoral thesis of Fales (1973), dozens of studies discuss
various aspects of these texts.19 In this case too scholars are divided
as to the status of these people, but many agree that they were not
slaves, and on the other hand not landowners either, because in several
instances it is clearly stated that small parcels of land or other means
of production were in their possession; hence most of the means of
production were not in their possession. As a working hypothesis we
shall assume that their status in principle was no different from that of
other farmers and gardeners who tilled land that was not in their
possession, and did so on a permanent basis and in return for a portion of the crop, namely they held the status of tenants. These people
should not be seen as semi-free but as free people who continued
to live on the land because this was a common interest to them and
the landowners, and because in their current socio-economic situation
19
For the Harran Census see also Jacobsen, 1969a, pp. 281283; van Driel, 1970,
p. 175; Postgate, 1974; Postgate, 1974a, pp. 2839; Fales, 1975; Parpola, 1975; Fales,
1984, pp. 212214; Roth, 1987, pp. 733736; FalesPostgate, 1995, pp. xxxxxxiv;
Radner, 1997, pp. 57, 71, 125126, 152153, 209, 223, 286, 299, 304; Akerman, pp.
240241; Garelli, 1998, p. 180; Fales, 2001, pp. 171178.
introduction
11
they had no better alternative. They were a kind of permanent workers at their place, in contrast to the day laborers, for whom there was
no commitment to employ except according to need, and chiey in
the busy farming seasons. Not by chance are there only a few real
leasing contracts from the Neo-Assyrian period (most of these contracts
are nothing more than the depositing of land as security for debt),20
as tenants who shared the harvest with the landowners were better off
than lessees, who settled for a xed payment (stu in the Neo-Babylonian
period).21 When necessary, at a time of crisis or drought, these lessees
bore all the costs caused by the hard times that befell them. By contrast,
the tenants, who worked the land in return for a part of the crop (by
the system known in the Neo-Babylonian period as imittuand compare Hammurabis laws 49, 178, 215217, 221223, 253), shared the
risk with the landowners. Even in bad years, when the harvests were
sparse, they managed to survive.22 Obviously, the tenant would prefer
to be the landowner, to take the entire crop, but his economic situation
did not allow him to purchase the land. So the two sides had a joint
interest that kept them together. The working farmer, who perhaps had
been the landowner in the past, lived in a place he knew well, could
make a respectable living, and inwardly perhaps harbored the hope
that the day would come when he could get back this land, or some
other land; the landowner beneted from his having a skilled working
team, motivated, and working with a will, for they received a share
of the crop and not a wage. In contrast to slaves, there was no need
to place a guard over tenants to stop them running away, and there
was no need to lay out large sums of money to buy slaves. We may
recall that obtaining the land through a senior ofcial was sometime
accompanied by exemption from tax on the crop also, a bonus that
independent farmers did not enjoy.
In my research I distinguished families recorded in the texts of the
Harran Census from families recorded in royal grants or personal
decrees. Here too there is no agreement in research as to the status of
20
See Jas, 2000a.

See Dandamaev, 1984, pp. 5051; Dandamaev, 1990, p. 90; Snell, 1993, pp.
222223; Jursa, 1995, pp. 85116; Bongenaar, 1997, pp. 910, 25, 134, 262, 291,
302, 312, 428.
22
See Petschow, 1976, pp. 6873; Reis, 1976, p. 82; Dandamaev, 1984, pp. 5051;
Snell, 1993, pp. 222223; Jursa, 1995, pp. 3839, 147154; Cole, 1996, p. 51; Baker,
2004, pp. 6367, 219220. In the Neo-Babylonian period the owner of the land
received 10%80% of the produce.
21
12
introduction
the people listed in these texts.23 Note that very common in these texts is
a formula signifying the family head with his people (adi UN.ME-),
without detailing numbers of the people; this differs from the sales of
people, in which those sold are almost always indicated by their name
or by their connection with the family head.24 The major difculty in
research of this group of families arises from the sparse information
we have on any of the dozens of these families. The discussion will be
divided between families listed in the texts of grants and exemptions
from tax to ofcials (group A) and families recorded in royal grants
and personal decrees to temples (group B). As a working hypothesis
we shall posit that the families belonging to group A were not slaves
but tenants, while those belonging to group B had the status of temple
slaves or temple employees. Later in the study we shall check whether
it is possible to decide between these two alternatives.25
Most texts of the Rations have not yet been published, so a certain
lack of clarity clouds these lists. As we know, in the Ancient Near East
food rations were distributed to both slaves and non-slaves, so it is not
clear if those families were temple slaves or temple employees. In any
event, it is reasonable to suppose that they were under the supervision
of members of the family of exorcists in whose house Archive N4 was
found, in which these texts were contained, together with about 800
other tablets.26 Most of the families mentioned in this group (11 out of
13) include a woman with her son or daughter, or a woman with her
children, that is, single-parent families, a very common feature among
slave families.27
Now a few words on the group I have dened generally as Deportees
and Displaced Persons (after SAA XI). Note that I have included
23
For the status of the people attested in royal grants and personal decrees see
Jakobson, 1969, p. 294; Postgate, 1969; Zablocka, 1972, p. 212; Oded, 1979, p. 114;
Fales, 1984, pp. 209213; KatajaWhiting, 1995, pp. xiiixli. Jacobson and Zablocka
are of the opinion they were slaves, but Oded claimed that next to nothing can be
said for certain on their status.
24
For the pattern PN adi UN.ME- see SAA XII, no. 3637, 50, 53, 6061;
see also Fales, 1983a, pp. 236237.
25
For the status of the people donated to temples see above, note 23, and see also
van Driel, 1969; Menzel, AST; cf. also Klengel, 1975, pp. 181200; Singer, 1998, pp.
109110, for the status of the people donated to temples in the Hittite kingdom. In
Singers opinion they were tenants.
26
For N4 see Pedersn, 1986, pp. 4176; Pedersn, 1998, pp. 135136.
27
For the rations system in the Ancient Near East see Gelb, 1965; Dandamaev,
1984, pp. 500505; Renger, 1994, pp. 176180; Bongenaar, 1997, pp. 297298; van
Koppen, 2001, p. 473; Uchitel, 2002.
introduction
13
in this group only deportees who were in transit from their original
places to their new places; I do not include deportees who were settled
in their new place. As a working hypothesis I took it that the deportees
held during their transfer from place to place the provisional status of
prisoners of war (hubut qati, kiittu, allatu). Only at the second stage
were the deportees placed by the king of Assyria in various positions
and on the various levels of Assyrian society (as B. Oded has shown).28
In the fullness of time they became an inseparable part of Assyrian
society, or in the phrase of the Assyrian propaganda itti ni KUR Aur
amnunti. The deportees were slotted in primarily according to the
kings requirements and to their talents. Some were given low level and
even senior positions in the Assyrian bureaucracy; others (only in rare
cases) were sold as slaves by corrupt ofcials or were awarded, by the
king, as slaves to his ofcials. But most of the deportees were apparently placed as tenants on lands owned by the king or his ofcials, or
by the temples.29
In this study I examine the differences between the families listed in
the various groups noted here, and I re-check the working hypotheses
I have raised in the foregoing outline.
Structure of the Work

This volume of my study is divided into two main parts. Part I includes
three chapters: chapter I offers a general discussion of the sources, and
chapter II briey surveys all 447 Lower Stratum families in the period
under review (800600 B.C.). These families are mentioned in 177 texts.
In this chapter the families are arranged in seven groups: slaves, pledged
people, Land and People, Royal Grants, Harran Census, deportees
and displaced persons, and ration recipients (according to the working
hypothesis set out above).30 Within each group the families are arrayed
chronologically; the undated texts are tted in by their archives, and
are followed by the unassigned documents.31 The post-canonical texts
28
See Oded, 1979, pp. 75115 with earlier literature. For the status of deportees
in the Hittite Empire see Bryce, 2002, p. 78.
29
Cf. Oded, 1979, p. 98: In the second stage, the deportees received the elds
in tenure.
30
No information on families of hired laborers is attested in Neo-Assyrian
records.
31
Sealing with ngernail or the use of copper as currency was not used in my study
14
introduction
have been dated according to Parpolas method.32 The conclusions of

the discussion in chapter II are presented in tables 117. Chapter III
examines the terminology used to dene the families mentioned, the
formulation of the texts, and the status of the families.
Part II of this volume considers socio-economic and demographic
issues. These include family types (chapter IV), family size (chapter V),
marriage patterns (chapter VI), childless families (chapter VII), childrens
age (chapter VIII), and single-parent families (chapter IX); the last two
chapters examine the numerical proportions among family members
(chapter X) and the number of generations in a family (chapter XI).
Before proceeding to study the sources, I present briey below two
of the most important researches dealing with the subject covered in
this volume (studies on the texts considered in this book are reviewed
in full in the next chapter). The most important study written on the
subject of this volume was published by Fales in 1975.33 Fales compared
37 families and single people numbered in the Harran Census with
65 other families enumerated in legal transactions, of which 40 were
slave families (one of them, SAA VI 85, is not a family but a slave and
a maid of uncertain relationship), 13 were pledged families, and 12 were
families listed in sales of Land and People. Fales did not distinguish
among these three groups but examined all 65 attestations as a single
whole, in comparison with the attestations from the Harran Census.
He examined only 37 out of the 101 families covered by the census,
and only 65 (in fact 64) of the 182 families attested in legal transactions.
Fales did not avail of some of the texts known today, for example, new
documents from Dr-Katlimmu. In sum, Fales scrutinized only 101 out
of the 447 families discussed in this volume of my study. Nevertheless,
Faless work is of great importance, and I regard mine as a continuation of his. Although he studied less than a quarter of the attestations
that we possess he reached extremely signicant conclusions, which
cannot be refuted, including emphasis on the small size of the families
considered, absence of grown-up girls, proportion of the sexes in these
families, the few generations in a family, planning of workforce by the
as dating criteria, since both were common in the 8th century, but the practice continued
in the 7th century. See also Radner, 1997, p. 38; Mattila, 2002, pp. xxixxii.
32
See PNA, 1/I, pp. xviiixxi.
33
See Fales, 1975.
introduction
15
landowners, and more. Fales similarly examined the implications of his

research for various social, economic, and political problems.34
In addition to Faless work, the researches of Karen Radner has to
be highlighted, particularly noteworthy is her doctoral thesis,35 which
centers on legal transactions in the Neo-Assyrian period. This work
contains a special and detailed study devoted to Der Mensch in
these documents (Chapter VII, pp. 125248).36 This is a profound
study of various philological and social aspects of the subject. The
chapter discusses evidence regarding children, young people, adults,
and the elderly, and it has a special and extensive place devoted to
slaves. Chapter VII.3, entitled Der Mensch als Teil der Gesellschaft
(pp. 195230), in fact considers mainly slaves (pp. 202230), while the
following chapter (VII.4, pp. 230248) indeed continues with the study
of slaves. Only two pages are concerned with the issue of the family and the household (pp. 200202).37 Radners research is of great
importance in philological terms, and it also offers important discussions
of the terminology applied in legal transactions through comparison
with administrative texts and letters from the period under review. But
the research does not consider methodically demographic and socioeconomic matters, including family size, types and structure, as these
matters exceed the research plan and are omitted from the start. This
lack does not reduce the value of Radners book, nor its contribution
to a better understanding of society in the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
34
35
36
37
See also Fales, 2001, pp. 174178.

See Radner, 1997.
See Radner, 1997, Ch. VII, pp. 125248.
For a review of Radners study see Mller, 1999, pp. 320325.
PART ONE
CHAPTER ONE
THE SOURCES
A. Types of Documents
The 447 families of the lower stratum are attested in 177 texts, which are
divided into four main types: legal transactions, administrative records,
court decisions, and letters. Most texts (69%) are legal transactions (122),
and this type is further divided into three sub-groups: conveyances
(115), contracts (6), and one receipt. The conveyances are mostly sales
of people (78), sales of Land and People (30), or sales of Land and
People with a pledge (2). Other conveyances are divisions of property/
inheritance (3), a private gift, and redemption from a pledge. The six
contracts are mainly debt notes with a pledge (4); the other two are
a loan of silver with a pledge, and payment of a debt by pledging of
persons.
The 47 administrative records (27%) are divided into four main
groups: 1. Population management and military administration (15):
most texts of this group refer to deportees and displaced people (14),
and only one is a schedule of Land and People; 2. The well known
group of texts called the Harran Census (15); 3. Royal grants and
private votive donations (7); 4. Lists of barley rations (10).
Two out of the six letters were sent to the king, two are petitions to
ofcials, and two are too broken to be clearly dened (see the table on
the next page and appendix A to chapter I).
B. Date of Documents
Most texts (78%) are dated or can be dated by prosopographic
considerations. The earliest document is dated to 800 B.C. and the latest
are from the end of the 7th century B.C. In the following discussion
the texts will be divided into three main groups: the earlier documents
(59 texts dated to 800681 B.C. = 33%); the later documents (79 texts
dated to 680614* B.C. = 45%); and the other 39 texts (22%) which
are undated, and cannot be dated by prosopographic considerations
(most of them are probably from the 7th century B.C.).
20
chapter one
TYPES OF DOCUMENTS
A. Legal Transactions (122)

I. Conveyances (115)
1. Sale of Persons (78)
2. Sale of Land and People (30)
3. Sale of Land and People with a Pledge (2)
4. Division of Property/Inheritance (3)
5. Redemption from a Pledge (1)
6. Private Gift (1)
II. Contracts (6)
1. Loan of Silver with a Pledge (1)
2. Debt-note with Pledge (4)
3. Payment of a debt by pledging of persons (1)
III. Receipts (1)
B. Administrative Records (47)
I. Population Management and Military Administration (15)
1. Deportees and Displaced People (14)
2. Schedules of Land and People (1)
II. The Harran Census (15)
III. Royal Grants and Private Votive Donations (7)
1. Royal Grants (6)
2. Private Votive Donations (1)
IV. Lists of Rations (Private Archive10)
C. Court Decisions (2)
D. Letters (6)
I. Letters to the King (2)
II. Petitions to Ofcials (2)
III. Other Letters (2)
B.1. The earlier documents (800681 B.C.). Most of these 59 texts are dated
to Sennacheribs reign (34) or to the reign of Sargon II (17), and only a
few to the time of Tiglath-pileser III (5) or Adad-nrri III (2). Another
text (an administrative text from Calah) is dated to the 8th century B.C.
(text no. 152). The two texts from the reign of Adad-nrri III are a
sale of people (text no. 1 = 800 B.C.) and a royal grant (text no. 128).
The ve documents from the time of Tiglath-pileser III are a division
of property from Aur (text no. 2 = 744 B.C.), a sale of people from
Aur (text no. 2 = 727 B.C.), two royal grants from Nineveh (texts no.
the sources
21
129130), and an administrative list from Calah (text no. 150). The 17
documents from the reign of Sargon II (721705 B.C. are mainly the
15 texts of the Harran Census (texts nos. 135149), a sale of people
(text no. 4 = 713 B.C.), and a letter sent to the king (text no. 151).
Most of the 34 texts which are dated to Sennacheribs reign are
sales of people or sales of Land and People from Nineveh (14 sales
of people, dated to 700681texts nos. 7, 913, 1522; and ten sales
of Land and People most of them dated to 698683texts nos. 88,
97104, 106). Three other sales of people or of Land and People
(texts nos. 56, 105) involve umma-ilni, a chariot driver who was
active in Nineveh for about 30 years, mainly in the time of Sennacherib
(709680 B.C.). The other seven texts from Sennacheribs reign are
two royal donations to temples (texts nos. 132133); two debt-notes
with a pledge from Nineveh (texts nos. 8687693694 B.C.); two
unpublished sales of people from Maxallnte (texts nos. 8, 14700,
693 B.C.), and one letter (text no. 153).
B.2. The later documents (680614* B.C.). 38 texts are dated to Esarhaddons
reign (680669 B.C.) or to the rst half of Assurbanipals reign (668649
B.C.). All but three are legal transactions (35), the exceptions being a
letter, a royal grant, and an administrative list of Egyptian deportees
(texts nos. 30, 131 and 154). The 35 legal transactions are mainly
sales of people (22 texts: nos. 2329, 3145) or sales of Land and
People (12 texts: nos. 89, 107117); and one debt-note with a pledge
(text no. 90).
41 texts are from the second half of Assurbanipals reign to the last
years of Assyria (648*614* B.C.). Most are sales of people (23 texts:
nos. 4658, 60, 62, 6572), the others are six legal transactions (two
divisions of property, a private gift, payment of a debt by a pledge of
people and a receipt: texts nos. 59, 61, 6364, 92). The remaining 12
texts are ten lists of rations (texts nos. 168177) and two court decisions (texts nos. 91, 93).
B.3. The undated documents. Most of these 39 undated texts (which cannot
be dated by prosopographic considerations) are probably from the 7th
century B.C. Twenty out of these 39 texts are sales of people (12: texts
nos. 7384) or of Land and People (8: texts nos. 119126). Three
other legal transactions are redemption from a pledge (text no. 96), a
loan with a pledge (text no. 94), and a debt-note with a pledge (text
22
chapter one
no. 95). Thirteen are administrative texts, mainly lists of deportees (11);
one is a private donation (134) and one is a schedule of Land and
People (127). The last three texts are letters (texts nos. 85, 161162).
C. Provenance of the Texts

The texts originated in six places: Aur, Calah, Nineveh, DrKatlimmu, Maxallnte and Gezer (see table below). Ninety percent of
the texts originated in the three capital cities of the empire (160 out of
177 texts): 126 texts are from Nineveh (71%), 30 from Aur (17%), and
only four from Calah (2%). Sixteen texts originated in the periphery
(9%): 12 in Dr-Katlimmu, three in Maxallnte, and one in Gezer. The
provenance of one text is unclear (no. 85). However, the texts do not
reect only the situation on the mainland of Assyria; on the contrary,
many texts from Nineveh refer to diverse areas of the Assyrian empire,
from Til-Barsib and Nrubu/Nrab in the west to Arbail in the east;
and from Talmsa, the province of the rab q and Izalla in the north
to Babylonia in the south.1 It is well known that very important data
concern the Harran area, although the texts of the Harran Census
were unearthed in Nineveh. Appendix B to this chapter is a list of
texts from Nineveh relating to diverse places in the Assyrian empire.
For simplicitys sake the 15 texts of the Harran Census are presented
as related to the city of Harran, although in these texts 143 toponyms
are attested, mostly unidentied (see discussion below).
D. The Division of the Texts into Groups for Discussion

The 177 texts are divided in this study into seven groups for discussion
in accordance with the research hypothesis set forth in the Introduction.
The Administrative records are divided into four groups (nos. 47):
group 4 contains all royal grant and private votive donations; group
5 is the 15 texts of the Harran Census; group 6 consists of all lists
of deportees, as well as two letters sent to Sargon II and Sennacherib
which refer to deportees; and group 7 contains the lists of rations for
people who probably were under the supervision of members of the
family of exorcists in whose house these texts were found.
1
See Kwasman, 1986, p. 239; Kwasman, 1988, pp. xxxixl.
the sources
23
PROVENANCE OF TEXTS
Aur (30): Sale of Persons (11); Division of Property/Inheritance (3); Payment
of a debt by pledging of persons; Receipt; Royal Grants (2); Lists of Rations
(10); Court Decisions (2).
Calah (4): Sale of Persons (2); Administrative List of Deportees (2).
Dr-Katlimmu (12): Sale of Persons (11); Sale of Land and People (1).
Gezer (1): Sale of Land and People.
Maxallnte (3): Sale of Persons (3)
Nineveh (126): Sale of Persons (51); Sale of Land and People (28); Sale
of Land and People with a Pledge (2); Redemption from a Pledge (1);
Private Gift (1); Loan of Silver with a Pledge (1); Debt-note with a Pledge (4);
Administrative List of Deportees (12); Schedules of Land and People (1);
The Harran Census (15); Royal Grants (4); Private Votive Donations (1);
Letter to the King (2); Petition to Ofcial (1); Other Letters (2).
Unknown Provenance (1): Petition to Ofcials
The 122 legal transactions are divided into three groups: the people
attested in sales of people (slaves) are separate from people mentioned
in sales of Land and People. Additional texts are included in the rst
group (slaves) as follows: three divisions of property/inheritance, a
private gift, a receipt, and two petitions to ofcials. The people mentioned in a schedule of Land and People are related to the group of
people attested in sales of Land and People. All texts that list pledged
people are discussed in a separate group (see table, below).
E. The Publication of the Documents

Three main stages may be observed in the history of the research
of most of these documents: 1. the studies of Johns, published in
18981923 (= ADD; ADB); 2. the research of Kohler and Ungnad
(1913 = ARU); 3. the SAA series, vols. VI, XI, XII, XIV, published
in 19912002.2
Johnss studies were preceded by a few pioneering works published
in the last third of the 19th century B.C.: ten of the present 177 texts
2
See KwasmanParpola, 1991 (= SAA VI); FalesPostgate, 1995 (= SAA XI);
KatajaWhiting, 1995 (= SAA XII); Mattila, 2002 (= SAA XIV).
24
chapter one
THE GROUPS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Slaves (85 texts; 116 families):

A. Legal Transactions (83): I. Conveyances (82):
1. Sale of Persons (78): Aur (11); Calah (2); Dr-Katlimmu (11); Maxallnte (3);
Nineveh (51)
4. Division of Property/Inheritance (Aur, 3);

6. Private Gift (Nineveh, 1); III. Receipts (1);
D. Letters (2): II. Petitions to Ofcials (Unknown provenance, 1; Nineveh, 1)
2. Pledged Persons (11 texts; 19 famiies):
3. Sale of Land and People with a Pledge (Nineveh, 2);
5. Redemption from Pledge (Nineveh, 1);
II. Contracts (6): 1. Loan of Silver with a Pledge (Nineveh, 1);
2. Debt-note with a Pledge (Nineveh, 4);
3. Payment of a debt by pledging of persons (Aur, 1);
C. Court Decisions (2): (Aur).
3. Land and People (31 texts; 52 families):
2. Sale of Land and People (30): Dr-Katlimmu (1); Gezer (1); Nineveh (28)
B. Administrative Records (1): I. Population Management and Military Administration
(1): 2. Schedule of Land and People (1)
4. Royal Grants (7 texts; 89 families):
B. Administrative Records (7): III. Royal Grants and Private Votive Donations (6);
1. Royal Grants (6): Aur, 2; Nineveh, 4;
2. Private Votive Donations (1): Nineveh.
5. The Harran Census (15 texts; 101 families):
B. Administrative Records (11): II. The Harran Census (15): Nineveh (15).
6. Deportees and Displaced Persons (18 texts; 57 families):
B. Administrative Records (14):
I. Population Management and Military Administration (14):
1. Deportees and Displaced Persons (14): (Calah, 2; Nineveh, 12).
D. Letters (4): I. Letter to the King (2): Nineveh, 2. III. Other Letters (2):
Nineveh, 2.
7. Recipients of Rations (10 texts; 13 families):

B. Administrative Records (6): IV. Lists of Rations (10): Aur (10).
the sources
25
were among the rst edited in Assyriology. Three documents were published as early as 1866 by Norris in Rawlinsons second volume (texts
nos. 23, 42, 51).3 These sales of people also include Aramaic captions.
Three additional texts (nos. 25, 58, 98) were published by Smith in
Rawlinsons second volume (in 1870).4 Most of these documents were
also published by Oppert and Mnant in Paris in 1877 (nos. 23, 25, 42,
58, 98),5 and four texts (no. 17, 40, 104, 112) were published in Berlin
in 1896 by Peiser.6 Of these 177 texts, 112 (63%) were rst edited by
Johns in his pioneering studies: ADD (97 texts); and ADB (15 texts).
Eighty-one out of these 112 documents were presented by Kohler and
Ungnad in 1913 in ARU (most of them from Nineveh, and a few from
Aur). In that study the texts were arranged by legal categories, and
they were transliterated and translated into German.7
In 1973, Fales reexamined the texts of the Harran Census in his
dissertation,8 and in 1979, many texts were collated by Parpola and
new restorations of texts rst edited by Johns were presented.9
In 1988 Kwasman studied 426 texts including 62 out of 112 documents rst published by Johns and presented in my study.10 Kwasman
rearranged the texts dividing them into archives; he collated the texts
and presented a fresh transliteration and translation of the texts.
Eight texts with Aramaic captions (nos. 23, 26, 29, 42, 51, 58, 61,
114) were the rst edited in Assyriology, as mentioned above. In 1901
most of these texts were studied by Stevenson,11 and additional editions were published in 1912, and in 19701971.12 An important study
3
H. C. Rawlinson, The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, II, London 1866
(= 2R).
4
H. C. Rawlinson, The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, III, London 1870
(= 3R).
5
J. Oppert and J. Mnant, Document juridiques de lAssyrie et de la Chalde, Paris 1877
(= Op).
6
F. E. Peiser, Texte juristischen und geschftlichen Inhalts, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek,
IV, Berlin 1896 (= KB 4).
7
ARU, pp. 447467.
8
Fales, 1973.
9
Parpola, 1979.
10
Kwasman, 1988.
11
J. Stevenson, Assyrian and Babylonian Contracts with Aramaic Reference Notes, Chicago
1901 (= ABC).
12
L. L. Delaporte, Epigraphes aramens, Paris 1912 (= EA); F. Vattioni, Epigraa
aramaica, Augustinianum 10 (1970), pp. 493452; 11 (1971), pp. 18190; Orientalia 48
(1979), pp. 140145 (= Ep. Ar).
26
chapter one
of these texts was presented by Lieberman in 1968,13 but, the most

important study of these texts was published by Fales in 1986.14 Fales
reexamined all 61 texts of this category, including ten unpublished
documents. He arranged the texts by their provenance, suggested new
restorations, and followed this with a philological discussion.
All 112 texts rst edited by Johns were republished in the SAA series,
vols. VI, XI, XII, XIV, in 19912002; and the personal names attested
in these texts were reexamined in the volumes of the most important
prosopographic project (= PNA).
The other 65 texts included in my study (which were not edited by
Johns), are divided into two main groups: 48 have been published and
17 are as yet unpublished (three from Maxallnte and 14 from Aur,
one [KAJ 243 = text no. 169] was published by Ebeling in 1927 only in
cuneiform). The 48 published texts are mainly from Aur (17), Nineveh
(14), and Dr-Katlimmu (12). The other ve texts are from Calah (4)
and Gezer. The Gezer tablet was rst published at the beginning of
the 20th century.15 In 1935 it was reexamined by Galling, and a new
edition was presented by Becking in the 1980s.16 Four texts from Calah
were published by different scholars: text no. 44 by Weisman in 1953
(reexamined by Postgate in 1976);17 text no. 150 by Parker in 1961;
and text no. 152 by Postgate in 1973;18 the fourth text from Calah
(no. 1) was published by Deller and Fadhil in 1993.19
Fourteen texts from Nineveh that were not edited by Johns were
published in the SAA series in 19952003: six for the rst time in this
series (no. 80 = SAA XIV 414; no. 130 = SAA XII 17; no. 153 =
SAA XVII 114; no. 163 = SAA XI 199; no. 166 = SAA XI 195; no.
167 = SAA XI 196); eight texts were published by various scholars: no.
151 was rst published by Harper (ABL 212) in his monumental study
that appeared between 1892 and 1914. This letter was translated into
Italian by Fales in 1983,20 and was republished in 2001 (= SAA XV
13
See S. J. Lieberman, The Aramaic Argillary Script in the seventh century, BASOR 192
(1968), pp. 2531 (= Lieb.).
14
See F. M. Fales, Aramaic Epigraphs on Clay Tablets of the Neo-Assyrian Period, Rome
1986 (= AECT).
15
Pinches, 1904; Sayce, 1904; Johns, 1904a; Johns, 1904b; Conder, 1904; Conder,
1905; Macalister, 1912, pp. 2227+g. 1.
16
Galling, 1935; Becking, 19811982, pp. 8182.
17
Weisman, 1953, pp. 141, 151 (Pl. XII); Postgate, 1976, no. 9.
18
Parker, 1961, pp. 2728; Postgate, 1973, no. 113.
19
DellerFadhil, 1993, p. 247.
20
Fales, 1983, pp. 110113.
the sources
27
181). Three other letters (nos. 31, 161162)21 were published only in
cuneiform in CT 53 by Parpola, and a new edition was presented in
20012002 (SAA XV 303, 309; SAA XVI 53).
Four other texts from Nineveh were published in the 1970s and
1980s mainly by Postgate: in 1970 (no. 122 = SAA XIV 399); in 1979
(no. 52 = SAA XIV 424); and in 1987 (no. 134 = SAA XII 98).22
The fourth text was published by Parpola in 1979 (no. 160 = SAA
XI 200).23
Five of 16 texts from Aur were published in the rst half of the
20th century: two by Ungnad in 1907 (60, 91); these documents were
republished by Kohler and Ungnad in 1913, and by Radner in 1997.24
Another document (no. 61) was rst published in 1939; in the 1970s and
1980s it was reedited by Vattioni, Postgate and Fales.25 Two royal grants
from Aur were reexamined by many scholars: text no. 132 was rst
published only in cuneiform by Schrder in 1920; it was reexamined
in 1954 by Ebeling, by Postgate in 1969, and by Kataja and Whiting
in 1995.26 The other royal grant was rst published by Ebeling, and
reedited in 1969 and 1995.27
The other 11 texts from Aur were rst published in the last generation: no. 48 by Donbaz and Deller in 1987,28 with a new edition
presented in StAT 2 140; no. 63 in 1991, by Fales and Jakob-Rost
(= SAAB 5 17); and no. 71 by Deller, Fales, and others in 1995
(= SAAB 9 78). Two other texts (nos. 92, 93) were published by Radner
in 1997 and 1999;29 and six other texts (nos. 2, 48, 67, 83, 84, 168)
were rst presented in StAT 2 in 2001 by Donbaz and Parpola.30
Another text, whose provenance is unclear (no. 85), was published
by Donbaz in 2002,31 and the 12 texts from Dr-Katlimmu (nos. 43,
21
Parpola, 1979a, no. 9, 325, 604.

Postgate, 1970, pp. 145146; PostgateIsmail, no. 2; Postgate, 1987, pp.
5763.
23
Parpola, 1979a, no. 321.
24
Ungnad, 1907, no. 9596; ARU, no. 70, 655; Radner, 1997a, pp. 118121,
129133.
25
CTNMC, no. 68; Ep. Ar., no. 274; Postgate, 1976, no. 18; Fales, 1986, no. 61.
26
See KAV, no. 39; SVAT III, pp. 912; Postgate, 1969, App. 4; KatajaWhiting,
1995 (= SAA XII), no. 87.
27
PKTA, no. 2730; SVAT I, pp. 39; Postgate, 1969, App. 4a; KatajaWhiting,
1995 (= SAA XII), no. 86.
28
See DellerDonbaz, 1987, pp. 221226.
29
Radner, 1997, p. 369; Radner, 1999, no. 36.
30
DonbazParpola, 2001, nos. 11, 101, 118, 119, 137, 140.
31
Donbaz, 2002.
22
28
chapter one
47, 4950, 5354, 6566, 72, 8182, 126) were published in 2002 by
Radner.32
F. The Harran Census

F.1. Scribe A and Scribe B
The texts of the Harran Census are considered at length in the
literature, as mentioned in the Introduction.33 These texts should
evidently be divided into two main groups (following Parpola),34 each
composed by a different scribe: A or B. This important observation is
based on the following main considerations: 1. Scribe A uses the sign
A (with only one exceptionDUMU), while scribe B uses the sign
DUMU (again with one exceptionA); 2. Scribe A presents a detailed
description of the family members, clearly distinguishing wives from
daughters; while scribe B omits patronymics, sons names, childrens
ages, and totals, and counts all females (wives and daughters) in one
category, Women. A few families attested in texts related to these
different scribes nicely illustrate these characteristics (see the discussion
on families 308309 in Chapter II). The following is a list of texts
related to these two scribes (see p. 29).
F.2. Toponyms and Personal Names in the Texts of the Harran Census
The texts of the Harran Census were found in Nineveh, but it is well
known that they describe the Harrn area: 143 toponyms are attested
in these texts, most of them unidentied as mentioned above. However,
a few are clearly located in the Balikh basin (Harrn, Huzrna, and
Balhu), and in adjacent areas to the west (Sargu and Hadattu) or the
north (Kipnu).35 Recently, Jacobson argued once again that Kipnu is
not the name of a place.36 His arguments are unconvincing, as clearly
32
Radner, 2002 (= BATSH 6).

For the Harran Census see Introduction, note 19.
34
Parpola, 1975, pp. 99107; Roth, 1987, pp. 731735. For a different division of
the texts see FalesPostgate, 1995, pp. xxxiiixxxiv.
35
For a list of the toponyms mentioned in the Harran Census see Fales, 1973,
pp. 148150. For the identication of these toponyms see Fales, 1973, pp. 9398;
ParpolaPorter, 2001, pp. 518, and map no. 3.
36
Jakobson, 1999.
33
29
the sources
Scribe A (By Number in this book)
Families
135. ADB
136. ADB
137. ADB
138. ADB
139. ADB
145. ADB
01
02
03
13
08
20
=
=
=
=
=
=
CCNA
CCNA
CCNA
CCNA
CCNA
CCNA
01
02
03
10
09
19
=
=
=
=
=
=
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
XI
XI
XI
XI
XI
XI
201
202
203
205
206
218
=
=
=
=
=
=
K
K
K
K
K
K
2017
8125+
8134
8957
8179
6951
Fathers and Sons

146. ADB 05 = CCNA 21 = SAA XI 219 = K 4729
147. ADB 07 = CCNA 22 = SAA XI 220 = Rm 2,130+7978, 102
Scribe B (By Number in this book)
Families
140. ADB 06 = CCNA 05 =
141. ADB 14 = CCNA 06 =
142. ADB 09+11+12+16 =
9728+
143. ADB 04 = CCNA 04 =
144. ADB 21 = CCNA 08 =
SAA XI 207 = K 4754+

SAA XI 208 = K 13394
CCNA 11+13+14+16 = SAA XI 209 = K
SAA XI 213 = K 4767+
SAA XI 214 = Rm 478
Fathers and Sons

148. ADB 10 = CCNA 12 = SAA XI 210 = K 13132+9159, 103
149. ADB 19 = CCNA 07 = SAA XI 211 = 7978, 337
attested in other Neo-Assyrian documents too.37 It is possible that

Magrisu (text no. 136) is located in the Khabur basin, although the
restoration of the toponym Naibina in this text is unclear.38
Most personal names attested in the texts of the Harran Census
are West Semitic or Aramaic (see the discussion in Chapter II). This
accords well with the location of most toponyms in the Harran area,
since the theophoric elements Sx, Sn-, Nauh-, the names of the moon
god whose center was in Harran, are attested in many names.
37
FalesPostgate, 1995, p. xxxi; Postgate, 1974a, p. 33. Cf. also the toponym Tll
zy Qpn Hrn (= Tilul of the Qipan of Harran) mentioned in an unpublished text from
Maxallnte (O 3648). See Lipinski, 1985, p. 346; Garelli, 1986, p. 242.
38
Fales, 1973, p. 97; SAA XI 202 ii 14.
30
chapter one
F.3. The Main Characteristics of the Harran Census

The information on the families presented in my study is not uniform.
In a few texts only the name of the family head is attested, with just
the total of his family members (e.g., in the royal grants); other texts
yield more details; the texts of the Harran Census related to scribe
A undoubtedly give the fullest description; each is arranged as follows:
it opens with the family heads personal name and profession (at times
patronymics are also presented); the other family members are listed
next, with a note of their relation to the head: his sons and brothers are
listed sometimes by name, and usually with an indication of their size
or age; the wife, daughter(s), heads mother or sister are mentioned
last, usually unnamed. The description of the people is followed by
a detailed list of the land, recorded by type and quantity, as well as
animals (oxen, sheep, etc.). Important information on the position of
the farm in respect of the local and the regional district is also given
(e.g., ina GN; ina qanni . . .; ina madbar . . . etc.).
The ownership of land is a central issue in these texts, and the
landowners of these rural holdings were clearly Assyrian ofcials in the
main. Small parcels were owned by the cultivators (a ramanniunu:
see Families nos. 277278, 299), but these are rare exceptions.39 In
other rare cases land was donated to the farmers (see text no. 146,
col. III). But most of the landowners were high-, middle-, and even
low-rank ofcials, including a governor (text no. 136), a chief cook (of
the governor) of Harran (text no. 143), and even a cook whom this
same chief cook promoted (text no. 137). Text no. 146 (= SAA XI
219) enumerates lands owned by Assyrian ofcials, and cultivated by
Gambulaean deportees. The landowners listed in this text are mainly
high ofcials, including the chief cupbearer, the palace herald, the
sartinnu, the governors of Nineveh and Tamnna, the treasurers of the
crown prince and of the Ar temple, and more.40
39
For the term: a ramanniunu see Zablocka, 1971, pp. 209211; Fales, 1973, p. 15;
Oded, 1979, pp. 9598. See also ND 2449:22 = Saggs, 1956, p. 40; Postgate, 1974a,
pp. 375376; Saggs, 2001, pp. 196197.
40
On the problem of land ownership in the Neo-Assyrian Period see Postgate,
1974a, pp. 3135.
the sources
31
F.4. The Date and the Purpose of the Harran Census

The texts of the Harran Census are undated, and their purpose is
unspecied in the texts. They may reasonably be dated to the late reign
of Sargon II or to the beginning of Sennacheribs reign, as suggested
by Parpola,41 and one may surmise that the lands enumerated are
those properties in the area in question, which were exempt from
taxation.42
41
Parpola, 1975, p. 108.

Postgate, 1974, pp. 229230; Postgate, 1974a, p. 39; see also FalesPostgate,
1995, p. xxxiii.
42
CHAPTER I
APPENDIX A
THE SOURCES
by Types of Documents
A. Legal Transactions (122)
I. Conveyances (115)
1. Sale of Persons (78)
Aur (11)
727
3. unpublished = VAT 19872 see PNA, p. 841.
649
45. unpublished = VAT 9582 see PNA, pp. 58, 181, 214, 470, 501,
529.
641*
48. StAT 2 140 = A 2692 = Ass 11770a = ALA N29 (1) = BaM 18
(1987), pp. 221226.
631*
55. unpublished = VAT 8232 = PNA, p. 1159.
625*
60. ARU 70
= AoF 24 (1997), pp. 118121 = VAT 5602 = VS 1
95.
Ass or later
67. StAT 2 137 = A 2919 [= N 28].
69. unpublished = SAAS VI, p. 226, n. 1253 = VAT 9755 see PNA,
pp. 230231, 924, 1110.
70. unpublished = SAAS VI, p. 136, n. 689 = VAT 15538 see PNA,
pp. 632, 676.
After Ass
71. SAAB 9 78 = VAT 8592 = Ass 8520d = ALA N15 (3) = KAN
II 77.
the sources
33
?
83. StAT 2 118 = A 341 = Ass 11393dz = ALA N25 (17).
84. StAT 2 119 = A 795+2565 = Ass 11393du+11393d = ALA N25
(12).
Calah (2)
800
1. BaM 24 (1993), pp. 247 ff. = ND 673.
649
44. Iraq 15 (1953), pp. 141, 151 (Pl. XII) = ND 3426 = FNALD 9.
Dr-Katlimmu (11)
650
43. BATSH 6 46 = SH 98/6949 I 896 = DeZ 21027.
644/629*
47. BATSH 6 141= SH 98/6949 I 439 = DeZ 21050/32.
641*
49. BATSH 6 53 = SH 98/6949 I 876.
639*
50. BATSH 6 56 = SH 98/6949 I 884 = DeZ 21030.
634*
53. BATSH 6 142 = SH 98/6949 I 922 = DeZ 21051/3.
631*
54. BATSH 6 66 = SH 98/6949 I 875 = DeZ 21036.
Ass or later
65. BATSH 6 91 = SH 98/6949 I 895 = DeZ 21046.
66. BATSH 6 97 = SH 98/6949 I 932 = DeZ 21051/13.
After Ass
72. BATSH 6 34 = SH 00/6747 II 78 = DeZ 20960.
?
81. BATSH 6 185 = SH 98/6949 I 929 = DeZ 21051/10.
82. BATSH 6 200 = SH 98/6747 II 205 = DeZ 21059.
Maxallnte (3)
700
8. unpublished = O 3660 see PNA, p. 452.
693
670
34
chapter one
Nineveh (51)
713
4. ADD 248 = ARU 455 = NALK 185 = SAA VI 6 = Rm 189.
umma-ilni (709680 = end of S II or Senn)
5. ADD 246 = ARU 82 = NALK 376 = SAA VI 52 = 83118,
339.
6. ADD 236 = ARU 80 = NALK 369 = SAA VI 53 = K 444.
700
696
10. ADD 614 = ARU 72 = SAA VI 128 = 83118, 372.
695?
49.
693 (umma-ilni)
134+.
27.
686
149.
685
16. ADD 274 = ARU 69 = SAA VI 172 = 80719, 53.
684
681 (Sx-maxd)
150.
19. ADD 269 = ARU 63 = SAA VI 195 = Sm 218.
20. ADD 277 = ARU 532 = SAA VI 193 = K 354.
Senn (Nab-umu-ikun)
359.
Senn (Addat)
680 (Sx-maxd)

KB 4 (1896), pp. 124 ff; ABC 4; CIS II 17; AECT
5.
the sources
35
675 (Silim-Ar)
24. ADD 1158 = NALK 307 = SAA VI 229 = Ki 1904109, 46.
671 (Rmanni-Adad)
KB 4 (1896), pp. 130131.
671
338.
ABC 5; Ep. Ar. 15; AECT 14.
669
28. ADD 310 = ARU 158 = NALK 149 = SAA XIV 64 = K 1492
+ K 1605.

AST, T202; UF 4, pp. 144.
Esa (Abi-rah)
152.

ABC 20; CIS II 33; AECT 20.
Esa
30. ADD 288 = ARU 77 = SAA VI 266 = K 1498.
End of Esa
32. ADD 268 = ARU 88 = SAA VI 294 = Rm 2,193.
End of Esa or Ass (Milki-nr)
33. ADD 287 = ARU 95 = NALK 177 = SAA XIV 4 = Rm 181.
34. ADD 316 = ARU 74 = NALK 179 = SAA XIV 5 = Rm 583.
Rmanni-Adad (671660?)
689.
36D. ADD 271 = ARU 68 = NALK 272 = SAA VI 344 = 80719,
140.
37. ADD 322 = ARU 200 = NALK 266 = SAA VI 345 = K
1505.
668
38. ADD 284+ = ARU 462 = NALK 295 = SAA XIV 65 = K 20900
+ 83118,358.
668? (Iddxa)
39. ADD 306 = ARU 544 = SAA VI 256 = Rm 166.
666 (Rmanni-Adad)
40. ADD 258 = ARU 65b = NALK 247 = SAA VI 313 = K 347.
KB 4 (1896), pp. 134135.
36
D. ADD 801
chapter one
= ARU 65a+537 = NALK 246 = SAA VI 312 =

K 399 (ADD 192) + K 7357 + K 10448 (ADD 529)
+ K 13056.
665 (Rmanni-Adad)
29.
659 (Lqu)
42. ADD 233 = ARU 208 = NALK 146 = SAA XIV 24 = K 281.
KB 4 (1896), pp. 138141; EA 12; ABC 7; CIS II
19; AECT 17.
647*
46. ADD 275 + 593 = ARU 174 + 522 = SAA XIV 146 = 83118,
349 + 82522, 44.
639* (Nnuiu)
EA 9; ABC 15; CIS II 18; AECT 24.
638*
52. TIM XI 2 = SAA XIV 424 = MM 1082/A.
630* (Kakkullnu)
(Marriage).
(Marriage).
629* (Kakkullnu)
(Marriage).
EA 4; ABC 11; CIS II 15; AECT 30.
622*
62. ADD 221 = ARU 503 = SAA XIV 165 = 82522, 1011.
Ass or later (Kakkullnu)
7th Cen.
74. ADD 305 = ARU 94 = SAA XIV 247 = K 5381.
?
75. ADD 282+ = ARU 76 = NALK 299 = SAA XIV 213 = K
10412+.
76. ADD 718 = ARU 540 = SAA XIV 326 = K 2828.
77. ADD 789 = ARU 91 = SAA XIV 337 = K 14279.
78. ADD 259 = ARU 86 = NALK 399 = SAA XIV 475 = K
1608b.
the sources
37
80. SAA XIV 414 = K 20541.
2. Sale of Land and People (30)
Dr-Katlimmu (1)
?
126. BATSH 6 180 = SH 98/6949 I 908.
Gezer (1)
651
117. PEF QS (1904), pp. 229236; Macalister, 1912, pp. 2227 +
g. 1; JEOL 27 (198182), pp. 8182 = GEZER
1.
Nineveh (28)
698
331.
D. ADD 474+ = ARU 96a = NALK 28 = SAA VI 101 = K 439 +
17997 = TCAE 67.
694 (umma-ilni)
KB 4 (1896), pp. 114 ff.
689
99. ADD 432
= ARU 432 = SAA VI 149 = Bu 89426, 33.
687
100. ADD 456 = ARU 451 = SAA VI 155 = 82522, 32.
686
101. ADD 443 = ARU 97 = NALK 386 = SAA VI 169 = Bu
9159, 95.
102. ADD 453 = ARU 187 = SAA VI 163 = 81727, 25.
685
103. ADD 430 = ARU 32 = SAA VI 173 = K 1430.
683 (Ahi-all)
34.
KB 4 (1896), p. 11.
38
chapter one
umma-ilni (709680 = end of S II or Senn)

105D ADD 423 = ARU 104 = NALK 371 = SAA VI 51 = K
10474.
Sx-maxd (Senn)
106. ADD 455 = ARU 381 = SAA VI 112 = Bu 89426, 128.
679
107. ADD 462 = ARU 375 = SAA VI 269 = Bu 9159, 173.
Issr-dr (Esa)
453.
addtu (Esa)
109. ADD 804 + ADD 441 + ADD 740 = ARU 102 = NALK 405
= SAA VI 251 = K 3146 + K 7379 + K 7400 +
K 13192.
End of Esa or Ass (Milki-nr)
110. ADD 452 = ARU 556 = NALK 176 = SAA XIV 6 = Sm
1076.
111. ADD 727 = ARU 92 = NALK 175 = SAA XIV 3 = Sm
653.
666 (Rmanni-Adad)
306.
KB 4 (1896) pp. 134137.
D112. ADD 421 = ARU 100a = NALK 249 = SAA VI 316 =
81727, 28.
1499.
114. ADD 429 = ARU 105 = NALK 274 + 275 + 276 = SAA VI
334 = 80719, 348
+ 83118, 350 + 83118, 387 ABC 18; CIS II
1; AECT 16.
348.
116. ADD 471 = ARU 167 = NALK 260 = SAA VI 326 = K 446
= TCAE 178.
620*
118. ADD 435 = ARU 447 = SAA XIV 168 = 8124, 161.
the sources
39
7th Cen.
119. ADD 457 = ARU 78 = SAA XIV 229 = Rm 463.
?
120. ADD 1168 + ADD 1222 = SAA XIV 345 = Ki 1904109, 135
+ Ki 1904109, 373.
121. ADD 1205 = SAA XIV 355 = Ki 1904109, 231+272+376
= AJSL 42 (1926), p. 251.
122. Iraq 32 (1970), pp. 145146 + Pl. XXIV = SAA XIV 399 = BM
134551.
123. ADD 426 = ARU 89 = NALK 145 = SAA XIV 198 = K
13845.
124. ADD 458 = ARU 352 = SAA XIV 265 = 83118, 711 +
83118, 862.
125. ADD 369 = ARU 388 = SAA XIV 254 = K 1490.
3. Sale of Land and People with a Pledge (2)
Nineveh (2)
681 (Ahi-all)
672 (Dannia)
4. Division of Property/Inheritance (Aur3)
744
2. StAT 2 101 = A 962 = Ass 11393bu = ALA N25 (1).
625*
61. CTNMC 68 = FNALD 18 = Museum no. 8612 = AECT 61
616*
64. SAAB 5, pp. 136137 = VAT 20363 see PNA, pp. 19a, 760.
5. Redemption from a Pledge (Nineveh1)
7th Cen.
96. ADD 85 = ARU 656 = SAA XIV 216 = Bu 9159, 79 = Radner,
1999a, p. 105.
40
chapter one
6. Private Gifts (Nineveh1)

627*
II. Contracts (6)

1. Loan of Silver with a Pledge (Nineveh1)
7th Cen.
94. ADD 78 = ARU 155 = NALK 336 = SAA XIV 181 = 83118,
396.
2. Debt Note for Silver with a Pledge (Nineveh4)
694 (Addat)
86. ADD 58 = ARU 150 = NALK 7 = SAA VI 81 = 80719, 48.
693 (Indib)
87. ADD 66 = ARU 124 = NALK 112 = SAA VI 97 = K 414 =
FNALD 24.
666 (Rmanni-Adad)
7th Cen.
95. ADD 79 = ARU 130 = SAA XIV 209 = 80719, 368.
3. Payment of a Debt by pledging of Persons (Aur1)
614*
92. StAT 1 36 = VAT 20786 = Ass 13865 = ALA N33 (60).
III. Receipts (1)

Aur (1)
622*
63. SAAB 5 17 = VAT 14450 = Ass 9570t = ALA N9 (20) = KAM
I 17.
the sources
41
B. Administrative Records (47)
I. Population Management and Military Administration (15)

1. Deportees and Displaced People (14)
Calah (2)
TP III
150. Iraq 23 (1961), pp. 2728 = ND 2443+.
8th Cen.
152. CTN II 113 + Pl. 49 = ND 451 = Fales, 1974, p. 187 ff., n. 6.
Nineveh (12)
Esa-Ass
154. ADD 763 = SAA XI 169 = K 4718.
7th Cen.
155. ADD 882 = SAA XI 174 = K 947.
156. ADD 891 = SAA XI 154 = K 93.
?
157. ADD 783 = SAA XI 173 = K 7399.
158. ADD 826 = SAA XI 172 = K 897.
159. ADD 911 = SAA XI 146 = Rm 2,247.
160. CT 53 321 = SAA XI 200 = K 7294.
163. SAA XI 199 = K 14233.
164. ADD 719 = SAA XI 181 = K 7444.
165. ADD 811 = SAA XI 194 = K 3502.
166. SAA XI 195 = K 20348.
167. SAA XI 196 = K 18317.
2. Schedules of Land and People (1)
Nineveh
?
127. ADD 825 = SAA XI 232 = K 859.
42
chapter one
II. The Harran Census (15)
Nineveh (Sargon II)

135. ADB 1 = CCNA 1 = SAA XI 201 = K 2017.
136. ADB 2 = CCNA 2 = SAA XI 202 = K 8125+.
137. ADB 3 = CCNA 3 = SAA XI 203 = K 8134.
138. ADB 13 = CCNA 10 = SAA XI 205 = K 8957.
139. ADB 8 = CCNA 9 = SAA XI 206 = K 8179.
140. ADB 6 = CCNA 5 = SAA XI 207 = K 4754+.
141. ADB 14 = CCNA 6 = SAA XI 208 = K 13394.
142. ADB 9+11+12+16 = CCNA 11+13+14+16 = SAA XI 209 =
K 9728+.
143. ADB 4 = CCNA 4 = SAA XI 213 = K 4767+.
144. ADB 21 = CCNA 8 = SAA XI 214 = Rm 478.
145. ADB 20 = CCNA 19 = SAA XI 218 = K 6951.
146. ADB 5 = CCNA 21 = SAA XI 219 = K 4729.
147. ADB 7 = CCNA 22 = SAA XI 220 = Rm 2,130+7978, 102.
148. ADB 10 = CCNA 12 = SAA XI 210 = K 13132+9159, 103.
149. ADB 19 = CCNA 7 = SAA XI 211 = 7978, 337.
III. Royal Grants and Private Votive Donations (7)

1. Royal Grants (6)
Nineveh (4)
Adad-nrri III
128. ADD 399 + 803 = ARU 2 = NARGD 5 = SAA XII 7 = K
11441 + 11463.
TP III?
129. ADD 861 = SAA XII 16 = K 11898
(Copied twice by Johns as ADD 861 and 772)
130. SAA XII 17 = K 14619.
Ass
131. ADD 741 + 741bis + 465 + 749 = CCNA 23 + 23bis = SAA
XII 27 + 28 = K 753 + 1765 + 4291 + 6236 + 9797 + 11937
+ 13448 + 14249 + 14271 + 14312 + 20353 + 1749.
the sources
43
Aur (2)
Senn
132. KAV 39 = SAA XII 87 = VAT 8883 = Ass 1418

SVAT III, p. 912; NARGD, App. 4b; ALA N5
(26).
683
133. PKTA 2730 = SAA XII 86 = VAT 9656 = Ass 1170
SVAT I, pp. 39; NARGD, App. 4a = ALA N2
(9).
2. Private Votive Donations (1)
Nineveh
?
134. SAAB 1 (1987), pp. 5763 = SAA XII 98 = BM 118796.
IV. Lists of Rations (Private Archive10)

Aur
615*
168. StAT 2 11 = A 1182 = Ass 14232c (= VAT 8680: 18 ff).
169. KAJ 243 = VAT 8833 (published by Ebeling in 1927 only in
cuneiform).
Unpublished Texts:
170. VAT 8669 (615*).
171. VAT 8586 (615*).
172. VAT 8664 (615*).
173. VAT 8681 (614*).
174. VAT 8674 (614*).
175. VAT 8605.
176. VAT 8665.
177. VAT 8678.
44
chapter one
C. Court Decisions (2)
Aur
638*
91. ARU 655 = SAAS V, 28 = AoF 24 (1997), pp. 129133 = VAT
5606 = VAS 1 96.
PC (Sn-knu-di)
93. SAAS VI, p. 369 = VAT 19500 = Ass 11682d = ALA N28 (4).
D. Letters (6)
I. Letters to the King (2)
Nineveh
S II
151. ABL 212 = SAA XV 181 = K 679.
Senn
153. SAA XVII 114 = CT 54 401 = Sm 549 + Sm 1213.
II. Petitions to Ofcials (2)
Nineveh (Esa)
31. CT 53 9 = SAA XVI 53 = K 880b.
Unknown provenance
85. NABU 2002/90 = A 3660.
III. Other Letters (2)
Nineveh?
161. CT 53 325 = SAA XV 309 = K 7337.
162. CT 53 604 = SAA XV 303 = K 15009.
CHAPTER I
APPENDIX B
The Texts from Nineveh According to Their Geographical Setting

Adia(town in central Assyria)see note below*
Adian (or Adi-il, town in central Assyria)101 (Sale of Land and
People); The following two place names are also mentioned in this
text: Kannu; Maliyati.
Anditsee note below
Arbail (Arbla)124 (Sale of Land and People); 132(Royal Grant)
Arumu (Aram)120 (Sale of Land and People)
Babylonia151; 153; 155156; (Deportees)
Bt-airi128 (Royal Grant)
Calah4, 26, 28 (Slaves); and see note below; 134 (Private Donation)
Dadi-ualla(town in the province of Talmsa)88 (Sale of Land and
People + pledge)
Harrn46, 75 (Slaves); 135149 (The Harran Census)143 toponyms**
Ispallur(town in Izalla)113 (Sale of Land and People)
Kalhusee Calah
Kannusee Adian
Kapar Malli134 (Private Donation)
Kapar Nab-nirsee note below
Kijrisee note below
Kurru- . . .see note below
Lahru(city in Babylonia)39? (Slaves); 111 (Sale of Land and
People)
Maliyatisee Adian
Mt rab-q (Aramaic caption: mt rbqn)114 (Sale of Land and
People)
Nabur(city near Naibina)104 (Sale of Land and People)
Nrubu/Nrab(town near Aleppo)115 (Sale of Land and People)
Nikua122 (Sale of Land and People)
Nineveh (Nnua)6, 15, 18, 22, 24, 29, 35, 41, 59, 68 (Slaves)
109 (Sale of Land and people)
Paddnu125 (Sale of Land and People)
46
chapter one
Pattu- . . .see note below

Qudru9 (Slaves)
Raappa89 (Sale of Land and People + pledge); 133(Royal
Grant)
Singra (Jebel Sinjr)see note below
ibanba(town in central Assyria)102 (Sale of Land and People)
iddi-hiriti(town near Dr-arrukn)98 (Sale of Land and People)
ulmu-birtisee note below
Talmsasee Dadiualla
Tii105 (Sale of Land and People)
Til-Barsib(city near Carchemish)40 (Slaves)
Til-Bu . . .127 (Schedule of Land and People)
Til-Nahiri112 (Sale of Land and People)
Til-ra . . .see note below
Urakka(near Nabina)11 (Slaves)
Zabarrasee note below
* The following place names are mentioned in Text 131 (Royal Grant):
Adia; Andit; Calah; Kapar Nab-nir; Kijri; Kurru- . . .; Pattu- . . .; Til-ra . . .; Singra;
ulmu-birti; Zabarra
** For the location of the toponyms enumerated in the Harran Census see discussion, above.
CHAPTER TWO
A SURVEY OF THE LOWER STRATUM FAMILIES
This chapter briey surveys all 447 Lower Stratum families in the
Neo-Assyrian period. The study of each family opens with citation
of the text in which it is attested, followed by a short commentary.
Occasionally the operative section of the text is newly restored. Each
entry for every family also includes a study of the formulation of
the text and terminology; family type and size, personal names, and
professions; marriage pattern and childrens age. Other aspects of the
texts examined are the prices and the identity of the parties engaged
in legal transactions.
The chapter is divided into seven main parts as follows: A. Slaves; B.
Pledged Persons; C. Persons enumerated in sales and lists of Land and
People; D. Royal Grants; E. The Harran Census; F. Deportees and
Displaced Persons; G. Recipients of Rations. In each part the families
are presented chronologically: the undated texts are arranged by their
archives, and are followed by the unassigned texts.
The conclusions of this chapter are presented in Appendix A: tables
117.
A. Slaves
Family no. 1: Emq-Ar, his wife, his 3 sons (and) his daughter, a total of
6 persons of Nab-ahu-iddina son of Nab-umu-ibni, the scribe (ND 673 =
BaM 24 (1993), p. 247 = Text no. 1).1 This large nuclear family of six
persons, a couple and four children, was sold in Calah in 800 B.C. The
age of the children is not mentioned, and only the name of the father
is attested.2 The family is sold to Nab-tuklatxa by the scribe, Nab-
1
For a previous study of this text see DellerFadhil, 1993, pp. 247, 265. See also
Radner, 1997, pp. 135, 233; PNA, pp. 96a(1), 799, 898a(1).
2
For the name Emq-Ar see PNA, p. 396a.
48
chapter two
ahu-iddina,3 for 185 minas of bronze (an average price per soul of 30.8
minas of bronze).4 Nab-tuklatxa was a palace scribe in Calah in
the reigns of Adad-nrri III and Shalmaneser IV.5 He bought at least
32 slaves in the course of 12 years (800788 B.C.), including groups of
seven, six, ve and two slaves (two texts), but only one family.6 Since no
sons or grandsons are mentioned in the clauses of penalties for litigation in any of his legal transactions, it is reasonable to suppose that he
was a eunuch, and his large group of slaves (including the family of
Emq-Ar) were a kind of substitute for a family of his own.7
Family no. 2: [PN], (and) his mother . . . a total of 13 persons of Bl-nir (A
962 = StAT 2 101 = Text no. 2).8 This small nuclear family consists only
of a man and his anonymous mother. The son, whose name is lost, is
presented as the head of the family. They are attested in a settlement
sealed between two persons from Aur, dated to the beginning of the
reign of Tiglath-pileser III (744 B.C.). It is not clear whether Bl-nir
and Abu-ba are former partners who are dividing their property or
relatives who are dividing a paternal inheritance.9 The property includes
3
Perhaps the same Nab-ahu-iddina is mentioned in a wine list (NWL 2 iv 5 =
CTN I, p. 130). See also PNA, p. 799a(1).
4
For the prices of slaves in the Neo-Assyrian Period see Fales, 1996, pp. 30, 12*13*;
Radner, 1997, pp. 230248. The average price of a slave sold with a group of slaves
or with his family in the Neo-Assyrian period is 32.18 shekels of silver, see Galil,
forthcoming (a). For the suggestion that one mina of copper corresponded roughly in
value to one shekel of silver see Fales, 1996, p. 20.
5
The archive of Nab-tuklatxa was discovered in Room 57 of the North-West
Palace at Calah in 1989. See DellerFadhil, 1993, p. 243; Pedersen, 1998, p. 150
(= Calah 9). For the families of Nab-tuklatxas father and grandfather see vol. II
of my study.
6
The 32 slaves (22 men and 10 women) were bought in ten legal transactions for at
least 572 minas of bronze (or copper) and two minas of silver. See PNA, p. 898a(1).
7
For eunuchs in the Neo-Assyrian Period see Grayson, 1995; Deller, 1999; Watanabe,
1999a; Tadmor, 2002. Watanabe points out that The omission of the persons sons
or grandsons [from the clause of penalties for litigation] may, therefore, enable one to
identify the person as a eunuch, even if the title a ri is not added (1999a, p. 319).
See also Hawkins, 2002.
8
For previous studies and notes on this text see Radner, 1997, p. 104; Pedersen,
1986, p. 118, archive N 25(1); PNA, pp. 19a(2), 158b(3), 174b(9), 324a(34), 477a(1),
746a(1).
9
Bl-nir is the name of two different persons (a priest and a scribe) mentioned
as witnesses in a text from the reign of Tiglath-pileser III, dated to 742 B.C. (VAT
9749 = SAAB 9 136 r 11, e 1). One of them may be identied with Bl-nir attested
in StAT 2 101, but it is not clear which one. kerman and Radner identify him with
the priest (PNA, p. 324a [34]), but it is not certain. Out of the six witnesses enumer-
a survey of the lower stratum families
49
18 slaves (probably, 12 men and six women), and a chariot. Bl-nir

gets the chariot and 13 slaves, including the mentioned slave and his
mother, and Abu-ba gets ve slaves (one of them is a baker).
Family no. 3: Thuri-[. . .]bi, his wife (and) his son, slaves of Nab-kibs-uur
(VAT 19872 = Text no. 3Unpublished).10 This small nuclear family
of three persons, a couple and their son, was sold in Aur in 727 B.C.
The sons age is not mentioned, and only the name of the father is
attested (but it is broken). The family was sold by Nab-kibs-uur, a
village manager of Agurima (probably near Aur), to Urdu-ama and
Dadu, for 3.5 minas of silver (an average of 70 shekels per person).11
Family no. 4: ama-immi, his wife, his son (and) his 4 daughters, a total of
7 persons, slaves of Gabr (ADD 248 = SAA VI 6 = Text no. 4).12 This
large nuclear family of seven persons, a couple and ve children,
was sold for 180 minas of copper, probably in Calah in 713 B.C. (an
average of 25.7 minas of copper per person).13 The family was sold
by Gabr to Muallim-Issr, a village manager of the chief eunuch in
Calah in the reigns of Tiglath-pileser III, Shalmaneser V and Sargon
II. At least 20 slaves were bought by Muallim-Issr (attested in nine
legal transactions), for at least 450 minas of bronze, over about 30 years
(742713 B.C.). No other slave families are attested in these texts. Since
ated in StAT 2 101, two are priests and two are scribes (the other two are an architect
and a bakers son). Abu-ba is also the name of one of the slaves that Bl-nir got,
the only one entitled L*.ARAD in this text (line 2). Clearly therefore we should
distinguish Abu-ba the slave from Abu-ba Bl-nirs partner/relative. The entries
Abu-ba, Ar-bni and Ar-blu-uur in PNA, pp. 19a(2), 158b(3), 174b(9)
are mistaken, since Abu-ba is not Aur-bnis slave. On the contrary, all of them,
Abu-ba, Ar-bni, and Ar-blu-uur, are among the group of 13 slaves that
Bl-nir acquired.
10
I would like to thank Karen Radner for sending me the translation of this passage
by e-mail (on 9 Oct. 2002). For previous studies and notes on this unpublished text see
Radner, 1997, pp. 103, 233; PNA, pp. 365a(1), 714b(1), 841a(1).
11
The price is high. The average price per person in this text (70 shekels of silver)
is more then double the average price in other texts (32.18 shekels of silver). See Galil,
forthcoming (a).
12
For previous studies of this text see ARU 455; Postgate, 1973, p. 91; Parpola,
1979, p. 145; Menzel, AST, T214, no. 292; Kwasman, 1988, no. 185; Radner, 1997,
pp. 135, 232233; Mattila, 2000, pp. 68, 100; PNA, pp. 416b(4), 775a(6).
13
For the idea that this text originated in Calah and was brought to Nineveh at
some time, see Parpola, 1986, p. 229, note 31; Kwasman, 1988, pp. xliv, 220; PNA,
p. 416b(4).
50
chapter two
no sons or grandsons of Muallim-Issr are mentioned in the clauses

of penalties for litigation in any of his legal transactions, he too was
presumably a eunuch, like Nab-tuklatxa.14
Families nos. 58: These families are attested in ADD 246 (= SAA VI
52 = Text no. 5): (Family no. 5): Ahi-nr, his wife (and) daughter, a total
of 3; (Family no. 6): Mannu-k-Nnua, his wife (and) his 3 sons, a total of
5;(Family no. 7): Nab-ir (and) his wife; (Family no. 8): Nab-iddina (and)
his wife; Nria (= single); a grand total of 13 persons.15 The structure and
size of all these nuclear families are evident, and in all of them only
the name of the father is attested. The detailed description ts well
with the grand total. Nria was probably a bachelor, and was not
a relative of Nab-iddina. umma-ilni bought these 13 persons, in
Nineveh, from three sons of Bl-Harrn-taklk, for 6.5 minas of silver
(an average price per soul of 30 shekels of silver). The date of this text
is lost, but it should be dated to the end of the reign of Sargon II or
to the reign of Sennacherib because of archival context (see below).
umma-ilni was a chariot driver in Nineveh in the reign of Sargon
II and Sennacherib. He bought at least 50 slaves, including seven
families,16 attested in 12 legal transactions,17 in the course of about 30
years (709680 B.C.).18
Family no. 9: [. . .]-arru-uur (and) his mother [a total of 2] slaves of Kiqillnu
(ADD 236 = SAA VI 53 = Text no. 6).19 This small nuclear family
consists only of a man and his anonymous mother. The son, whose
name is broken, is presented as the head of the family. They are
14
See above, family no. 1, and note no. 7.

For previous studies of this text see ARU 82; Parpola, 1979, p. 145; Menzel,
AST, T205, no. 210; Kwasman, 1988, no. 376; Radner, 1997, pp. 126, 242243; PNA,
pp. 86b(10), 234b, 304a(2), 695b(7), 829b(3), 834b(2), 968a(4), 1171a(3).
16
See below, families nos. 9, 1820.
17
SAA VI 34, 3841, 45, 48, 5256.
18
umma-ilnixs documents may indicate slave-trading: in SAA VI 40, 15 slaves are
listed (see families nos. 1820, below), and SAA VI 39 (694 B.C.) indicates a payment
of 18 minas of silver, probably for slaves. At least 22 slaves were bought from BlHarrn-issa (SAA VI 4041, and perhaps also SAA VI 39see PNA, p. 302b[4]).
For the business of umma-ilni see Galil, 1998, pp. 3839. For slave-trading in Nipur
in the eighth century B.C. see Cole, 1996, pp. 6162. In his opinion, Slave-trading
was an important part of the business that was concluded among the markets of the
alluvial plain during the middle of the eighth century (p. 61).
19
For previous studies and notes on this text see ARU 80; Parpola, 1979, p. 142;
Kwasman, 1988, no. 369; PNA, p. 618b(6).
15
51
bought from Kiqillnu by umma-ilni, a chariot driver, in Nineveh,

for 1 mina of silver (30 shekels per person). The date of this text is
lost, but it can be dated to the end of the reign of Sargon II or to the
reign of Sennacherib, because of archival context.20
Family no. 10: du-qidira (= single); the woman [. . .]; (and) Bbia, [her]
daugh[ter], a total of 3 persons, [his] slave[s] (ADD 294 = SAA VI 116 = Text
no. 7).21 This small single-parent family includes only a woman (whose
name is lost), and Bbia her daughter. They were sold together with a
third woman (du-qidira), probably a single person who is not a relative of the woman and her daughter. They were bought by Rs[ia], the
bodyguard of [. . .], in Nineveh, in 700 B.C. The sellers name is lost.
Family no. 11: A small single-parent family of three persons: a woman
and her two small daughters. It is attested in an unpublished text from
the vicinity of Maxallnte (O 3660 = Text no. 8 = PNA, pp. 233a,
452ab). The family was bought by Hand, from a person named
Ateqanni in 700 B.C. Hand is a central gure in the archive from the
vicinity of Maxallnte. He was a palace prefect (aknu a ekalli), in the
reigns of Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal; in the course of
30 years (700670 B.C.), he bought at least 16 slaves, including eight
single people and three families (see below, families nos. 22 and 41).22
Families nos. 1215: These families are attested in ADD 241 (= SAA
VI 130 = Text no. 9):23
(Family no. 12): [PN], his [. . .], his 2 sons, (and) [his] daughter, [a total of
4 or 5];
20
For the date and for the business of umma-ilni see families nos. 58.
For previous studies and notes on this text see ARU 49; Parpola, 1979, p. 153;
Kwasman, 1988, no. 109; PNA, pp. 243b(2), 394b, 1053a(23).
22
For the business of Hand/hdy and his son Harrniu/hrny see Lipinski, 1975,
pp. 144150; idem, 1994, pp. 213215; idem, 1998, pp. 293295; idem, 1998a, pp.
4142; idem, 2004, pp. 131139. For the archive from Maxallnte see Lipinski, 1985,
pp. 340348; Garelli, 1986, pp. 244245; idem, 1998, p. 175.
23
For previous studies of this text see ARU 73; Parpola, 1979, pp. 143144;
Kwasman, 1988, no. 84; Radner, 1997, pp. 232233; PNA, pp. 175a(14), 260b(3),
917a(8), 1172a(9).
21
52
chapter two
(Family no. 13): Nab-[. . ., his? . . .], his [. . .] sons, daughter (and) 2 m[aids],
a total of 7;
(Family no. 14): il-b[l], [his . . ., ] his [. . .], a total of 3;
(Family no. 15): Ar-blu-uur (and) his wife, a total [of 2];
or: Ar-blu-uur, his wife and [his] brother, [a total of 3];
a grand total of 17 persons, slaves of [Naxdi-ilu].
The size of Family no. 12 is not clear. It probably numbers 4 or 5
persons: the father, whose name is lost, and three anonymous children
(two sons and a daughter). If indeed the sign before 2 DUMU.ME
in line 3 is , then it is possible to restore: [ARAD]- = his [slave]
(of Naxdi-ilu, the seller); or [M- = his [wife]. See above, family
no. 15.
No. 13 is a large family of seven persons: the father, Nab-. . ., a
daughter, two maids and at least two sons. The identity of the seventh
person is not clear: it might be his wife (as suggested by Kwasman and
Parpola in SAA VI), but it is also possible, to read his brother instead
of his wife, or to suppose that the family included three sons and no
wife. It is important to note that this slave has two maids, probably
acquired before he was enslaved.
It is clear that Family no. 14 includes three persons, but only the total
and the fathers name are preserved. The sufx - in line 5, indicates
that the persons enumerated in this line are il-b[l]s relatives.
The restoration of line 6 is not clear, and a few different readings were
proposed by the scholars.24 In my opinion, there are two possibilities: (1)
PN, M- PAB [2]; or (2) PN, M- PAB-[ PAB 3] (see above,
family no. 15). If we accept the rst one, we would have to read his
wife in line 3 (and not his slave), and to suppose that family no. 12
included ve persons (and not four), since the grand total is 17.
These 17 slaves were bought by Bali-Aia from Naxdi-ilu, the deputy
(governor), in Nineveh in 696 B.C. The price is 8.5 minas of silver
24
Johns transliterated: PN, M- PAB- (ADD, I, no. 241, p. 169). In 1913,
Kohler and Ungnad read: (6) Ar-blu-uur, sein Weib, [seinen] Bruder (7) zusammen
3 (ARU, p. 61). Parpola proposed another reading for the end of line 6: PAB-[
PAB 3]! (1979, p. 143). A very different reading was offered by Kwasman in 1988:
Aur-blu-uur, a total [of 1]; but in 1991 Kwasman and Parpola reiterated Parpolas
proposal (SAA VI, pp. 117118).
53
(30 shekels of silver per soul). It is possible that the slaves originate in
Qudru, since the mayor of this city is mentioned in the list of witnesses (line r. 10).25
Family no. 16: This family is attested in ADD 614 (= SAA VI 128 =
Text no. 10). The restoration of the beginning of the operative section
of this broken text is problematic, since very few signs were preserved
in lines 25, as follows:
2
3
4
5
[x x x x x x x x]-ni! M-
m
[x x x x x x x x] DUMU.M-su
M [x x x x x x x x x x] x
m
[x x x x x x x x x x]-a
2
3
4
5
[x x x x x x x x]-ni, his wife

[x x x x x x x x], his daughter
the woman [x x x x x x x x x x] x
the man [x x x x x x x x x x]-a
The rest is broken off.

There are two main possibilities to understand this section, and
neither is preferable: 1. only one family is presented in lines 23 of
this text. It consisted of four persons, all enumerated by their personal
names; 2. If we assume that only the personal names of the fathers in
this text were listed, we should separate the family in line 2 (a couple
without children) from the family in line 3, with a father and his
anonymous daughter. The relation between these families (or family)
and the persons mentioned in lines 45 is not clear.
These people were sold in Nineveh in 696 B.C., but the names of
the parties in this legal transaction are lost and only the names of the
scribe, Nabxa, and the eponym ofcial, ulmu-bli, governor of Talmsa, are attested.26
Family no. 17: Tarbi-Issr, his brother, his wife (and) her daughter, a total of 4
per[sons], slaves of Bbiliu (ADD 244 = SAA VI 96 = Text no. 11).27
This extended family has four persons: a couple, the brother of the
head of the family, and a daughter, that is dened as her daughter,
probably meaning from previous marriage. The ages of the brother
25
See PNA, p. 175a(14).

For previous studies of this text see ARU 93; Radner, 1997, pp. 97, 232233;
PNA, p. 789a(15).
27
For previous studies of this text see ARU 159; Parpola, 1979, p. 144; Menzel,
AST, T197, no. 145; Kwasman, 1988, no. 72; Radner, 1997, pp. 220, 232233; PNA,
pp. 244b(810), 273a(2). For the date of this text see PNA, pp. 174b175a(13, a2),
and for the personal name Tarbi-Issr see Tallqvist, 1918, p. 231a.
26
54
chapter two
and the daughter are not stated, and only the family heads name is
mentioned. They were sold by Bbiliu to the woman Barsipitu for
three minas of silver (an average of 45 shekels per person), in Nineveh,
probably in 695 B.C.28
Families nos. 1820: These three families are attested in ADD 238 (=
SAA VI 40 = Text no. 12):
3 (Family no. 18): [. . .-ua]lla 5
4 (Family no. 19): [. . .]mu
6
5 (Family no. 20): [. . .]
4
6
a grand total of 15
persons,
persons,
persons,
[persons, s]laves of Bl-Ha[rrn-issx]a.29
These families/groups are enumerated by the pattern: PNx

ZI.ME. In an Aramaic caption attested in SAA VI 111 (see below,
family no. 37; text no. 23), a similar pattern clearly denes a family (see
also chapter 3). But since it is not clear whether the text enumerates
families or working groups, these families are dened in this study
as unclear (see Table 2). The grand total indicates that the head
of the family/group is included in the total number of each. These
slaves were sold to umma-ilni, a chariot driver, in Nineveh in 693
B.C., by Bl-Harrn-issa, probably an Assyrian ofcial involved in
slave-trading.30
Family no. 21: It is unclear whether one or two families are attested in
ADD 240 (= SAA VI 41 = Text no. 13). Two personal names and 3
sons are mentioned in lines 47 of this broken text, as follows:
4
5
6
7
DINGIRna-tan [x x x x x]
a-du-niu-[bu x x x x x]
3 DUMU.ME- [x x x x x]
PAB 7 ZI.ME [ARAD.ME a
m
ENKASKALKI-ia]
m
4
5
6
7
Il-natan [. . . . .]
Adn-[bu. . . . .]
his 3 sons [. . . . .]
a total of 7 persons, [slaves of
Bl-Harrn-issxa]
28
The slaves were probably from Urakka (near Nabina) since this toponym is
attested in the clauses of penalties for litigation in this text (line 19). For the location
of Urakka see Parpola-Porter, 2001, p. 18, and map 3.
29
For previous studies of this text see ARU 201; Parpola, 1979, p. 143; Kwasman,
1988, no. 361; Radner, 1997, pp. 220, 232233; PNA, p. 302b(4). For a different reading of this text see Kwasman, 1988, pp. 415416.
30
For Bl-Harrn-issa see PNA, p. 302b(34), and see also families nos. 58, above,
and note 18, for the businesses of umma-ilni and Bl-Harrn-issa.
55
A family is clearly mentioned in these lines, and it consists of at least

four persons, three sons and their father, but it is not clear who their
father is: Il-natan or Adn-bu. Two main restorations of this text
are proposed below, as neither of them is to be preferred: 1. The text
enumerates only one family of seven persons: Il-natan; his three sons,
all mentioned by their personal names, including Adn-[bu], and
three anonymous women, listed in line 6, after the sons (they might be
his wife and two daughters: [M- 2 DUMU.M-]); 2. If we assume
that only the personal names of the fathers in this text are attested (and
perhaps their professions), we should distinguish the family in line 4
(Il-natan, [the . . ., and his wife]) from the family in lines 56, which
consists of Adn-[bu], the father, and his anonymous wife and three
sons, as follows: (5) Adn-[bu, the . . ., his wife]; (6) his 3 sons [a
total of 5 persons]. Like Families nos. 1820 these seven slaves were
also sold by Bl-Harrn-issxa to umma-ilni in Nineveh, in the same
year and in the same month: Nisan, 693.31
Family no. 22: A nuclear family that includes a couple without children:
Sx-law and his wife Balai. It is attested in an unpublished text from
the vicinity of Maxallnte (O 3706 = Text no. 14).32 This couple was
bought by Hand, a palace prefect, for 35 shekels of silver, from SilimAdad of Maxallnte in 693 B.C.33
Family no. 23: This small family is attested in ADD 232 (= SAA VI 89
= Text no. 15):
3 Amurr, [his] slave; [. . .]-ar-Ar;
4 (and the woman) Urkittu-ilx, [his . . .];
5 a family () of 3 persons [. . .].34
This text is broken and the restoration of the ends of lines 4 and 5 is
not clear. One possibility is to read his . . . after the personal name
of the woman in line 4.35 The persons are dened by the term
31
1988, no. 360; Radner, 1997, pp. 232233; PNA, pp. 54b, 302b(4), 523a(2).
32
See PNA, pp. 452ab, 1102a, 1108b(5).
33
For the business of Hand/hdy see family no. 11, above, and note 15.
34
1988, no. 13; Radner, 1997, pp. 232233; PNA, pp. 67b(1)68a, 108b(1).
35
In Kwasmans opinion (1988, p. 18): the most likely restoration is [M-].
56
chapter two
(= btu), which usually means in the Neo-Assyrian period a house

or a household.36 People dened as a household might be just persons
living in the same house that were not relatives or members of a same
family (in ADD 232 they might be a single person, Amurr, and a
couple, [. . .]-ar-Ar and Urkittu-ilx, [his wife], who lived in a same
house, before they were sold). Yet in a few Neo-Assyrian texts, the term
-PN (= bt PN) clearly relates to an extended family. For example,
in SAA XI 153154 a few nuclear families (qinnu) are presented as a
branch of an extended family (bt PN): see SAA XI 153 r. 8: qin-ni a
me-gi-bi. A few scholars translate btu in ADD 232 = a household,37
while others prefer to dene them as a family.38
In my opinion, two restorations are possible: 1. Amurr (a single);
[. . .]-ar-Ar (and) Urkitu-ilxi, [his wife], a household who lived
in a same house, before they were sold; 2. They were members of a
same family, but it is not clear if [. . .]-ar-Ar was Amurrs son or
brother, and if Urkittu-ilx was Amurrs wife, daughter, mother, sister,
daughter-in-law etc.
These three slaves were sold by arranu to Ahi-all, governess (akintu)
of the central city,39 for a high price, four minas of silver (80 shekels
per person), in Nineveh in 686 B.C.
Text no. 16):
3 [x x x x x]; [x x]Nania, his wife;
4 [x x x x x x x, a total of] 6 persons.40
The rest is broken off.

Two restorations of these broken lines are possible: 1. Only one
family is mentioned, a couple and four other members of the family,
for example, his son and his three daughters, his three sons and his
36
See Radner, 1997, p. 200, with earlier literature. For the term (= btu) see
also StAT 2 142, and Radner, 1997, p. 187.
37
For this proposal see Kwasman, 1988, p. 17; see also SAA VI, p. 77.
38
Radner, 1997, pp. 232233.
39
For the title akintu and for her activities see Kinnier Wilson, 1972, pp. 44,
84; DalleyPostgate, 1984, pp. 1214; Heltzer, 1987, pp. 3340; Teppo, 2005, pp.
5363. For Ahi-all see also Garelli, 1998, p. 177; PNA, pp. 67b(1)68a; Teppo, 2005,
pp. 5657, 63, 78, 82.
40
For previous studies of this text see ARU 69; Parpola, 1979, pp. 150151; Radner,
1997, pp. 96, 234235; Tallqvist, 1918, p. 232b.
57
daughter; etc.; 2. Two families are mentioned, the rst in line 3 and
the second in line 4. This second possibility is less reasonable since only
seven signs are missing in line 4. These six slaves were sold by Tir,
prefect (akinu) of the Harranians, in Nineveh in 685 B.C.
Family no. 25: Kandalnu, his 3 sons, his wife, his 2 daughters, his brother, (and)
his (brothers) 2 sons (ADD 230 = SAA VI 177 = Text no. 17).41 This
large family of ten persons consists of two nuclear families: the main
one has seven persons: a couple and their ve children (three sons and
two daughters), and the secondary one is a single parent family that
includes the brother of Kandalnu and his two sons. The brothers
wife is missing, but the reason is not clear (see chapter IX, below).
This family is one of the three largest slave families attested in a NeoAssyrian text. It was sold by Nab-erba to Ulliu in Nineveh in 684
B.C. for six minas of silver, by the mina of Carchemish (an average
of 36 shekels per person). Three years later, in 681 B.C., Nab-erba
sells another nine or ten slaves (SAA VI 193), and it is possible that he
is engaged in slave-trading (see families nos. 2831, below).
Family no. 26: Hamnnu, his wife, his mother, Add (and) Il-sri, his brothers,
(and) his 2 sisters, a total of 7 persons, slaves of Urda-Issr (ADD 231 = SAA
VI 110 = Text no. 18).42 This large family of seven persons includes two
nuclear families: the rst consists only of Hamnnu and his wife, and
the second has ve persons: Hamnnus mother, and his two brothers
and two sisters. It is possible that Hamnnu became the head of this
family after his fathers death. This family was sold in Nineveh in 681
B.C. by Urda-Issr to Sx-maxd for a relatively low price: two minas
of silver, by the mina of Carchemish (about 17 shekels per person).
Sx-maxd was a village manager of the crown prince, Esarhaddon.
During the last three years of Sennacheribs reign (683680) he bought
at least 17 slaves in three different legal transactions. In all three texts
the seller is the same Urdu-Issr, and the total sum was ve minas and
41
For previous studies of this text see ARU 60; Fales, 1975, p. 332; Parpola, 1979,
p. 141; Kwasman, 1988, no. 394; Radner, 1997, pp. 61, 95, 98, 318, 354; PNA, pp.
600b (4); 827a (10); Tallqvist, 1918, pp. 239240. See also KB 4, pp. 120121; Gelb,
1979, p. 78.
42
For previous studies of this text see ARU 202; Parpola, 1979, p. 141; AST, T 204,
No. 197; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 354355, no. 301; see also Radner, 1997, pp. 234235;
PNA, pp. 44a(3), 448b, 524a, 1102ab(1+2).
58
chapter two
50 shekels of silver (see also SAA VI 109, SAA VI 111, and family
no. 37, below).
Family no. 27: Nab-zib, his wife, [hi]s 4 son[s, a total] of 6 persons, slave[s
of ] L-bala (ADD 269 = SAA VI 195 = Text no. 19).43 This large
nuclear family of six persons, a couple and four sons, was sold by Lbala to ama-ilxi, chief . . . in Nineveh in 681 B.C. The sons ages
are not clear and only the fathers name is mentioned. It is possible
that the slaves originated in azabin (see line r. 9).
VI 193 = Text no. 20):
(Family no. 28): [P]N (and) his wife, a total of 2;
(Family no. 29): [PN] (and) his wife, a total of 2;
(Family no. 30): [PN], his 2 sons, [. . ., a total of 3 or 4];
(Family no. 31): [fPN] (and) her son, a total of [2].44
The structure and size of families 2829 and 31 are evident: two couples
without children, and a woman with her unnamed son. The size of
family no. 30 is uncertain. It includes at least three person, a father
and two sons, but it is not clear if a fourth person is also mentioned
(perhaps a wife). These nine or ten slaves were sold in Nineveh in 681
B.C. by Nab-erba, an ofcial (ARAD) of the governor.45 The buyers
name and the price are lost.
Families nos. 3233: These two very large families are attested in ADD
253 (= SAA VI 57 = Text no. 21):
43
For previous studies of this text see ARU 63; Parpola, 1979, p. 150; see also
Radner, 1997, pp. 234235; PNA, pp. 665b(3), 879b(6)880a.
44
For previous studies of this text see ARU 62; Parpola, 1979, p. 151; Radner, 1997,
pp. 221, 234235; PNA, p. 827b(10).
45
For the possibility that Nab-erba was involved in slave-trading see family 25,
above.
59
(Family no. 32): [PN], a prisoner (abtu)46 in his custody, 1 suckling son, [his
5 . . .], his wi[fe], his 2 slaves a total of 10 person[s];
(Family no. 33): [PN], his 2 wives, his 3 sons, [his . . .], his [3] slaves a total of
10 persons; [a grand total of 20 peo]ple of Ubru-Nab [. . .].47
These families are two out of three largest slave families attested in
Neo-Assyrian texts (see also family no. 25, above). The families are of
ten persons each, and both include slaves, probably acquired before
they were enslaved.48 At the beginning of line 2 only three or four
signs are missing. Since family no. 32 includes ten persons, and since
a suckling son and a wife are clearly mentioned in the text, the most
reasonable restoration of the beginning of line 2 is 5 brothers or
5 daughters.
Family no. 33 is also of ten persons: the head of the family (whose
personal name is lost), his two wives (a very rare attestation to polygamy
in this period), and three sons. Since only three or four signs are missing at the beginning of line 4, and since one of them must be the
number of slaves, it is reasonable to suppose that this family includes
three slaves and that the tenth member of the family was its heads
mother or sister or daughter.
These 20 slaves were bought by Nab-umu-ikun, Sennacheribs
chariot driver, from Ubru-Nab, for ten minas of silver (30 shekels per
person), in Nineveh in Sennacheribs reign (the date is lost).49
VI 86 = Text no. 22):
1
1
2
2
M su-u-[x x x] x x [x x x x x x x]
the woman Su[ . . .] (Family no. 34:) [PN, his wife?]
2 DUMU.ME- DUMU.M-su x [x x x x x x x x x]
his 2 sons (and) his daughter [a total of 4 or 5]; (Family no. 35:) [PN, his wife]
46
The term abtu may indicate that his family was sent to prison by a court order
(cf. SAAS V, pp. 2830).
47
For previous studies of this text see ARU 85; Parpola, 1979, pp. 146147; Kwasman,
1988, pp. 248249, no. 210; Radner, 1997, pp. 242243; PNA, p. 888b(6).
48
For slaves owned by slaves see family no. 13, above, and Dandamaev, 1984, pp.
372378.
49
Nab-umu-ikuns sons or grandsons are not mentioned in the clauses of penalties
for litigation in this text, but they are attested in another text (SAA VI 58).
60
3
3
4
4
5
5
6
6
chapter two
2 DUMU.ME- PAB 4 mmad !-a-a [x x x x x x x x x x (x x)]
(and) his 2 sons, a total of 4 (persons); Mdiu, [x x x x x x x x]
m
-ra-a-a M- msi-t[i!-ir-x x x x x x x x x]
(Family no. 36:) riu (and) his wife; Sit[ir-. . . . .]
md
U.GURSUM-na PAB 20 L*!.Z[I.ME ARAD.ME]-ni !
Nergal-iddina, a grand total of 20 per[sons, slav]es
a mURU.arba-l-a-a
of Arbailiu.50
Family no. 34 consists of four or ve persons: a father (whose personal

name is lost), his two sons, and his daughter. It is reasonable to suppose that the wife was mentioned after the name of the father; and
that the woman Su . . . was not related to this family, since in this text
only the names of the heads of the families and of the single persons
are enumerated (see line 4).
Family no. 35 consists of four persons: a father (whose personal name
is lost), his two sons and probably a wife who was listed after the fathers
name. Family no. 36 is a minimal nuclear family of two persons: riu
and his wife. These 20 slaves were sold by Arbailiu to the governess
(akintu) of the central city in Nineveh in Sennacheribs reign (the date
is lost, see family no. 23). About 14 or 15 out of these 20 slaves are
attested in the text: families nos. 3436 are of 1011 people, and the
other four persons are the woman Su . . ., and three men (Mdiu, Sitir. . . and Nergal-iddina). Su . . . and Nergal-iddina were probably single
persons, while Mdiu and Sitir-. . . might be heads of families.51
Family no. 37: sax; his 2 wives: Mexs (and) Bdia; Sx-gab, Bl-Harrntaklk, two weaned daughters, a total of 7 persons, slaves of Urda-Issr. Aramaic
caption: Dead of Hosea and 6 others, 7 persons of Urda-Is[sr] (ADD 229
= SAA VI 111 = Text no. 23).52
This large Israelite family consists of seven persons: sax, his two
wives, Mexs and Bdia, his two unnamed weaned daughters, and
50
1988, pp. 472473, no. 414; Postgate, 1974a, pp. 140141; Radner, 1997, pp. 240241;
PNA, pp. 125b(14), 674a(6), 947a(2), 1152b.
51
For a different interpretation of this text see Kwasman, 1988, p. 472.
52
For previous studies of this text see 2R 70/2; 3R 46/6; Op. pp. 182183; CIS
II/1, no. 17; KB 4, pp. 124125; ABC, no. 4; EA, no. 14; ARU 64; Lieb. no. 5;
Ep. Ar. no. 14; Parpola, 1979, pp. 140141; Zadok, 19781979, p. 224; Fales, 1986,
pp. 142145, no. 5; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 355356; Radner, 1997, pp. 234235; PNA,
pp. 250b(1), 304b(3), 749b, 1100a.
61
two other men, Sx-gab and Bl-Harrn-taklk, probably his sons

but possibly his brothers; therefore, in this study this family is dened
as unclear. These people were sold by Urda-Issr to Sx-maxd for 3
minas of silver (an average of 25.7 shekels per person), in Nineveh
in 680 B.C. (For Sx-maxd, a village manager of the crown prince,
Esarhaddon, see family no. 26, above). This Israelite family had probably been exiled to Assyria in the 8th century B.C., but it is not clear
when and why it was enslaved. The name sax is Israelite,53 and the
names of his two wives (Mexs and Bdia), are West Semitic.54 His
sons (or brothers) bear names that are clearly related to the Harrn
area: Sx-gab is a West Semitic name that includes the component
Sx-, an Aramaic form of Sn, the god of Harrn. This component is
very popular in names from the Harrn area.55 The name of the other
son/brother, Bl-Harrn-taklk (= In the Lord of Harrn I trust), is
Akkadian and its relation to Harrn is evident.56
Family no. 38: Dandsi; his daughter (and) L-qpu, his son, a total of 3 persons,
slaves of umma-ibai-kettu (ADD 1158 = SAA VI 229 = Text no. 24).57
This is a single-parent family of three persons: a father and his two
children, an unnamed daughter and a son. The age of the children is
not mentioned. The order of the people is unusual since the daughter is
listed before the son. This small family was sold by umma-ibai-kettu
to Silim-Ar, in Nineveh in 675 B.C. for the low price of 30 shekels
of silver (10 shekels per soul). Silim-Ar was the grand vizier for of
at least ten years (666656 B.C.) and was the eponym ofcial of the
year 659.58 He owned at least ve slaves (see SAA VI 227228).
Family no. 39: This unclear family is attested in ADD 266 (= SAA VI
297 = Text no. 25): Ilu-knu-uur, il-Ar, [. . .], 2 girls (M.TUR.ME),
53
See Ephxal, 1973, pp. 202203, xxv.

For the names Mexs and Bdia see Zadok, 1977, pp. 171, 258; PNA, pp. 250b(1),
749b.
55
For the component Sx in personal names see Johns, ADB, p. 30; Parpola, 1985,
p. 273, note 2, with earlier literature; Stol, 1995a, pp. 14801481.
56
See PNA, p. 304a.
57
For previous studies of this text see Kwasman, 1988, pp. 359360, no. 307; AST,
T 200, No. 168; Radner, 1997, pp. 135, 234235; PNA, pp. 375b, 653a(12).
58
For Silim-Ar see Mattila, 2000, pp. 9495, 103, 134; PNA, p. 1109a(4).
54
62
chapter two
a total of 5 per[sons], slaves of [these peo]ple.59 The two girls indicate that
this group of slaves probably included a family. At the end of line 6,
Kwasman and Parpola propose the restoration of a male personal
name, but Fales suggested that probably a woman was mentioned after
the name of il-Ar.60 Another possible restoration is [DUMU-
1 M] or [DUMU- M-], namely that il-Ar, was Ilu-knuuurs son, and the family consists of ve persons: a couple, a son and
two daughters. It is important to point out that the term M.TUR at
times, denes young girls and even babies.61 These slaves were bought
by Rmanni-Adad, here entitled: chariot driver, from Iddti-Bl-allak,
Adad-arru-uur and arru-umu-kaxxin, the three sons of Ar-allimahhe, in Nineveh in 671 B.C. (the price is lost). For Rmanni-Adads
slaves and businesses see families nos. 5355, below.
Family no. 40: Marqihit, his ma[id, (and) her son], a total of 2 persons, slaves
of [Nab-bl-uur] (ADD 257 = SAA VI 284 = Text no. 26).62 This is
a small single-parent family of two persons, a maid and her unnamed
son, as attested in the Aramaic caption: [Marqihit and] her son [. . .], [. . .]
of Nab-[bl-uur] (e 1617).63 It was sold by Nab-bl-uur to Nabxa
for two minas of silver, by the mina of Carchemish (an average of one
mina per person), in 671 B.C. The text was sealed in Nineveh but the
slaves probably originated in Calah.
Family no. 41: Urua and her daughter are attested in an unpublished text
from the vicinity of Maxallnte (O 3709 = Text no. 27 = PNA, pp.
452ab, 598b, 656a).64 This small single-parent family was bought by
59
For previous studies of this text see 3R 49/4; Op. pp. 191193; KB 4, pp. 130131;
ARU 538; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 278279, no. 235; Radner, 1997, pp. 234235; PNA,
pp. 36b(2), 217a(6), 501ab, 531a(3), 1038b, 1171a(4).
60
See Parpola and Kwasman, SAA VI, p. 240; Fales, PNA, p. 1038b.
61
For the term M.TUR see Radner, 1997, pp. 147148, 152155.
62
For previous studies of this text see ABC, no. 5; EA, no. 15; ARU 66; Lieb. No.
14; Ep. Ar. no. 15; Parpola, 1979, pp. 147148; AST, T 212, No. 270; Fales, 1986,
pp. 161165, no. 14, Pl. V, Fig. 14; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 229230, no. 194; Radner,
1997, pp. 234235; PNA, pp. 741a, 790a (35).
63
Fales suggested the restoration brt[h] instead of brh, see Fales, 1986, pp. 162163,
no. 14, Pl. V, Fig. 14. But he admits that: brt has many attestations in Egyptian Aramaic,
but hardly at all in pre-Achaemenid (and esp. Mesopotamian) Aramaic. A comparison
of the two captions attested in this text (see Fales, 1986, Pl. V, Fig. 14) indicate that the
restoration brh proposed by Kwasman and Parpola in SAA VI, is more reasonable.
64
For this text see Garelli, 1986, p. 244; PNA, pp. 452ab, 598b, 656a.
63
Hand together with another maid (L-tenni-amassa) from Kalbi-Uk

in 670 B.C. For Hand, a aknu a ekalli in the reigns of Sennacherib,
Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal, see families nos. 11 and 22, above.
Family no. 42: [Ne]rgal-d[]n, Issr-[. . ., his wife], Mrt , her daughter, (of )
3 spans (height), a total of 3 person[s, slaves o]f [Adad-ahu-iddina] (ADD
310 = SAA XIV 64 = Text no. 28).65 This is a nuclear family of three
persons: a couple, and a daughter, who is dened as her daughter,
probably meaning from a previous marriage (see family no. 17, above,
and family no. 67, below). The daughter was a very young child of
three spans (for this system of recording children see chapter III).
The personal names of all three people are mentioned. This family
was sold by Adad-ahu-iddina to Mannu-k-Allia, a recruit (?) (raksu) of
the chief eunuch, for two minas of silver, by the mina of Carchemish
(40 shekels per person), in Nineveh in 669 B.C. The slaves probably
originate in Calah.
Family no. 43: Iaqar-ah (and) her daughter (and) the woman Abi-iahia, a total
of 3 persons of Minahimi. Aramaic caption: mnhm (ADD 245 = SAA
VI 250 = Text no. 29).66 This is a single-parent family of two persons:
a maid (Iaqar-ah) and her unnamed dughter. The age of the daughter
is not mentioned. This family was sold together with an other maid
(Abi-iahia) by Minahimi to Abi-rah, sister of the governess, for two
minas of silver, by the mina of Carchemish (40 shekels per person), in
Nineveh in Esarhaddons reign (the date is lost).
VI 266 = Text no. 30):
65
For previous studies of this text see ARU 158; Postgate, apud Weinfeld, 1972,
p. 144, n. 88; Parpola, 1979, pp. 155156; AST, T 202, No. 180; Kwasman, 1988,
pp. 182183, no. 149; Radner, 1997, pp. 234235; PNA, pp. 21b(5), 685a, 742a,
943b(1).
66
For previous studies of this text see CIS II/1, no. 33; ABC, no. 20; EA, no. 5;
ARU 81; Lieb, no. 19; Ep. Ar. no. 5; Parpola, 1979, pp. 144145; AST, T 204, no.
200; Fales, 1986, pp. 183184, no. 20; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 34, no. 2; Radner, 1997,
pp. 242243; PNA, pp. 10b, 12b(1), 493a, 748a(4), 1110b(6); Teppo, 2005, p. 64.
64
chapter two
2 (Family no. 44:) Iannuqu; his son (and) [his] wife, [a total of 3 persons];
3 (Family no. 45:) Dalwa; his son (and) h[is] wife, [a total of 3].67
In the copy published by Johns the restoration is M- at the end

of lines 2 and 3. Kohler and Ungnad read M [. . .] at the end of
line 2, and M-[] at the end of line 3. In 1979 Parpola published
his collation of this text, and his restoration of these two lines was
similar to Kohlers and Ungnads. Since Parpola pointed out that about
ve signs are missing in line 2 and only two in line 3, the following
restoration of the end of these lines may be suggested: 2 DUNU-
M-[ PAB 3 ZI.ME]; 3 DUNU- M-[ PAB 3]. According to
this restoration both families include a couple and a son. But since
there are other possibilities (see below), both families are dened in
this study as unclear. Another possibility is that ama-ail, (line 1) is
the father of the family, Iannuqu is his son, and the name of his wife
is mentioned at the end of line 2. The restoration of lines 12 will
be as follows: ama-ail, the . . . (L.[x x]), Iannuqu, his son (and)
M.[ . . .], [his wife].68 But the formulation of line 3 indicates that this
possibility is less likely, and ama-ail was probably a single person.
These slaves were sold in Nineveh in Esarhaddons reign.69 The date
and the names of the parties are lost. This broken text indicates that at
least ten persons were sold, and a few were probably singles, including
the women Baui, Dimb, San . . . and Did (see lines 47).
Families nos. 4647: These families are attested in CT 53 9 (= SAA
XVI 53 = Text no. 31):
4
(Family no. 46:) Ilssa (and) her 2 sons;
56 (Family no. 47:) Muhhi-ili-apkku (and) her daughter;
7
a grand total of 5 persons.70
These two single-parent families are cited in a letter of complaint,

probably dated to Esarhhadons reign. The writer claims that the
following property of his fathers house was taken over: ve persons, a
67
For previous studies of this text see ARU 77; Parpola, 1979, pp. 152; Radner,
1997, pp. 244245; PNA, pp. 278b, 361a(9), 373b(3), 384b, 492a(2).
68
For the possibility that Iannuqu was ama-ails son see Baker, PNA,
p. 492a(2).
69
The name of Esarhaddon is mentioned in line s. 1. For the date of this text see
SAA VI, p. 213 (note).
70
For the personal names mentioned in this text see PNA, pp. 535b, 763a.
65
bed, three blankets, chairs, a table, etc. Since the ve persons are listed
in the same context as the other objects, clearly they were slaves.
VI 294 = Text no. 32):
1 (Family no. 48:) Sagb, weaver, (and) his wife;
2 (Family no. 49:) Sx-nr, his wife (and) [his] 2 daughters;
3
a grand total of 6 per[sons, slaves of PN].71
The size and type of these two nuclear families are evident: the rst is
a couple without children, and the second a couple with two daughters.
The age of the children is not listed, and only the names of the heads
of the families are mentioned. These two families are recorded in a
sale of persons from Nineveh probably from the end of Esarhaddons
reign.72 Most details of this text are lost, including the names of the
parties, the price and the date.
Family no. 50: [. . .-ah]he-balli (and) his wife are a couple without children attested in ADD 287 (= SAA XIV 4 = Text no. 33).73 This small
nuclear family was sold together with other three slaves by Nabt to
Milki-nr, in Nineveh in Esarhaddons late reign or in Assurbanipals
early reign. The three slave mentioned in lines 34 were probably single
persons and not relatives of this couple. Milki-nr was a eunuch of the
queen (see SAA XIV 17, the rst two texts are dated to 668 and 666
B.C.). He bought the villages Nab-ezib and Bahia, in their entirety,
as well as 11 slaves and Land and People with at least 12 persons
(see also families nos. 5152, 157158, below).
XIV 5 = Text no. 34):
1 (Family no. 51:) [PN (and)] ama-ilx, his son (of ) 4 spa[ns (height)];
2 (Family no. 52:) [PN (and)] sax, (his) son (of ) 3 spans (height);
71
For previous studies of this text see ARU 88; Radner, 1997, pp. 244245; PNA,
pp. 1103b(5), 1061a(5).
72
For the date of this text see SAA VI, p. 237.
73
For previous studies of this text see ARU 95; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 213214, no.
177; Radner, 1997, pp. 244245; PNA, pp. 328 b(3), 752a(1). See also note no. 175,
below.
66
chapter two
3 [ . . .]-Issr, a weaned son, (and) Baxassi [his] daughte[r];

4 [a grand total of 6] persons, slaves [of] Marduk-rmanni.74
The text enumerates two single-parent families: (1) a father with a young
child; and (2) a father with two very young sons, and a daughter whose
age is unclear. The names of all slaves are mentioned, but a few are lost.
In both families the mother is absent; she might have remained in the
hands of the seller. These families were bought by Milki-nr, a eunuch
of the queen, from Marduk-rmanni, in Nineveh in Esarhaddons later
reign or in Assurbanipals early reign, for two minas and ten shekels
of silver (21.66 shekels per soul).75
342 = Text no. 35), as follows: (1) (Family no. 53:) Sn-lik-pni, [the . . .;
his son/brother]; (2) his wife (and) his weaned daughter. (Family no. 54:) [PN;
his son/brother]; (3) his wife (and) is daughter; (Family no. 55:) Ua[. . .], hatter
(and) his wife, a grand total of 10 [persons].76 The two rst families are
of four persons each, and both include a couple and a daughter. The
identity of the fourth member in each family is unclear. He might be a
son or a brother of the head of the family. The third family is a couple
without children: Ua[. . .] the hatter and his unnamed wife. These ten
slaves were bought in Nineveh by Rmanni-Adad, here entitled probably [chariot driver] but usually he is entitled: chief chariot driver
of Assurbanipal king of Assyria. His transactions have been discussed
extensively in the literature.77 He bought at least 38 slaves, in 13 different transactions, in the course of at least six years (671665 B.C.).
Most of his slaves lived in families: he owned nine slave-families of 25
persons per family, a total of 30 persons (see family no. 39, above; and
families nos. 5658, 6162, below). A few of his slaves were professional
(see SAA VI 300301, 305, 313, and chapter III). Hardly anything is
known about his family, but the clauses of penalties for litigation in his
texts indicate that he had sons.
74
1988, p. 215, no. 179; Radner, 1997, pp. 242243; PNA, pp. 721a(9), 752a(1).
75
For Milki-nr see family no. 50, above.
76
For previous studies of this text see ARU 83; Parpola, 1979, p. 156; AST, T 205,
No. 215; Kwasman, 1988, p. 319, no. 269; see also Radner, 1997, pp. 242243; PNA,
pp. 1128b(1), 1038a(4).
77
For the transactions of Rmanni-Adad see Fales, 1987; Galil, 1998, pp. 2837;
Fales, PNA, pp. 10381041.
67
Families nos. 5657: These families are attested in ADD 270/271 (= SAA
VI 343/344 = Text no. 36): (Family no. 56:) [ . . .] (and) his wife, a total
of 2; (Family no. 57:) [Mar]i-adllal; Ba-[ . . .], a total of 2 youths; Mannu[ . . .], their mother; a total of 5 persons, [slaves of ] these me[n].78 These ve
slaves are divided into two families: a couple without children and a
mother with her two sons. This single-parent family is presented in an
unusual way: the two brothers are named rst, without either of them
being signied as the head of this family. These slaves were bought
in Nineveh by Rmanni-Adad for ve minas of silver, by the mina of
Carchemish (one mina per person) from four sons of Gabbu-ilni-re:
Daxxinanni-Nergal, Zil, Kur-ilx (and) Ar-allim-ahh (Assurbanipals
reign; the date is lost). For Rmanni-Adad and his slaves see families
nos. 5355, above.
Family no. 58: [. . .]-a-a[b], his slave; [. . .]-ilxi, his wife; [. . .]-atu, his daughter;
[a total of 3 per]sons (ADD 322 = SAA VI 345 = Text no. 37).79 This is a
nuclear family of three persons: a couple with a daughter all mentioned
by their personal names. They were bought in Nineveh by RmanniAdad from Nab-aplu-iddina (Assurbanipals reign; the date is lost). For
Rmanni-Adad and his slaves see families nos. 5355, above.
Family no. 59: [. . .] (and) Sadaia, his mother, a total of 2 person(s) (ADD
284+ = SAA XIV 65 = Text no. 38).80 This is a nuclear family of two
persons: a slave and his mother both mentioned by their personal names
(the sons name is lost). They were bought in Nineveh in 668 B.C. by
Urda-Issr, the chamberlain, from Salmnu-imm for one and a half
mina of silver, by the mina of the king (45 shekels per person).
78
For previous studies of this text see ARU 6768; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 322324,
no. 272273; Radner, 1997, pp. 242243; PNA, pp. 217a(8), 370a, 415b(4), 641a(6),
721b.
79
1988, p. 317, no. 266; Radner, 1997, pp. 240241; PNA, pp. 805b(6), 1039a.
80
1988, p. 348, no. 295; Radner, 1997, pp. 234235; PNA, pp. 1059a, 1079a.
68
chapter two
Family no. 60: [. . .]-Bl (and) [his] 2 wi[ves] (= 2 M[.ME-] . .) . . .

(ADD 306 = SAA VI 256 = Text no. 39).81 This is an unclear family
of at least three persons: a male slave, [. . .]-Bl, and his two wives. The
women are probably his wives since they are not named. If they were
single they should have been listed by their personal names. These
slaves were bought in Nineveh probably in 668 B.C.82 by Iddxa (the
price is lost). The slaves probably originated in Lahru, since Iddxa
served as a town manager of the queen mother in this area (see SAA
VI 255).83
Family no. 61: [. . .], tailor, his wife, his [. . .], (and) his 2 sons, a total of 5
persons, [slav]es of Bl-aplu-iddina (ADD 258 = SAA VI 313 || ADD
801 = SAA VI 312 = Text no. 40).84 This is a family of ve persons:
a tailor, his wife, two sons, and a fth member, who might be his
mother (see SAA VI 313) or his brother. These slaves were bought by
Rmanni-Adad from Bl-aplu-iddina, chief singer of Til-Barsib, in 666
B.C., for three minas of silver, by the mina of Carchemish (36 shekels
per person). The text was sealed in Nineveh, but the slaves probably
originated in Til-Barsib.85 For Rmanni-Adad and his slaves see families
nos. 5355, above.
Family no. 62: Dnna (and) Gabia, his wife, a total of 2 persons, slaves of
Sx-ntan (ADD 237 = SAA VI 319 = Text no. 41).86 This couple was
81
p. 505a(1).
82
The date of this text is unclear. Kwasman and Parpola suppose that it should
be dated to the reign of Esarhaddon (see SAA VI, p. 204). But since it is clear that
the eponym was a turtnu (see line 2), and since no commander-in-chief served as
an eponym ofcial in the reign of Esarhaddon, it is reasonable to date the text to
668 B.C. (= Mr-larm). Other possible identications of this turtnu are Bl-muranni
(686 B.C.) or Bl-naxdi (663 B.C.). Cf. Mattila, 2000, p. 107.
83
For the identication of Lahru see ParpolaPorter, 2001, p. 12, and map no.
10, with earlier literature.
84
For previous studies of this text see KB 4, pp. 134135; ARU 65a65b, 537;
Parpola, 1979, pp. 148, 196197; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 290292, no. 246247; Radner,
1997, pp. 234235; PNA, pp. 287a(14), 1038b(2).
85
For Til Barsib in the Neo-Assyrian period see Bunnens, 1997. For the texts from
this site see Dalley, 19961997; Radner, 2004.
86
For previous studies of this text see ARU 71; Parpola, 1979, pp. 142; AST, T216,
no. 314; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 296297, no. 251; Radner, 1997, pp. 236237; PNA,
pp. 385a (1), 416b, 1039a 2, 1103a.
69
sold by Sx-ntan to Rmanni-Adad in Nineveh in 665 B.C., for one

mina of silver (30 shekels per person). For Rmanni-Adad and his slaves
see families nos. 5355, above.
Family no. 63: Hambussu, [thei]r ma[id] (and) her daughter, upon the house
[. . .] (ina UGU [x x]); Aramaic caption: Deed of the maid Hambussu
(hb)and her daughterbelonging to Lqu (lqh) (ADD 233 = SAA XIV
24 = Text no. 42).87 This small family, Hambussu and her unnamed
daughter were sold to Lqu, cohort commander of the crown prince,
in Nineveh in 659 B.C., for one mina and eight shekels of silver (34
shekels per person). The names of the sellers are lost: one of them was
the son of Hazi . . . In the Aramaic caption they are dened as the
brothers and sons of Hambussu.
Family no. 64: [. . .] (and her) daughter, [the maids of Tabl]iu, ironsmith
(SH 98/6949 I 896 = DeZ 21027 = BATSH 6 46 = Text no. 43).88
This maid (whose name is lost) and her unnamed daughter, were sold
by Tabliu, an ironsmith, to ulmu-arri, in Dr-Katlimmu in 650
B.C. (the price is lost). ulmu-arri, a royal bodyguard (a-qurbti), and
his relatives are attested in 73 texts from Dr-Katlimmu. He bought at
least 55 slaves (most of them females) in 42 legal transactions, in the
course of about 35 years (665631*). Most of his slaves were singles (at
least 43), but a few lived in six single-parent families (a maid with her
daughter or her son; see families nos. 7475, 80, 9394, below).
Family no. 65: Aht-lxi (and) Sx-hri, her son (of ) 3 spans (height), a total
of 2 persons of these men (ND 3426 = Iraq 15 (1953), pp. 141, 151, Pl.
XII = FNALT 9 = Text no. 44).89 This maid and her very young son,
of three spans, were sold by two men, Nr-ama son of Puh and
87
For previous studies of this text see 2R 70/6; 3 R 46/5; Op. pp. 195198; CIS
II/1 19; KB 4, pp. 138141; ABC no. 7; EA, no. 12; ARU 208; Lieb, no. 16; Ep. Ar.
no. 12; Parpola, 1979, pp. 142; AST, T202, no. 181; Fales, 1986, pp. 175180, no.
17; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 179180, no. 146; Radner, 1997, pp. 234235; PNA, pp.
447b(3), 670b(4).
88
For ulmu-arri see Radner, 2002, pp. 7072.
89
For previous studies of this text see Wiseman, 1953, pp. 141, 151, pl. xii; Postgate,
1979, pp. 9395 (no. 9); Radner, 1997, pp. 236237; PNA, pp. 59b, 886b(29), 1000b(3),
1100b(3), 1154b(27).
70
chapter two
Nab-umu-iddina son of Sukki-Aia, to ama-arru-uur, a eunuch, in

Calah in 649 B.C. for a high price of two minas and one shekel of silver,
by the mina of Carchemish (one mina and 0.5 shekel per person).
Families nos. 6667: These families are attested in VAT 9582 (= Text
no. 45Unpublished): (Family no. 66): Aht-aba (and) her son, Ilu-ibni;
(Family no. 67): Hehe-ilx, his wife (and) her son Ubru-ilni, a total of 5
persons, slaves of Ar-erba.90 The rst is a singe-parent family of two
persons, a maid and her son, and the second one is a nuclear family
of three persons: a couple with a son dened as her son; probably
from a previous marriage (see families nos. 17 and 42, above, but only
in VAT 9582 is the woman distinctly dened as his wife). These two
families were sold by two persons, Ar-erba son of Ar-mu-BI-KAT
and the scribe, Ar-r-ii son of Nab-umu-iddina, to Idia/IdAia, an ofcial (= ARAD) of the crown prince from Kapar-Adunu.
The slaves were sold in Aur in 649 B.C., for three minas and four
shekels of silver (36.8 shekels per person).
Families nos. 6871 are attested in ADD 275+ (= SAA XIV 146 = Text
no. 46), as follows:
2 (Family no. 68):
(Family no. 69):
3 (Family no. 70):
4 (Family no. 71):
5 [a grand total of
Salmnnu (and) his wife;

Musukiu (and) his wife;
Urdu-Inrta (and his) 2 daughters; a grand total of 7 persons;
[. . .]aia (and) his son. Gaddij (= single)
3 persons]; a grand total of 10 persons [. . .].91
This fragmentary document attests to a sale of ten slaves: four nuclear

families and one singe person (Gaddij). At the beginning of line 5
about four signs are missing, and another grand total might have been
mentioned: [PAB 3 ZI.ME]. The structure and size of the families
is evident. The rst two families are couples without children, and the
last two are single-parent of two or three persons: a slave and his two
daughters or a slave and his son. The names of the parties and the
90
I would like to thank Karen Radner for sending me the translation of this passage by e-mail (on 9 Oct. 2002). For previous studies and notes on this unpublished
text see Radner, 1997, pp. 103, 175176, 185, 220221, 236237; PNA, pp. 59a(5),
181b(8), 196b, 214a(9), 470b471a, 501a, 529a(6), 887a(36).
91
For previous studies of this text see ARU 174, 522; AST, T215, no. 298; Radner,
1997, pp. 238239; PNA, pp. 417b(4), 771b, 1069b(13).
71
price are lost. The slaves changed hands in Nineveh in 642*, but they
may originate in Harran (see line r. 2).
Family no. 72: This family is attested in SH 98/6949 I 140 (= DeZ
21058/7 = BATSH 6 141 = Text no. 47), as follows:
1
2
3
4
M.a-b[ux x mx x x]
DUMU pi-ir-[su M. x x x]
M.[i]-al-[x (x) PAB 4 ZI.ME]
-pi-[ma mx x x x]
1
2
3
4
The woman Ab[u-. . .; (and) PN]

(her) wean[ed] son; [The woman . . .]
Ial[-. . .], a total of 4 persons]
[. . .] has contracted and [bought]
This is a single-parent family of at least two persons: a maid (Abu-. . .)

and at least her weaned son, whose name lost. The other two slaves
may be two single maids (as suggested by Radner),92 but at least the
rst one might have been a daughter of Abu-. . . These slaves were
sold in Dr-Katlimmu in 644* or 629* B.C. (the other details are
lost).
Family no. 73: This family is attested in A 2692 (= StAT 2 140 = Text
no. 48): Il-bak (and her son) Haia-ahi (of ) 3 spans (height).93 This is a
single parent-family of two persons: a maid and her son. They were
sold in Aur in 641* B.C. by Dalwa to Smidu, the . . . of Aur, for
one mina of silver, by the mina of the king (30 shekels per person).
Smidu bought at least two other maids (see StAT 2 145146).
Family no. 74: This family is attested in SH 98/6949 I 876 (= BATSH
6 53 = Text no. 49), as follows: Amat-Salmnu, a maid (and) his suckling
(ina UGU zi-zi) daughter, a [to]tal of 2 maids of Nergal-arru-uur. This
is a small nuclear family of two persons: a maid, Amat-Salmnu
(Aramaic caption: mtlmn) and her unnamed suckling daughter. The
baby is dened as his daughter, probably indicating that the maid was
his mistress (see also family no. 80, below). They were sold by Nergalarru-uur (= xAthar-arru-uur) son of ama-ahu-uur (= Aramaic
caption: {thrsrr br sshr)94 to ulmu-arri, a royal bodyguard (a-qurbti),
92
Radner, 2002, pp. 180181.

For previous studies of this text see DellerDonbaz, 1987, pp. 221226; see
also Pedersen, 1986, pp. 123, N29 (1); Radner, 1997, pp. 236237; PNA, pp. 373b(4),
1083b(3).
94
For Nergal-arru-uur see PNA, pp. 955b956a(36).
93
72
chapter two
in Dr-Katlimmu in 641* B.C., for half a mina of silver (15 shekels

per person). For the slaves of ulmu-arri see family no. 64, above.
Family no. 75: This family is attested in SH 98/6949 I 884 (= DeZ 21030
= BATSH 6 56 = Text no. 50), as follows: The woman, [M]a-[. . . (and)
the woman . . .], a you[ng gi]rl (M[.T]UR), [her] daughter, [his maids]. This
is a small single-parent family of two persons: a maid (Ma . . .) and her
daughter (whose name is lost). The daughter is dened as a young girl.
They were sold by Atti son of Kummiu95 from Hindnu to ulmuarri, a royal bodyguard (a-qurbti ), in Dr-Katlimmu in 639* B.C. for
one mina of silver (30 shekels per person). For the slaves of ulmu-arri
see family no. 64, above.
Family no. 76: [Il-h]azi (and) Aht-bat, his mother [a total of 2 person]s,
slaves of Huddia (ADD 250 = SAA XIV 16 = Text no. 51).96 This
is a small nuclear family of two persons: a man and his mother. The
son, whose name is broken, is presented as the head of the family.
They were bought from Huddia son of Muuriu by Nnuiu, a royal
eunuch, in Nineveh in 639* (the price is lost). Nnuiu bought at least
ten slaves in the course of nine years (641*633*: see SAA XIV 15 =
SAAS V, no. 29; SAA XIV 1822).
Families nos. 7778: These families are attested in MM 1082/A (= TIM
XI 2 = SAA XIV 424 = Text no. 52): (Family no. 77): Is, Attar- . . ., his
wife, B[a . . .], his son (of ) 5 spans (height), Dainu-idr, his son (of ) x spans
(height), Ram, his daughter, a total of 5 (persons); (Family no. 78): Buxia,
Nagaha, his wife, Pd, his brother, Attr-idr, his weaned son, a total of 4 (persons);
Kiqillnu (and) Quta[r], his brother, Il-idr, tanner; a total of 12 persons, slaves
of Sukki-Aia son of Parnu-uarri. The rst family is a nuclear one of ve
persons: a couple and three children: two sons (one of ve spans) and
one daughter. The second family is an extended one of four persons:
a couple and their weaned son, and the brother of the head of the
family. The last three slaves (two brothers and a single tanner) were not
95
For Atti son of Kummiu see PNA, p. 637a(10).

For previous studies on this text see 2R 70/3; 3R 46/7; CIS II/1 18; ABC no.
15; EA, no. 9; ARU 72; Lieb, no. 23; Ep. Ar. no. 9; Fales, 1986, pp. 188189, no.
24; Kwasman, 1988, p. 255, no. 215; Radner, 1997, pp. 238239; PNA, pp. 59b (2),
476a(4), 772a(2), 964b(11).
96
73
relatives of the rst nine. All the slaves in this document are named in
person. They were sold in Nineveh in 638* by Sukki-Aia son of Parnuuarri, a Kummuhean merchant (tamkru), to Asalluhi-umu-iddina,
cohort commander of the palace (= a pi) guard, son of the chief
judge, Asalluhi-ahh-iddina, for a high price of 10 minas of silver (50
shekels per person). Since a merchant is the seller (in this case probably a private merchant and not a royal trade agent), and since many
slaves changed hands, and a large sum is attested, the parties could be
involved in slave-trading (note that ve other tamkrus are mentioned
in the list of witnesses).97
Family no. 79: This family is attested in DeZ 21051/3 (= SH 98/6949
I 922 = BATSH 6 142 = Text no. 53):
3 [mx x x]-x-a-a L*.[AR]AD-
3 [. . .]aia, his [sla]ve,
4 [M. x x x]- M-
4 [. . .]-, his wife
5 [m/M.x x x x]- M.a-ru-ruE 5 [PN/fPN] his . . .], the woman arruiqbi
6 [x x x x x] GME.ME
6 [. . . . . . x] maids
7 [PAB x ZI.ME] -[pi-]ma
7 [a total of x person]s,
has con[tracted and bo]ught
The restoration of lines 37 of this text is not clear. In Radners opinion

ve slaves were enumerated in this text, all of them by their personal
names, as follows:98 a family of three persons ([. . .]aia; [. . .]-, his wife
(and) [. . .], his [son]), and two single maids: arru-iqbi99 and another
one whose name is lost. But the text is very fragmentary and other
restorations are possible. A couple is clearly attested in lines 34, both
mentioned by their personal names. At the beginning of line 5 a relative
of this couple is attested (their son or daughter or someone else). The
restoration of line 6 is even more complicated, since arru-iqbi might
be a single maid or a daughter of [. . .]aia, and the term GME.ME
may refer to [. .]aias maids (for maids or slaves of a slave see families
nos. 13, 3233, above). Therefore, the following restoration of line 6
97
For previous studies of this text see PostgateIsmail, no. 2; Radner, 1997, pp.
236237; PNA, pp. 136ab, 235b(3), 369b, 517b(5), 565b, 619a(14), 921b(6), 989b, 998a,
1026b, 1031a, 1155b(36). For the tamkrus in the Neo-Assyrian Period see Postgate,
1979, p. 206; Deller, 1987; Elat, 1987; 1998, pp. 5157; Radner 1999a, pp. 101109;
Faist 2001, p. 117; Galil forthcoming (c).
98
See Radner, 2002, p. 181.
99
For the name arru-iqbi see PNA, p. 1168b.
74
chapter two
is also possible:[DUNU.M- x] GME.ME. If this restoration is

accepted, this family might be large, of at least six persons: a couple
with a daughter, a son (or another relative) and at least two maids. But
as mentioned this is just one possibility, and so this family is dened
in this study as an unclear one of at least three persons. These slaves
were sold by [. . .]-umu-iddina, in Dr-Katlimmu in 634* B.C. (the
other details are lost).
Family no. 80: This family is attested in DeZ 21036 (= SH 98/6949 I
875 = BATSH 6 66 = Text no. 54): Betuzati, his maid (and) his suckling
(aGA) daughter. This is a single-parent family of two persons: a maid
(Betuzati) and her unnamed suckling daughter. The baby is dened as
his daughter, probably indicating that the maid was his mistress (see
family no. 74, above). They were sold in Dr-Katlimmu in 631* B.C. by
Bru-rapax son of Bru-ahu-iddina to ulmu-arri, a royal bodyguard,
for half a mina and ve shekels of silver (17.5 shekels per person). For
the slaves of ulmu-arri see family no. 64, above.
Family no. 81: This family is attested in VAT 8232 (= Text no. 55 =
Unpublished).100 This is a single-parent family of four persons: a maid,
Supala, and her three children (a daughter and two sons). They are
among the 25 slaves that were sold in Aur in 631* B.C. by the four
sons of the priest Btnu to four men: Qibt-Ar, Iqbi-Ar, Ahu[. . .] and another person whose name is lost.
Family no. 82: Kakkullnu, cohort commander of the crown prince, has
bought the maid alimtu as a wife for Tarhu-nazi his slave (ADD 308
= SAA XIV 34 = Text no. 56).101
In this study these two slaves are considered a couple just married.
The maid was bought from Ahxa-erba son of Aia-ahh and another
person whose name is lost, in Nineveh in 630*, for half a mina of silver
(see families nos. 8384, below).
100
For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 277a, 560ab(8), 1012b(19),
1159a.
101
For previous studies of this text see ARU 57; Tallqvist, 1918, p. 230b; Parpola,
1979, pp. 154155; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 145146, no. 120; Radner, 1997, p. 157; PNA,
pp. 71a(17), 89b(4), 596a(7a.), 1166b(1). For the economic activities of Kakkullnu
(630*617* B.C.) see Fales, 1989, pp. 169200; Postgate, 1989, pp. 150152; Galil,
1998, pp. 3738; SAA XIV, pp. xvixviii; PNA, pp. 596a(7)597.
75
Family no. 83: Kakkullnu, cohort commander of the crown prince,

has bought the maid Abi-dal[] as a wife for Ulliu his slave (ADD
309 = SAA XIV 37 = Text no. 57).102
These two slaves are also considered a couple just married. This maid
was bought from Sukki-Aia and his two sons, in Nineveh in 630*, for
half a mina of silver (see also families nos. 82 and 84).
Family no. 84: Kakkullnu has bought Gula-riat as a wife for UrduNab his slave (ADD 711 = SAA XIV 38 = Text no. 58).103 These
two slaves are also considered a couple just married (see families nos.
8283). In the Aramaic caption the maid is presented as the wife of
Urdu-Nab (xt {rdnbw). This maid was bought for half a mina of
silver from her four relatives: her two brothers, Mutakkil-Marduk and
Ar-Muallim (sons of Tarba-Issr, the ironsmith); and from her two
sons: Ar-ndin-ahi and Ubru-Ar. Therefore, it is evident that it
was Gula-riats second marriage. One possibility is that she went back
to her two older brothers at her fathers house, after the death of her
rst husband. Another is that her brothers redeemed her and her two
sons from a creditor, and therefore she is dened as their maid. The
text was sealed in Nineveh in 629*.
XIV 155 = Text no. 59). Bl-naxdi gives his daughter Baxalt-ibatu a
house and people, as follows:
5
67
8
910a
10b11
1214a
14b
[. . .]a-tequme, baker;
(Family no. 85): [L-d]gil-ili, fuller, (and) [. . .]ma, his wife;
Issr-d[r-q]alli, cap-man;
(Family no. 86): Aia-ehu[. . .] (and) Urkittu-lxt, his wife;
(Family no. 87): ulmu-b[li-l]mur, baker (and) Urkittu-ri[at, his wife]
(the women:) Mannu-k-ummi, Hatezia, Murabbata, Pah
In all a house () and 11 persons.104
102
For previous studies of this text see ARU 56; Tallqvist, 1918, pp. 239b240a;
Parpola, 1979, p. 155; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 166167, no. 133; Radner, 1997, pp. 157,
170; PNA, pp. 9a, 596a(7a.), 1154b(23). For Kakkullnus transactions see family no.
82, above.
103
For previous studies of this text see Op., pp. 147150; CIS II 11; ABC, no. 11;
EA, no. 4; ARU 55; Lieb, no. 29; Ep. Ar. no. 4; Fales, 1986, pp. 202205, no. 30;
Kwasman, 1988, pp. 151152, no. 124; Radner, 1997, pp. 157, 170; PNA, pp. 199a(2),
201b(9), 784b(5). For Kakkullnu see family no. 82, above.
104
For previous studies of this text see ARU 47; Tallqvist, 1918, pp. 224a, 243b;
76
chapter two
Bl-naxdi gives his daughter Baxalt-ibatu a present of a house located

at the ama gate in Nineveh along with 12 slaves: six single persons
and three couples (the total 11 is a mistake). The third couple is
unclear, and is based on a restoration of the text. The text was sealed
in Nineveh in 627* B.C. Baxalt-ibatus father may be identied with
Bl-naxdi the commander-in-chief, who was the eponym ofcial of
663 B.C.105
Family no. 88: Texitu, his maid (and) Hanabu, his weaned daughter (VAT
5602 = ARU 70 = AoF 24 [1997], pp. 118121 = Text no. 61).106 These
two maids, Texitu and Hanabu, her weaned daughter, were sold to
Urdu-Nania by L-akin son of Mannu-k-Ar in Ar in 625* B.C.,
for one mina and 33 shekels of silver (46.5 shekels per person). The
weaned child is dened as his daughter, indicating probably that the
maid was his mistress (see also families nos. 74 and 80, above).
Family no. 89: This unclear family is attested in CTNMC 68 (= National
Museum, Copenhagen, no. 8612 = FNALD 18 = Text no. 61): Bletissxa, a maid; Amman-tanahti, a slave; Ap, a daughter, a maid, a total of 3
persons (=) the share of Pui-Mnu.107 These three slaves are part of the
property which Pui-Mnu inherited from his father, L-turammanniAr, commander-of-fty, in addition to a house that he shared with
Hu-nahti, his brother. The text was sealed in Aur in 625* B.C.
Clearly, the inheritance was divided before the fathers death.108 The
enumeration of a daughter indicates that it is a family, and since she
is mentioned after Amman-tanahti, it is reasonable to suppose that he
was her father. The relation between these two slaves and Blet-issxa
is uncertain: she might be Amman-tanahtis wife, but in that case the
man would presumably be mentioned before the woman.
Parpola, 1979, p. 155; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 7980, no. 69; Radner, 1997, p. 164; PNA,
pp. 242a, 323b(8), 465b, 698a(1), 770b, 979b.
105
See Deller, 1991a, p. 351; Cf. Mattila, 2000, p. 111.
106
For previous studies of this text see ARU 70; Tallqvist, 1918, p. 232; Radner,
1997a, pp. 115121; PNA, pp. 449a, 671b(18).
107
For previous studies of this text see Ep. Ar. no. 274; Fales, 1986, pp. 264267,
no. 61; see also Radner, 1997, pp. 157, 170; PNA, pp. 102b(2), 112b(1), 297a(2), 483b,
658b(3), 1001b(2).
108
See Postgate, 1976, p. 116; Akerman, p. 232, and note 126.
77
Family no. 90: Sams[i-. . .], his maid, (and her) suckling son (ADD 221 =
SAA XIV 165 = Text no. 62).109 This maid and her baby were sold to
[ . . .]aiu in Nineveh in 622* B.C. The price and the name of the seller
are lost. At the end of line 2, after the words DUMU GA, the following
restoration is possible [PAB 2 ZI.]ME = [a total of 2 person]s.
Other restorations including [x DUMU.M] ME = [and (her) x
daughter]s, are impossible since line 6 mentions only a woman and
a child: M DUMU [u]-a-te = that woman (and) child.
Family no. 91: This single-parent family is attested in VAT 14450 (=
SAAB 5 17 = Text no. 63): (lines 59) Mudammiq-Ar gave back (to Sagb/
Skip-Ar) Tuqnnat/Tuqn-mti, maid (M-) of Sagb/Skip-Ar, (and)
Milki-natan, her son, (and) half a mina of silver, the share of Sagb/Skip-Ar.
The context of this text is evident: Sagb/Skip-Ar together with his
two collegues, Mudammiq-Ar and his son ar-ili, planned a trading
enterprise. Moreover, Sagb/Skip-Ar along with ar-ili even provided Mudammiq-Ar with merchandise for it. But for some unknown
reason Sagb/Skip-Ar decided to quit, so Mudammiq-Ar, who
wanted to maintain his good business relations with Sagb/Skip-Ar,
returned him his share: half a mina of silver and two slaves, a maid
and her son. The woman was denitely Sagb/Skip-Ars maid and
not his wife, since these people are listed as merchandise along with
the repaid silver (Aur, 622* B.C.).110
Family no. 92: This single-parent family is attested in VAT 20363
(= SAAB 5, pp. 136137 = Text no. 64): [A]bu-ria (and) [her] daught[er]
(= DUMU.M[-sa]) (side B, line 4). Abu-ria and her unnamed daughter are part of the share which ama-erba inherited from his father
Mudammiq-Ar. Two inheritance documents indicate that at least
22 slaves were divided among six sons of Mudammiq-Ar (all these
slaves are singles except for this small family).111 This text was sealed
in Aur in 616* B.C.
109
For previous studies of this text see ARU 503; Parpola, 1979, p. 140; Radner,
1997, p. 137; PNA, pp. 361b(21), 1167a(10).
110
For a similar opinion see Radner, PNA, p. 1066b(4), contra SAAB 5, p. 49. For
Mudammiq-Ars family see Akerman, pp. 222229; PNA, p. 760a(7).
111
For the inheritance documents of the sons of Mudammiq-Ar see Akerman,
pp. 222229, 232, 236; PNA, p. 760a(7). See also PNA, p. 19a.
78
chapter two
Family no. 93: This family is attested in DeZ 21046 (= SH 98/6949 I

895 = BATSH 6 91 = Text no. 65): Ahat, his maid (and) [his?] suckling
son (ina UGU-hi zi-zi).112 This is a single-parent family of two persons:
a maid (Ahat) and her unnamed suckling son. It is possible that the
baby is dened as his son, indicating that the maid was his mistress
(see families nos. 74, 80 and 88, above). They were sold by Akbaru son
of Bl-rba to ulmu-arri, a royal bodyguard, in Dr-Katlimmu for a
very low price of 20 shekels of silver (10 shekels per person). The date
is lost. For the slaves of ulmu-arri see family no. 64, above.
Family no. 94: This family is attested in DeZ 21051/13 (= SH 98/6949 I
932 = BATSH 6 97 = Text no. 66): Pa-la-x-[. . .], (and her) da[ught]er.113
The text is broken and fragmentary, but the restoration presented by
Radner is convincing. This maid (Pala . . .) and her unnamed daughter
were sold by Dihatari to ulmu-arri, a royal bodyguard, in DrKatlimmu, for half a mina of silver (15 shekels per person). The date
is lost. For the slaves of ulmu-arri see family no. 64, above.
Family no. 95: This unclear family is attested in A 2919 (= StAT 2 137
= Text no. 67): [. . .]-Marduk, his son, [. . .? . . .?], his daughter, [a total of x
persons]. The size and structure of this family are uncertain since this
text is broken. One possible restoration is presented in StAT 2 137:
a nuclear family of four persons: a couple (whose names are lost), a
son (Marduk) and an unnamed daughter. But other restorations may
be presented. This family clearly includes a father, a son and a daughter. But it is possible that only the name of the father is mentioned
([. . .]-Marduk). At the beginning of line 2 there is room for two or
three unnamed members of this family, and therefore it may include
ve or six persons. These slaves were bought by Nab-zru-iddina in
Aur probably in Assurbanipals later reign.114
Family no. 96: Mard, gardener, his wife (and his) daughter, a total of 3 persons,
slaves of Nab-umu-lir (ADD 235 = SAA XIV 49 = Text no. 68).115
112
For the pattern ina UGU-hi zi-zi see Radner, 2002, p. 89. For the personal
names in this text see PNA, pp. 877b(40), 1061b(5).
113
For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 993 ab, 1022a.
114
For Nab-zru-iddina see PNA, p. 910a(23).
115
For previous studies of this text see ARU 231; Parpola, 1979, p. 142; Oded,
1979, p. 96; AST, T204, no. 198; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 162163, no. 130. This text
79
This is a nuclear family of three persons: a couple and an unnamed

daughter. It is the only slave family whose head is dened as a gardener.
It was sold by Nab-umu-lir to Kakkullnu in Nineveh for one mina
of silver (20 shekels per person), probably in Assurbanipals reign or
later. For Kakkullnu see family no. 82, above.
Family no. 97: Nania-il[x] (and her) daughter, a total of 2 persons, Elamite
captives whom the king has given to the city of Aur (= Libbi-li) (VAT 9755
= Unpublished; for a transliteration of lines 1215, see Radner, 1997,
p. 226, note 1253 = Text no. 69).116 This is a single-parent family of
two persons: a maid (Nania-il[x]) and (her) unnamed daughter. They
were Elamite captives that the king (Assurbanipal?) donated to the city
of Aur. But they changed hands, and in this legal transaction they
were sold in Aur for one mina of silver (30 shekels per person) to
Mannu-k-Ar by ten persons: Skip-Ar, Silim-Ar, ep-Ar,
a baker, Urdu-Issr and six others. The date is lost, but it should be
dated to Assurbanipals reign or later.
Family no. 98: The size and structure of this family are unclear. It is
attested in VAT 15538 (= Unpublished; for a transliteration of lines
13, see Radner, 1997, p. 136, note 689 = Text no. 70), as follows:
Kudurr[nu], [. . .], Mammtu-dri [. . .] (and) her weaned daughter (= M.TURsa pirsu), M.x[. . .].117 This is a family of at least two persons: a maid
and her daughter. Kudurr[nu] may be the father of this family, but
this is not certain. A few signs are missing after the names of the man
and the woman, and the following restoration may be suggested: [his
slave] after the mans name; and [his wife] after the womans. The
scribe used a very rare term, M.TUR-sa, for the baby, and Radner
may be right in determining M.TUR as a scribal error for DUMU.
M.118 These slaves were sold in Aur for 50 shekels of silver (16.66
shekels per person) to Ar-mtu-[taqqin?] by Anu-ahu-u[ur] and
Ahhtu-k-[. . .]. The date is lost, but it might be dated to Assurbanipals
reign or later.
is not a usual purchase, see SAA XIV, p. 56, note. See also Radner, 1997, pp. 9192,
note 504d, 240241; PNA, pp. 596a(7), 704a(14), 891b(11).
116
For this text see also Radner, 1997, pp. 246247; PNA, pp. 176b, 230b231a,
689a(22), 924b, 1066a, 1110a(9); Tallqvst, 1918, p. 220a.
117
For this text see also Radner, 1997, pp. 244245; PNA, pp. 62a, 195, 632b,
676b.
118
Radner, 1997, p. 136, note 689.
80
chapter two
Family no. 99: iti-dannat (and) Ar-mtu-balli, her son, a total of 2 pers[on]s,
slaves of Adad-milki-re (VAT 8592 = SAAB 9 78 = Text no. 71).119 A
maid and her son were bought from the fuller Adad-milki-re son of
Ar-naxid by Erba-Ar in Aur probably after Assurbanipals reign,
for a high price of [o]ne and a half minas and four shekels of silver
(47 shekels per person).
Family no. 100: This nuclear family is attested in DeZ 20960 (= SH
00/6747 II 78 = BATSH 6 34 = Text no. 72), as follows: L-nashi,
his wife (and) his daughter, a total of 3 persons. This is a small nuclear
family of three persons: a couple and a daughter. It was sold by San
son of Il-umki from Calah to Bap in Dr-Katlimmu, probably after
Assurbanipals reign, for two minas of silver (40 shekels per person).120
Family no. 101: Halmusu, tailor (and) his wife (ADD 296 = SAA XIV
186 = Text no. 73).121 This couple without children was sold together
with other four slaves by Mr-[. . .] to Bbiliu in Nineveh probably in
the 7th century B.C. (the price is lost).
Family no. 102: The size and structure of this family are unclear. It
is attested in (ADD 305 = SAA XIV 247 = Text no. 74) as follows:
[. . .], his wife, his 2 sons, [his] daughter, [. . .], [a total of x per]sons, sla[ves of
Bl-re].122 This is a family of at least ve persons: a couple with two
sons and a daughter. At the beginning of line 3 about three signs are
missing,123 and a sixth member of this family was probably mentioned
at this place, but his or her identity is not clear (it might be the family
heads brother, sister, mother, etc.). The text was sealed in Nineveh probably in the 7th century B.C., but it is badly broken and therefore the
other details are lost, including the name of the buyer and the date.
119
For previous studies on this text see Pedersen, 1986, p. 103, N15(3); Radner,
1997, pp. 246247; PNA, pp. 28b(8), 200ab(12), 402a(21), 1021b(17), 10431044(78);
Jakob-Rost et al., 2000, p. 10, and no. 77.
120
For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 1071a, 1090a(2).
121
Kwasman, 1988, pp. 6566, no. 48; Radner, 1997, pp. 244245; PNA, pp. 35a(10),
225b(12), 245b(32), 363b(7), 445a, 740b(2).
122
p. 296a(6).
123
See Johns, ADD 305. In ARU 94 and in SAA XIV 247 the missing signs are
wrongly presented at the end of line 2.
81
attested in ADD 282+283+ADD 802 (= SAA XIV 213 = Text no.
75), as follows:124
4 [x x x x x] x x x [x x]
4 [PN (Father) ]
5 [x x x x] x DUMU-[ x x x]
5 [PN , his] son [. . .]
break
6 [x x x x x] x x [x x x x x]
6 [. . . . . . . . .]
7 [x x x x] DUMU-[ x x x x]
7 [PN , his] son [. . .]
8 [x x x x] DUMU- 3 x[x x x] 8 [PN], his son, (of ) 3 [spans (height)]
9 [x x x x]-sa!-a DUMU- [0]
9 [. . .]s, his son
10 [x x x PAB x ZI.ME]
10 [. . . in all x persons]
L-ME-e an-nu-te
belonging to these men
This broken and fragmentary text species at least six slaves. Since there
is no physical join between ADD 282 and ADD 283, more persons
may be attested in the missing line/lines between these two fragments;
it is unclear whether one or more families are mentioned in this text.
Three main restorations of this text are feasible:
1) Only one large family is listed, and all its members are recorded by
their personal names. It is a family of at least six persons: a father
(line 4) and his ve sons (lines 59, each mentioned in a separate
line). Two sons are clearly dened as his son (lines 89); one is
probably of three spans (line 8), and the end of the name of the
other is attested in line 9 ([. . .]s). At the beginning of line 10 a
few signs are missing, and the age of the last son may have been
attested here (he was probably a weaned or a suckling baby). Since
sons are mentioned in lines 5 and 7, it is reasonable that a son is
also mentioned in line 6. His wife is possibly mentioned in line 4.
2) Two families are mentioned; the rst, in lines 45, is at least of two
persons: a father and his son; the second, mentioned in lines 610
is of four persons: a father and three sons (one of three spans and
one weaned or suckling). A wife may be included in each family
(in lines 4 and 6).
3) Many families are attested, each including a father and his single
son; this suggestion is less reasonable than the preceding two since it
almost doubles the number of the slaves, and the price is low even
if we assume that only six slaves are mentioned (see below).
124
For previous studies of this text see ARU 76; AST, T215, no. 300; Kwasman,
1988, pp. 351352, no. 298299; Radner, 1997, pp. 242243; PNA, p. 1101b(2).
82
chapter two
Sx-it bought these slaves from Sx-imm and D, probably in the

7th century B.C., for a relatively low price: two minas of silver
(20 shekels per person, if six slaves were sold). The text was sealed in
Nineveh but the slaves probably originated in Harran, since the penalty
clauses refer to the temple of Sn in Harran.
attested in ADD 718 (= SAA XIV 326 = Text no. 76), as follows:125
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Adnu, [. . .]
Nabtu, [. . .]
Ammi-iababa, [. . .]
Abd, [. . .]
Lai, [. . .]
one ditto wean[ed] son [. . .],
a total of 4 sons; a grand total of [x persons], slaves of [PN].
This broken and fragmentary text enumerates at least ve slaves. The
weaned son, mentioned in line 6, and the total 4 sons indicate that
a family of at least ve persons is attested in this text: a father and his
four sons. Since ve names are listed in lines 15, each in a separate
line, it is possible that Adnu was the father of this family, and Nabtu,
Ammi-iababa, Abd and Lai, are the names of his four sons. The
signs missing at the end of lines 24 may state the relation of the sons
to their father, and may be restored as follows: his son x = [DUMU x] (see family no. 103, above). A wife may be mentioned at the end
of line 1, and the grand total might be six. But since the text is broken
other restorations may be proposed. For example, it is not at all clear
if only one name is mentioned in each line, or if the operative section
of this text really does begin in line 1. These slaves were bought in
Nineveh by a scribe whose name is lost, as are other details of this text
including the name of the seller and the date
Families nos. 105108: The size and structure of these families are unclear.
They are attested in ADD 789 (= SAA XIV 337 = Text no. 77):126
125
pp. 4a(15), 55a(3), 104a, 650b, 897b(8).
126
For previous studies of this text see ARU 91; Radner, 1997, pp. 244245.

1
2
3
4
5
67
83
(Family no. 105:) [. . .] (and) his [wi]fe;

(Family no. 106:) [. . .] (and) his [wi]fe;
(Family no. 107:) [. . .] (and) his daughter;
[. . . . . . . . .]
(Family no. 108:) [. . .]-ili (and) his [wi]fe;
[a total of of x persons, slav]es [of PN].
These slaves were bought in Nineveh. The text is broken and most
details are lost, including the names of the parties and the date. The
only distinct family is the last: a couple without children. It is reasonable
to suppose that in line 1 a couple is listed by a similar pattern PN
(and) his wi[fe]. But it is unclear whether another member of this
family is mentioned in this line before the wife, for example, his son
(= [PN, his son] (and) his wi[fe]). The problem in lines 23 is even
thornier, since it is not clear whether one or two families are attested
in these lines. Even if we assume that two families are mentioned, it
is impossible to state which members are included in each. Additional
slaves were mentioned in lines 45a, but the details are lost. As a
working hypothesis it is suggested that two families are attested in
lines 2 and 3 (a family in each line), but both families were dened
as unclear.
Family no. 109: [ . . .]-Marduk, his wife, his [x x x], his 2 daughters, [a total of
x per]sons, slaves [of] these [me]n (ADD 259 = SAA XIV 475 = Text no.
78).127 The size and structure of this family are unclear. It is a family
of at least ve persons: a couple with two daughters and at least one
but probably two or more uncertain members who are mentioned at
the beginning of line 6, probably sons or brothers of the family head.
The slaves were sold in Nineveh by three persons, Bl-iqbi, Zru-ibni
and Bl-abu-uur, to Urdu for [1]80 (minas) of copper (= about 30
shekels of silver per person).128
127
For previous studies of this text see ARU 86; Tallqvist, 1918, pp. 243a, 248a;
Parpola, 1979, p. 148; AST, T217, no. 328; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 453454, no. 399;
Radner, 1997, pp. 242243; PNA, pp. 22b(4), 280a(4), 314b(4), 656a(1), 712a(3),
867b(1).
128
The price was [1]80 (minas) of copper, not shekels of copper. The translation in
SAA XIV 475 is mistaken. For the supposition that one mina of copper corresponded
roughly in value to one shekel of silver see Fales, 1996, p. 20.
84
chapter two
Family no. 110: ama-erba (and) his wife, Busuku (ADD 265 = SAA XIV
196 = Text no. 79).129 This couple without children were sold in Nineveh
together with two single persons, [. . .]nulam and Bl-nr[i] (line 1), to
Isinniu for 50 minas of copper, by the mina of [. . .] (about 12.5 shekels
of silver per person).130 The date and the sellers names are lost.
Family no. 111: This unclear family is attested in K 20541 (= SAA XIV
414 = Text no. 80):
3 irx[x x x x (x)]
4 a total of 5 peo[ple of PN].
Two main restorations of line 3 may be suggested: 1. his 4 sons

[= 4 DUMU.ME-] (or his four daughters, or brothers, etc.); 2. 4
persons (= [4 ZI.ME]).131 Both possibilities indicate that a family is
recorded in this text.132 The slaves were sold in Nineveh. All the other
details are lost.
Family no. 112: This unclear family, sold in Dr-Katlimmu, is probably of at least three persons: a couple and at least one daughter. It is
attested in DeZ 21051/10 (= SH 98/6949 I 929 = BATSH 6 185 =
Text no. 81). Radner suggests the following restoration of this very
small fragment:
1 [PN], Bia, [his wife],
2 (and) [Na]nia-R[mat, his daughter],
3 [a total of 3 person]s [of . . .].133
This proposal is possible but other restorations of these three lines may
be suggested. One possibility is that this family is a nuclear one of four
persons, a couple with two daughters:
129
For previous studies of this text see ARU 75; Tallqvist, 1918, p. 210; Parpola,
1979, p. 150; AST, T217, no. 329; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 134135, no. 113; see also
Radner, 1997, pp. 242243; PNA, pp. 356b, 443b444a, 499a (8), 565b, 566a.
130
The price was 50 (minas) of copper, not shekels of copper. The translation in
the following studies is mistaken: Kwasman, 1988, pp. 134135; Radner, 1997, p. 242;
and Mattila, SAA XIV, p. 158: all of them read 50 (shekels) of copper. But it is clear
that the right translation is minas, and even this price is low. For the opinion that the
price was 50 minas of copper see also Fales, 1996, p. 2*.
131
For the pattern: PNx persons, a total of x persons see chapter III, below.
132
For the opinion that a family is enumerated in this text see also PNA, p. 408b.
133
For the name Bia see PNA, p. 253a.

1
1
2
2
3
3
85
[ mx x x x x] M.ba-ia[-a M-]
[PN], Bia, [his wife],
[M.x x M.dna]-na-ara-[mat DUMU.M.ME-]
[PN, Na]nia-R[mat, his daughters]
[PAB 4 ZI.ME ARAD].ME [a mx x x x x]
[a total of 4 persons, slave]s [of PN]
Family no. 113: This is a family of probably two persons: a maid (Issr. . .) and her daughter (A . . .). It is attested in DeZ 21059 (= SH 98/6747
II 205 = BATSH 6 200 = Text no. 82): Simk-il; the woman [. . .]; the
woman, Hanana; the woman, Issr-[. . .] (and her) daughter, A-[. . .]; a grand total
of 5 persons, slave[s of ] Epi.134 The text is broken and fragmentary but
Radners restoration is convincing. These ve persons (a man, three
women and a daughter, probably of Issr-. . .) were sold by Epix to Ahulir in Dr-Katlimmu for two minas of silver (24 shekels per person).
The rst three slaves probably were not relatives of Issr- . . . and (her)
daughter. The date is lost.
Family no. 114: [. . .]ba-ilu, his wife (and) his sons (A 341 = StAT 2 118 =
Text no. 83).135 This is a nuclear family of at least four persons: a
couple and at least two sons. The scribe does not state the number of
the sons. They were sold together with at least two other slaves, who
were probably not relatives of this family: . . . -ama and the woman
Issr-kulitti (line 4). These people were sold by Mannu-k-Arbail in
Aur. The other details are lost.
Family no. 115: This family is attested in A 795+ (= StAT 2 119 =
Text no. 84): (Beginning destroyed) 2 sons [a total of ] 4 persons, [slaves]
of Naba.136 It is a family of four persons: two sons, and probably
a couple. These four slaves were sold in Aur by Nabxa to Bibia
for two minas of silver, by the mina of Carchemish (half a mina per
person). The date is lost.
134
For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 83a, 1112b.
For this text see Pedersen, 1986, p. 118, N25(17). For the name Mannu-k-Arbail
see PNA, pp. 678688.
136
For this text see Pedersen, 1986, p. 118, N25(12). For the personal names in this
text see PNA, pp. 342a, 792b(92).
135
86
chapter two
Family no. 116: This unclear family is attested in an appeal to a governor

published by Donbaz in 2003 in NABU, 2002/90, pp. 8889 (A.3660
= Text no. 85):
12 Qallussu, the fowlherd, is dead.
34 Ratux, the commander-of-fty,
56 has sold (his) 4 persons for silver.137
This appeal indicates that corrupt Assyrian ofcials occasionally sell

free persons for money (see also lines 712 and especially lines 1718:
Why are the . . . -ofcials selling us for silver?). In the rst case (line
16) a corrupt commander-of-fty (Ratux) sold four persons who were
clearly related to Qallussu and were probably his family (his widow and
orphans). The provenance of the text is unknown, and it is undated.
Enslavement of widows by corrupt ofcials is attested in two other
Neo-Assyrian texts: KAV 197 and SAA I 21.138
B. Pledged Persons
81 = Text no. 86): (Family no. 117:) Qurdi-Adad, his wife (and) his 3 sons;
(Family no. 118:) Kandalnu (and) his wife, a grand total of 7 persons (and) 12
hectares are placed as a pledge at the disposal of Addat.139 Biba, deputy of a
village manager, owes two minas of silver to Addat, the governess. In
lieu of the silver, he pledges an estate of 12 hectares of land outside
the city of Aur and two families: one of ve people, a couple with
three sons, and the other, a couple without children. Both families are
nuclear, and only the fathers names are attested. Nineveh, 694 B.C.
VI 97 = Text no. 87): (Family no. 119:) Dri-Bl, his wife, his 3 sons (and)
his 2 daughters, together with his property (everything, down to the) chaff and twig;
137
For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 1036a, 1005.
For KAV 197 see Fales, 1997, pp. 3340.
139
For previous studies of this text see ARU 150; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 1718,
no. 7; Radner, 1997, pp. 376377; PNA, pp. 51a, 342b(3), 600b(3), 1020a(6); Teppo,
2005, pp. 5657.
138
87
(Family no. 120:) Hulli (and) his daughterare placed as a pledge.140 Arbiu
(The Arab) owes 17 minas of silver (by the mina of the merchant?)
to the lady Indib (an Elamite name?). It was a short term loan with
a period of grace. Arbiu promised to pay back the silver within less
than three months. If he does not pay (it shall increase) two shekels
per mina per month (40% per year). In addition to the mentioned
terms and as a security for this large sum he also pledges a vineyard
in Kapar-Bl-ahh and two families: the rst (= no. 119) of seven
persons, a couple with ve children: three sons and two daughters; and
the second (= no. 120), a single-parent family of two persons: a father
and his daughter. Both families are nuclear, and only the names of the
fathers are attested. The childrens age is not mentioned. The scribe
distinguished the families by a note that refers only to the rst, pointing
out that it is a pledge together with all its property: (everything, down
to the) chaff and twig (a-di qi-ni-ti- ha-am- hu-a-bu). This remark
may indicate that only the rst family possessed property, and that the
status of these two families was not the same. Nineveh, 693 B.C.
VI 91 = Text no. 88): (Family no. 121:) Ehij, his wife, his 3 sons (and)
his 2 daughters; (Family no. 122:) Pilaqq, his wife (and) his 2 sons; (Family
no. 123:) b-rhiti, his wife (and) his son; (Family no. 124:) Nabt, his wife,
his mother (and) his brother; (Family no. 125:) Dullaiaqanun, his wife, his mother,
his son (and) his brother; (Family no. 126:) r-i, his wife, his mother (and) his
brother, in all 27 persons, together with their elds, their houses, their gardens, their
cattle, their sheep (and) their families (qin-ni--nu) in the town of Dadi-ualla in
the province of Talmsa . . . they are placed as a pledge.141 Milkia, governor of
Talmsa,142 owes 20 minas of silver, by the mina of Carchemish, to a
palace concubine (sekret ekalli). In lieu of this large sum he pledges six
families, a total of 27 persons (4.5 persons per family) together with
their property. In this text it is clear that the property includes means
140
For previous studies of this text see ARU 124; Postgate, 1976, pp. 128129, no.
224; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 133134, no. 112; see also Radner, 1997, pp. 221, 254;
PNA, pp. 127b(2), 380a(6), 543b.
141
For previous studies of this text see ARU 124; Tallqvist, 1918, pp. 236b, 243a;
Postgate, 1976, pp. 128129, no. 224; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 133134, no. 112; see also
Radner, 1997, pp. 221, 254; PNA, pp. 127b(2), 380a(6), 543b, 750b(2).
142
For the identication of Talmsa see ParpolaPorter, 2001, p. 17, map 4.
88
chapter two
of production, but it is not clear if these people own the elds or are
just the cultivators. Since the governor of Talmsa is presented as the
owner of the land and of the people, the second possibility seems more
likely. But it is not clear if these people cultivate state lands that were
controlled by the governor, ex ofcio, or whether the lands were Milkias
private property. In the litigation clauses the scribe mentions Milkias
deputy, the village manager and mayor of his city, but on the other
hand his sons and grandsons. The description of the people is very
detailed, but the size of the elds and gardens as well as the amounts
of the other properties (houses, cattle and sheep) are not stated: they
were probably well known to both parties, and were sufcient to use
as a security for this loan. The size and structure of all six families are
evident: the rst three are nuclear, and consist of a couple with one
son (no. 123), two sons (no. 122), and three sons and two daughters
(no. 121). Families 124 and 126 are extended ones of four persons: a
couple with a mother and a brother of the head of the family; and
family 125 is also an extended one of ve persons: a couple with a son
and a mother and a brother of the head of the family. The structure of
these last families may indicate that these three couples were relatively
young, and that one brother became the family head after his fathers
death. Only the names of the heads of the families are attested, and
the childrens age is unclear. Nineveh, 681 B.C.
VI 245 = Text no. 89): (Family no. 127:) ba-rigimtu-Adad, his wife
(and) his 2 girls (M.TUR.ME-); (Family no. 128:) Nab-ar-ilni (and)
his wife; (along with) 2 oxen (and) 10 hectares of sown eld are placed as a pledge
at the disposal of Dannia.143 [. . .]-ba, deputy (governor) of Raappa,
owes 15 minas of silver, by the mina of Carchemish, to Dannia, a
rich Assyrian ofcial.144 In lieu of the silver he pledges an estate of
200 hectares of land in the town of Qubate along with ten hectares
of sown eld and two families of six persons: a family of four people,
a couple and two daughters, dened as M.TUR.ME- (see family
143
1988, pp. 103104, no. 90; Radner, 1997, pp. 376377, 386; Radner, 2001, p. 271,
note 40; PNA, p. 873b(1).
144
For the transactions of Dannia especially with high ofcials in Raappa in
Esarhaddons reign see PNA, pp. 376b(5). He bought at least ve slaves (SAA VI 239,
244, 246) and owned at least 580 sheep and two camels (SAA VI 241243).
89
no. 98); and a couple without children. Both families are nuclear, and
only the fathers names are attested. Nineveh, 672 B.C.
Family no. 129: D[d], the [. . .(and) his wife?] are pla[ced] as a pledge (ADD
65 = SAA VI 307 = Text no. 90).145 us and [. . .], deputy (probably
Bn, deputy of the chief physician) owe three minas of silver, by
the mina of Carchemish, to Rmanni-Adad, chief chariot driver of
Assurbanipal. In lieu of the silver they pledge D[d], the [. . .], and
probably one of his relatives. At the beginning of line 6 only D[d] is
mentioned (the end of this line is broken), but line 10 indicates that at
least two persons were pledged (UN.ME). The restoration his wife
proposed by Kwasman and Parpola in SAA VI 307 is possible,146 but
there are other possibilities (his son, his daughter etc.), and therefore
this family is dened in this study as unclear. Nineveh, 668 B.C. For
Rmanni-Adad see families nos. 5355, above.
Family no. 130 is attested in VAT 5606 (= SAAS V, no. 28 = AoF 24,
pp. 129132 = Text no. 91): (14) Lawsuit (dnu) that ama-nir brought
against Arbail-hammat, the wife of Sannu, (and) against Nab-erb, her son, a
total of two (persons) from the village of the Kings daughter . . . (1416) Arbailhammat, Nab-erba, Bl-lxi, Ahtu-lmur (and) ulmtu, a total of 5 persons,
will work for ama-nir.147
The size and structure of this family are unclear. It seems that it is
a single-parent family of at least two persons: a mother, Arbail-hammat, probably the widow of Sannu, and her son Nab-erba. Lines
1516 may indicate that three other females were included in this
family (Bl-lxi, Ahtu-lmur and ulmtu). They are probably Arbailhammats daughters or maids (the rst possibility is more reasonable,
see below). The scenario of this case might be as follows: after the
death of Sannu, Arbail-hammat, his widow, made an effort to manage
her late husbands farm. But she failed, and was compelled to borrow
money from a eunuch of the king (about one mina of silver). In lieu
145
For previous studies of this text see ARU 141; Tallqvist, 1918, p. 238a; Kwasman,
1988, pp. 286287, no. 242; Radner, 1997, pp. 376, 379; PNA, pp. 264a(8), 383b(7).
146
For a similar opinion see R. Mattila, PNA, p. 383a(7).
147
For previous studies of this text see Radner, 1997, pp. 365366; Radner, 1997a,
pp. 129133; Radner, 19971998, p. 384; Villard, 2000, pp. 184185; see also Tallqvist,
1918, p. 211a; PNA, pp. 60a(1), 127a(1), 320b(12), 1087b(2).
90
chapter two
of the silver she pledged herself and her son to the creditor. The fact
that she pledged herself and her son (in this case) and not the three
females mentioned above might indicate that they were her daughters
and not her maids; had they been her maids she would have pledged
them, not herself and her son. ama-nir (her relative?) redeemed
her and her son from the estate of the kings eunuch, and probably
tried to take advantage of this widows economic difculties. He also
offered her a loan of fty homers of barley, a plow, and an ox (which
might indicate that she owned a large farm); and since she failed to
return the loan he sued her for a large sum of silver (12.5 minas),
which clearly includes interest and penalties for late payment. He probably tried to take over her farm, but he failed and the judge accepted
Arbail-hammats proposal and pledged the family in lieu of the silver.
Since the value of the work of ve people was about 50 shekels per
year, and since they were pledged instead of the interest, the value of
the loan, in the view of the judge, was probably much lower than 12.5
minas (assuming interest of 25%33%). Aur, 638* B.C.
Family no. 131: Ah[t- . . ., (and) her son], in lieu of half [a mina of silver],
will ser[ve] Al[a . . .] (VAT 20786 = StAT 1 36 = Text no. 92).148
This is probably a single-parent family of two persons: a woman
and her son. The form ipalluh (pl. mas.) indicates that the woman is
mentioned with her son, and Radners restoration is convincing. This
unique text from the goldsmiths archive indicates that two persons
(A[. . .] and Ha[. . .]) owed half [a mina of silver] to Al[a . . .]. In lieu of
the silver, Ah[t-. . ., (and) her son], are transferred to the creditor. On
the one hand, this text is not formulated as a sale of persons, and the
scribe points out that the two persons will serve the creditor, like other
pledges. However, the text indicates that by transferring the people they
paid their debt. The solution of this contradiction might be as follows:
just as in restricted conveyance, this text attached conditions to the
conveyance which make it fall short of an irrevocable act of sale.149
The woman and her son are sold for half a mina (a low price) and
the loan is paid off , but the sellers have the option to pay back the
money in the future and to redeem the persons; meanwhile the woman
148
For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 59b(2), 481b(3), 642a(23),
688a(32), 1155a(31). For this text see also Pedersen, 1986, p. 135, N33(60).
149
Postgate, 1976, p. 28.
91
[and her son] are actually in the status of pledged persons, and therefore the scribe points out that they will serve the creditor (instead of
the interest). Aur, 614*B.C.
Family no. 132: This single-parent family of two persons, a woman and
her daughter, is attested in VAT 19500, a dnu text published by Radner
(1997, p. 369, = Text no. 93): as follows: You have placed a woman and
her daughter in your house as a pledge.150 The woman and her daughter
are placed by Nab-zru-iddina in his house as a pledge.151 This is why
Nab-apkal-ilni sues him, and as a result the latter pays him half a
mina of silver. The context of this case is unclear: it is possible that a
loan was repaid but the pledges were not returned, or that the persons
were pledged in lieu of a loan, but the creditor did not transfer the
money to the debtor. Aur, year of Sn-knu-di.152
Family no. 133: This family is attested in ADD 78 (= SAA XIV 181 =
Text no. 94): Amat-kurra, his wife; Abi-rah, his daughter; Sukki-Aia, his son;
[ . . .]ilu, his son; Bl-muran[ni, his . . ., a total of 5], are placed (as a pledge)
[in l]ieu of the silver.153
A debtor, whose name is lost, pledged his family (but not himself )
in lieu of a loan of 12(?) minas of silver in Nineveh probably in the
7th century B.C. The creditor is ama-abxa, a horse trainer, and the
interest is 12 shekels monthly per mina. The pledged family is of ve
persons: the debtors wife, daughter, two sons and another male, Blmuran[ni], whose relation with the rest of the family is unclear: he
might be the debtors son, brother or slave. It is possible that the relation of Bl-muran[ni] with the debtor is mentioned at the beginning
of line 8: (= [DUMU/PAB/ARAD- PAB 5] instead of [PAB 5
ZI.ME] suggested in SAA XIV 181).
150
For this text see also Radner, 2001, p. 270, notes 28 and 31. For the personal
names in this text see PNA, pp. 804a(1), 910a(23).
151
The scribe used here, uniquely in Neo-Asssyrian texts, the Babylonian expression
ana makanti aknu.
152
The text is dated to the year of the eponym ofcial Sn-knu-di. Whiting (apud
Millard, 1994, p. 73) identies this eponym ofcial with Sn-lik-pni, a post canonicaleponym of the year 615* (see also PNA, p. 1135b). Parpola (PNA, I/1, p. xviii, note
25), listed Sn-knu-di as one of the unassigned eponyms, and this study, as mentioned
earlier, follows Parpolas system of the post-canonical eponyms.
153
336; Radner, 1997, pp. 243, 380; PNA, pp. 12b(5), 99a, 294b(22), 1156a(49).
92
chapter two
Two facts in this text are amazing: 1. the value of the pledge (ve
persons, most of them children) is very low compared with the very
large sum of the loan (12[?] Minas of silver; the average price of ve
persons was ca. 2.5 minas of silver); 2. the interest in this text (12 shekels
monthly per mina = 20% monthly, 240% yearly), is the highest rate
of interest in the Neo-Assyrian period, and it is more than double the
highest penalty for late payment. This interest is even higher since the
work of the pledged people was usually a substitute for it and not an
addition. The text possibly indicates the debtors desperate attempt to
get the money even at a very high price; on the other hand, the creditor (ama-abxa, the horse trainer) might have been willing to risk his
money, hoping to make large prots from this loan. Since the text is
broken it is not clear whether a guarantor was involved in this case.
Family no. 134: [Tiurame], slave of Tarhu-[. . .], his [2 . . .]s, 1 wife, a total of
4 person[s. They are pla]ced [as a pledge] in lieu of 6 minas of silver (ADD
79 = SAA XIV 209 = Text no. 95).154
This is a family of four persons: a couple and two other relatives,
probably sons or brothers of the family head. They were pledged to
Nahir in Nineveh, probably in the 7th century B.C., in lieu of six
minas of silver; the other details of this broken text are unclear, and
the restoration of lines 57 presented in SAA XIV 209 is problematic.
It is not clear who the debtor was: line 1 indicates that it was Tarhu[. . .], since the head of the pledged family is presented as his slave; but
according to the restoration suggested in SAA XIV 209, line 5 indicates
that Tiurame is the debtor (Tiurame shall [give 6 min]as of silver).
Yet if Tiurame is the debtor, what role is played by of Tarhu-[. . .] in
this case? And why did he agree that Tiurame would pledge his slaves?
If Tiurame and his family were the slaves of Tarhu-[. . .] the situation
seems even more problematic, since it is not clear why Tarhu-[. . .]
permitted Tiuarme, his slave, to take a loan of six minas, a relatively
large sum, and to pledge himself and his family in lieu of this silver. It
seems that a different transliteration and translation of lines 58 should
be suggested, presenting a different scenario of this case:
154
1997, pp. 380, 383; PNA, pp. 893a(14), 922b(3).

5
6
7
8
93
[ina ku-um 6 M]A.NA KUG.UD mti-ur-a-me

[a-di UN.ME-] MU.AN.NA- a-na mna-hi-ri-[i]
[i-pal-lu-hu um-m]a! KUG.UD la id-din mti-u[r!-a-me]
[a-di UN.ME- zar-p]u laq-qi- ru!-b[-e la-]
Translation: (57a) [In lieu of 6 m]inas of silver, Tiurame [and his people will
serve] Nahir for a year. (7b8) [I]f he does not pay back the silver, Tiu[rame and
his people are purcha]sed and acquired. [There is no] inte[rest].
Tarhu-[ . . .] owes six minas of silver to Nahir. In lieu of the silver
he pledges his four slaves, Tiurame and his family. They will stay with
Nahir for one year and serve him (instead of the interest). On the day
Tiurame completes his year, Tarhu-[ . . .] will pay back six minas of
silver and redeem his slaves. If he does not pay, Tiurame and his family
will be considered Nahirs property. The term MU.AN.NA- is also
attested in other Neo-Assyrian loans with pledges with a same meaning:
his year(s) of service; see, for example, SAA XIV 108.
Family no. 135: This family is attested in ADD 85 (= SAA XIV 216 =
Radner, 1999a, p. 105 = Text no. 96): [Seal of ] Mannu-k-Inrta.
[x mina(s) of sil]ver, his debt, [alam-a]rri-iqbi pa[id ba]ck to the merchant
(tamkru), (and) reedemed Mannu-k-Inrta, Arbail-arrat, his wife (and) his
daughter, a total of three persons, from the merchant. In lieu of interest in silver
they will work for alam-arri-iqbi.155
alam-arri-iqbi pays the debt of Mannu-k-Inrta (his relative?) to
an unnamed merchant, and thus redeems Mannu-k-Inrta, his wife
and his daughter, from the hands of the merchant, and prevents the
enslavement of this nuclear family. But the socio-economic status of
the family did not change, since their deliverer was not so generous: he
indeed prevented their enslavement, but in fact he became their new
owner and creditor. In lieu of the interest this family would now serve
alam-arri-iqbi until the silver was paid back. As mentioned above,
the merchant in this text is unnamed (see also text no. 91, above), and
Radner has pointed out that it is highly unusual that the name of
the creditor is not mentioned at all.156 But actually this text is not an
agreement between alam-arri-iqbi and the anonymous merchant,
155
1997, p. 199; Radner, 1999a, pp. 105106. PNA, pp. 127, 691b(3), 887b(52),
1165b(25)1166a.
156
Radner, 1999a, pp. 105106.
94
chapter two
but between Mannu-k-Inrta and alam-arri-iqbi, and therefore the

seal of Mannu-k-Inrta is mentioned at the beginning of this text.
The creditor now is not the merchant but alam-arri-iqbi. Nineveh,
date is lost (probably in the 7th century B.C.)
C. Land and People

C.1. Land and PeopleLegal Transactions
Family no. 136: This family is attested in ADD 473/474 (= SAA VI
100/101 = Text no. 97): A tower (and) an estate of 10 hec[tares of land]
in the midst of a meadow in the town of [. . .]; (Family no. 136:) Abdi-Kubbi,
[his] wife, (and his) [2 sons/brothers], a total of 4 persons of H[arurnu] and
[Sallnu].157 This is a family of four persons: a couple and two other
relatives who might be two sons or two brothers of Abdi-Kubbi (probably a Canaanite name). In SAA VI 100: 10 (= SAA VI 101: 7) the
family is dened by the pattern: PN adi/u UN.[ME-]. Harurnu
and Sallnu sell this family along with a tower and an estate of ten
hectares of land to Aplia, a third man of the crown prince UrduMullissu (Sennacheribs son and one of his assassins). The price is lost.
Nineveh, 698 B.C.
37 = Text no. 98), as follows: Two vineyards, an estate of three hectares of
land in the town of iddi-hiriti; Qausu, Ar-blu-taqqin, gardener, Ah-imm,
palace farmer, 3 w[omen], 1 son, a grand total of 7 persons.158 The relation
between these seven persons is unclear. At least one family is attested
in this text, since a son is mentioned in line 9. But it is not clear who
was his father. The different professions of Ar-blu-taqqin and Ahimm probably indicate that they were not members of the same family.
157
For previous studies of this text see ARU 9696a; Postgate, 1974a, p. 67; Parpola,
1979, pp. 187188; AST, T197, no. 147; Parpola, 1983, p. 455, no. 22; Kwasman, 1988,
pp. xl, 3842, no. 2728; Radner, 1997, pp. 324, 353; PNA pp. 6a, 116a(11), 463a(1),
1070b. Kwasman suggested that this text originate in Arrapha (1988, pp. xl, 40).
158
For previous studies of this text see 3R 48/4; Op. pp. 152153; KB 4, pp.
114117; ARU 186; Parpola, 1979, pp. 175176; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 411412, no.
358; Radner, 1997, pp. 224, 324; PNA, pp. 65b(3), 173b(8), 511b(1), 1011a.
95
The text possibly listed three couples, and one of them was the anonymous sons parents. But there are other possibilities, for example, that
Qausu and Ar-blu-taqqin are two single persons, and Ah-imm is
the head of a family of ve persons, a son and three women, who might
be his wife and two daughters. In this study this family was dened
as unclear, since none of these possibilities takes precedence. Il-amar,
chief of the granaries of Maganuba (city near Dur-arrukn), sold these
seven persons along with two vineyards and an estate of three hectares
of land in the town of iddi-hiriti (near Maganuba). This property was
sold to umma-ilni, for 25 minas of silver, in Nineveh in 694 B.C.
Most of the money was clearly for the two vineyards, and the large sum
paid indicates their size and quality. umma-ilni was a rich chariot
driver in Nineveh in the days of Sargon II and Sennacherib. For his
transactions see families nos. 58, above.
Family no. 138: This family of ve persons is attested in ADD 432 (=
SAA VI 149 = Text no. 99), by the pattern PNa total of x persons:
[ . . .]-erba(?), a total of 5 persons.159 Most details of this broken sale of
Land and People are lost. All that is clear is that the land is mentioned
in the detailed description of the property before the people, and that
in lines 57 at least eight persons are listed: (1) [. . .]l, a plowman, is
mentioned in line 5 (probably a single person); (2) family no. 138 is
mentioned in line 7; (3) another family is probably attested in line 6, also
by the pattern PNa total of x persons. But only the signs ZI.ME
are preserved at the end of this line, and since the number of the persons of this family is lost nothing is actually known about it; therefore
it was not counted as a family in this study. Nineveh, 689 B.C.
155 = Text no. 100): Bbu-[. . . . . . . . .], [his] 3 daughters [. . . . . .].160 Most
details of this broken sale of Land and People are lost. What is clear
is that the land is mentioned in the detailed description of the property
before the people, and that in lines 78 a family of at least four persons
is attested: a father (Bbu- . . .) and three daughters, and probably other
members of this family whose record is lost. Nineveh, 687 B.C.
159
160
For previous studies of this text see ARU 432; Parpola, 1979, p. 177.
For a previous study of this text see ARU 451. See also PNA, p. 249b(3).
96
chapter two
169 = Text no. 101): Tarhundap, the . . ., his [. . . . . .], [his] son/daughter
[. . . . . . . . .], [his] wife.161
The size and structure of this family are unclear. Two main suggestions may be presented, but neither is preferable: (1) the text mentions
only one family of at least four persons: a couple, a son or a daughter,
listed at the end of line 13, and probably other members of this family, stated in lines 1314; (2) two families are attested in this text: one
in lines 1213 and the other in line 14. Gad-il sells these people along
with a vacant lot, a fowl, and an estate of 30 hectares of land near the
town of Adian, on the mainland of Assyria. Nineveh, 686 B.C.
Families nos. 141143: These three unclear families are attested in ADD
453 (= SAA VI 163 = Text no. 102). The text is broken, and a new
restoration of lines 510 is suggested below:
5
[mx x x] mmil-kisu!-[ri]
6
[DUMU- M. x x]-[a!] M- [0]
(Family no. 141) [. . .], Milki-sr, [his son?] (and) [ . . .], his wife;
7
[mx x x mba]l-a-a-a
8
[DUMU- M.UR]U!.NINA!.KI!.i!-[t]
9
[M- mx] x mdIMS[U]
10
[DUMU- M.x x]- NIGN!-hur M[!-]
(79a) (Family no. 142) [. . .], Bali-Aia, [his son?] (and) Ninuxtu, [his wife];
(9b10) (Family no. 143) [. . .], Adad-er[ba, his son?] (and) [. . .]a-lishur, [his]
wi[ fe].162
Several families are evidently enumerated in lines 510, since a wife is

attested at least at the end of line 6 and probably also at the end of
line10. According to the proposed restoration, (1) each family includes
three persons, a couple and a son or a brother of the family head; (2)
all nine persons are named; (3) the names of all the family heads are
lost; (4) Milki-sr, Bali-Aia, and Adad-er[ba] are sons or brothers of
the family heads; (5) the names of the wives are at least partly preserved
([. . .]a, Ninuxtu, and [. . .]a-lishur). Since this restoration is tentative,
these three families are dened in this study as unclear. Ahu-dr sells
161
For previous studies of this text see ARU 97; Tallqvist, 1918, p. 230a , Parpola,
1979, p. 180; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 440441, no. 386; Radner, 1997, pp. 255256,
314; PNA p. 418a.
162
1997, pp. 224, 324; PNA, pp. 25b(2), 73a(9), 260b(4), 753a, 965a(1).
97
these persons along with an estate, a house and a threshing oor in

ibaniba (on the mainland of Assyria). The property was sold to an
unknown buyer in Nineveh in 686 B.C. The other details are lost.
Text no. 103): An estate of 20 hectares of land, an irrigated eld, a vegetable
garden belonging to Zar son (= bur) of Nab-deiq, his wife, his daughter . . ..163
The size and structure of this family are unclear. It consists of at least
three persons, a couple and a daughter, but since the rest of the text
is broken off it may have additional members. The formulation of this
text is unique: (1) the word son is written in an Aramaic form: bur
(= br) and not in one of the usual Akkadian forms (A or DUMU); (2)
moreover, Zar is the only person listed as an object sold in a sale of
Land and People whose fathers name is attested; (3) if we follow the
restoration suggested in SAA VI 173, the father of the family is Zar
son of Nab-dexiq, and the vegetable garden is presented as belonging
to him (a Zar), as in a few texts of the Harran Census, where small
parcels of land or an ox are sometimes dened as belonging to the
cultivators (= a ramaniu/a ramaniunu). In this case we may suppose
that the estate (of 20 hectares) belongs to the seller (the scribe, Nabir-napti son of Ibnia), while the vegetable garden, located in the
same farm, belongs to Zar son of Nab-dexiq, probably the cultivator.
Another possibility is that the word a before the personal name Zar
is a scribal error. The people and the land were sold to a buyer, whose
name is lost, in Nineveh in 685 B.C.
VI 90 = Text no. 104): (Family no. 145:) Rmt-ilni, his mother (and) his
3 brothers, a total of 5 persons; (Family no. 146:) ama-uballi (and) his son;
(Family no. 147:) Ss, his 2 sons (and) his wife; (No family:) Nabxa, his 3
brothers (and) his sister, a total of 5 persons; (Family no. 148:) Zabnu, gardener
(and) his wife; An orchard of fruit; a grand total of 17 persons (and) an orchard
in Nabur, slaves of Martu and Mard.164 The text lists 18 persons, so
163
For previous studies of this text see ARU 32; Parpola, 1979, p. 177; see also
PNA, pp. 500b(3), 820b(4), 831b(5).
164
For previous studies of this text see KB 4, p. 11; ARU 61; Tallqvist, 1918, pp.
213b, 246a; Oded, 1979, pp. 94, 96; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 1820, no. 14; Radner, 1997,
pp. 221, 224; PNA, pp. 67b(1)68a, 703b(5), 742b(1), 789b(31), 1046a(2), 1093b(3).
98
chapter two
the grand total 17 clearly contradicts the number of persons in the

detailed description. It is probably a scribal mistake. These 18 persons
are divided into four families and one no family of ve persons:
four brothers and a sister (for the term no family see Introduction).
All four families are nuclear: a mother with four sons (no. 145; one
of the sons is presented as the family head); a father with his son (no.
146); a couple with two sons (no. 147), and a couple without children
(no. 148, Zabnu a gardener and his wife). These 18 people and an
orchard were sold by Martu and Mard, to Ahi-all, governess of
(the central city of ) Nineveh, in 683 B.C. (the price is lost).165 Martu
is designated as a village manager of the queen, but on the other
hand as an ARAD of the governor of Barhalza, like Mard.166 It is
reasonable to suppose that Martu was a village manager of the queen
in the area of Barhalza and therefore he was also under the jurisdiction
of the local governor. The 18 people were also dened as L.ARAD.
ME, a very rare term in sales of Land and People. The two sellers,
Martu and Mard, although dened as the governors ARAD.ME,
were probably not his slaves but his subordinates. The status of the
sold persons is less clear: they might be slaves but it is also possible
that they are the cultivators of the orchard. In this text the picture is
especially vague and problematic since the price and size of the orchard
are lost (for the status of the people enumerated in texts of Land and
People see chapter III).
Families nos. 149150: These two families are attested in ADD 422/423
(= SAA VI 50/51 = Text no. 105): (Family no. 149:) Hanu, his 4 sons
(and) his wife; (Family no. 150:) Danq, her son (and) [her] daugh[ter, a tot]al
of 9 persons, slaves o[ f Bar-ah]t in Tixi.167 Both are nuclear families,
the rst of six persons, a couple and four sons, the second a singleparent family of three persons, a woman and her son and daughter.
The people are designated as slaves, but their status is unclear, and it
is even unclear if the status of both families is the same (see below).
This text documents the purchase of a very large property, consisting
of 50 hectares of land, 10,000 vines, a built house and nine persons.
165
For Ahi-all see family no. 23, and note 39, above.
For the location of Barhalza see ParpolaPorter, 2001, p. 7 and map 4.
167
AST, T204, no. 205; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 423425, no. 370371; Radner, 1997, pp.
252, 324; PNA, pp. 269a, 379a, 464a(2).
166
99
The price is extremely low: only six minas of silver (by the mi[na of
the king?]). The average price of nine slaves is about four and a half
minas of silver. It is unreasonable that a farm of 50 hectares of land,
10,000 vines and a built house would cost only about one and a half
mina. If we assume that the people were not slaves the price appears
far more reasonable. This property was sold by Bar-aht in Nineveh
probably in the reign of Sargon II or Sennacherib. The buyer is ummailni, a well known chariot driver who bought at least 50 slaves in the
course of about 30 years (709680 B.C.; see families nos. 58, above).
This estate is located in the town Tixi probably near Maganuba, a town
in central Assyria, near Dur-arrukn.
112 = Text no. 106): [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .] his son [. . .], [. . ., his] suckling
[son / daughter], a total of 6 per[sons, slaves? of] Bi-D[di].168
The size and structure of this family are unclear. It consists of at
least two children, a son and a suckling son or daughter. The total is
six persons but it is not clear if all of them belong to this family. These
people along with an estate of at least x thousand and 600 vines, elds
and a well were sold by Bi-Ddi in Nineveh probably at the end of
Sennacheribs reign. The buyer is S-mad, a village manager of
the crown prince who in the last three years of Sennacheribs reign
(683680) bought at least 17 slaves in three different legal transactions
(SAA VI 109111: see family no. 26, above).
Families nos. 152153: These two unclear families are attested in ADD 462
(= SAA VI 269 = Text no. 107): (Family no. 152:) [PN, . . . . . . . . . . . .],
[his?] 4 gi[rls . . . . . .]; (Family no. 153:) ama-issx[a . . . . . . . . .], [ his?] 2
girl[s . . . . . . . . .].169 Each unclear family includes at least a father and
two or four unnamed daughters designated by the relatively rare term
M.TUR.ME.170 These people, together with three gardens, were sold
by Haldi- . . . to a buyer, whose name is lost, for 10 [minas of silver] in
Nineveh in 679 B.C.
168
For previous studies of this text see ARU 381, see also PNA, pp. 343b(2), 1090a(4),
1102a-b(1), 1103b(3).
169
p. 442b(2).
170
For the restoration 4 M.TU[R] in line 2 see Radner, 1997, p. 153, note
780.
100
chapter two
VI 253 = Text no. 108): (1) [. . . . . . . . . . . .]; (2) umma-Ad[ad, . . . . . . . . .];
(3) Gabbu-mur, farmer, [. . . . . .]; (4a) (Family no. 154:) Nab-ndin-ahh (and)
1 son (of ) 4 span[s] (height); (4b5a) (Family no. 155:) [. . .], 1 wife (and) 1
son (of ) 4 span[s] (height); (5b6a) an estate of 60 hectares of land, 31 persons and a vineyard.171 Each of these unclear families includes at least a
father and a son of three or four spans height. The rst is probably a
single-parent family of two persons, a father and a son; the second is
probably of three persons, a couple and a son. This restoration of the
text is based on the supposition that only the personal names of the
heads of these families are stated. But there are also other possible ways
to understand these lines so these families are dened as unclear. One
of the other possibilities is that Nab-ndin-ahh is Gabbu-murs son
of four spans.172 Since the beginning of this text is broken off, most of
the 31 persons sold in this legal transaction are lost. Both ummaAdad and Gabbu-mur are possibly also heads of families, but all the
details about them are lost. These people, along with a large estate of
60 hectares of land, and a vineyard (whose size is not stated), were
sold by Paru to Issr-dr, scribe of the queen mother, for the large
sum of 58.5 minas of silver (1.5 minas less than 1 talent), in Nineveh
probably in Esarhaddons reign.
251 = Text no. 109): Nergal-ubal[li x x x x] x, his wife.173 The size and
structure of this family are unclear. It has at least two people, Nergaluballi and his wife, but the restoration of the ve signs between the
name Nergal-uballi and the signs his wife is unclear. A few proposals are possible. They could be (1) his wifes personal name; (2) other
member(s) of this family, for example, his son (and) his daughter, etc.;
(3) the family heads profession. These people, along with a garden,
a house and land, were bought by the princess additu, who is called
171
For previous studies of this text see ARU 106; Parpola, 1979, pp. 173174; AST,
T204, no. 206; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 136137, no. 114; Radner, 1997, pp. 135136,
224; PNA, pp. 413b(19), 570b(15), 849b(8), 990a(2).
172
For this possibility see PNA, p. 849b(8). But this proposal is problematic since the
son of three spans in line 5 is unnamed, and it is not reasonable that in line 4 the scribe
would mention the name of a young child while in the next line he would not.
173
For previous studies of this text see ARU 102; AST, T216, no. 312; Kwasman,
1988, pp. 461462, no. 405; see also Radner, 1997, pp. 195, 252, 309; PNA, pp.
958a(7), 1115b.
101
in lines 56 daughter of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and sister

of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria. Her mother was probably Naqixa/
Zakutu.174 The property was sold by a few sellers whose names are
lost, in Nineveh in Esarhaddons reign, for eight minas of silver, by
the mina of Carchemish.
Family no. 157: This unclear family is attested in ADD 452 (= SAA
XIV 6 = Text no. 110), as follows: [x x x x] x, [his] wife.175 The size
and structure of this family are unclear. It is a family of at least two
people, a man, whose name is lost, and his wife, but the restoration
of the signs at the beginning of line 1 is unclear, and a few proposals are possible: the personal name of the wife or of her husband, or
even other member(s) of this family. The gardener mentioned in line
2 has probably no relation to this family. These people together with
land were sold by Naxid-Ar and [Qu]rdi-Issr-lmur to Milki-nr
in Nineveh at the end of Esarhaddons reign or at the beginning of
Assurbanipals reign. The other details are lost. Milki-nr was a eunuch
of the queen who bought people and Land and People at the beginning of Assurbanipals reign (see family no. 50, above).
Family no. 158: This unclear family is attested in ADD 727 (= SAA
XIV 3 = Text no. 111): [PN, . . . . . . . . . . . .]a, a total of two sons, [ . . .] his
[dau]ghter, [. . . .] a grand total of 10 persons.176 The size and structure of
this family are unclear. It is probably a family of at least four people,
a father with two sons and a daughter. The scribe probably noted the
personal names of all persons, but no name is preserved. At the beginning of line 4 an additional member of this family is possibly mentioned
(the wife?) or a total of persons of this family. These people, together
with others (a grand total of ten persons) and a house and land, were
sold to Milki-nr in Nineveh at the end of Esarhaddons reign or at
174
For Naqixa/Zakutu see Melville, 1999.

176; Radner, 1997, pp. 224, 245; PNA, pp. 752a(1a), 915b(5). Milki-nr is active in
the province of Lahiru (see SAA XIV 12), and in Kwasmans opinion SAA XIV 6
and SAA XIV 3 are also related to this area (see Kwasman, 1988, pp. xlv, 212213).
For the location of Lahru see Parpola-Porter, 2001, p. 12.
176
For previous studies of this text see ARU 92; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 212, no. 175;
Radner, 1997, pp. 243, 252, 326, 349; PNA, p. 752a(1a). For the provenance of this
legal transaction see previous note.
175
102
chapter two
the beginning of Assurbanipals reign. The other details are lost (for
Milki-nr, a eunuch of the queen, see family no. 50, above).
Family no. 159: This family is attested in ADD 420/421 (= SAA VI
315/316 = Text no. 112): Qarh, farmer, n-i[l], (his) weaned son, Ab,
hi[s] brother (and) Pap, their mother, a total of 5 per[sons].177 This is an
extended family of at least four persons: a father with his son, mother,
and brother. The total (ve persons) contradicts the detailed description since only four persons are mentioned. It might be the scribes
error: he wrote ve instead of four, or mistakenly omitted the farmers
wife. On the other hand, n-il may be the name of the father of this
family, and not of the weaned son. According to this proposal Qarh,
the farmer, is a single person and the weaned son is unnamed. But since
the personal names of all the other persons are attested it is reasonable
to believe that the weaned sons name would also be mentioned. These
people, together with an estate of 60.2 hectares of land, a barnyard
and a threshing oor in Til-Nahiri, were sold in Nineveh in 666 B.C.
by Nuhu-salahanni, a horse-trainer of the open chariotry, to RmanniAdad, chief chariot driver of Assurbanipal (for his transactions see
families nos. 5355, above).
314 = Text no. 113): [B]axal-sr, g[ardener/farmer (. . .)], his [wife], his
son (and) his daughter; [PN, his . . .], a grand total of 7 persons.178 This is a
family of at least four persons: a man with his son, his daughter, and
probably his wife. The grand total is seven but only ve persons are
attested: the four mentioned ones and the man, whose name is stated
after the daughter. The two missing persons might be (1) a relative of
the man mentioned in line 10 (his wife?), and (2) an additional member
of the rst family (Baxal-srs brother?), possibly stated at the end of
line 9, after the title (if it is ENGAR and not NU.GI.SAR). But other
suggestions are possible. These people, together with two vineyards, two
177
For previous studies of this text see KB 4, pp. 134137; ARU 100100a; Parpola,
1979, p. 173; Oded, 1979, pp. 94, 96; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 293295, no. 248249;
Radner, 1997, pp. 49, 5657, 9899, 135136, 252; PNA, pp. 15b(1), 397a(5), 972b,
987b, 1007b(2), 1038a(4)1041.
178
1988, pp. 315316, no. 265; Radner, 1997, pp. 43, 50, 83, 224, 252; PNA, pp. 1b(2),
271a(4), 1038a(4)1041.
103
houses and four stone walls in the town Ispallur in the area of Izalla,
were sold in Nineveh in 666 B.C. by Barku and Ab-il to RmanniAdad, chief chariot driver of Assurbanipal (for the latters transactions
see families nos. 5355, above).
Families nos. 161162: These two unclear families are attested in ADD
429 (= SAA VI 334 = Text no. 114): (27b29a) (Family no. 161:) Nabahu-uur, farmer; Ahi-pad, [PN, PN,] Silim-Ddi (=) his 4 sons (and) [his wife/
daughter] a total of 6 persons; (29b30a) (Family no. 162:) Abdnu, farmer (and)
[PN], his [son/wife], a total of 2 persons; (30b) a grand total of 8 persons.179
This text clearly indicates at least two families, one of six and the
other of two persons. In SAA VI 334 a third family of two persons
is presented in lines 27a28a Nab-ahu-uur, farmer, Ahi-pad, [his
son, a total of two persons]. If the grand total (eight persons) is
not wrong, and refer to all people mentioned in this text (and there is
no reason to suppose that it refers only to the last two families), the
restoration presented in SAA VI is not possible, and a new one may
be suggested, as follows: Nab-ahu-uur is the head of a family of
six persons: himself, four sons and an additional member (probably a
wife or a daughter). According to this new proposal the names of all
four sons are stated: two are preserved, those of the rst and the last
(Ahi-pad and Silim-Ddi) and two others are lost (probably two short
names that were given at the beginning of line 28). The second family
is of two persons: Abdnu, the farmer; and probably his son or wife
(whose personal name is lost).
These eight people along with estates of at least 28 hectares of
land, x barnyards and a vineyard (of which the size is not stated) in
the Province of the Chief Cupbearer (rab q )180 were sold by Knuabxa and his father H[. . .] to Rmanni-Adad, chief chariot driver of
Assurbanipal, in Nineveh probably in the rst decade of Assurbanipals
reign. The price is lost. (For the transactions of Rmanni-Adad see
families nos. 5355, above.)
179
For previous studies of this text see CIS II/1 31; ABC no. 18; EA, no. 30; ARU
105; Lieb, no. 30; Ep.Ar. no. 30; Parpola, 1979, p. 176; Oded, 1979, pp. 9394, 96;
AST, T201, no. 178; Fales, 1986, pp. 170175, no. 16; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 324327,
no. 274276; Radner, 1997, pp. 57, 96, 177, 182, 224, 309, 324; PNA, pp. 8b(2),
66b(1), 612a(4), 802a(12), 1110b(1), 1038a(4)1041.
180
For the location of the Mt rab q (mt rbqn, in the Aramaic caption) see
Parpola-Porter, 2001, p. 13, and map 27.
104
chapter two
Family no. 163: [. . . . . .], his wife (and) his daughter (ADD 424 = SAA
VI 341 = Text no. 115).181 Rmanni-Adad, chief chariot driver of
Assurbanipal, buys from Arbailiu in Nineveh, land, houses, and 30
persons for 30 minas of silver (for the transactions of Rmanni-Adad
see families nos. 5355, above). Family no. 163 includes at least three
people: the father, whose name is lost, and his unnamed wife and daughter; however, it is not clear whether a fourth member of this family,
possibly a son, is attested at the end of line 8, after the fathers name.
The total 5 persons (in line 10) clearly includes the members of this
family, but also Naxdi (or Naxdi-. . .) and possibly another single person,
both listed in line 9; yet they are not members of this family, since
named males are not recorded after unnamed females. The possibility
that the family consists of only three people and two single individuals
are listed in line 9, is more reasonable, but since it is just one possibility, this family is dened as unclear. Note that totals are also attested
in lines 1 and 8 (2 and 12), but since the text is fragmentarily
preserved it is not clear if families are listed in these lines.
Families nos. 164165: These two families are attested in ADD 471
(= SAA VI 326 = Text no. 116): (Family no. 164:) ulmu-Bl, far[mer];
Ia-ahh, his adolescent son (and) Uar[i . . .], his wife, a total of 3 (persons); (Family
no. 165:) Kamasu, farmer; Hurubisa[. . .], his adolescent son (and) L-balat, his
wife, a total of 3 persons; a grand total of 6 persons.182 Rmanni-Adad, chief
chariot driver of Assurbanipal, buys land and people near Nrab in the
province of Arpad from three persons (Mannu-k-Nnua, Sn-umu-. . .
and Ikkru) for 17.5 minas of silver. Rmanni-Adad buys an entire village (Musina-aplu-iddina) including its elds, a vineyard of 1500 vines
and a vegetable garden but with only six persons: two nuclear families
of three persons each, a couple and an adolescent son.
Family no. 166: The persons: uri-Aia, his two wives (and) his son (Gezer
1 = Text no. 117).183 Marduk-erba and Abu-erba sell land and people,
181
For previous editions and collations see ARU 90; Parpola, 1979, pp. 174175;
Kwasman, 1988, pp. 329330, no. 279; see also Radner, 1997, pp. 201, 252, 324.
182
For previous editions and collations see ARU 167; Postgate, 1974a, p. 178;
Parpola, 1979, p. 186; AST, T201, no. 177; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 307309, no. 260; see
also Radner, 1997, pp. 50, 149, 224, 309, 324; PNA, pp 481b, 509b(5),600a, 666b(1),
696b(20), 1148a(2); Tallqvist, 1918, p. 224.
183
For previous editions and notes of Gezer 1 see Pinches, 1904, pp. 229236;
105
the entire L-ahh estate including a polygenic family of four persons

(Gezer, 651 B.C.). At the beginning of line 5, Becking transliterated
*L KU.ME, and translated The Slaves; however the transliteration should be *L UN.ME and the translation The persons.
The signs at the beginning of line 6 (3 *L [. . .]) indicates that
additional persons are attested in this text, and it is clear that these
signs are not related to this family, since it is of four and not of three
persons. The land is described after the people (see line 7), and a
guarantee clause (which is very rare in sales of Land and People) is
attested in r. 34, as in SAA VI 334 and SAA XIV 339 (see discussion in Chapter III).
Family no. 167: This unclear family is attested in ADD 435 ( = SAA
XIV 168 = Text no. 118): Ratulu, [PN, . . .], Bit, his wife, [. . .], Iaqr
[. . . . . .].184 A person whose name is lost, probably an ofcial of the
chief-eunuch, buys from a[ng-. . .] forty hectares of land, two houses
and people, as attested in lines r. 24. The family head may be Ratulu or
the male listed after him, whose name is lost; therefore it is not clear if
it is a family of two or more people. They may all have been members
of the same family, if the following restoration is accepted: Ratulu;
[PN, his son]; Bit, his wife; [fPN (and)] Iaqr, [his daughters, a total
of 5]. Yet since other restorations are also reasonable this family is
dened as unclear (Nineveh, 620* B.C.).
Family no. 168: [ . . .]-arri (and) her daughter (ADD 457 = SAA XIV
229 = Text no. 119).185 [. . .]-ilxi, a third man, buys from [. . .]me,
chief tailor, land (the entire village of [. . .]-umu-iddina) and 18 people,
including [. . .]-arri and her daughter. The beginning of this text is
destroyed and only four persons are indicated in the fragment preserved: two males and two females. The two singles [. . .] and Baaa
Sayce, 1904, pp. 236237; Johns, 1904a, pp. 237244; Johns, 1904b, pp. 401402;
Conder, 1904, pp. 400401; Conder, 1905, p. 74; Macalister, 1912, pp. 2227 and
g. 1; Galling, 1935, pp. 8186; Oded, 1979, p. 96; Becking, 198182, pp. 8086; see
also Radner, 1997, pp. 126, 176, 188, 252; Elat, 1998, p. 53; PNA, pp. 16a(8), 665b(3);
687b(27); 716b(20); 720a(7).
184
For previous editions and collations see ARU 447; Parpola, 1979, p. 178; see also
Radner, 1997, pp. 252, 257, 324; PNA, pp. 493a, 654b.
185
For previous editions and collations see ARU 78; Parpola, 1979, p. 182; see also
Radner, 1997, p. 245; PNA, p. 277a.
106
chapter two
are clearly not related to this single-parent family, as indicated by the

total (line 1): in all 2 men (Nineveh, 7th century B.C.).
Family no. 169: Kubbu-lnu, his wife (and) his son, a total of 3 persons
(ADD 1168+ = SAA XIV 345 = Text no. 120).186 This nuclear family
of three persons, a couple and a son whose age is unclear, is attested
in a very fragmentary sale of land of people, originating in Nineveh,
together with a planted vineyard and a eld of at least two hectares.
The other details mostly lost, including the names of the parties, the
price, and the date.
Family no. 170: This unclear family is attested in ADD 1205+ (= SAA
XIV 355 = Text no. 121): [m x x x x (L*) x M- 1 DUMU].M
GA . . . PAB 3 ZI.ME = [PN, (. . .), his wife] (and) suckling dau[ghter] . . .
a total of 3 persons. A person whose name is lost buys from Ilu-al[ . . .]
land and people for one mina of silver. This broken, undated, sale of
Land and People (originating in Nineveh) was rst edited by Johns
in 1926. In 2002 a new edition of the text was published by Mattila
in the SAA series (= SAA XIV 355). Recently a different transliteration and translation of the obverse of this text have been presented.187
According to this proposal (cited above) a nuclear family of three persons, a couple with a suckling daughter, is attested in this text. Note that
the total (3 personsline 7) is separate from the detailed description
of the people (line 1).
Families nos. 171173: These families are attested in BM 134551 (= SAA
XIV 399 = Text no. 122):
(Family no. 171:) [PN, . . .
(1) wo]man, a total of 2;
(Family no. 172:) [PN, . . .
(1) wo]man, a total of 2;
(Family no. 173:) Hannu-il, [. . . (1) wo]man, a total of 2;
Qans, [. . .; a grand to]tal of 18 persons.188
186
For SAA XIV 345 see also Radner, 1997, p. 135; PNA, pp. 73b(20), 82a(35),
631b, 826b(10), 890(14).
187
See Galil, forthcoming (b).
188
For a previous edition see Postgate, 1970, p. 145, pl. xxiv. See also Radner, 1997,
pp. 176, 182, 328, 354; PNA, pp. 458b, 705a(3), 1007ab.
107
Marduk-ahu-iddina sells an estate consisting of sixty hectares, three

houses, two orchards and 18 persons, including these three couples
without children. Since the restoration of the text is reasonable but not
certain, these families are dened as unclear. The property located in
Nikua was sold by a person, whose name is lost, for 15 minas of silver.
This price is remarkably low, and may indicate that the people were not
slaves (see discussion in Chapter III). After Hannu-ils name probably
his profession is listed, possibly also the professions of the other men
including Qans, who might be a single.
Family no. 174: [PN, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .] (1) [ fPN], his [. . . daug]hter,
(2) [. . .]-ili, his suckling son, (3) [. . .]i, his daughter (of ) 4 spans (height), (4)
[. . .]ate, Nab-knu-ubbib, (5) [. . .]-kittu, his maid (and) hi[s] 2 slaves (ADD
426 = SAA XIV 198 = Text no. 123).189 L-balat a subordinate of
Silim-Inrta, a provincial governor, buys from ab-rigim-[. . .] land and
people for one talent of iron. The members of one large family are
possibly recorded in lines 15, all by their personal names (cf. texts no.
75 and 152). This family probably consists of at least seven persons: a
father; two daughters, one of 4 spans height (line 3) and the other probably an adolescent (line 1); a suckling son; his three slaves (two males
and one maid), and two additional males (line 4); these names might
be those of his slaves. It is not impossible that his wife and other sons
are also included in this family. The order of the children is unusual,
since the rst daughter is listed before the son; however other texts exist
that enumerate daughters before sons (see Chapter III).
Family no. 175: [PN] (and) Ar-umu-iddina, his son (ADD 458+ =
SAA XIV 265 = Text no. 124).190 This single-parent family is attested
in a very fragmentary sale of Land and People. Most details are
lost including the price, date, and the parties names. The items in the
description of the object sold are intermingled: people are listed in lines
46 and 8, and land in line 7 and probably also lines 910. At least 11
persons together with a house and a barnyard are attested.
189
For previous editions and collations see ARU 89; Parpola, 1979, p. 175; AST, T
216, no. 308; Kwasman, 1988, pp. 177178, no. 145, see also Radner, 1997, pp. 129,
136, 221, 309, 324; PNA, pp. 666b(17), 1111a.
190
For previous editions and collations see ARU 352; Parpola, 1979, p. 182; see
also PNA, p. 224b(15).
108
chapter two
Family no. 176: [. . .]ani, farmer, (and) [his] wife (ADD 369 = SAA XIV
254 = Text no. 125).191 This couple is attested along with a vineyard in
a very fragmentary sale of Land and People of which most details
are lost, including the price, date, and names of the parties names.
Families nos. 177182: These families are attested in SH 98/6949 I 908
(= BATSH 6 180 = Text no. 126):
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
177 =)
178 =)
179 =)
180 =)
181=)
182=)
[. . . per]sonsIahim, farmer
3 [per]sons[. . .]la, ditto (= farmer)
3 [per]sons[. . .], ditto (= farmer)
3 [per]sonsNab-dri, Bird-catcher
2 persons(the woman) Gadi-[ . . .]
[. . .persons]Asusi
Knu-lir and Hamad sons of ama-umu-iddina sell land and

people in Dr-Katlimmu. The other details are lost, including the
name of the buyer, the price, and the date. The people are listed by
a rare pattern: x personsPN, which is actually identical to the
pattern PNx persons but in reverse (cf. Families nos. 188189 and
Chapter III). The scribe probably orders the families from the large to
the small. Family no. 178 probably consists of three people, since three
vertical lines are clearly attested at the beginning of line 12;192 Families
nos. 179180 consist of three persons (assuming that the family head is
included in the total); and family no. 181, headed by a female, consists
of two persons. It is reasonable to suggest that the last family was also
of two persons. The grand total is probably at least 16 people.
C.2. Land and PeopleA Schedule of Land and People
Families nos. 183187: These ve families are attested in ADD 825 (=
SAA XI 232 = Text no. 127):
12
34
6
191
(Family no. 183:)

(Family no. 184:)
(Family no. 185:)
[Urd]a-Nab, [his wife] (and) his [(x) so]n(s)

[ . . .]-kaa-atkal, his wife, (and) his 3 sons;
Nab-pil-kmxa, his wife (and) his son;
For a previous edition see ARU 388.

Radners restoration of the beginning of lines 1213 is clearly mistaken, since
the sign 3 in line 13 is fully preserved (the same as in line 14). At the beginning of
line 12, as mentioned above, three vertical lines are clearly attested.
192

r. 13 (Family no. 186:)
r. 4
(Family no. 187:)
109
Nab-t-balli, his wife (and) his 3 sons,

a total of 5 persons.
Ana-mni-allak (and) his wife;
a grand total of 7.193
This schedule of Land and People (possibly the property of one

person) includes ten hectares of tax-exempt land and at least 19 persons:
ve families and one single. All families are nuclear and consist of 25
persons (the size of Family no. 183 is unclear).
Only one total is attested, and the grand total 7 relates to the last
two families.
D. Royal Grants and Private Votive Donations

D.1. Royal Grants of Land or Tax Exemption to Ofcials
Families nos. 188189: These families are attested in NARGD 5 (= SAA
XII 7 = Text no. 128):
(Family no. 188:) 7 personsama-[. . .];
(Family no. 189:) [3 persons][. . .]-ahu-iqi;
a grand total of 10 person[s].194
Adad-nrri III has bought land and people and given it exempt from
taxes to his ofcial (eunuch?). Two main estates are attested: the rst was
acquired for four talents and ten minas of silver from Ar-blu-uur;
the second in Bt-airi includes land and ten persons: two families
of seven and three persons (date lost). The grand total (10) indicates
that family no. 189 includes its head [. . .]-ahu-iqi and two additional
persons, and the total of this family is [3 persons]. It is also clear
that the family heads are included in the totals. The people are listed
by the rare pattern: x personsPN (cf. families nos. 183187 and
see chapter III).
XII 16 = Text no. 129):
193
See PNA, pp. 110a, 804a, 822b(4), 897a.

For previous editions and collations see ARU 2; Postgate, 1969, no. 5; see also
PNA, pp. 174a(2), 982a.
194
110
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
chapter two
no.
no.
no.
no.
190:)
191:)
192:)
193:)
[PN], farmer4 [persons];

[ . . .]-i4 person[s];
Bl-uballi2 person[s];
Ssu7 person[s].
These families are attested in a fragment of a land grant, possibly

part of SAA XII 15, a grant of Land and People of Tiglath-pileser
III. Most details are lost including the name and position of the
grantee, the date, the reason for the grant, etc. The people are listed
by the pattern: PNx persons and the family heads are probably
included in the totals. Bn, the gardener, was probably also listed
with his family (line 3), but since its total is absent it was not counted
as a family.195
Families nos. 194196: These families are attested in K 14619 (= SAA XII
17 = Text no. 130): (Family no. 194:) Urad-Gula4 (persons); (Family no.
195:) Adda-naaba5 (persons); (Family no. 196:) Gabr5 (persons). These
families are listed in a fragment of a land grant, possibly part of SAA
XII 15: a grant of Land and People of Tiglath-pileser III (see families
nos. 190193). The people are listed by the pattern: PNx (persons),
and the family heads are probably included in the totals.196
Families nos. 197240: These 44 families are attested in ADD 741+ and
ADD 741bis (= SAA XII 27+28 = Text no. 131):
6
67
8a
8b
9a
9b
10
1213
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
197:) [ . . .]-Inrta, gardener

(a total of ) 2 [persons];
198:) [. . .]; (and) [. . .]-KUR, his wife a total of 2 (persons);
199:) [ . . .]ni
(a total of ) 4 persons;
200:) ama-blu-uur
(a total of ) 2 pe[rsons];
201:) [. . .]anni
202:) Nr-Issr
203:) r-Issr
(a total of) 2 persons;
204:) Urda-Bnit[u]; [. . .]-hara; [. . .]; Baka, (his) mother
195
For the restoration: gar[dener] (instead of horse tra[iner]) in line 3, see
PNA, p. 263b(3). See also PNA, pp. 683a(4), 1095b.
196
See PNA, pp. 48b, 416b(3).
111
1314 (Family no. 205:) [. . .]aiu, the . . .; Urd; Urda-Issr (and) Ia-id[r], his
brothers; Ahxa, his mother [(a total of ) 4 or 5 persons];
16a
(Family no. 206:) Lib
16b
(Family no. 207:) Mannu-k-Adad
18b
(Family no. 208:) Bann and her 2 children;
19a
(Family no. 209:) Sukktu and her 3 children;
19b
(Family no. 210:) u, shepherd
20a
(Family no. 211:) Nr, shepherd; Hanzab, his wife (and) his 2 sons
a total of 4 (persons);
20b
(Family no. 212:) Awr (and) As, [his wife a total of 2 (persons)];
21b (Family no. 213:) Nan, camel driver,
22a
(Family no. 214:) Matix, camel driver,
23a
(Family no. 215:) Adad-uballi (and) Harr, his wife
23b (Family no. 216:) Iatm,
23c
(Family no. 217:) Nan,
(a total of ) 2 person[s];
24a
(Family no. 218:) In-ili, weaver of multicolored fabrics
24b (Family no. 219:) Ahu-lxi, weaver of multicolored fabrics
24c
(Family no. 220:) [. . .],
25a
(Family no. 221:) amgainu,
25b (Family no. 222:) Qt-ilni,
26
(Family no. 223:) Hiubarra and her [x] children;
30
A grand total of 1,700 (hectares) of field, 40 vineyards, 2 [vegetable]
gar[den]s: 6 estates of Nab-arru-u[u]r, [chief eunuch of Assurba nipal, king of Assyria]
35
36a
36c
36d
37a
37b
38a
38b
39a
39b
r. 3
r. 16
r. 17
r. 18
r. 19
r. 20
r. 21
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
(Family
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
no.
224:)
225:)
226:)
227:)
228:)
229:)
230:)
231:)
232:)
233:)
234:)
235:)
236:)
237:)
238:)
239:)
240:)
arru-l-dri, baker,
arr, farmer,
[. . .]-Issr, farmer,
[. . .], farmer,
Qt-mt, farmer,
[Ba]iadi-il, farmer,
Ahu-lxt,
Nazibir,
Gag,
[. . .],
Ab[ . . .],
[. . .],
[. . .],
[. . .],
[. . .],
[. . .],
[. . .],
(a
(a
(a
(a
(a
(a
(a
(a
(a
(a
(a
(a
(a
(a
(a
(a
(a
total
total
total
total
total
total
total
total
total
total
total
total
total
total
total
total
total
of ) 4 pe[rsons];
of ) 6 persons;
of ) 2 persons;
of ) 4 person[s];
of ) 6 persons;
of ) 12 person[s];
of ) 4 persons;
of ) 2 per[sons];
of ) 5 persons;
of ) 2 persons;
of x+) 2 persons;
of ) 4 persons;
of x+) 2 persons;
of x+) 2 persons;
of x+) 3 persons;
of x+) 2 persons;
of x+) 2 persons.
112
chapter two
Text no. 131 consists of two main fragments (SAA XI 27 and SAA
XII 28): SAA XII 28 is the continuation of SAA XII 27, lines 3137,
but there is no physical join and the space in between is unclear. The
relation of SAA XII 27+28 and SAA XII 26 is a matter of controversy
in the literature. Assurbanipal evidently exempted Nab-arru-uur, his
chief eunuch, from taxes, and the grant document (dated to 657 B.C.)
is clearly SAA XII 26. It is also generally held that SAA XII 27+28
is an appendix to SAA XII 26, describing the details of the exempted
property and its personnel (details which are missing from the grant
itself ).
Johns suggested that the horizontal ruling after line 30 of ADD 741+
(= SAA XII 27) could indicate that a similar list of exempted property
of another grant is presented in lines 32 ff.197 Kwasman and Parpola
share this opinion and even suggest that the owner of this property
(and the beneciary of this grant) is Rmanni-Adad; these authors hint
at a connection of ADD 741+, line 34 (vineyard in Singra) with
SAA VI 329331, indicating that Rmanni-Adad owns vineyards in
Singra.198 Kataja and Whiting suggest that additional properties of
Nab-arru-uur in various areas are listed in lines 32 ff.; they present
the schedule as an integral part of the grant itself, and reject the possibility that schedules to two grants would have been on a same tablet.199
Kataja and Whitings idea is convincing, while relating SAA XII 27:
32 ff. to Rmanni-Adad is hardly acceptable for presumably he was not
the only Assyrian ofcial who owned vineyards in Singra.
This text includes dozens of families.200 Most are described by the
pattern PNx persons. Still, at least nine families are fully listed,
recording all members of the family by their relation to the family head
(and sometimes also by their personal names): in three cases a woman
with her children (families nos. 208209, 223) and in other six cases
(families nos. 198, 204205, 211212 and 215) a man is indicated with
197
See ADD IV (1923), pp. 200201.

KwasmanParpola, 1991, p. XXXIX, n. 22.
199
KatajaWhiting, 1995, pp. XXVIXXVII.
200
For a previous edition of this text see Fales, 1973, pp. 6874, no. 2323bis. See also
PNA, pp. 41b(5), 69a(9), 82b(13), 83b(3), 135b, 238a(1), 253b(3), 254a, 267b, 418b(3),
458b, 461a(1), 474b, 495b(2), 497b, 544a(1), 662a(10), 682b(25), 745a(2), 752ab(2),
876877(29), 927a(3334), 939b, 969a(2), 970a(4), 1016b(4), 1156b; Tallqvist, 1918,
pp. 216, 299b; Stamm, p. 316; Fales, 1988a, pp. 107124. Most personal names in
this text are Akkadian or Aramaic.
198
113
his wife, sons, and other relatives, including his brothers and mother.
Clearly, in these cases the family head is included in the total (see
families nos. 198, 204, 211212 and 215). It is therefore reasonable to
suggest that in the other families the scribe also included in the total
the family head, and the pattern PNx persons should be translated:
PN(a total of ) x persons (including the family head). The scribe
clearly listed families and single persons in a mixed description.
The size of 36 families is clear: together they number 112 persons,
an average of 3.1 people per family: most families consist of only two
persons (21 out of 36); three of three persons; eight of four persons; one
consists of ve persons, two of six, and one of 12 persons. In the rst
part of this tablet (to line 31) at least 116 persons are listed, including
23 single people (12 males and 11 females), 31 families, and 21 people
about whom it is not clear if they are family heads or single (most probably the former). In the second part of this tablet (from line 34 on) at
least 78 persons are listed, including 21 families. The total of people
listed in the text is at least 194, and since it is fragmentarily preserved
the gure undoubtedly exceeded 200. The average number of persons
per family in the rst part is lower than that in the second part.
The size of family no. 205 is unclear: it is possible that its head is
mentioned in line 13: [. . .]aia, the . . ., and in line 14 his three brothers
and mother are recorded (a total of ve persons). Another possibility is
that Urd was the family head and that it also includes his two brothers
and mother, a total of four persons.
D.2. Royal and Private Votive Donations to Temples
Families nos. 241248: These eight families are attested in VAT 8883
(= KAV 39 = SAA XII 87 = Text no. 132):
r. 1 (Family no. 241:) Bl-Ubal[li; his wife]; Knu, his adolescent son
(and) 2 daughters, a total of 5 persons;
r. 2 (Family no. 242:) Nab-zib; [his] wife; [1] adolescent [son], 1 weaned son
(and) 3 daughters, a total of 7 persons;
r. 3 (Family no. 243:) Nab-umu-kaxxin; his wife; 1 weaned son,
r. 4 (Family no. 244:) Nab-r-ii; 1 adolescent son, 1 weaned son,
r. 5 (Family no. 245:) Nab-ir-napti; his wife, 1 weaned son,
114
chapter two
r. 6 (Family no. 246:) il-Nab; his wife; 3 adolescent sons (and) 1 suckling (son),
r. 7 (Family no. 247:) Qsia; his wife; 2 daughters (and) 1 son;
r. 8 (Family no. 248:) Nab-iranni; his wife (and) his 2 daughters,
a total of 4 (persons).
Sennacherib builds a new temple in the city of Aur before the Tabira
gate in honor of the god Zabba (city god of Ki and Ars son), and
his consort, Bbu. He makes their statue and dedicates to the newly
founded temple 41 people who are brought from Arbla: eight families
and ve single people. These people are donated as tillers (qatinnu) as
stated in line r. 13: ana L qatinnte.201 Their status is unclear: they
might be temple slaves or temple employees of low rank. The second
possibility seems more likely since the scribe does not use the term
ARAD or ana urdnti.202
The scribe species all 41 people dedicated. All eight family heads
as well as the ve single people are attested by their personal names
(most of them include the theophoric elements Nab or Bl). The restoration of line r. 1 in SAA XII is problematic: Knu is probably the
name of the son not the wife. Note that in this document the wife is
always listed before the sons, and all wives are unnamed; likewise the
daughters and the sons, with only one exception in line 1. The order
of the family members is xed: after the family head the scribe records
his wife always by the pattern his wife; the adolescent sons are listed
after the wife and before the small children (weaned or suckling), and
the daughters are listed at the end, with only one exception: in line
r. 7 (family no. 247) a son is mentioned after the two daughters. This
is also the only son whose age is not specied. It is interesting that the
age of none of the daughters is listed. The grand total of the members
of these eight families is 36, an average of 4.5 persons per family. All
families are nuclear and monogamous, with one exception: no. 244
is a single-parent family: a father and two sons. All families include
201
For the term qatinnu see CAD, Q , pp. 172173; AHw, p. 908b; Deller, 1965,
pp. 476477; van Driel, 1969, p. 188, note 70; Zablocka, 1972, p. 213; Menzel, AST,
pp. 263264; Parpola, 1983, p. 44; Radner,1999, pp. 115116; Radner, 2000, p. 235,
note 16.
202
Menzel (AST, pp. 264) compars this term with ana urdnti attested in her
opinion in Sm 1730. However this term is not mentioned in this document, see SAA
XII 89.
115
children (one to ve), an average of 2.6 children per family (12 sons
and nine daughters).203
Families nos. 249274: These 26 families are attested in VAT 9656 (=
PKTA 2730 = SAA XII 86 = Text no. 133):
22a (Family no. 249:)
22b (Family no. 250:)
22c (Family no. 251:)
[. . .]-Adad3 persons;
Taxallu15 persons;
Nab-zqip-eni4 per[sons];
[. . .]3 persons;
Iluzu4 persons;
Nab-lxni2 [persons];
Balku-ammar5 persons;
Nab-dn-amur3 [persons];
Nab-kir3 persons;
Nab-knu-uur7 person[s];
[K]n-zru3 persons;
Urda-Gula5 persons;
Hanabax4 person[s];
[Pi]rahu4 persons;
Nab-balli4 persons;
Ahxa10 person[s];
[A]hnu3 persons;
Nab-iddina5 persons;
[. . .]-aplu-iddina2 persons;
Urda-Nab2 persons;
Nab-abi7 person[s];
Harurnu4 persons;
Napus4 persons;
[. . .-i]q-ili14 persons;
Il-iba2 persons;
Uqaiaqi2 persons.
Sennacherib dedicates to the newly founded bt akti in the city of Aur

at least 130 people (28 families and two single) who were brought from
Raappa in 683 B.C. (Sennacheribs 22nd year).204 The people are listed
203
For previous editions and notes see SVAT, III, pp. 912; Postgate, 1969, pp.
122123, Appendix 4b; see also van Driel, 1969, p. 188; Pedersen, 1986, p. 81 (N526);
Frahm, 1997, pp. 240241; Gareli, 1998, p. 179; PNA, pp. 275b(1), 334a(6), 596a(4),
831a(7), 831b(6), 864b(3), 880a(7), 890a(1), 1015b(2), 1175b(3).
204
For previous editions and notes see SVAT I, pp. 39; Postgate, 1969, pp. 121122,
Appendix 4a; See also AST, p. 285, note 3808; Pedersen, 1986, p. 32 (N29); Frahm,
1997, p. 240. van Driel suggests that the people were deportees or prisoners of war
116
chapter two
in lines 2231, after the kings titles and the historical introduction
which is paralleled in other documents of Sennacherib concerning
the Akitu Temple.205 The families are recorded by the pattern PNx
persons three in each line. The size of 26 out of these 28 families is
clear. Most of them consist of 25 people (21 out of 26), the other ve
are of 715 people, including two families of 14 and 15 members, the
largest attested in a Neo-Assyrian text. The average number of persons
per family in this text is 4.77.206
Families nos. 275276: These two families are attested in BM 118796
(= SAAB 1, pp. 5763 = SAA XII 98 = Text no. 134):
(Family no. 275:) Rmanni-Issr, farmer3 person(s);
(Family no. 276:) il-Nab, shepherd3 person(s).
Ar-rewas private donation of Land and People to Nab is

preserved on a copper amulet with drawings of deities at the top.207 This
relatively large private donation includes a house in Calah, two estates,
and probably nine persons: three single people and two families each
consisting of three people and recorded by the usual pattern PNx
persons. il-Nab, the shepherd, was presented together with a ock
of sheep owned by the donor.
(van Driel, 1969, p. 188). For the same opinion see Oded, 1979, pp. 114115. For the
location of Raappa see ParpolaPorte, 2001, p. 15 and map 3.
205
Cf. Luckenbill, 1924, pp. 134143.
206
For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 68b(4), 260b(1), 491a, 515b(2),
618a(2), 662a(2), 808b(2), 834b(3), 840a(4), 843b(1), 867b(3), 905a(2), 929a, 995ab,
1048a(8); Tallqvist, 1918, pp. 26b, 229a. Only one name is clearly West-Semitic (Iluzu);
most of the others are Akkadian.
207
For a previous edition see Postgate, 1987, pp. 5763. Aur-reuwa might be the
priest of Ninurta in Calah who writes a letter to the king concerning temple matters
(ABL 493 = SAA XIII 128). For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 213a(3),
1044a(12), 1175b(7).
117
E. The Harran Census

E.1. Families
Families nos. 277291: These fteen families are attested in ADB 1 (=
SAA XI 201 = Text no. 135):
I: 13
I: 47
(Family no. 277:) Arnab, son of Sx-aplu-iddina, gardener

(and) his mother, a total of 2 (persons).
(Family no. 278:) Ah-ab, gardener; Sagbu, his adolescent son;
Il-abadi, his son (of ) 4 (spans height, and) 2 women,
I: 12
(Single person:) Sin-naxdi, gardener.
I: 1315 (Family no. 279:) Nuku-il, ditto (=gardener); Nauh-qatar, his son
(of ) 4 (spans height); 1 woman (and) 2 daughters, a total of 5 (persons).
I: 1617 (Family no. 280:) Ahnu, gardener (and) his mother,
I: 1819 A total of 3 gardeners, 1 weaned son, 2 women, 2 daughters,
a grand total of 8 (persons).
I: 2529 (Family no. 281:) Il-nr, gardener; Il-sx-milk, his adolescent son;
1 suckling son; 1 woman; 1 daughter (of ) 4 (spans height, and)
1 (daughter of ) 3 (spans height), a total of 6 (persons).
I: 3031 (Family no. 282:) Sx-npi, gardener; 1 son (of ) 4 (spans height, and)
1 woman, a total of 3 (persons).
I: 3234 (Family no. 283:) Idr-Anu, formerly of the confectioners, gardener
(and) 1 woman, a total of 2 (persons).
I: 4144 (Family no. 284:) Nuku-ilx, formerly of the cooks, gardener;
1 son (of ) 4 (spans height, and) 1 woman, a total of 3 (persons).
I: 4546 (Family no. 285:) Adi-mti-ilu, gardener; 1 woman; 1 daughter (of ) 5
(spans height, and) 1 (daughter of ) 4 (spans height),
I: 47
a grand total of 7 (persons).
II: 14
(Family no. 286:) Sx-idr, gardener; Nauh-idr, his adolescent son;

1 woman (and) 1 nubile daughter, a total of 4 (persons).
II: 812
(Family no. 287:) Nauh-s[a . . .], formerly of the [. . .], gar[dener];

Na[uh-. . ., his son/brother, . . .]; 1 woman (and) 1 [daughter?],
[a total of 4 (persons)];
II: 1623 (Family no. 288:) Han[. . .], cowherd [. . .]; Kanknu (and) r-dal,
2 adolescent sons; Lub-Nahu, son of Kanknu, (of ) 3 (spans height);
3 women (and) 1 weaned daughter, a total of 8 (persons).
118
chapter two
II: 2729 (Family no. 289:) Rahm, goatherd; Nauh-samaani, an adolescent

son; 1 woman (and) 1 daughter (of ) 3 (spans height),
II: 3335 (Family no. 290:) Il-umk, gardener; 1 son (of ) 3 (spans height);
1 woman (and) 1 weaned daughter, a total of 4 (persons).
II: 3842 (Family no. 291:) Sx-aqba, guardian of the grove; r-manni, his
adolescent son (and) Ksi, his son (of ) 4 (spans height),
This document records dozens of farmers and gardeners together

with their families and the property of the farms which they cultivated.208
With most farms (six out of ten) only one family is attested, but with
the other four, two or three families, probably without blood ties, are
connected to one farm: the Assyrian administration probably settled
these different families on one farm purposely. Most farms are based
mainly on vineyards, with three exceptions: one has 61 horses and
cattle, another has 57 goats, and the third has a grove of augu trees.
The size and structure of 14 out of these 15 families is clear: the grand
total is 55 persons, an average of 3.93 souls per family.
Family no. 277 consists of only two persons, an unmarried gardener and his unnamed mother; it is reasonable to suppose that the
son succeeded the father after his death, and this might be the reason
for the recording of the fathers name.
Family no. 278 consists of ve people: a father, two sons, and two
women. One woman is probably the family heads wife and the other
might be his second wife or his sons wife (see chapter VI). Note that
the mother, sisters, or daughters of the family head are specically
mentioned by Scribe A, so it is not reasonable that one of these females
should be identied with one of these two women. This then might
be a multiple-family kinship group of two minimal nuclear families
208
For previous editions and collations of this text see Johns, ADB, pp. 2938,
no. 1, Pl. III; Fales, 1973, pp. 1523, no. 1, with earlier bibliography; Postgate, 1974,
p. 240; Parpola, 1975, pp. 110111. See also Radner, 1997, pp. 126, 153, 162, 223;
Fales, 2001, pp. 1773, 175. For the term a ramaniunu see chapter I, note 39. Zaccagnini
notes that the physical survival of an Assyrian peasant family needed c. 5 (irrigated)
to 10 (rained) hectares of farmed land (Zaccagnini, 1999, p. 337). cf. also Postgate,
1989, p. 151. For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 52a(3), 57b(6), 85b(5),
132a(1), 506b(2), 510b(1), 523a(1), 524b(2), 601a, 643a(1), 666b, 936a(1), 936b(1),
937ab, 973b(2), 1028b(1), 1101a(1), 1103a, 1061b(2), 1098a.
119
with one son of 4 spans height, probably a son, not a grandson, of

the family head, since grandsons are clearly attested in this text (see
family no. 288, below).
Family no. 279 consists of ve persons: a couple, a son of four spans
height and two daughters. The grand total in line 19 lists this same son
as weaned, and it is reasonable to suppose that this is a scribal error;
it is less likely that the term weaned would refer to any young child
no longer dependent on his mother.
Family no. 280 is similar to no. 277. The mother is recorded in the
grand total (line 19) as one of two women, together with the wife
in family no. 279. The third gardener who cultivated this farm is Sinnaxdi, a single person attested in line 12.
Families nos. 281283 cultivate a farm of 29,000 stalks of vine and
ten hectares of arable land. All of these families are nuclear: family no.
281 consists of six persons, a couple with two sons and two daughters;
family no. 282 is a couple with one son, and family no. 283 is a couple
without children. Most children are young and unnamed, with one
exception, the adolescent son of family no. 281.
Families nos. 284 and 285 cultivate a vineyard of 6,000 stalks of
vine; both are nuclear, a couple with one son (284) or a couple with two
daughters (285). All children are young, of four or ve spans height.
Family no. 286 is a couple with two adolescent children, a son and
a daughter who is dened by the term batssu. Adolescent daughters
are very rare in the texts of the Harran Census (only four grown up
daughters are attested in these texts, about two percent of the population). In another case the term batssu is listed (SAA XI 203 r. ii 10;
see family no. 311), and in a third case both terms batssu and ahurtu
dene two daughters (SAA XI 203 r. ii 1417; see family no. 312).
Family no. 287 is the only unclear one in this text. It consists of a
couple and two other members, probably a daughter and a son; however,
the second male might also be a brother of the family head (although
brothers are not attested in this text; but see family no. 300), and the
last member might also be a mother or a sister of the family head.
Family no. 288 is a multiple-family kinship group of eight people,
consisting of at least two nuclear families. The family husbands a herd
of 61 horses and cattle. It is one of the few families that include three
generations: a father with his two sons and his grandson. In addition
to the four mentioned males, attested by their names, four females
are listed: three women and one weaned daughter who might be
a daughter or a granddaughter of the family head. One of the three
120
chapter two
women is probably the wife of the family head; another is probably

his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Kanknu, and the mother of
his grandson Lub-Nahu. The third woman might be another daughter-in-law of the family head rather than his second wife (see chapter VI).
Families 289 and 290 are two nuclear families of four people each,
two couples with two children, one son and one daughter; family no.
291 is a single-parent one of three persons, a father with two sons.
Families nos. 292301: These ten families are attested in ADB 2 (= SAA
XI 202 = Text no. 136):
I: 14
(Family no. 292:) Ua[. . ., farmer]; Muallim-Nahu, [his

son/brother]; Han-Ddi/dada, [his son/brother], (and) 1 Woman,
a total [of 4? (persons)].
I: 1013
(Family no. 293:) Il-Nauh-mil[k] son of Ilu-ittja, farmer;

Kul-ba-iadi-[il, his son/brother . . .]; 1 his sister, [(and) . . .;
a total of 4? (persons)];
(Family no. 294:) [. . ., farme]r; [. . .], his adolescent son;
1 suckling son; 1 woman (and) 1 daughter (of ) 4 (spans height),
I: 1417
I: 2021
(Break)
(Family no. 295:) Il-ba[. . ., g]ardener; [. . ., his] adolescent [son]; . . .
II: 34
(Family no. 296:) [. . .]-ilni, farme]r; 1 woman (and) 2 daughters (of )

3 (spans height), [a total] of 4 (persons);
(Family no. 297:) Halmusu, farmer; S-dilni, his adolescent son;
Ddi-dilni, his adolescent son; Mesu, his son (of ) 4 (spans height);
1 woman (and) 1 weaned daughter, a total of 6 (persons).
II: 59
II: 1619 (Family no. 298:) Hann son of Palu, formerly of the scarf
weavers, farmer; Nuku-zibanni, his son (of ) 4 (spans height); 1
woman (and) 1 daughter (of ) 3 (spans height), a total of 4 (persons).
III: 25
A total of 4 farmer[s . . .]; 2 adolescent (sons); 1 son (of ) 4 (spans
height); [. . . . . .]; 2 women, (and) 1 [. . .] daughter, a grand total of 10
(persons).
III: 811
(Family no. 299:) Ah-ab, formerly of the [. . .], guardian of the

[grove . . .]; Hanpanu, [his . . .] son, (and) 2 women,
a total of [4] (persons).
121
III: 1519 (Family no. 300:) Mannu-idi son of Ha[nnu], herder of

donkeys [. . .]; Nan, his brother; 1 son (of ) 3 (spans height); 2
wom[en]; [1] daughter (of ) 3 (spans height), a total of [6] (persons).
r. III: 25 (Family no. 301:) Lt-ili, son [of . . .], farmer, formerly of the [. . .];
Attr-umk[, . . .], (and) 1 woman, a total of 3 (persons). (Break)
This document, like the foregoing, records dozens of farmers and

gardeners together with their families and the assets of the farms
that they cultivated.209 With most farms (12 out of 13) just one family
is attested; the exception is two families (nos. 296297) connected to
one farm, although probably no blood ties existed between them. The
size and structure of six of these 13 families is clear: the grand total
is 29, an average of 4.83 persons per family. Most of the unclear
families consist of three or four persons (see below). A possessive sufx
features in but few cases in this text: all except one of the wives and
daughters are listed without such a sufx; the exception is his sister
in family no. 293.
Ten persons are listed in the summary in col. III: 25: four farmers,
three sons (two adolescent and one of four spans height), two women,
and a daughter. This description includes at the least the members of
one family: since family members are not dened by their profession
in these texts, the four farmers are probably family heads or singles.
These lines admit many possible interpretations (of which two are
noted below), but since all these options are tentative these people are
not counted as a family in this book: 1. it is possible that three single
farmers are listed along with one large family of seven persons: a father,
his three sons, a daughter, and two women. 2. Two single farmers are
recorded with two couples with two children each.
The size and structure of Family no. 292 is unclear. In SAA XI
202 a family of three persons is reconstructed: a couple with one son
(Han-dada), presenting Muallim-Nahu, as the head of this family. But
it is also possible that Ua . . ., listed in line 1, was actually the father,
209
For previous editions and collations see Johns, ADB, pp. 3943, no. 2, Pl. III;
Fales, 1973, pp. 2327, no. 2, with earlier bibliography; Postgate, 1974, pp. 240241;
Parpola, 1975, p. 111. See also Radner, 1997, pp. 223, 304. For the personal names in
this text see PNA, pp. 57b(5), 236b(4), 362b(1), 445a(1), 451b, 454a(5), 455a, 457b(6),
522b(1), 526b, 530a(4), 635b(1), 664b(3), 679a, 747b(4), 776b, 926a(9), 974b(1)975a,
982a(1), 1099b(1).
122
chapter two
and Muallim-Nahu and Han-Ddi/dada his sons or brothers. In this

case the total is four.
Family no. 293 is clearly an extended one, since the family heads
sister is included, but its size and structure are unclear. It probably
consists of four persons: Il-Nauh-mil[k] son of Ilu-ittja, the farmer;
his son or brother, Kul-ba-iadi-[il]; his unnamed sister; and probably
a fourth member of this family listed after his sister, possibly his wife
or daughter.
Family no. 294 consists of ve persons: a couple, two sons (an adolescent and a suckling),210 and a daughter of four spans height. The
names of the father and the adolescent son are lost, and the other
three are unnamed.
The size and structure of Family no. 295 is unclear: it includes a
father (the gardener Il-ba . . .) and his adolescent son, whose name is
lost, but the rest of the text is broken.
No. 296 is a nuclear family of four persons: a couple, with two
(twin?) daughters of three spans height; and No. 297 is a relatively
large family of six persons a couple with a weaned daughter and three
sons: two adolescents and one of four spans height.
Family no. 298 consists of four persons: a couple with a son of four
spans height, and a daughter of three spans height. The family head,
dened as a farmer, was formerly a scarf weaver. The family own one
ox and cultivate thirty hectares of land. An additional person lives in
this farm and since he is a son of Zur[ . . .] he is not a member of this
family, but probably a single person like the single persons listed in I:
8, and in r. IV: 910.
Family no. 299 consists of four persons: Ah-ab, guardian probably
of a grove; Hanpanu, his son, and two women, probably his wife
and his daughter-in-law or his second wife and not his mother, sister
or daughter. Ah-ab owns the land (12 hectares) and is listed in this
text no doubt because he is also a guardian probably of a grove which
is the property of another person.
No. 300 is an extended family of six persons: a herder of donkeys, his
brother; two young children, a son and a daughter both of three spans
210
At the beginning of line 16 Johns suggested reading: 1 apil ahi-u (ADB, p. 39);
and Fales (1973, p. 24) proposed a different restoration (1 PAP ); but 1 DUMU
GA should be preferred (see SAA XI, p. 126).
123
height; and probably the wives of the family head and his brother, or
the family heads two wives. Accordingly the young son and daughter
might be his own children or his brothers.
Family no. 301 consists of three persons, a couple with a son or a
brother of the family head.
Families nos. 302315: These ten families are attested in ADB 3 (= SAA
XI 203 = Text no. 137):
I: 1213
I: 1415
(Break)
II: 13
II: 910
(Family no. 302:) Naku-dr, [. . .], (and) 2 women,

a total [of 3 (persons)].
The wife (= widow?) of A[. . .], the . . .
(Family no. 303:) Issr-dr, farm[er]; Nauh-dilni (and) 1 woman,
(Family no. 304:) A[. . ., f ]armer; [. . .], a son (of ) 4 (spans height);
[. . . . . . a total of ] 4? (persons).
(Break)
III: 1012
(Break)
IV: 13 2
IV: 1112
IV: 1516
(Family no. 305:) Sria son of Il-naqam, farmer; [. . .], his

adolescent son; [. . .], (and) [a dau]ghter (of ) 4 (spans height);
[a total of x (persons)].
women, 2 daughters, a total of 4 women;
A grand total of 8 cultivators [ERIM.ME ZI]
(Family no. 306:) Asannu, farmer, (and) 3 persons,
(Family no. 307:) [A]bd, shepherd, (and his) [2?] wome[n]
or: (and) [his] daugh[ter], a total of [. . . (persons)].
(Break)
r. I: 26
(Family no. 308:) Adad-blu-uur, [farmer]; ar-ilni-ilu (and)

Samsi-ilx, (his) 2 adolescent sons; 2 women, a total of 5 (persons).
r. I: 1316
(Family no. 309:) Uas son of Taxl, gardener; Nauh-dilni, his

son (of ) 3 (spans height, and) 1 woman, a total of 3 (persons).
(Family no. 310:) Zabd son of Il-ban, ditto (= gardener);
r. I: 1719
(Break)
r. II: 411
(Family no. 311:) [ . . .] son of Harm, [gar]dener; [ . . .]hi-Nauh,

[1 adolescent son; or: his brother]; Nauh-dimr, 1 adolescent son;
Abi-hri, (son of ) 3 (spans height); Nab-ndin-apli, weaned (son);
1 woman; 1 nubile daughter, (and) 1 (daughter of ) 4 (spans height),
124
chapter two
r. II: 1417 (Family no. 312:) Add, farmer; Ass (his) son (of ) 3 (spans height);
1 woman; 1 nubile daughter, 1 (daughter of ) 4 (spans height), (and)
1 adolescent (daughter), a total of 6 (persons).
(Break)
r. IV: 12
(Family no. 313:) Halma, [ . . .], (and) 1 woman;
a total [of 2 (persons)].
r. IV: 35
(Family no. 314:) Nan, [ . . .]; Abi-hri, his ado[lescent] son
(and) 1 woman; a total of 3 (persons).
r. IV: 68
(Family no. 315:) Dannia, shepherd; Il-natan (and) 1 woman;
Like the preceding ones, this document records dozens of farmers

and gardeners together with their families and the assets of the farms
which they cultivated. This text is clearly related to the next, as suggested
by Johns, Fales, and others (see also the discussion below).211 The size
and structure of eight families are clear (nos. 302, 306, 308310,
312314). All but one consist of two to ve persons (the exception has
six persons). The size of the other three families is also evident (but
other details are vague): two are of three persons (nos. 303 and 315),
and one is of eight persons (no. 311). The grand total of these 11
families is 42 people (an average of 3.8 per family).212
In one case a widow is probably attested, dened as the wife of PN,
the . . . (I: 1415). Unfortunately the text is broken off and the other
details are lost, including a possible description of her family. A tentative
hypothesis is that this widow inherited her husband, and was allowed
to cultivate and manage the farm until her children were grown up, or
until her remarriage. Two other similar cases are attested in SAA XI
213 (= text no. 143). (1) In r. I: 79, the woman Sn-. . . is listed at the
head of a paragraph along with 2000 vine stalks. Unfortunately these
lines are also broken, but her family may be recorded in line 8; in this
case the woman is not dened as the wife of PN but is presented as
the head of this household. (2) In the previous paragraph of this text
(r. I: 16) four women are listed by their personal names, again along
with 2000 vine stalks. These women might be the daughters of a
211
Johns, ADB, pp. 4850; Fales, 1973, p. 37; Parpola, 1975, pp. 99101.
For previous editions and collations see Johns, ADB, pp. 4347, no. 3, Pl.
IVV; Fales, 1973, pp. 2833, no. 3, with earlier bibliography; Postgate, 1974,
p. 241; Parpola, 1975, pp. 99101, 107, 111. See also Radner, 1997, pp. 153, 223,
299. For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 3b(3), 9b(23), 24a(3), 51b(1),
136b, 137b(1), 376b(2), 441a(1), 460a, 513a(1), 522b, 570a(12), 851b(1), 926a(11), 935b,
973a, 1086a(1), 1159b(1).
212
125
gardener that recently died and are still waiting to marry. The socioeconomic status of women in the Neo-Assyrian period is discussed only
in a few studies and the subject merits more scholarly attention.213
Family no. 302 might be polygamous: one male is listed with two
women. The second woman is clearly not his daughter since Scribe A
counts daughters separately, like sisters and mothers. The most reasonable possibility is that they are his wives. Children are not listed and
this might be the reason for the bigamy. Families 303 and 315 consist
of a couple and a third person who might be a son or a brother of
the family head.
The next four families are unclear: no. 304 includes a father and a
son of four spans height. The editors of SAA XI suggested to read:
2 women in line 11, but since some ve signs are missing, other possibilities should be preferred, such as 1 woman (and) 1 daughter; no.
305 includes a farmer with his adolescent son and a young daughter
(of four spans height). It is possible to reconstruct x women at the
beginning of line 12, but this is not certain and other readings may be
offered, such as 1 woman (and) 1 sister or 1 daughter, adolescent
or 1 daughter (of ) 5 (spans height), and more; family no. 306 is
recorded by the pattern: PNx persons; a total of x+1 (persons).
Similar patterns are frequently attested in royal grants, but are rare in
the texts of the Harran Census. The family type is unclear; Abd,
the shepherd, head of family no. 307, is listed with two (?) women or
with his daughter.
Nos. 310 and 313 are minimal nuclear families without children, and
no. 314 is a couple with an adolescent son. Nos. 311 and 312 are large
families of eight and six persons: each consists of a couple with four
or ve children; in 311 another male is listed by name after the family
head; he might be his brother or another adolescent son The order
of the daughters in family no. 312 is unusual: the adolescent daughter
is listed after the young daughter of four spans height. It might be a
scribal error. The reason for the distinction between the nubile and the
adolescent daughters is unclear.
Families nos. 308 and 309 are also attested in SAA XI 213, and a
comparison of these texts is set out rst:
213
For discussions on this subject see Garelli, 1998, pp. 175181; Teppo, 2005;
Galil, forthcoming (c).
126
chapter two
SAA XI 203 = Text 137 (= Scribe A)
SAA XI 213 = Text 143 (= Scribe B)
Family no. 308

r. I: 26 Adad-blu-uur, [ farmer];
ar-ilni-ilu (and) Samsi-ilxi,
(his) 2 adolescent sons; 2 women,
r. II: 915 Adad-blu-uur, farmer;

2 sons; 2 women
Family no. 309

r. I: 1316 Uas son of Taxl, gardener;
Nauh-dilni, his son (of) 3 (spans height);
1 woman,
r. I: 1316 [U]as, gar[dener];

[1] son;
[1 Woman]
The differences in the descriptions of these two families are evident:

Scribe A presents a detailed account of the family members (SAA XI
203 = Text 137); while scribe B (in SAA XI 213 = Text 143) omits
patronymics, sons names, childrens ages, and totals. No. 309 is a
nuclear family of three persons: a couple with a young son; and no. 308
consists of ve persons: a father with his two adolescent sons, and two
women, probably his wife and his daughter-in-law, the wife of one of
his sons (although the second woman might also be his second wife).
Families nos. 316317: These families are attested in ADB 13 (= SAA
XI 205 = Text no. 138):
I: 67
(Family no. 316:) Taxl, farmer (and) 4 persons, a total of 5 (persons).
I: 1113 (Family no. 317:) Sx-umk, gardener (and) Nauh-iddina,

his adolescent son; a total of 2 (persons).
Families nos. 318319: These families are attested in ADB 8 (= SAA XI

206 = Text no. 139):
I: 39
(Family no. 318:) Hu-[ . . .] son of Adad-bi[xd], shepherd;

Samnu-aplu-iddina; Bl-bni; [1] suckling son (and) 2 women,
I: 1823 (Family no. 319:) Ah, farmer; Tini (and) Sx-dikir, his 2 adolescent
brothers; Samsi-ibi, (his son of ) 4 (spans height), (and) 2 women,
127
Text no. 138 is probably the upper part of text no. 139, although there
is no physical join between these two fragments.214 Col. I is almost
completely preserved, but col. II is only fragmentary, like the reverse (of
cols. 3 and 4). The size of these four families is clear, and they consist
of 26 persons; the grand total is 19 people (an average of 4.75 per
family). One family (316) is listed by the rare pattern PNx persons;
a total of x+1 (persons); the others are fully described.
Family no. 316 consists of ve persons; and no. 317 is single-parent family of two persons, a father and his young son. It is not clear
what happened to the mother of this family: she might be divorced
or deceased.
Families nos. 318 and 319 consist of six persons each: in no. 318
they are the family head, two women, a suckling son, and other two
males listed after the father, who might be his sons or his brothers (see
the next family). One woman is probably the wife of the head of the
family; the other might be the wife of one of the two other males.
Family no. 319 is probably a multiple-family kinship group (units all
on one level), since two brothers of the family head are attested, and
it is reasonable to suppose that the second woman is the wife of one
of these brothers.215
207 = Text no. 140):
I: 12
(Family no. 320:) Husaz, gar[dener]; 3 sons (and) 3 women.
I: 78
I: 1112
(Family no. 321:) Sx-[. . .]di, ditto (= gardener); [x sons, (and) x]

women.
(Family no. 322:) [. . .]-Bl; his [x son]s (and) 1 woman.
I: 1516
r. II: 2
r. II: 4
(Family no. 323:) [. . .]sunu, farmer (and) [x wom]en.

(Family no. 324:) Ss, ditto; 1 son (and) 1 woman.
(Family no. 325:) Mannu-k-Sx, ditto; 2 sons (and) 2 women.
214
Fales, 1973, pp. 4546; Parpola, 1975, p. 103; SAA XI, pp. 130131.
For previous editions and collations see Johns, ADB, pp. 6264, 6768, no. 8,
13, Pl. XII, XV; Fales, 1973, pp. 4246, no. 910, with earlier bibliography; Postgate,
1974, p. 241; Parpola, 1975, pp. 103, 112113. See also Radner, 1997, pp. 57, 71, 223,
299. For the personal names in this text see: PNA, pp. 56b(1), 288b(2),936a, 1085b,
1086b, 1099b, 1106b(1); Tallqvist, 1918, p. 229a.
215
128
chapter two
r. II: 8e9e (Family no. 326:) Dnnu, [ditto], (and) 2 wom[en].

r. III: 56 (Family no. 327:) Ilu-bni, the . . .; 1 son (and) 1 woman.
Family no. 328 is attested in ADB 14 (= SAA XI 208 = Text no. 141):
7 Azi-il, ditto (= gardener), (and) 1 woman.
Text no. 141 is probably a fragment of text no. 140.216 It was composed
by Scribe B who describes the families in xed order. He opens with
the family heads personal name and profession (patronymics are not
presented); the other family members are unnamed and are listed
next by only two categories: rst the son(s) and later the women
(all females are counted in this category). So when women are listed
after the family heads name, one may conclude that this family has no
sons, even if the text is broken after the recording of women (see, e.g.,
family no. 326). At least some of the people attested in this text are
deportees transported to the Harran area from the region of Gambulu
and dened as captives (hubtu: SAA XI 207 r. III: 4). This fact is also
indicated in the next paragraph of this text: the head of family no. 327
is dened as formerly of the runaways etc. (SAA XI 207 r. III: 7).
These deportees were resettled and cultivated land and vineyards (in
three cases 5,000 vines, in two cases 60 hectares, and in one case 20
hectares). Nine families are listed in these fragments, with a grand total
of at least 34 persons. The size of six families is clear (23 people, an
average of 3.84 per family); the remaining three families consist of at
least three persons (no. 323), or at least four persons (nos. 321322).
No. 320 is a large family of seven: a father, three sons, and three
women who might be his wife and daughters, or other possibilities. The
number 4, written after the three women, does not relate to people but
probably to property (oxen or other). Family no. 321 includes a father
with at least two women and a son, and no. 322 is a couple with at
least two sons. No. 323 consists of a farmer and an unclear number
of females; and nos. 324 and 327 are nuclear families of three persons
each: a couple with one son.
216
14, Pl. X, XVI; Fales, 1973, pp. 3840, no. 56, with earlier bibliography; Postgate,
1974, p. 241; Parpola, 1975, pp. 103, 106, 112. See also Oded, 1979, p. 94; Radner,
1997, pp. 209, 223. For the personal names in this text see: PNA, pp. 239b(2), 385a(2),
482b, 526b(1), 697a(1), 1093b(2).
129
Family no. 325 consists of ve persons, a father with two sons and
two women; and no. 328 is a childless couple (for no. 326 see discussion above).
Families nos. 329343: These families are attested in ADB 9+ (= SAA
XI 209 = Text no. 142):
r. III: 1
(Family no. 329:) Nergal-ilx, ditto (and) 1 [woman?].
r. III: 3
(Family no. 330:) Sx-aqba, gate-guard (and) 1 woman.
r. III: 910
(Family no. 331:) Sr, shepherd; [1 so]n (and) 1 woman.
r. III: 1213 (Family no. 332:) [U]lliu, ditto (= shepherd); 5 sons

(and) 1 woman.
r. III: 1617 (Family no. 333:) Urad-Issr, gar[dener]; 1 son (and) 2 women.
r. III: 1920 (Family no. 334:) Attr-bi[xd, garde]ner; 1 son (and) 1 [woman].
r. III: 23
(Family no. 335:) Ah-ab, ditto (= gardener), (and) [2? Wo]men.
r. III: 24
(Family no. 336:) Urad-Issr, ditto (= gardener); 2 son[s]

(and) 1 [woman].
r. III: 26
(Family no. 337:) Ilu-islaka, carpenter; 1 son (and) 1 woman.
r. III: 2930 (Family no. 338:) Nauh-sagab, whitewasher; [x sons

(and) 1] woman.
r. IV: 45 (Family no. 339:) Sr-rmu, gar[dener] (and) 1 woman.
r. IV: 1011 (Family no. 340:) Il-Ddi, farmer; 2 sons (and) 2 women.
r. IV: 1213 (Family no. 341:) Tela-il, gardener, 1 son (and) 3 women.
r. IV: 1718 (Family no. 342:) Kurz, shepherd; 1 son (and) 3 women.
r. IV: 2829 (Family no. 343:) Nauh-id[r, . . . .]; 1 son; [. . .].
Four fragments of the reverse of this text are preserved: ADB 9,

1112, and 16 (see the graphic restoration by Parpola,217 which should
be updated by inserting ADB 16 in the middle of col. I next to ADB
11).218 In cols. IIIIV Scribe B describes 15 families by the pattern
217
Parpola, 1975, p. 102.

For previous editions and collations see Johns, ADB, pp. 6467, 69, no. 9, 11+12,
16, Pl. XIII, XVI; Fales, 1973, pp. 4654, no. 11, 13, 14, 16, with earlier bibliography;
218
130
chapter two
PN, profession; x son(s), (and) x woman/women. The size of 12

families is evident, and the grand total is 45 persons, an average of 3.75
per family. All families but one consist of 25 persons, the exception
having seven persons. The size of three families is unclear (nos. 335,
338, 343). Most families are nuclear; a few are childless (330, 339, and
probably also 329); others consist of a couple with one child (nos. 331,
334, 337, and possibly also 343); a couple with two sons (no. 336) or
with ve sons (no. 332). The families with a few women probably are
not polygamous; the second female is possibly the daughter, mother,
sister, or daughter-in-law of the family head. Most personal names
in this text are West-Semitic or Aramaic, as in the other texts of the
Harran Census.
213 = Text no. 143):
II: 1
(Family no. 344:) [. . . . . . . . .], (and) 1 woman.
II: 45
(Family no. 345:) [. . .], farmer; [. . . . (and) 1] woman.
II: 78
(Family no. 346:) [. . .], farmer; [. . . .], (and) 1 woman.
III: 56
(Family no. 347:) Rsia, [. . .], (and) x] women.
III: 89
(Family no. 348:) [I]dr-Anu, farmer; his brother; 1 son

(and) 3 women.
III: 1314 (Family no. 349:) Adda-lkidi, farmer; 1 son (and) 1 woman.
IV: 34
(Family no. 350:) Pad, gardener; 1 son (and) 3 women.
r. II: 12
(Family no. 351:) Il-paxal, [gardener]; 1 son (and) 1 woman.
r. II: 16
(Family no. 352:) [. . .]s, ditto (= gardener, and) 2 women.
Families nos. 353354 are attested in ADB 21 (= SAA XI 214 = Text

no. 144):
Postgate, 1974, pp. 241242; Parpola, 1975, pp. 102, 106. See also Radner, 1997, pp.
223, 296, 299, 304. For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 26b27a, 57b(7),
234b(3), 513a(1), 642b(1), 936a(2), 937a, 948b(6), 1098a(2), 1159b(1), 1160a; Tallqvist,
1918, pp. 232a, 239a.
131
34 (Family no. 353:) Bl-Harrn-idr, [ farmer]; 2 sons (and) 5 women.

89 (Family no. 354:) Il-idr, gardener (and) 2 women.
Texts 143 and 144 (SAA XI 213214) are possibly fragments of one
document.219 The relation between this text and no. 137 (SAA XI
203) is evident (see the discussion on families nos. 308309, above).
It is clear that at least three paragraphs in text no. 143 have parallels
in text no. 137: (1) SAA XI 213 r. I 1013||SAA XI 203 III: 19; (2)
SAA XI 213 r. II 48 || SAA XI 203 r. I: 16; (3) SAA XI 213 r. II
913 || SAA XI 203 r. I: 1316. However, in SAA XI 213 r. I: 1213
the owner of the vineyards is Adad-rmanni and in SAA XI 203 III:
79 the owner of similar property is Sn-re, a cook promoted by
Adad-rmanni, chief cook (of the governor) of Harran. It is possible
that these two texts describe different situations, indicating a transfer
of a few estates from the chief cook to the promoted cook. In this case
SAA XI 213 is possibly a summary by Scribe B of a text similar but
not identical to SAA XI 203.220
Scribe B, as usual, counts only the family heads, their professions,
their sons, and their women, with at least one exception: his brother
included in family no. 348. This comment indicates the possibility that
other brothers are attested in the texts bearing Scribe B-type characteristics, for example, in the broken lines describing families nos. 344346
and more. The size of seven out of the eleven families recorded in texts
143 and 144 is clear, and the grand total is 31 persons, an average of
4.43 souls per family. All families but one consist of 36 persons, the
exceptional family having eight persons. Two families are nuclear (a
couple with a child), and the relatively large families might be multiplefamily kinship groups: for example, one of the three women in family
no. 348 may be the brothers wife; and at least one of the ve women
in family no. 353 might be a daughter-in-law, the wife of one of the
sons of this family, but there are also other possibilities. In families nos.
345 and 346 a few sons are probably included.
219
Parpola, 1975, pp. 103, 106.

21, Pl. VIVII, XII; Fales, 1973, pp. 3337, 4142, no. 4, 8 with earlier bibliography;
Postgate, 1974, p. 241; Parpola, 1975, pp. 103, 111112; Fales, 2001, p. 173. See also
Radner, 1997, pp. 223, 296, 299, 312. For the personal names in texts no. 143144
see PNA, pp. 48a(1), 302b, 506b(1), 517b(3), 523a, 978a(2), 1053a(1). All these names
are West Semitic or Aramaic.
220
132
chapter two

no. 145):
12 (Family no. 355:)
[. . .] 1 (son/daughter of ) 3 (spans height) [. . .]; [. . .]s,

a total/a grand total of 10 [persons].
Mannu-l-amni, guardian of [a grove (of poplars)];
Zr-Issr, his son (of ) 4 (spans height); Ahnu, [his] son
[. . .]; Aktur-la-Nauh, his son [...]; 1 woman (and) 1
daughter (of ) 4 (spans height), a total of [6 persons]
This fragment bears Scribe A-type characteristics, but it is unclear if it

was part of text no. 142 (= SAA XI 202).221 Family no. 356 is a nuclear
family of six persons: a couple with three sons (one of four spans height
and two younger), and an unnamed daughter of four spans height.222
The size and structure of family no. 355 is vague since it is not clear
if ten is the total or a grand total which also includes members of
other families. Only one member of this family is attested: a son or a
daughter of three spans height.
E.2. Fathers and Sons
no. 146):
I: 15
(Family no. 357:) Ahu-nr son of Gabri-il; b, his adolescent son;

Nauh-qatar (his son of ) 4 (spans height); Sx-sak,
adolescent, son of Il-Ddi, a total of 4 (persons).
I: 89
(Family no. 358:) Il-gabr son of Nab-lad, ditto;

Nauh-dal, his son (of ) 5 (spans height).
I: 1213 (Family no. 359:) Ahu-nr son of Sx-iabba, ditto;

Nauh-gabr, his adolescent son.
II: 24
221
(Family no. 360:) Adda-sr, [. . .]; Nab-ballssu-[iqbi, . . .];

Tr-dal, suckling [son] of Il-Ddi.
Parpola, 1975, p. 106.

For previous editions and collations see Johns, ADB, pp. 71, no. 20, Pl. XVII;
Fales, 1973, p. 56, no. 19 with earlier bibliography; Parpola, 1975, pp. 106. See also
Radner, 1997, p. 223. For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 85b(7), 96b97a,
700a(1); Tallqvist, 1918, p. 248.
222
133
II: 1012 (Family no. 361:) risu son of Mannu-k-Ddi; Inrta-re,

his son (of ) 5 (spans height); Nab-ualli,
adolescent, a total of 3 (persons).
II: 1620 (Family no. 362:) Nab-uallim, ditto; Inrta-ualli, ditto,
2 sons of Qun; Ilx-ab, his adolescent son;
Il-dal, his son (of ) 5 (spans height); a total of
4 (persons).
Scribe A counts in this text only fathers and sons; wives, daughters,
and other females are excluded. Six families are attested, and the
grand total of the sons included in these families is nine (an average
of 1.5 sons per family). In two cases two brothers are listed (I: 1620;
2126); these two pairs of brothers are not counted as families (see
Introduction).223
Two families include an attach child (nos. 357, 360), in one case
an adolescent and in the other a suckling one; the scribe points out
that both are sons of Il-Ddi, and it is reasonable that this person died
(during the transfer from Babylonia to the Harran area?) and his sons
were annexed to two different families, as part of the reorganization
of these families and their resettlement in the new places. During this
process each family (originating in Gambulucol. II: 27) received 23
or 24 hectares of land for cultivation, probably as tenants: the owners
of these parcels are mainly Assyrian ofcials.
Family no. 362 is described in an unusual way: two brothers (Nabuallim and Inrta-ualli) are presented as the sons of Qun without
the family head being specied. The total (four) indicates that Qun
is not included, and is not the family head, and it is possible that he
has already died. One might conclude that in the eyes of the Assyrian
administration the two brothers lead this family. Two other sons are
included in it: Ilx-ab, an adolescent, and Il-dal, of ve spans height;
but it is not clear who is their father, Nab-uallim or Inrta-ualli.
223
For previous editions and collations see Johns, ADB, pp. 5058, no. 5, 21, Pl.
VIIIIX; Fales, 1973, pp. 5865, no. 21 with earlier bibliography; See also Oded, 1979,
p. 94; Radner, 1997, pp. 209, 223. For the personal names in this text, see PNA, pp.
51a(2), 86b(56), 106a(3), 403b(1), 417a, 511a, 513a(2+3), 513b(2), 514b(1), 549a(6),
557b, 679b, 806b(3), 843a, 900b(1), 902b(1), 935b(1), 936a, 937a(3), 1018a(1), 1101a.
Most names (14) are West Semitic (11), Semitic (1), or Aramaic (2); the others (9) are
Assyrian or Akkadian (6), or Akkadian/West Semitic (3).
134
chapter two
The summary in Col. II: 2528, ten farmers and 14 sons, probably
includes family no. 362, and therefore it summarizes nine families with
14 sons, an average of 1.55 sons per family.
no. 147):
I: 911
I: 1216
(Family no. 363:) Iddinia: [. . .] (and) Ulliu, 2 sons [of his].

(Family no. 364:) Dal-[. . .]: Sx-[. . .]; Sx-[. . .] (and) Nau[h-. . .]
[3 sons of his], a total of 4 (persons).
I: 1719 (Family no. 365:) Ahi-ngi [son of . . .]: Il-Nauh-[milk, his son],
II: 15e
(Family no. 366:) Sx-[. . .] son of Ha[. . .]: Kn; Il-[. . .] (and)
Iamani, 3 sons of his,
a total of 4 (persons), 1 house.
III: 12
(Family no. 367:) [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .]: [. . .]-Harrn, his son,
[a total of 2 (persons), 1] house.
III: 35
(Family no. 368:) [. . .]: [. . .] (and) [. . ., 2 son]s of his,
[a total of 3 (persons)], 1 house.
III: 68
(Family no. 369:) [. . .]: Sx-man[ni] (and) [ . . .],
[2] sons of his, [a total of 3 (persons)], 1 house.
III: 910 (Family no. 370:) [. . .]: Nauh-man[ni] (his son),
[a total of] 2 (persons), 1 house.
III: 1113 (Family no. 371:) [. . .]r: Sx-[. . .]; [. . .]-iababia; [. . .] (and)
ama-ahu-iddina, 4 [ sons of his].
III: 1618e (Family no. 372:) Salm[nu-. . .]: Han[nu, his son],
a total of [2 (persons)].
L. side I: 24 (Family no. 373:) [. . .]rah: Sx-manni, (his son of ) 3 (spans
height); [a total of 2 (persons). 1] house.
This list of bronzesmiths, ironsmiths, and possibly others contains only

fathers and sons.224 Scribe A uses two main patterns in this text: the
rst is a division of the information into four main components: (a)
fathers name (sometimes with a patronymic); (b) sons(s) name(s); (c)
total number of sons (X A.ME-see no. 366, 369) or the phrase
(A-) in cases where only one son is recorded (see, e.g., family no. 367);
(d) grand total of all persons (father and sons): PAB X (see family no.
366). The second pattern denes two persons as sons of a third one:
224
For previous editions and collations see Johns, ADB, pp. 6062, no. 7, Pl. XI;
Fales, 1973, pp. 6568, no. 22; see also Radner, 1997, pp. 152, 223. For the personal
names in this text, see PNA, pp. 66b, 457b(7), 491b, 503b(1), 522b(2), 610a(6), 936b,
1069a(7), 1102b(12).
135
PN1 (and) PN2, 2 sons (of ) PN3 (see II: 12, and probably left side,
III, 1415). These two pairs of brothers (whose father has probably
died) are not considered families in this book (see Introduction). Families
nos. 366371 are evidently counted by the rst pattern; the situation is
not clear in the descriptions of families nos. 363365 and nos. 372373,
but in these cases the scribe possibly used the same pattern (see the
restoration of these lines above, and note that in a few cases two names
are distinctly listed in one line, e.g., III: 6, 9, 11). Only once is a sons
height recorded (left side, I: 3 = family no. 373), but since the height
of many children is clearly attested in the summaries (I: 7; left side, II:
4) the height of other children may be listed at the end of other lines
(which are mostly broken).
Col. I, line 8 is still incorrectly understood: Johns suggested that
the number ve in this line may refer to homers of land or houses or
gardens;225 Fales read 5 E[RN.ME] = 5 lavoratori (?);226 and in
SAA XI 220 this line is just transliterated as 5 x [x x x], without any
interpretation. Since the beginning of this column is broken away, the
most reasonable restoration is 5 G[A PAB 14] = 5 suck[ling children,
a total (of ) 14 (persons)]. Note that a similar formulation is attested
in the summary on the left side, II: 34: the scribe counts rst the 22
adult ironsmiths; next the ten children by their height; and lastly the
grand total of adults and children (32). In both summaries no adolescents or sons of ve spans height are attested, probably because they
are included in the number of the adults (with one exception: talmdu =
apprentice, in s. II 3, who was probably also a young child). The ratio
of adults to young children in these two summaries is 1:1 in the rst
and 2.2:1 in the second (with only 0.45 young children per family).
But this is not the ratio of adults to children in these families (for the
reason mentioned above).
The grand total of sons in families nos. 363373 is probably 20, an
average of approximately 1.82 sons per family (one son is attested in
ve families: nos. 365, 367, and 372373; two sons in four families:
nos. 363364 and 368369; three sons in one family: no. 366; and four
sons also only in one family: no. 371).
225
226
Johns, ADB, p. 60.

Fales, 1973, p. 65.
136
chapter two

no. 148):
r. II: 2 (Family no. 374:) Hann, ditto, (and) 1 son, [. . .].
r. II: 3 (Family no. 375:) Nauh-. . ., ditto, (and) 2 [sons].
This text lists probably only fathers and sons (no females are attested).
In the rst line, the editors of SAA XI (following the previous editions
by Johns and Fales) proposed the restoration: 1 DUMU [x x x x x]; but
one should rather read these signs as the beginning of the personal
name Mr- . . ., since in lines 2 and 3 Scribe B counts each family
in a separate line, and line 4 also opens with a personal name. The
families listed in lines 23 include one or two sons (see above).227 It
is not clear if other families are recorded in lines 1 or 4 (see also the
following text).
no. 149):
II: 3
45
(Family no. 376:) Adda-hutn, farmer, (and) 2 s[ons].

(Family no. 377:) Idr-l, [farmer]; 1 son, (and) 1 [brother?].
This text might be a part of the previous one.228 It also bears Scribe
B-type characteristics, and probably also records only fathers and sons.
In line 5 the restoration 1[brother] is preferable to 1[woman], since
in the previous text as well as in the previous family only the father
and sons are listed. A son and a brother are listed separately in a same
family by Scribe B in another case (see family no. 348 above).
F. Deportees and Displaced Persons

Families nos. 378389 are attested in ND 2443+ (= Text no. 150). The
editio princeps was published by Parker in 1961,229 but there are still a few
unsolved problems so a new translation of it is presented below:
227
For previous editions and notes see Johns, ADB, pp. 6566, no. 10, Pl. XIV; Fales,
1973, pp. 4849, no. 12; Parpola, 1975, pp. 103, 106. See PNA, p. 454a(6).
228
For previous editions and notes see Johns, ADB, pp. 70, no. 19, Pl. XVI; Fales,
1973, pp. 40, no. 7; Parpola, 1975, pp. 103, 106. For the personal names in this text,
see PNA, pp. 46a(1), 507a.
229
See Parker, 1961, pp. 2728, and pls. XIV and XX.
137
Obverse (ND 2443)

I: 14
[. . .x persons, whom] Mannu-k-Ar [bro]ught into Dimeti;
I: 5
[. . . ] 10 persons, [. . .]. The rest is lost.
II: 1
(Family no. 378:) ii4 person[s];
II: 26
Quia[. . .]; a total of [1]6 bearded men (and) 46 persons,
whom Mannu-k-Ar brought into Sagbat, at the disposal of HilqIu.
II: 7
(Family no. 379:) Dugul-pn-ili 4 person[s];
II: 8
(Family no. 380:) Liphur-ilu
4 ditto (= persons);
II: 9
(Family no. 381:) [. . .]-a
II: 10
(Family no. 382:) [. . .]-ri
III: 19 A list of male names; IV: 1 [1?]4 bearded men (and)
IV: 13
105 persons, at the disposal of Bl-Harrn-blu-uur;
IV: 4
76 ditto (= persons), at the disposal of Hilq-Iu;
IV: 5
16 ditto (= persons), at the disposal of Bl-amka;
IV: 6
25 ditto (= persons), at the disposal of Ahi-dr;
IV: 7
34 ditto (= persons), at the disposal of il-Issr;
IV: 89
a grand total of 25 eunuchs (and) 44 bearded men;
V: 19
A list of male names; Break;
V: 1012 (= ND 2621) A list of male names?
V: 13
a total of 13 bearded men (and) 41 persons
V: 1417 the women Tang, Hazg, Mr-gubb, Ag-[. . .]
V: 1819 the woman [. . . -x] persons; the woman [. . .].
Reverse (= ND 2621)
r. I: 1
[PNx ditto (= person/persons)]
r. I: 2
[PNx ditto (= person/persons)]
r. I: 3
Adda-[. . .
x ditto (= person/persons)]
r. I: 4
[. . .]-li-[. . .
x ditto (= person/persons)]
r. I: 5
Harrniu
[ x ditto (= person/persons)]
r. I: 6
Uppahir-ilu
[ x ditto (= person/persons)]
r. I: 7
(Family no. 383:) Ilu-iddina
r. I: 8
(Family no. 384:) Matx
r. I: 9
(Family no. 385:) Sagb-Adda
r. I: 10
(Single person?:) Gir-Iu
1 ditto (= person);
r. I: 11
(Family no. 386:) Ia-sr
r. I: 12
(Single person?:) Ahu
1 ditto (= person);
r. I: 13
(Single person?:) Sagx
1 ditto (= person);
r. I: 14
(Family no. 387:) Saxlu
r. I: 15
(Family no. 388:) Adda-sr
r. I: 16
(Family no. 389:) Gurdu
r. I: 17
(Single person?:) Erba/Rba[. . .]1? ditto (= person);
r. I: 1820 Traces of personal names; the rest is lost.
r. II: 12 [ . . .] persons[at the disposal of Bl-Harrn]-blu-uur;
r. II: 34 [ . . .] Hilq-Iu. A grand total of 2[0]5 persons.
r. II: 58 Broken away.
r. II: 912 Hilq-Iu Bl-amka; Ahi-dr; il-Issr.
138
chapter two
The rest is broken, with one exception: x persons at the end of line
14.
This administrative document probably records the allotment of
deportees to Assyrian ofcials.230 It is not dated (or its date is lost), but it
is reasonable to suppose that it was composed in Calah in the last years
of the reign of Tiglath-pileser III, since the well known palace herald,
Bl-Harrn-blu-uur, who served as the ofcial eponym of 741 B.C.,
is probably mentioned in this text (IV 3; r. II 2). Moreover, Israelite
deportees are clearly listed in this document (see below), indicating that
it was composed after 733/2 B.C. Yet it should not be dated too many
years later, since Bl-Harrn-blu-uur was appointed as palace herald
before 772 B.C. (probably ca. 775 B.C.).231
At least two persons listed in this text bear Hebrew names with
the theophoric element Iu: Hilq-Iu (II: 6, IV: 4; r. II: 3, 9) and
Gir-Iu (r. I: 10).232 Both are probably Israelites exiled from Galilee
or Transjordan in 733/2 B.C.233 (for the position of these persons see
the discussion below).
Two main fragments of this text are preserved, but do not join: (1)
ND 2443; a fragment of ve columns of the upper part of the obverse,
with about 910 preserved lines in cols. IIV (the reverse of this fragment is mostly not inscribed, with only a few traces preserved in r. I and
III); (2) ND 2621; a fragment of two columns of the right edge of the
obverse (cols. IVV; the reverse of this fragment, cols. r. III, consists
of about 1520 preserved lines. See the restoration, above).
The people are described by the pattern PNx persons (used for
families; or PN1 person, used probably for the single people). This
pattern is clearly attested at the beginning of col. II, as well as in line
7 of this column and in r. II: 1, 4, and 13. So it is clear that persons
are listed and not other items.
230
In Parkers opinion, This list may relate to the distribution of prisoners of war
or the handing in to their ofcers of prisoners taken by individual soldiers (1961,
p. 28). Oded accepts Parkers conclusions and assumes with a high degree of probability that the text refers to captives given to certain functionaries (1979, pp. 112113).
For a similar opinion see Jursa, PNA, pp. 737b and especially 1060b. For this text see
also PNA, pp. 328a, 461b(2), 688b(2), 1173b(5) and the following notes.
231
For Bl-Harrn-blu-uur and the his Tell Abta stele see Grayson, 1993, pp.
2829; Grayson, 1996, pp. 241242 (=RIMA 3 A.0.105.2:9); Magen, 1986, p. 50;
Radner, PNA, p. 301ab(2); Mattila, 2000, pp. 2931.
232
For Hilq-Iu and Gir-Iu see PNA, pp. 425b, 472a.
233
For the deportations from these areas in 733/2 B.C. see Tadmor, 1994, pp.
8081, 279282; Galil, 1996, pp. 6970; Galil, 2001, pp. 6465.
139
Three main terms dene persons in this text: (1) a ri (L.SAG) =

eunuch;234 (2) a ziqni (L a NUNDUN) = bearded men; (3) naputu
(ZI) = souls, persons. The rst term is attested only once in, IV: 8, the
second four times (II: 3; IV: 1, 9; V: 13), and the third at least ten times
(I: 5; II: 1, 3, 7; IV: 2; V: 13, 18; r. 1, 4, 15; and its abbreviation
ditto occurs 18 times). In IV: 89 the scribe presents a total of 25
eunuchs vis--vis 44 non-eunuchs (bearded men); and in the other
cases (II: 3; IV: 1; r. I: 13) a total of bearded men and (their?) persons
is recorded (it is possible that bearded men are also listed in I: 1 and
5 before the totals of persons). Since these bearded men are brought
to a certain city by an Assyrian ofcial (Mannu-k-Ar) and allotted to
other ofcials, it is reasonable to suppose that these people are deportees;
however, the term a ziqni usually denes ofcials. One possible solution to this contradiction is that these are deportees appointed by the
Assyrian administration as ofcials, now being transferred to their new
places (a few with their families, others as singles) to serve under the
authority of the named senior ofcials. Note that the Assyrian ofcials
such as Bl-Harrn-blu-uur, Bl-amka, Ahi-dr, il-Issr and HilqIu are not dened by these three terms or by any other term but are
mentioned just by their personal names.
The relation between the totals and the detailed description is not
always clear: for example, IV: 89 is not a summary of IV: 47 since
the total of these lines is 151 while only 69 are listed in lines 89;
therefore, the ditto in these lines must refer to persons, and not to
eunuchs or bearded men. It is possible that the total of persons
is presented in the next line (IV: 10), but unfortunately it is lost. The
bearded men might be the family heads: the ratio of bearded men
and person in one case is probably 1:7.5 (IV: 12), and in the other
two cases it is about 1:3 (II: 3; V: 13; see the discussion below on the
average size of a family in this text, 3.66 or 4.67).235
Clearly, at least one deportee, namely Hilq-Iu already functions in
this text as an Assyrian ofcial, and probably not of a low rank, indicating that the deportees were placed by the king of Assyria in various
positions and on the various levels of Assyrian society (see Introduction).
234
For eunuchs in the Neo-Assyrian period see note 7, above. The Tell Abta stele
clearly indicates that Bel-Harran-bel-uur was a eunuch, but he is not dened as such
in ND 2443+.
235
In V: 18 a woman is probably presented as a family head, with an unclear
number of persons (see the restoration, above).
140
chapter two
Although it is possible that the family heads were already appointed,

and even assigned to a denite destination, these deported families are
still in transit, so they are dened in this book as deportees.
In sum, this administrative text probably documents the distribution
of deportees of various ranks to be resettled in different places and
serve under the authority of various ofcials.
A total of 12 families are preserved, consisting of 44 persons, about
3.66 persons per family. If the family head is not included in each of
these family totals, the grand total will be 56, making an average of
4.67 persons per family. Since this point is not certain these families
are dened as unclear. Moreover, if indeed the family head is not
included in each family total, three or four additional families, of two
persons each, are attested in r. I: 10, 1213 (and possibly also in r.
I: 17).236 The possibility that they are single people (or no families
consisting of a man with his brother/sister or slave/maid) is preferred
in this book, since in most cases the family head is in fact included in
the total of his family (see also Chapter III).
Most personal names of the family heads are West Semitic or
Aramaic.237
Families nos. 390397 are attested in ABL 212 (= SAA XV 181 = Text
no. 151):
8b10a
(Family no. 390:) Ubru; Nab-bni, his brother; 1 suckling son

(and) 2 women, a total of 5 (persons).
10b12a (Family no. 391:) Plihka-liblu; Nab-ahu-re, his brother; 1 son
(of ) 4 (spans height, and) 2 women, a total of 5 (persons).
12b13a (Family no. 392:) Zzia; 1 son (of ) 4 (spans height); 1 woman (and)
2 daughters, a total of 5 (persons).
13b14 (Family no. 393:) Harrn; Amat-Bl-uur (and) 3 women,
1516a (Family no. 394:) Naid-Eeriga; Nab-ndin-ahi, his brother (and)
3 women, a total of 5 (persons).
16b17 (Family no. 395:) Bl-lmur; Anu-re, his brother (and)
236
In that case the grand total of these 16 families will be 64 persons, an average
of four people per family.
237
For their personal names see PNA, pp. 50b, 386b(2), 431a, 529a(2), 663a(2),
745a, 1060b(1), 1063b(5), 10176(23), 1177ab.
141
1819a
(Family no. 396:) Iq (and) Rhnu, fowlers; 1 son (of ) 3 (spans

height), (and) 2 women, a total of 5 (persons).
19b20a (Family no. 397:)
Paltai (and) her sister, a total of 2 daughters (of ) Haznu.
20b25 A grand total of 12 strong men (ERIM.KALAG.ME),
1 son (of ) 5 (spans height), 2 sons (of ) 4 (spans height),
1 son (of ) 3 (spans height), 1 suckling son,
15 women, (and) 2 daughters,
a total of 35 men (with their) persons.
5 out of them are missing: 3 have been sold for money in Babylon.
This letter was probably sent to Sargon II by Ar-blu-taqqin, the

Assyrian governor of a place east of the Tigris, on the frontier with
Babylonia.238 It also mentions Il-iadax, governor of Dru (Tell Aqar)
in the time of Shalmaneser V and Sargon II (he is clearly attested as
governor of Dru in 724 B.C.).239 The text records the transfer of a
group of deportees (possibly from Babylonia), dened as the people
of Haznu: since his two daughters are listed among the persons of
this group, Haznu is probably not an ofcial responsible for these
people but their head or leader; he is not counted in the summary in
lines 20b25 nor is he listed in the detailed description, which records
35 people (including the two daughters of Haznu). The grand total
35 agrees with the detailed description, but the totals in lines 20b22b
count only 34 people: 12 men, 5 sons, 15 women and 2 daughters:
while the detailed description counts 12 men, 5 sons, 14 women and
4 daughters. It is possible that the scribe listed the rst daughter of
Haznu as a woman, but forgot her sister. In any event, Haznu is
excluded from these descriptions, and if he is added the grand total is
36 (it is less likely that he was executed, or managed to escape, before
his group was rounded up and prepared for deportation). The letter
species the difculties that befell this group during their transfer:
three were sold into slavery in Babylonia, probably by corrupt Assyrian
ofcials, and two other people are also missing (possibly also enslaved
or they made their escape). The group is now in the hands of Arblu-taqqin and he is sending them to the king.240 It is unclear who the
238
For previous editions of this text see Harper, ABL, no. 212; Mendelsohn, 1949,
p. 93; Fales, 1973, p. 120; Oded, 1979, p. 110; Radner, 1997, p. 125; Postgate-Mattila,
2004, p. 254.
239
For the activity of Il-iada in northern Babylonia see PNA, pp. 515b(1)516b;
FuchsParpola, 2001, pp. xvxx, xlxlv; PostgateMattila, 2004, pp. 235254.
240
Ar-blu-taqqin is often mentioned together with Il-iadax in other texts. For
142
chapter two
ve missing persons are, but it is reasonable to suppose that they are
included in the detailed description since the sender mentions them
only after counting the people (Five out of them are missing). The
relation of Il-iadax to these people is unclear: he might have claimed
that they are his servants or at least under his authority; but Ar-blutaqqin points out that only one servant/slave of Il-iadax is among
these people (r. 26), without specication of who this person is. The
sender of the letter also claims ignorance of what has been given to
the house of Il-iadax (26r. 2; another possible translation: we dont
know who has been sold in the house of Il-iadax ).
All families consist of 35 persons, an average of 4.5 persons per
family. Family no. 392 is probably nuclear, and no. 395 an extended
one (consisting of a couple and the brother of the family head); but
the types of the other families are unclear: the women in each family might be the wives of the family head and his brother (in families
nos. 390391, 394, and possibly also no. 396), or his wife, mother and
sister in family no. 393. Polygamy is very rare in this period, but each
family that has two or three women might be polygamous, although
other possibilities are more likely (see nos. 390391, 393394, 396).
The relation between the two males in family no. 396 is not clear:
they might be brothers or a father and an adult son (only in this case
are the professions of the persons attested). All personal names in this
text are Akkadian.241
Families nos. 398400 are attested in ND 451 (= CTN II 113 = Text
no. 152):
(Family no. 398:)
1
2
3
4
5
6
78
[PN;]
[ fPN], his wife;
Rabba-il, (his) s[on] (of ) 5 sp(ans height);
[I]lia-takara, (his) son (of ) 4 (spans height);
Gameu, (his) son (of ) 4 (spans height);
Ribsiru, (his) suckling son;
Ebsu, (his) daughter (of ) 4 (spans height),
(and) Sai, his maid, [. . .], a total of 8 (persons).
his activities see PNA, pp. 172b(7)173b; FuchsParpola, 2001, pp. xvxx, xlxlv;
PostgateMattila, 2004, pp. 247248.
241
For the personal names in this text, see PNA, pp. 99a, 111b, 319b(5), 462ab,
469ab(3), 562b(1), 798b(1), 809a(2), 851b(1), 923a, 980b, 982b, 1037a(1); Tallqvist,
1918, pp. 238b239a, 247a.

(Family no. 399:)
(Family no. 400:)
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
143
[. . . . . .; fPN], the wife . . .;

[. . .; . . .,] his [2 brother]s? (or: his [2 son]s;
[. . ., (his) son (of )] 5 sp(ans height);
[. . ., (his) nu]bile [daughter];
[. . ., (his) daugh]ter (of ) 4 sp(ans height),
[a total of x (persons)].
[. . . . . .; . . .]tal, the wife; The rest is broken away.
This administrative text originated in Calah, in the governors palace,

room S.242 Postgate suggested that this text lists: groups of prisoners or
deportees being handled by the Administration.243 He supposed that
the personal names in this text refer to the fathers of unnamed children
and that the total of eight in line 8 records only the children.244 Faless
proposal that the names refer to the children is more reasonable.245 The
scribe counts the names of all persons, male and female, and even the
name of a maid. In lines 27 and 1113 only one name of a child
is listed in each line with its height, but the relation of these children
to the family head is not indicated by a possessive sufx. However a
sufx is attested in other lines (1, 10 and 15).
Most personal names in this text are non-Assyrian and this supports
Postgates suggestion that it document deportees.246
Family no. 398 is a large family of eight persons: a couple with four
sons, one daughter, and one maid. The name of the family head is lost;
it is followed by the name of his wife, not his daughter (contra Postgate),
since daughters are usually counted after sons.
Family no. 399 is probably also a large family: the rst two lines of
its description (910) are fragmentarily preserved, and line 14 is lost.
It is clear that it includes two daughters and a son (lines 1113). The
last three signs of line 9 are unclear, but may relate to the wife of the
family head, and line 10 might list the names of two adult sons or
two brothers. So it probably consists of seven persons: a couple, three
children and two brothers (or two additional adult sons).
Family no. 400 includes at least a couple, but the rest of this text is
broken so its size and structure are unclear.
242
For previous editions and notes see Postgate, 1973, pp. 25, 139140, no. 113, Pl.
49; Fales, 1974a, p. 187, note 6; Oded, 1979, p. 15; Radner, 1997, pp. 152153.
243
Postgate, 1973, p. 25; for a similar opinion see Oded, 1979, p. 15.
244
Postgate, 1973, p. 140.
245
Fales, 1974a, p. 187, note 6.
246
For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 393a, 420b421a, 1027a, 1052b,
1063a. The names are West Semitic or Aramaic.
144
chapter two
Family no. 401 is attested in CT 54 401 (= SAA XVII 114 = Text

no. 153):
S. 12 Nab-re, his 2 sons, his 2 daughters (and) 2 two maids; [ . . ., together
with the people of Nab-re], I am hereby sending to the king, my lord.
This family is attested in a letter sent from Babylonia (Gambulu) to

the king of Assyria (probably Sennacherib) by Aqr-Bl-lmur. It is
not dated but was probably sent before 693 B.C.247 At the end of line
s. 1 there is room for a personal name possibly Nab-re himself or
an ofcial responsible for the transfer of this family to the king. At the
beginning of s.2 it is possible to read: [a-d ]i, and it is reasonable to
suppose that all the members of this family are listed in line s. 1 (a total
of seven persons). It is not clear what happened to the wife of Nabre, but one should not suppose that she is listed after his maids, at the
end of line s. 1. The circumstances surrounding this letter are vague:
it is not clear why this family was transferred from Babylonia and in
what way Hanna and Blet-taddina are connected to this case.248
Families nos. 402403 are attested in ADD 763 (= SAA XI 169 = Text
no. 154):
78
(Family no. 402:) Pui-Hru; 1 woman;
1011 (Family no. 403:) Fugitive: umaer[i], 1 woman,
(and) 1 (daughter of ) 3 [spans (height)].
This family is attested in a list of deportees probably from the reign

of Esarhaddon or Assurbanipal. The text lists 17 persons (9 males
and 8 females)12 single people and two families, who were given
to A[. . .]. After the opening lines (13) the scribe has recorded three
singles, a woman and two men (ll. 46), and later family no. 402: a
couple without children. The woman is clearly related to the man since
the single females are attested by their personal names. The second
family consists of three persons: a couple and a daughter (the grand
total in r. 56 clearly indicates that the child is a daughter and not a
son). The head of the second family is dened as a fugitive, as are
seven other persons in this text (about 40% of those listed in this text).
247
See Dietrich, 2003, pp. xxvii, xxxvi.

For previous notes on this text see Dietrich, 19671968, pp. 193, 195199, 228;
Dietrich, 1979, Pl. 98; see also PNA, pp. 121b(1)122b, 297a(1), 449b(3), 826a(3);
Dietrich, 2003, pp. xxvii, xxxvi.
248
145
The deportees clearly originate in Egypt since most personal names

are Egyptian.249
no. 155):
13,5 (Family no. 404:) Rmtu; third man; 3 sons; 2 women;
[1 dau]ghter (and) 1 son of a sister [ . . .];
68
(Family no. 405:) Kiribtu, [. . .], (and) 1 woman; . . .1 [slave];
911 (Family no. 406:) La-abi, cavalry(man); 2 slaves (and) 2 women,
These families are attested in a list of deportees with their animals

from various areas including Babylon and Uruk. The scribe counts ve
groups: three families and two non-families, the latter being a man with
his slave (1314) and two Urukites, probably single persons (r. 12).
At least two family heads are former cavalrymen or the third man
probably on the chariot; they may be taken into the Assyrian army or
administration to serve a similar function. But now they are in transit,
and therefore are listed as deportees in this book. They own property,
including slaves, camels, and donkeys: the rst family owns at least a
camel and a donkey; the second a camel and a donkey and probably
a slave (see below); and the third owns two slaves and four donkeys
(the grand total of the donkeys in line r. 4 is a scribal mistake). Note
that 20% of the people in this text are slaves. A total is missing in line
8, but the grand total 16 in line 12 clearly indicates that family no.
405 consists of three persons: a couple with a male, probably a slave (1
L[.ARAD]). The two women in the rst family might be this mans
wife and sister, since his sisters son is clearly attested in line 3. Family
no. 406 consists of ve persons: a male with two females and two slaves
(listed before the women). The women might be his wives, but since
polygamy is rare, the second female may be his mother or sister (and
it is also possible that the family head is unmarried and the women
are his mother and sister). The text is not dated and was probably
composed in the 7th century B.C.250
249
See PNA, pp. 1001b, 1002ab, 1170b(3), 1178b.

For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 295b(14), 619b(5), 647b(10),
1092a(3), 1048b(30).
250
146
chapter two
Family no. 407 is attested in ADD 891 (= SAA XI 154 = Text no.
156):
111 Bl-iddin son of Bl-ahhu, architect;
Rmt-Gula, his son; Qunnabatu (his wife?);
Inqia, Kullia, Adrtu (and) Bitt, a total of 4 daughters of his,
a total of 7 (persons), family of the house of Arad-Nergal.
This family is attested in a list of deportees from Babylon and Cutha.

All people are listed by their names; the rst woman is probably a
wife, since the total lists four daughters. The text is not dated and was
probably composed in the 7th century B.C.251
no. 157):
16
(Family no. 408:) [. . .]-hi-hi-[. . .], [. . .]; his wife; [his . . .] son; his
second
son, [ . . .]; his young daughter, his two nubile
(daughters), a total of 7 persons.
712 (Family no. 409:) Mnu-a[hi], farmer; his wife; [his] 2 son[s]; [1] young
(daughter); a daughter of his (of ) 4 spans (height);
a son (of ) 3 spans (height); his second [son], weaned;
[a total of 8] persons.
1316 (Family no. 410:) [. . .]nu-ili, farmer; his [wife]; his adolescent son;
[a son/daughter (of ) x] spans (height);
[a son/daughter (of ) x] spans (height);
Rest is broken away.
r. 14 (Family no. 411:) [. . .]-a[ma]; (his) weaned [son/ daughter]; (and his)
suckling [son/ daughter, a total 3 persons];
r. 45
a grand total of 29 (1 less than 30) persons.
This text probably documents deported families. Since only the family
heads are listed by their personal name, the person attested in r. 1
must be the head of the last family. The wife is mentioned in the
rst two families after the family head, and before the sons, so it is
reasonable to read his [wife] at the beginning of line 14. The last
group is a single-parent family of three persons: a father with his two
small children: one weaned and one suckling. The description of the
251
For the personal names of the members of this family see PNA, pp. 53b-54a,
282a(7), 313a(28), 349a, 544b(2), 636a, 1018ab, 1046a. The names of the parents
and the son are Akkadian but the daughters bear probably West Semitic names. For
other personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 418, 1091b(3).
147
children in family no. 409 is mixed: the sons and the daughters are
counted by their size, but it is not clear if a similar order was used in
the description of the rst family. Moreover, the scribe distinguished
between the young (TUR) and the nubile daughters of this family;
since the TUR is mentioned rst, she might be the elder one. This text
probably counts ve groups of deportees: families no. 408411, and
an additional group, probably also a family that was recorded at the
end of the obverse, (the edge) and the beginning of the reverse. The
grand total is 29, but only 23 persons are mentioned in the preserved
lines: seven of the rst family, eight of the second, ve of the third,
and three of the last; six persons are lost, and since it is unlikely that
the fourth family consisted of 11 persons, these persons are probably
included in the fourth group/family and in the lost one recorded after
it. All families are nuclear: no. 408 consists of seven persons: a couple
with two sons and three daughters. All daughters are probably adults
but still at home. Family no. 409 consists of eight persons: a couple
with six children: four sons and two daughters. Three of the children
are probably adults, and the other three small: two of them are of
4 and 3 spans height, and the third is a weaned child. The size and
structure of family no. 410 is unclear since the text is broken, but it
includes at least a couple with three children: one adolescent and two
small ones of unclear age. Most personal names are lost or fragmentarily
preserved: the only one that can be reconstructed is Mnu-a[hi], the
head of family no. 409.252
no. 158):
12
34
56
56
(Family no. 412:)

(Single persons =)
(Family no. 413:)
(Family no. 414:)
r. 12
2 son(s) of Abu-lmur; the wife of Abu-lmur;

Bb; Kubbu-ilx;
Iqbi-Issr; his wife (and) his 3 daughters;
Qurdi-Issr, confectioner; his 3 sons; his wife
(and) his [daughter];
a grand total of 17 persons
who are not (inscribed) on the writing-board.
This text is a list of deportees who for an unclear reason were not
inscribed on the writing-board. This group was probably part of a larger
252
See PNA, p. 753b(5).
148
chapter two
one. The grand total (17) is mistaken, since the detailed description
counts only 16 persons; it is possible that the scribe included Abu-lmur,
although only his two sons and wife are attested. The text lists three
families and two single people, who are recorded between the rst two
families. Only in one case is the profession of the family head given
(a confectioner, head of family no. 414). The scribe counts the sons
before the women, and the wife before the daughters. All families are
nuclear: no. 412 seems to be a single-parent family of a woman and
her two sons; but Abu-lmur should be added as the father of this
family and it is possible that he was recorded on the writing-board.
The unique description of this family indicate that Abu-lmur is still
alive and is regarded as this familys head; were he dead, the scribe
would enumerate this family differently: one of the sons would be
presented as the head of the family and listed by his personal name,
and its other members as his brother and mother. No. 413 is the only
family whose size and structure are clear: it consists of ve persons,
a couple with three daughters. Family no. 414 consists of six people: a
couple with three sons and probably a daughter. Most personal names
in this text are Akkadian.253
no. 159):
2
(Family no. 415:)
(Family no. 416:)
4
5
(Family no. 417:)

(Family no. 418:)
6
7a
7b
8
910
(Family no. 419:)

(Family no. 420:)
(Family no. 421:)
(No-Family:)
1112
[. . .]; his [wife]; his daughter; [his] mother (and)

[his . . .];
[. . .]umu; his mother; his brother; his son (and) [his
daught]er;
[. . .]na; his wife (and) his son;
[. . .]mu; his wife; his mother; his brother (and) his
sister;
[. . .]-abi; his mother; his wife (and) his 2 sons;
[. . .]ri (and) his wife;
Zarhi-ili; his mother (and) his female slave;
[. . .], (and) his female slave;
Zizibiu freed [t]hese (people, and) bequeathed them to
hi[s] daughters.
[. . .] as he approached the king, [ . . .]aiu, the nobleman,
[. . . . . .\ . .].
The rest is broken away.

253
For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 17b(6)18a, 250b(3), 562a(2),
631b(9), 1024a(23).
149
Zizibaiu freed 30 persons and bequeathed them to his daughters.

The person whose people have been freed approached the king and
complained against Zizibius crime.254 There may be a conict between
two ofcials. The text is divided by three horizontal lines and is fragmentarily preserved; its left side, the beginning and end are missing.
Its rst and last parts probably describe the previous owners of these
people. Eight groups are listed: seven families and one no-family: a
man with his maid. Only the family heads names are listed, but all
are lost except Zarhi-ili.255 No totals are attested, but in most cases the
size of the family is clear. The family members are not listed in a xed
order: in three or four cases the wife is listed after the family head (ll.
45, 7 and possibly also 2), but in line 6 the mother is recorded
before the wife. Most families are extended ones and consist of two
to ve persons (an average of four persons per family). Five out of
seven families include the mother of the family head: in two of them
a brother or a brother and sister are listed (no. 416, 418, and possibly
also 415). The presence of the mother probably indicates that the
couples were relatively young, a possibility also deduced from the fact
that only a few children are attested in this text (six, less than one per
family). Nos. 416 and 421 are single-parent families: the latter one
includes an unmarried male with his mother and maid; the former is
an extended family of ve persons: a man with his mother, brother,
and two children. The wife has died or was divorced. All other families
are monogamous (Nineveh, no date).
Family no. 422 is attested in CT 53 321 (= SAA XI 200 = Text
no. 160):
1
2
3
4
5
[. . . . . .] x [. . . . . .]
[. . . . . .]-si-[. . . . . .]
[. . . . . .]; Pn-Ar-[. . .]
[. . . Ur]ad-Issr, a toal of 3 [sons/persons];
[. . . 1 s]on, suckling, 2[+x women/daughters]. The rest is broken away.
This small fragment documents at least one family, as clearly attested

by the suckling son listed in line 5. There are a few possible ways to
interpret this text: (1) Line 5 counts a family of at least four persons: a
male with a suckling son and at least two females (women or daughters).
254
255
For a similar interpretation of this text see SAA XI, pp. xxviiixxix.
For this name see Tallqvist, 1918, p. 247a.
150
chapter two
The persons counted in ll. 14 have no relation to this family, and the
total 3 in line 4 refer to three single males or to another family. (2)
All persons listed in these lines are members of one large family of at
least seven people: a couple with four sons and at least two daughters.
At the beginning of line 5 the personal name of the suckling son is
listed; the total 3 in line 4 refers to three sons of this family, including
Pn-Ar-[. . .]256 and [Ur]ad-Issr; and the parents of these children
are listed in the previous line.
Family no. 423 is attested in CT 53 325 (= SAA XV 309 = Text
no. 161):
1
[PN, ado]les[cent (son/daughter)]; = [ x x x x x x a-]hur-[tu/ti];
2-3 [PN, a son/daughter (of )] 4 spans (height); [. . . . . .], a total of 7 persons.
This fragment of a letter from Nineveh, documents a deported family

of seven persons entrusted to a bodyguard. It includes at least two
children, of whom the rst is an adolescent (for my new proposed
restoration of line 1 compare, e.g., SAA XI 173: 8, 14).
Family no. 424 is attested in CT 53 604 (= SAA XV 303 = Text
no. 162):
23 [PN;] her daughter; [. . .].
This fragment of a letter originating in Nineveh probably documents

people whom the king transferred (see line 5). It lists a few groups of
persons including a single-parent family of at least two persons: a female
whose name is lost and her unnamed daughter. The other two groups
are [. . .]bi with his people (line 1); and a few males listed in lines 34,
probably not related to the rst two groups. It is not clear if an additional
member of this family is attested at the beginning of line 3.
Families nos. 425426 are attested in K 14233 (= SAA XI 199 = Text
no. 163):
23 (Family no. 425:) [. . .r]a-nu-u; [his 2 sons/brothers]; 1 woman;
(and) 1 maid, a total of 5 (persons);
45 (Family no. 426:) [PN]; his 2 sons; (and) [1 daug]hter or [1] woman;
a total of 4 (persons). The rest is broken away.
256
See PNA, p. 985a(3).
151
This fragment lists a few families. No. 425 consists of ve persons: a
couple, a maid, and probably two sons or brothers; no. 426 consists
of four persons: a father, his two sons, and a female, probably a wife
or a daughter (in both cases there is room for two or three additional
signs at the beginning of line 5, but the total clearly indicates that this
space was not inscribed). Nineveh, date lost or not dated.
no. 164):
2 (Family no. 427:) [. . .]; his wife; (break)
r. 3 (Family no. 428:) [. . .]-nu, gardener (and) his wife.
This fragment documents at least six farmers and two gardeners (single
people and family heads). Since the text is broken it is not clear if
children (or others) are also included in the rst family. Nineveh, date
lost or not dated.
no. 165):
2 (Family no. 429:) Ahu-iddina; 1 son, (and) [his] wife, [a total of 3 (persons)];
3 (Family no. 430:) Bss (and her) 3 children, a total of [4 (persons)];
4 (Family no. 431:) Sagb (and her) child, a total of 2 (persons).
This text documents at least 16 persons (probably deportees): three families and seven single people (four males and three females). The heads
of the two last families are women (possibly widows), and these families
also include one or three children. The rst family is a nuclear one of
three persons, a couple with a son. Nineveh, date lost or not dated.257
Families nos. 432433 are attested in K 20348 (= SAA XI 195 = Text
no. 166):
56 (Family no. 432:) [. . .]su, shepherd; [. . .]; [. . .]; 2 weaned son(s),
(and) 2 [suckling so]n(s) or 2 dau[ghters];
7
(Family no. 433:) [. . .; 1 son (of )] 4 (spans height, and)
1 son (of ) 3 (spans height).
257
For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 76a(24), 276b(7), 1061a(12).
152
chapter two
This text lists single males and families. Nineveh, date lost or not dated.
The rst family consists of at least ve persons: a shepherd with his
four children, these being two weaned sons and two suckling sons or
two daughters. The copy in SAA XI, p. 210 distinctly indicates that
two weaned sons are included in this family and not [x+]1 (contra
SAA XI, p. 117). Since sons of four and three spans height are
attested in line 7 it is clear that they are members of another family.
It is possible that the shepherds wife is listed at the end of line 5, and
that additional children are counted at the beginning of line 6. So the
total of this family might be seven or even more persons. The second
family is a single parent one and probably consists of three persons:
a father with his two small sons, of four and three spans. Only the
personal names of the family heads and the single male are listed in
this text, but most lost.
Family no. 434 is attested in K 18317 (= SAA XI 196 = Text no.
167):
23 [. . .]-Issr, eunuch, (with) his mother, a total of 2 (persons).
This small fragment documents deported eunuchs, each with his

mother or his woman, probably his maid. The eunuch [ . . .]-Issr
with his mother are counted as a family, but the others are considered
no-families. The eunuchs are listed by their personal names, and the
women are unnamed. The only name fully preserved is Hamatiu.258
Nineveh, date lost or not dated.
G. Recipietents of Rations
Families nos. 435438 are attested in A 1182 (= StAT 2 11 = Text no.
168):
1 (Family no. 435:) [6 seahs (and) 5 (q) Bl-lxi] (and) her daughter,
Hammia;
2 (Family no. 436:) [3 seahs (and 5 q)
t]i-aht (and ) her daughter;
3 (Family no. 437:) [3 seahs
Aia]-lmur (and) her daughter;
8 (Family no. 438:) [4 seahs (and) 5 (q) Attar]-ail, (and) her daughter.
258
For this name see PNA, p. 446b(3).
153
This fragment is a part of a monthly ration list of barley originating

in Aur in archive N4. It possibly joins VAT 8680: 18 ff., a text dated
to 615*vi. The scribe uses a xed pattern in this fragment, with only
one exception: in line 1 he lists the personal name of the daughter
while in the other cases the daughters are unnamed. So it is reasonable
to suppose that Hammia is the daughter of Bl-lxi, and she is also
attested as her daughter in another unpublished text (VAT 8674: 17
= text no. 174, 614*ii). Bl-lxi and an unnamed daughter of hers
are also attested in the following unpublished texts: VAT 8669: 16
(615*ix = text no. 170); VAT 8586: 15 (615*xii = text no. 171);
and possibly also in VAT 8681: 16 (614*i = text no. 173). ti-aht
and her daughter are also attested in three other texts: VAT 8669: 17
(615*ix = text no. 170); VAT 8586: 16 (615*xii = text no. 171);
and VAT 8674: 18 (614*ii = text no. 174); after Bl-lxi and her
daughter and before Aia-lmur and her daughter (see VAT 8669: 18;
VAT 8586: 17, and VAT 8674: 19). Attar-ail with her daughter is
also listed in the same texts (see VAT 8669: 23; VAT 8586: 22; VAT
8674: 24).259
Families nos. 439442 are attested in KAJ 243 (= VAT 8833 = Text
no. 169):
1
(Family no. 439:)

[4 BN 5 M. k]i-qi-lu-t 2 DUMU.M
[4 seahs (and) 5 (q)K]iqillutu (and her) 2 daughters;
[6 BN] M.D-tAMA 2 DUMU.M.ME
[6 seahs]Bntu-ummi (and her) 2 daughters;
[4 BN 5 M].il-u-t DUMU.M-sa
[4 seahs (and) 5 (q)Iltu (and) her daughter;
[4 BN 5 M.a-lim]-t[ DU]M[U.M-sa]
[4 seahs (and) 5 (q)alim]t[u, (and) her dau]gh[ter].
This fragment, published by Ebeling in 1927 only in cuneiform, is a

part of a monthly ration list of barley originating in Aur in archive
N4. The quantities of grain and the date are lost. All the daughters in
this fragment are unnamed, and the scribe uses two main patterns: 2
DUMU.M / 2 DUMU.M.ME or DUMU.M-sa. Family no. 439 is
also attested in another unpublished text (VAT 8674 r. 1 = text no. 174,
614*ii) with four stu and ve q. Kiqillutu and her two daughters
are probably also listed in two other texts: VAT 8586: r. 1 (= text no.
259
For the personal names in this text see PNA, pp. 91a, 234b, 320b, 448a(3).
154
chapter two
171, 615*xii), with ve stu and ve q, and in 8665: r. 1 (= text no.
176, date lost).260 Family no. 440 is also attested in ve other unpublished
texts: VAT 8586: r. 10; VAT 8605: r. 5; VAT 8674: r. 10; VAT 8678
r. 7; VAT 8681 r. 1: 10 in most of them with six seah of barley.261 Iltu
(and) her daughter are also attested in other three text (VAT 8586
r. 13; VAT 8681 r. 4; VAT 8674 r. 13): in the last two they receive
four seah and ve q, and in the rst one only two seah.262 Family no.
442 is also attested in four other texts: VAT 8586: r. 15; VAT 8605
r. 10; VAT 8674 r. 15; VAT 8681 r. 6. They are always listed after the
woman Gula-ramt, so in a few items in PNA alimtu is presented as
Gula-ramts daughter;263 but according to the formulation of these
texts one should distinguish Gula-ramt from alimtu and her daughter,
since they receive separate rations.264 In VAT 8605 alimtu and her
daughter receive four seah and ve q of grain; in the other texts they
usually receive three seah.
Families nos. 443447 are attested in the following unpublished texts
which are presented below in a chronological setting (all of them
monthly ration lists of barley originating in Aur in archive N4):
VAT 8669 (615* ix = text no. 170); VAT 8586 (615* xii = text no. 171);
VAT 8664 (615*, month lost = text no. 172); VAT 8681 (614* i = text
no. 173); VAT 8674 (614* ii = text no. 174); VAT 8605 (date lost =
text no. 175);
VAT 8665 (date lost = text no. 176); VAT 8678 (date lost = text no. 177).
(Family no. 443:) 5 seahsBaq (and) her son.

This family is attested in six texts: VAT 8586: 8; VAT 8664: 10; VAT
8669: 9; VAT 8674: 9; VAT 8680: 10; and VAT 8681: 9.265
(Family no. 444:) 7 seahsNab-naxid, his wife (and) his son.
This family is attested in two texts: VAT 8586: 24 and VAT 8674
b.e. 26.266
260
For this family see PNA, pp. 410a, 619a.

For this family see PNA, p. 267ab(2).
262
For this family see PNA, p. 536b(1). It is clear that Iltu is not the daughter of
Issr-ilx, contra PNA, p. 536b(1); see also PNA, p. 572a(6).
263
See PNA, pp. 429b, 1166b(3).
264
For this interpretation of these texts see PNA, p. 357b.
265
For this family see PNA, p. 268ab(2).
266
For this family see PNA, p. 854b(29).
261
155
(Family no. 445:) 4 seahs (and) 5 qEnq (and) her daughter.

This family is attested in two texts: VAT 8586: 25 and VAT 8674
b.e. 27.267
(Family no. 446:) 4 seahs (and) 5 qAdad-bssunu, his wife (and) his son.
This family is attested only in one text: VAT 8695 r. 12. In four
other texts (VAT 8586 r. 18; VAT 8674 r. 17; VAT 8681 r. 8; KAJ
243 r. 18) only the son of Adad-bssunu is listed (with one seah and
5 q), but it is not clear if it is the same person, and if it is, why he
was separated from his parents.268
(Family no. 447:) 3 seah (and) 5 qBntu-abu-uur (and) her son.
This family is attested only in one text: VAT 8605 r. 13.269
11 of these 13 families are single-parent ones, consisting of only a
woman and her daughter (seven families, nos. 435438, 441442, 445),
or a woman with her son (two families, nos. 443 and 447), or with her
two daughters (two, nos. 439440). The other two families are nuclear
and consist of three persons: a couple with a son (nos. 444 and 446).
The grand total of these families is 30 persons, an average of 2.31 souls
per family. There is a wide diversity between the amounts received by
these families, and as shown above sometimes the same family receives
different amounts. Each person receives at least one seah, and the largest
amount per person is 3.25 seah. A woman with her daughter receive
usually 34.5 seah, but in one case the amount is 6.5 seah (family no.
435), an average of 2.1 seah per person; a woman with one son receive
3.55 seahs, an average of 2.125 seah per person; a woman with two
daughters receive in one case 4.5 or 5.5 seah and in the other 6 seah,
an average of 1.52 seah per person; and the nuclear families that
consist three persons receive 4.57 seah, an average of 1.52.3 seah per
person. There might be different reasons for this diversity of amounts,
such as the childrens age, the recipients occupations and more. The
dozens of single males and females also attested in this group of texts
receive similar amount of grain.270
267
For this family see PNA, p. 397b.

For this family see PNA, p. 24b(2).
269
For this family see PNA, pp. 265b266a.
270
See the previous items in PNA mentioned in the notes above, and see also PNA,
pp. 266b(2), 410a(1), and more.
268
CHAPTER II
APPENDIX A: THE TABLES
These tables summarize the conclusions of Chapter II. Each family

is presented by its number, source, full description of family members
(including its total), family type (see chapter IV), provenance and date
of the text, with additional notes concerning various issues including
the archive in which the text is included, Aramaic captions, childrens
height and age, alternative readings, and more. Each table reects the
information attested in each one of the seven working groups, with a
distinction between the clear and the unclear/broken texts.
The following abbreviations are used in these tables (for the abbreviation of the family types see chapter IV):
Ar. cap. = Aramaic caption; Ass = Assurbanipal; A. = Aur; at =
attach; B = btussu = young girl, nubile; BR = brother;
D = daughter; Dr-Kat. = DrKatlimmu; Esa = Esarhaddon; F =
father; FT = family type; fSl = female slave; G = a zizibi = suckling
child;
GA / GAB = see G; GS = grandson; GT = grand total; ina UGU(hi)
zizi = see G; M = mother; M.TUR = young girl; Nin. = Nineveh;
pir / pirsu = see U; S = son; S II = Sargon II; Sen = Sennacherib; Si
= sister; Sl = slave; S n. d. = sons not described as G, U, 3, 4, 5, a;
= a = a/uhurtu = young, adolescent, adult; T = total; TP III =
Tiglathpileser III; U = UD = pirsu = weaned child; W = wife;
3 = child of 3 spans height; 4 = child of 4 spans height; 5 = child of
5 spans height; 1 = one named person; 1 = one unnamed person.
32
27
28
29
31
22
24
26
41
42
43
46
47
48
49
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
17
22
25
26
27
28
29
31
36
38
40
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
11
14
17
18
19
20
No. of
Family
No. of
Text
ND 673: 35
StAT 2 101: 5
VAT 19872: 56
SAA VI 6: 12
SAA VI 52: 6
SAA VI 52: 7
SAA VI 52: 8a
SAA VI 52: 8b
SAA VI 53: 34
SAA VI 116: 3b4
O 3660: 6
SAA VI 96: 34
O 3706: 6, r 3
SAA VI 177: 34
SAA VI 110: 36
SAA VI 195: 35a
SAA VI 193: 3
SAA VI 193: 4
SAA VI 193: 6
SAA VI 86: 4a
SAA VI 229: 36
SAA VI 284: 23;
e1617
O 3709: 4
SAA XIV 64: 36
SAA VI 250: 3
SAA XVI 53: 4
SAA XVI 53: 56
SAA VI 294: 1
SAA VI 294: 2
SOURCE
(2)
3
(2)
(3)
(2)
(2)
(4)
6
(2)
(3)
7
3
5
(2)
(2)
[2]
(2)
(3)
4
(2)
(10)
7
6
2
2
[2]
(2)
3
2
1
1
1
[1]
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
[1]
[1]
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
[1]
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
[1]
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
4
1
1
2
1
1
2
BR
Si
Sl
Table 1: Slave Families
A4
A2
A4
A4
A4
A1
A2
A2
A5
A2
A2
A2
A2
A1
A1
A5
A4
A4
B2
A1
C2
B3
A2
A1
A1
A4
A1
A3
A4
FT
GT: 6
GT: 5
Hand (700670)
her D = 3
Abi-rah
Silim-Affur (680670)
Ar. cap.: brh
Hand (700670)
her D
Hand (700670)
+ his brothers 2 sons
Sx-maxd (683680)
Mufalim-Issr (742713)
eumma-ilni (709680)
eumma-ilni (709680)
eumma-ilni (709680)
eumma-ilni (709680)
eumma-ilni (709680)
Nab-tuklatxa
Archive: N 25
NOTES
(Continued on next page)
Maxallnte, 670
Nineveh, 669
Nineveh, Esa
Nineveh, Esa
Nineveh, Esa
Nineveh, end Esa
Nineveh, end Esa
Calah, 800
Affur, 744
Affur, 727
Nineveh, 713
Nineveh, SII/Sen
Nineveh, SII/Sen
Nineveh, SII/Sen
Nineveh, SII/Sen
Nineveh, SII/Sen
Nineveh, 700
Maxallnte, 700
Nineveh, 695?
Maxallnte, 693
Nineveh, 684
Nineveh, 681
Nineveh, 681
Nineveh, 681
Nineveh, 681
Nineveh, 681
Nineveh, Sen
Nineveh, 675
Nineveh, 671
PROVENANCE OF THE
TEXT AND DATE

157
58
59
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
73
74
75
76
37
38
41
42
43
44
45
50
51
48
49
46
55
56
57
SAA XIV 16: 34
BATSH 6 56: 56
SAA VI 345: 36
SAA XIV 65: 1
SAA VI 319: 34
SAA XIV 24: 56;
s. 12
BATSH 6 46: 2
ND 3426: 45
VAT 9582: 4
VAT 9582: 5
SAA XIV 146: 2a
SAA XIV 146: 2b
SAA XIV 146: 3
SAA XIV 146: 4
StAT 2 140: 3
BATSH 6 53: 34
SAA VI 342: 3b4

SAA VI 343: 5a
SAA VI 343: 5b7
SAA XIV 5: 24
52
35
36
SAA XIV 4: 3
SAA XIV 5: 1
50
51
33
34
SOURCE
No. of
Family
No. of
Text
Table 1 (cont.)
[2]
(2)
(2)
2
(2)
(3)
(2)
(2)
(3)
(2)
(2)
2
[3]
2
2
(2)
(2)
2
(3)
(4)
(2)
(2)
1
1
1
1
1
1
[1]
1
1
[1]
[1]
1
[1]
[1]
[1]
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
[1]
BR
Si
Sl
Milki-nr (668666)
Milki-nr (668666);
S = 4
Milki-nr (668666);
2S = 3, pirsu; GT: [6]
Rmanni-Adad (671660)
GT: 5; AMAgunu
NOTES
A5
A4
A4
A4
A4
A2
A1
A1
A3
A3
A4
A4
Archive: N 29; S = 3
eulmu-farri (667630*)
D = ina UGU zi-zi
D = M[.T]UR DUMU.
M-[sa]
Nnuiu (641*633*)
GT: 7
her S; GT: 5
S = 3
A2
A5
A1
A4 Luqu; Ar. cap.: dnt xmtx..w brth
A1
A1
A5
A3
A1
A3
FT
Nineveh, 639*
Dr-Katlimmu, 639*
DrKatlimmu, 650
Calah, 649
Affur, 649
Affur, 649
Nineveh, 642*
Nineveh, 642*
Nineveh, 642*
Nineveh, 642*
Affur, 641*
Dr-Katlimmu, 641*
Nineveh, 668660?
Nineveh, 668
Nineveh, 665
Nineveh, 659
Nineveh, 671660?
Nineveh, 668660?
Nineveh, 668660?
Nineveh, end Esa/Ass

PROVENANCE OF THE
TEXT AND DATE
158
chapter two
81
82
83
84
85
86
88
90
91
92
93
94
96
97
99
100
101
108
110
55
56
57
58
59
60
62
63
64
65
66
68
69
71
72
73
77
79
54
77
78
80
52
Table 1 (cont.)
BATSH 6 97: 3
SAA XIV 49: 34
VAT 9755: 1213
SAAB 9, 78: 45
BATSH 6 34: 45
SAA XIV 186: 3
SAA XIV 337: 5
SAA XIV 196: 2
VAT 8232: 8
SAA XIV 34: 48
SAA XIV 37: 15
SAA XIV 38: 812;
s. 2
SAA XIV 155: 67
SAA XIV 155: 910a
ARU 70: 45
SAA XIV 165: 12
SAAB 5 17: 56
VAT 20363: r.4
BATSH 6 91: 45
SAA XIV 424: 47

SAA XIV 424: 810
BATSH 6 66: 3; a
(2)
3
2
2
3
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
[2]
(2)
(2)
(2)
(4)
(2)
(2)
(2)
5
4
(2)
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
A4
A2
A4
A4
A2
A1
A1
A1
A1
A1
A4
A4
A4
A4
A4
A4
A1
A1
A1
A2
B2
A4
S = ina UGUhi zi-zi
Kakkullnu (630*617*)
SAAS 6, 226, note 1253
Archive: N 15
D = pirsu
S = GA
Archive: N 9
Ar. cap: xgt g{rdnbw
S = 5; S = 4 or 3
S = pirsu
Ar. cap: wbrth; D = GA
Dr-Katlimmu, Ass or later

Nineveh, Ass or later
Nineveh, Ass or later
Affur, After Ass
Dr-Katlimmu, After Ass
Nineveh, 7th Cen?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, 627*
Nineveh, 627*
Affur, 625*
Nineveh, 622*
Affur, 622*
Affur, 616*
Dr-Katlimmu, Ass or later
Affur, 631*
Nineveh, 630*
Nineveh, 630*
Nineveh, 629*
Nineveh, 638*
Nineveh, 638*
Dr-Katlimmu, 631*

159
39
44
25
30
33
20
21
23
SAA VI 57: 34
30
32
15
16
34
35
37
SAA VI 193: 5
SAA VI 57: 12
23
24
13
22
SAA VI 40: 4
SAA VI 40: 5
SAA VI 41: 47
19
20
21
SAA VI 266: 12
SAA VI 297: 67
SAA VI 86: 1b2a

SAA VI 86: 2b3a
SAA VI 111: 37
Ar. Cap. 1+6 =
SAA VI 89: 35
SAA VI 172: 34
SAA VI 128: 23
SAA VI 40: 3
16
18
SAA VI 130: 5b6a

SAA VI 130: 6b
14
15
10
12
SAA VI 130: 34a

SAA VI 130: 4b5a
12
13
SOURCE
No. of
Family
No. of
Text
[?]
4
7
7
10
?
10
3?
?
6
4
?
?
5
3
?
?
7
1?
[1]
[1]
1
[1]
[1]
[1]
1
[1]
1
[1]
1
[1]
1
1
1
1
1
[1]
[1]?
[1]
[1]
2
?
1
1?
1
?
1
?
[1?]
1?
2
2
2?
2
1
1?
?
[1]
2
2
1
1
BR
Si
[3]
Sl
Table 2: Slave Families: Broken/Unclear Texts
T = [23]; GT: 17;

FT = A1 or B2
One or two families?
eumma-ilni (709680)
PN 5 ZI.MEe
PN 6 ZI.MEe
[PN] 4 ZI.MEe; GT: 15
eumma-ilni (709680)
T (4); One or two families?
Ahi-all (687681); =
T or GT: 6
T = [34?]; FT = A or B
FT = A2 or B2
S = GA; 5 BR or D?
FT = A2 or B1 or B2
D or M or Si; his two W
T = [45]; FT = A
FT = A
Sx-maxd (663680)
2 D = pirsu; 2 S or 2 BR?
his two W; FT = A2 or B2
Rmanni-Adad (671660);
T > (3); S or B; T or GT: 5
T = [3]?; FT = A2 or A3
T = [45]; FT = A2 or A3
2 f Sl. W or S or BR?
FT = A2 or A3 or B2
FT and NOTES
Nineveh, Esa
Nineveh, 671
Nineveh, Sen
Nineveh, Sen
Nineveh, 680
Nineveh, Sen
Nineveh, 681
Nineveh, Sen
Nineveh, 686
Nineveh, 685
Nineveh, 693
Nineveh, 693
Nineveh, 693
Nineveh, 696
Nineveh, 693
Nineveh, 696
Nineveh, 696
Nineveh, 696
Nineveh, 696
PROVENANCE
AND DATE
160
chapter two
72
79
87
89
95
98
102
103
104
105
106
107
109
111
112
113
114
115
116
47
53
59
61
67
70
74
75
76
77
78
80
81
82
83
84
85
StAT 2 119: 12
A 3660: 16
SAA XIV 247: 23

SAA XIV 213: 410
SAA XIV 326: 17
SAA XIV 337: 1
SAA XIV 337: 2
SAA XIV 337: 3
SA A XIV 475: 57
SAA XIV 414: 34
BATSH 6 185: 13
BATSH 6 200: 3
StAT 2 118: 3
StAT 2 137: 13
VAT 15538: 23
SAA XIV 155:

10b11
CTNMC 68 =
FNALD 18: 1114
BATSH 6 142: 35
BATSH 6 141: 12
SAA VI 256: 3
SAA VI 313: 45
SAA VI 342: 2b3a
54
60
61
SAA VI 266: 3
SAA VI 342: 12a
45
53
39
40
35
Table 2 (cont.)
4
?
[?]
[?]
?
?
?
?
[?]
5
[?]
?
?
?
?
(2)
?
5
(4)
?
(4)
[1]
[1]
[1]
1
[1]
[1]
[1]
1
1
[1]
?
1
[1]
?1
[1]
1
1
[1]
1
1
[1]
?
1
?
?
1
1
1
?
?1
1
1
?
1
?1
[1]
[1]
2
1
[1]
1
2
?
2
53
4
?
?
?
?
?
2
[1]
[1]
1
[1]
1
2
?
[?]
1
1
1
The relation of W to F & D is

unclear.
T or GT: 3; FT = A2 or A3
Archive: N 28; T > [4]
M.TUR-sa = pirsu; T = (23)
FT = A
T = [56]; FT = A or B
T = (46?); 1 S = 3
T = (56?); 1 S = pirsu
T (2)
T (2)
T (2)
T [5]; S or B; FT = A2 or B2
PN+[4 . . .] = 5 U[N. MEe]
1 or 2 D; T = [34]; FT = A2?
T (2); FT = A4?
Archive: N 25; T (4);
DUMU.MEe-g; FT = A2
Archive: N 25; FT = A2?
4 ZI.MEe; T (4)
FT = A1 or A3 or A5
T = [3]?; FT = A2 or A3
D = pirsu; S or BR?
FT = A2 or B2
S or BR?
FT = A2 or B2;
Iddxa; T (3)
RmanniAdad (671660);
M or BR?; FT = B1 or B2
S = pirsu: FT = A4
T (2)
T > (3); FT = A or B
Affur, ?
Affur, ?
Nin., 7th cen.

Nin., 7th cen.
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Dr-Kat., ?
Dr-Kat., ?
Affur, ?
Aff., Ass or later

Nin., Ass or later
Affur, 625*
Dr-Katlimmu,
644*/629*
Dr-Katlimmu,
634*
Nineveh, 627*
Nineveh,
671660?
Nineveh, 668?
Nineveh, 666
Nineveh, Esa
Nineveh,
671660?

161
92
93
96
89
88
87
86
SAA VI 245: 12
(2)
StAT 1 36: 1
(2)
VAT 19500: 4
(2)
SAA XIV 216: 46 3
128
131
132
135
(5)
(2)
(7)
(2)
(7)
(4)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(4)
(4)
SAA VI 81: 7
SAA VI 81: 8
SAA VI 97: r 23
SAA VI 97: r 4b
SAA VI 91: 4
SAA VI 91: 5a
SAA VI 91: 5b6a
SAA VI 91: 6b
SAA VI 91: 6c7a
SAA VI 91: 7b8a
SAA VI 245: 1011
SOURCE
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
No. of No. of
Text Family
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
[1]
3
2
1
1
1
2
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
D BR M
Si
Table 3: Pledged People

Sl
A1
A4
A4
A2
A2
A1
A2
A3
A2
A2
A2
B3
B3
B3
A2
FT
GT: 27
Dannia (676672);
2 M.TUR MEe-g
Dannia (676672)
Archive: N 33
Date: Sn-knu-di
GT: 7
NOTES
Nineveh, 672
Affur, 614*
Affur, PC
Nin., 7th cen.
Nineveh, 694
Nineveh, 694
Nineveh, 693
Nineveh, 693
Nineveh, 681
Nineveh, 681
Nineveh, 681
Nineveh, 681
Nineveh, 681
Nineveh, 681
Nineveh, 672
PROVENANCE
AND DATE
162
chapter two
129
130
133
134
90
91
94
95
No. of No. of
Text Family
SAA XIV 209: 12
SAAS V 28: 24,

1416
SAA XIV 181: 58
SAA VI 307: 6
SOURCE
[5]
(2)
[1]
[2]
BR
Si
Sl
Table 4: Pledged People: Broken/Unclear Texts
Rmanni-Adad
(671660);
F with W or S or D;
FT = A1 or A3
3 D or 3 fSl;
FT = A4
+ 1 S or BR or Sl;
FT = A or B
2 S or 2 BR?;
FT = A or B
FT and NOTES
Nineveh, 7th cen.
Nineveh, 7th cen.
Affur, 638*
Nineveh, 668
PROVENANCE
AND DATE

163
117
119
120
125
126
166
168
169
176
179
180
181
165
164
116
GEZER 1: 5
SAA XIV 229: 3
SAA XIV 345: 4
SAA XIV 254: 2
BATSH 6 180: 13
BATSH 6 180: 14
BATSH 6 180: 15
SAA VI 326:
8b10a
SAA VI 326: 10b11
SAA VI 50: 5b6

SAA VI 315: 46
150
159
112
SAA VI 90: 8
148
SAA VI 50: 45a
SAA VI 90: 6b7a
147
149
SAA VI 90: 6a
146
105
SAA VI 90: 5
145
104
SOURCE
No. of
Family
No. of
Text
(4)
(2)
3
(2)
3
3
2
(3)
4
(6)
(2)
(4)
(2)
1
1
[1]
1
2
[1]
1
1
1
1
BR
Si
Sl
Table 5: Land and People (A: Legal Transactions)
A2
A4
A2
A1
?
?
A
A2
A2
A4
B3
A2
A1
A2
A3
A5
FT
Nineveh, 668660?
Nineveh, 668660?
Nineveh, SII/Sen
Nineveh, 666
Nineveh, SII/Sen
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
PROVENANCE
AND DATE
Gezer, 651
Nineveh, 7th cen
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
X ZI.MEe PN Dr-Kat., ?
S = u-hur-t;
GT: 6
Ahi-all
(687681)
Ahi-all
(687681)
Ahi-all
(687681)
Ahi-all
(687681)
eumma-ilni
(709680)
GT: 9
Rmanni-Adad
(671660)
S = pirsu
S = u-hur-t
NOTES
164
chapter two
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
97
98
99
100
101
102
107
111
109
110
108
103
106
No. of
Family
No. of
Text
SAA XIV 3: 14
SAA VI 269: 12
SAA VI 269: 34
SAA VI 253: 4a
SAA VI 253: 4b5a
SAA VI 251: 34
SAA XIV 6: 1
SAA VI 149: 7
SAA VI 155: 78
SAA VI 169: 1214
SAA VI 163: 56
SAA VI 163: 79a
SAA VI 163: 9b10
SAA VI 173: 67
SAA VI 112: 13
SAA VI 37: 79
SAA VI 100: 5:6
SOURCE
?
?
(2?)
(3?)
?
?
5
?
?
(3?)
(3?)
(3?)
?
?
[1]
[1]
1
1
[1]
1
[1]
[1]
1
1
[1]
[1]
1
1
[1]
[1]
?
?
1
1
1
?
1
1
1
1
1
?
1
1
?
?
?
1?
1?
[1?]
4
2
3
?
1
?
BR
Si
Sl
Aplia (698683);
2S or 2BR or 2D etc.;
FT = A or B
eumma-ilni (709680);
3 men + 3 w[omen]+
1 son
= GT: 7. 13 families?
PN PAB X ZI.MEe
T > [4]
FT = A2?
FT = A2?
FT = A2?
T (3); FT = A2?
Sxmaxd (683680);
S or D = GA; T or
GT: 6
T > (5); 4 M.TUR MEe
T > (3); 2 M.TUR MEe
S = 4; FT = A3?
S = 3; FT = A2?
eadditu; T (2)
Milki-nr (668666);
T (2)
Milki-nr (668666);
T or GT; 10;
More than one family?
FT and NOTES
Table 6: Land and People (A: Legal Transactions): Broken/Unclear Texts
Nineveh, 679
Nineveh, 679
Nineveh, Esa
Nineveh, Esa
Nineveh, Esa
Nineveh, end Esa
or Ass
Nineveh, end Esa
or Ass
Nineveh, 689
Nineveh, 687
Nineveh, 686
Nineveh, 686
Nineveh, 686
Nineveh, 686
Nineveh, 685
Nineveh, Sen
Nineveh, 694
Nineveh, 698
PROVENANCE
AND DATE

165
SAA VI 334: 27b29a
SAA VI 334: 29b30
161
162
114
SAA XIV 265: 89

BATSH 6 180: 11
BATSH 6 180: 12
BATSH 6 180: 16
175
177
178
182
124
126
123
SAA XIV 168: r 2b3

SAA XIV 355: 1, 7
SAA XIV 399: 1b2a
SAA XIV 399: 2b3a
SAA XIV 399: 3b4a
SAA XIV 198: 15
167
170
171
172
173
174
118
121
122
SAA VI 341: 8b9a
163
115
SAA VI 314: 910a
160
113
SOURCE
No. of
Family
No. of
Text
Table 6 (cont.)
?
?
?
3
2
2
2
?
[1]
[1]
1
1
[1]
[1]?
[1]?
1
[1]
[1]
1
[1]
1?
1?
1?
[?]
[1]
?
1
D
?
BR
Si
Sl
Rmanni-Adad
(671660) T = (46);
W or BR?
Rmanni-Adad
(671660)
D or W?; FT = A
Rmanni-Adad
(671660);
GT: 8; FT = A
Rmanni-Adad
(671660);
T = (34); FT = A or B
T = (25)
D = GA; FT = A2?
FT = A1?
FT = A1?
FT = A1?
T(7)?; S = GA;
D = 4; 1 fSl
T = (2)?
T [3]?; X ZI.MEe
PN
T = [3]?; X ZI.MEe
PN
T = [2]?; X ZI.MEe
PN
FT and NOTES
Dr-Kat., ?
Dr-Kat., ?
Nineveh, ?
Dr-Kat., ?
Nineveh, 620*
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh,
668660?
Nineveh,
668660?
Nineveh,
668660?
Nineveh, 666
PROVENANCE
AND DATE
166
chapter two
127
187
186
185
184
183
No. of No. of
Text Family
SAA XI 232:
12
SAA XI 232:
34
SAA XI 232:
67
SAA XI 232:
r. 13
SAA XI 232:
r. 45
SOURCE
(2)
(3)
(5)
?1
1
BR
Si
Sl
Table 7: A Schedule of Land and People
A1
A2
A2
A2
A2?
FT
GT: 7
UNCLEAR.
T(3)?
NOTES
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
PROVENANCE
AND DATE

167
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
206
207
208
209
210
211
213
214
215
216
128
131
130
129
No. of
Family
No. of
Text
SAA XII 7: 7a
SAA XII 7: 7b8
SAA XII 16: 1
SAA XII 16: 2
SAA XII 16: 4
SAA XII 16: 5
SAA XII 17: 2
SAA XII 17: 3
SAA XII 17: 4
SAA XII 27: 6
SAA XII 27: 7a
SAA XII 27: 8a
SAA XII 27: 8b
SAA XII 27: 9a
SAA XII 27: 9b
SAA XII 27: 10b
SAA XII 27: 16a
SAA XII 27: 16c
SAA XII 27: 18b
SAA XII 27: 19a
SAA XII 27: 19b
SAA XII 27: 20a
SAA XII 27: 21b
SAA XII 27: 22
SAA XII 27: 23a
SAA XII 27: 23b
SOURCE
7
[3]
4
4
2
7
4
5
5
2
2
4
2
2
2
2
2
2
(3)
(4)
3
4
2
2
2
2
T
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
FT = A
GT: 10
FT and NOTES
FT = A2
FT = A
FT = A
FT = A1
FT = A
Sl
Si
2
3
1
1
BR
FT = A
FT = A
FT = A
FT = A
FT = A
FT = A
FT = A4
FT = A4
FT = A
FT = A1
Table 8: Royal Grants of Land or Tax Exemption to Ofcials
Nineveh, Adad-nrari III

Nineveh, Adad-nrari III
Nineveh, TP III ?
Nineveh, TP III ?
Nineveh, TP III ?
Nineveh, TP III ?
Nineveh, TP III ?
Nineveh, TP III ?
Nineveh, TP III ?
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
PROVENANCE AND
DATE
168
chapter two
131
217
218
219
220
221
222
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
235
Table 8 (cont.)
SAA XII 27: 23c

SAA XII 27: 24a
SAA XII 27: 24b
SAA XII 27: 24c
SAA XII 27: 25a
SAA XII 27: 25b
SAA XII 27: 35b
SAA XII 27: 36a
SAA XII 27: 36c
SAA XII 28: 36d
SAA XII 27: 37a
SAA XII 27: 37c
SAA XII 27: 38a
SAA XII 27: 38b
SAA XII 27: 39a
SAA XII 27: 39c
SAA XII 27 r. 16
2
2
2
3
2
2
4
6
2
4
6
12
4
2
5
2
4
1
1
1
[1]
1
1
1
1
1
[1]
1
1
1
1
1
[1]
[1]
FT = A
FT = A
FT = A
FT = A
FT = A
FT = A
FT = A
FT = A
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass

169
131
SAA XII 27: 12c13a

SAA XII 27: 1314
SAA XII 27: 20b

SAA XII 27: 26c
SAA XII 27: r. 3a

SAA XII 27: r. 17
SAA XII 27: r. 18
SAA XII 27: r. 19
SAA XII 27: r. 20
SAA XII 27: r. 21
212
223
234
236
237
238
239
240
SOURCE
204
205
No. of No. of
Text Family
2?+
2?+
2?+
3?+
2?+
2?+
[2?]
?
4
?
[1]
[1]
[1]
[1]
[1]
[1]
1
1
?
1
1
1
D BR M Si Sl
FT = A5 or B1
T = [45?]; 23 BR?;
FT = A5
[M-gu]
(T>3); [x] DUMU.MEega
FT = A4
(T>2)
(T>2)
(T>2)
(T>3)
(T>2)
(T>2)
FT and NOTES
Table 9: Royal Grants of Land or Tax Exemption to OfcialsBroken/Unclear Texts
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
Nineveh, Ass
PROVENANCE
AND DATE
170
chapter two
133
132
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
No. of No. of
Text
Family
SAA XII 87: r. 1

SAA XII 87: r. 2
SAA XII 87: r. 3
SAA XII 87: r. 4
SAA XII 87: r. 5
SAA XII 87: r. 6
SAA XII 87: r. 7
SAA XII 87: r. 8
SAA XII 86: 22a
SAA XII 86: 22b
SAA XII 86: 22c
SAA XII 86: 23a
SAA XII 86: 23b
SAA XII 86: 23c
SAA XII 86: 24b
SAA XII 86: 24c
SAA XII 86: 25b
SOURCE
5
7
3
3
3
6
5
4
3
15
4
3
4
2
5
3
3
2
2
2
3
W S D BR M Si Sl
1 [1] 1
1 1 2
1 1 1
1 2
1 1 1
1 1 4
1 1 1
1 1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
A2
A2
A2
A3
A2
A2
A2
A2
FT
S = a
2 S = a; U
S=U
2 S = a; U
S=U
4 S = 3 a; 1 GA
NOTES
Table 10: Royal and Private Votive Donations to Temples
Nineveh, Sen
Nineveh, Sen
Nineveh, Sen
Nineveh, Sen
Nineveh, Sen
Nineveh, Sen
Nineveh, Sen
Nineveh, Sen
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
PROVENANCE
AND DATE

171
134
133
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
No. of No. of
Text
Family
Table 10 (cont.)
SAA XII 86: 25c

SAA XII 86: 26a
SAA XII 86: 26b
SAA XII 86: 26c
SAA XII 86: 27a
SAA XII 86: 27b
SAA XII 86: 27c
SAA XII 86: 28a
SAA XII 86: 28b
SAA XII 86: 29a
SAA XII 86: 29b
SAA XII 86: 29c
SAA XII 86: 30b
SAA XII 86: 30c
SAA XII 86: 31a
SAA XII 86: 31b
SAA XII 86: 31c
SAA XII 98: 5a
SAA XII 98: 5b
SOURCE
7
3
5
4
4
4
10
3
5
2
2
7
4
4
14
2
2
3
3
T
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
W S D BR M Si Sl
FT = A
FT = A
PN 3 ZI
PN 3ZI
FT = A
FT = A
FT and NOTES
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, 683
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
PROVENANCE
AND DATE
172
chapter two
294
296
297
298
299
300
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
288
289
290
291
NO.
SAA XI 202 I: 1417

SAA XI 202 II: 34
SAA XI 202 II: 57
SAA XI 202 II: 1619
SAA XI 202 III: 811
SAA XI 202 III:1519
TEXT 136
SAA XI 201 I: 13
SAA XI 201 I: 47
SAA XI 201 I: 1315
SAA XI 201 I: 1617
SAA XI 201 I: 2529
SAA XI 201 I: 3031
SAA XI 201 I: 3234
SAA XI 201 I: 4144
SAA XI 201 I: 4547
SAA XI 201 II: 14
SAA XI 201 II: 1623
SAA XI 201 II: 2729
SAA XI 201 II: 3335
SAA XI 201 II: 3842
TEXT 135
SOURCE
5
4
6
4
[4]
[6]
2
5
5
2
6
3
2
3
(4)
4
8
4
4
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
[1]
1
2
1
1
2
1 1
1 1
S G U 3 4 5 D G U 3 4 5 B
Table 11: The Harran Census: A. Families
A2
A2
A2
A2
A, B, C
B23, C2
Scribe A
A5
A2; B; C1
A2
A5
A2
A2
A1
A2
A2
A2
C1;GS = 3
A2
A2
A3
Scribe A
M BR GS FT and NOTES

173
320
324
325
319
316
317
310
312
313
314
309
302
306
308
NO.
SAA XI 207 I: 16
SAA XI 207 r. II: 23
SAA XI 207 r. II: 4
TEXT 140
SAA XI 206 I: 1823
TEXT 139
SAA XI 205 I: 67
SAA XI 205 I: 1113
TEXT 138
(7)
(3)
(5)
5
2
SAA XI 203 I: 1213

[3]
SAA XI 203 IV: 1112
4
SAA XI 203 r. I: 26
5
= SAA XI 213 r. II: 5
SAA XI 203 r. I:1316 3
= SAA XI 213 r. II:910
SAA XI 203 r. I:1719 2
SAA XI 203 r. II:1417 6
SAA XI 203 r. IV: 12 [2]
SAA XI 203 r. IV: 35 3
TEXT 137
SOURCE
Table 11 (cont.)
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
1
2
1
1
1
1
2
?
2
3
1
2
1 1
A2; B; C2
A2
A2; B12; C2
Scribe B
B23; C2?
2BR = #
Scribe A
1+4 ZI.MEe
A3
Scribe A
A1
A2
A1
A2
A2
A1, B12
F+3ZI = 4
A, B, C
Scribe A
W S G U 3 4 5 D G U 3 4 5 B M BR GS FT and NOTES
174
chapter two
SAA XI 209 r. III:

2425
SAA XI 209 r. III: 26
SAA XI 209 r. IV: 45
SAA XI 209 r. IV:
1011
SAA XI 209 r. IV:
1213
SAA XI 209 r. IV:
1718
TEXT 142

SAA XI 209 r. III:
1215
SAA XI 209 r. III:
1618
SAA XI 209 r. III:
1922
TEXT 142
SAA XI 208: 7
TEXT 141
(5)
(5)
(3)
(2)
(5)
(4)
(3)
(4)
(2)
(3)
(7)
SAA XI 207 r. II: 8e9e (3)

SAA XI 207 r. III: 59e (3)
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
5
1
1
2
[1] 1
1
1
1
2
1
# The number of the daughters may be included in the number of the women.
342
341
337
339
340
336
334
333
330
331
332
328
326
327
Table 11 (cont.)
A2; B13; C2
A2; B13; C2
A2
A1
A2; B12; C2
A2
Scribe B
A2
A2; B12; C2
A1
A2
A2
Scribe B
A1
Scribe B
A12;B12
A2

175
SAA XI 218: 69
TEXT 145
SAA XI 214: 36
SAA XI 214: 89
TEXT 144
SAA XI 213: III 811

SAA XI 213: III 1315
SAA XI 213: IV 36
SAA XI 213: r. II 14
SAA XI 213: r. II 16
TEXT 143
SOURCE
[6]
(8)
(3)
(6)
(3)
(5)
(3)
(3)
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
5
2
3
1
3
1
2
1
1
1
1
#
#
A2
Scribe A
A2; B13; C2
A12; B12
Scribe B
B13; C2
A2
A2; B13; C2
A2
A12; B12
Scribe B
W S G U 3 4 5 D G U 3 4 5 B M BR GS FT and NOTES
# The number of the daughters may be included in the number of the women.
356
353
354
348
349
350
351
352
NO.
Table 11 (cont.)
176
chapter two
SAA XI 202 I: 2021

SAA XI 202 r. III:25
295
301
318
303
304
305
307
311
315
SAA XI 202 I: 1013
293
SAA XI 206 I: 39
TEXT 139
SAA XI 203 II: 13

SAA XI 203 II: 911
SAA XI 203 II: 1012
SAA XI 203 IV: 1516
SAA XI 203 r. II: 412
SAA XI 203 r. VI: 69
TEXT 137
SAA XI 202 I: 14
TEXT 136
SAA XI 201 II: 812
TEXT 135
SOURCE
292
287
NO.
3
?
?
?
8
3
?
3
[4]
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
?
?
2?
1
1
?
1
2? 1
1?
1?
[1]?
[1]?
[?]
1 1
[1]
1
[1]
S G U 3 4 5
[1?]
1
1
A/B
A/B
A/B
A/B
A/B
Si A/B
A/B
[?] A/B
D G U 3 4 5 B M BR FT
Table 12: The Harran CensusA. Families: Broken/Unclear Texts
2S or 2BR
Scribe A
S or BR?
T = 45
T = 4?
T3
+1S or BR
S or BR?
Scribe A
12 S or BR;
T = 34
1S or BR;
T = 34
T>2
S or BR?
Scribe A
S or BR?
Scribe A
NOTES

177
SAA XI 218: 12
TEXT 145
SAA XI 213 II: 13

SAA XI 213 II: 46
SAA XI 213 II: 78
SAA XI 213 III: 57
?
?
?
?
?
?
(2)
?
?
?
[1]
[1]
[1]
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
2
1
?
* Family 355 Note: T or GT = 10; S or D = 3
355
344
345
346
347
TEXT 143

SAA XI 209 r. III:
2930
SAA XI 209 r. IV:
2829
335
338
343
SAA XI 209 r. III:12
TEXT 142
SAA XI 207 I: 710

SAA XI 207 I: 1114
SAA XI 207 I: 1516
TEXT 140
SOURCE
329
321
322
323
NO.
Table 12 (cont.)
[?]
[?]
[?]
[?]
?
?
?
2
?
S G U 3 4 5
D G U 3 4 5 B M BR FT
*see below
Scribe A
T2
T2
T2
T3
Scribe B
T2
W or S;
FT = A
T3
T3
Scribe B
T4
T4
T3
Scribe B
NOTES
178
chapter two
No. of
Family
357
358
359
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
370
371
372
374
375
376
No. of
Text
146
147
148
149
SAA XI 211: 3
SAA XI 210 r. II 2
SAA XI 210 r. II 3
SAA XI 220 I: 911

SAA XI 220 I: 1216
SAA XI 220 I: 1719
SAA XI 220 II: 35e
SAA XI 220 III: 12
SAA XI 220 III: 910
SAA XI 220 III: 1113
SAA XI 220 III: 1618e
SAA XI 219 I: 15
SAA XI 219 I: 89
SAA XI 219 I: 1213
SAA XI 219 II: 1015
SAA XI 219 II: 1624
SOURCE
(3)
(2)
(3)
(3)
4
2
4
[2]
2
(5)
[2]
4
(2)
(2)
3
4
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
[1]
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
3
1
3
1
1
4
[1]
(3)
(1)
(1)
(2)
(3)
T of
Sons
G
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
Table 13: The Harran CensusB. Fathers and Sons
BR
Scribe A
Scribe B
Scribe B
Scribe A
FT = B or C
NOTES
at

179
360
368
369
373
377
146
147
149
No. of No. of
Text Family
SAA XI 211: 45
SAA XI 220 III: 35

SAA XI 220 III: 68
SAA XI 220 L.S.I 24
SAA XI 219 II: 19
SOURCE
(3?)
[3]
[3]
?
(4?)
[1]
[1]
1
2
2
?
(1+2)
T of
Sons
G
[1?]
S
BR
n.d.
Table 14: The Harran CensusB. Fathers and SonsBroken/Unclear Texts
Scribe B
1S = 3
Scribe A
Scribe A
+1S or BR; at = GA
NOTES
180
chapter two
155
154
151
SAA XI 174: 15
SAA XI 174: 911
406
SAA XI 169: 1011
403
404
SAA XI 169: 78
402
397
395
394
393
392
(3)
(2)
(3)
SAA XV 181:
10b12a
SAA XV 181:
12b13a
SAA XV 181:
13b14
SAA XV 181:
15b16a
SAA XV 181:
16b17
SAA XV 181:
19b20a
391
SAA XV 181: 810a 5
SOURCE
390
No. of No. of
Text Family
D BR M
Si
.
Table 15: Deportees and Displaced Persons
Nineveh, Esa or
Ass
Nineveh, Esa or
Ass
Nineveh, S II
Nineveh, S II
Nineveh, S II
Nineveh, S II
Nineveh, S II
Nineveh, S II
Nineveh, S II
PROVENANCE
AND DATE
FT = C2 ?
Nineveh, 7th cen
+ 1 son of [his] sister
FT = A1 or B12 Nineveh, 7th cen
FT = A2; +
S or D = 3
FT = A1
FT = A3
FT = A1 or B12;
S = 5
FT = A5 or B13
or C2
FT = B2
FT = B2 or C2;
S = GA
FT = B2 or C2;
S = 4
FT = A2; S = 4
FT AND NOTES

181
412
413
417
418
419
420
421
428
429
434
158
159
164
165
167
SAA XI 196: 23
SAA XI 194: 2
SAA XI 181: r. 3
SAA XI 146: 4
SAA XI 146: 5
SAA XI 146: 6
SAA XI 146: 7a
SAA XI 146: 7b
SAA XI 172: 12
SAA XI 172: 56
SAA XI 173: 6b12 [8]
409
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
[3]
1
(2) [1]
(3)
(5)
(5)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
SAA XI 173: 16a
408
157
SAA XI 154: 111
407
SOURCE
156
No. of No. of
Text Family
Table 15 (cont.)
1
1
1
1
1
1
?1
1
1
D BR M
Si
.
Nineveh, 7th cen
PROVENANCE
AND DATE
FT = A5;
F = eunuch
FT = A2
FT = A1
FT = A2
FT = B3
FT = B1
FT = A1
FT = A5; fSl
FT = A2
FT = A2
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
FT = A2
Nineveh, ?
3 D = 1 M.TUR;
2B
FT = A2; 4 S=2 (a); Nineveh, ?
3; U; 2 D = 4;
a-hu-ur-t[i]
FT = A2;
Babylonians
FT AND NOTES
182
chapter two
ND 451: 18
ND 451: 914
ND 451: 15
398
399
400
152
SAA XV 181:
1819a
396
151
ND 2443+ II: 1
ND 2443+ II: 7
ND 2443+ II: 8
ND 2443+ II: 9
ND 2443+ II: 10
ND 2443+ r. I: 7
ND 2443+ r. I: 8
ND 2443+ r. I: 9
ND 2443+ r. I: 11
ND 2443+ r. I: 14
ND 2443+ r. I: 15
ND 2443+ r. I: 16
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
SOURCE
150
No. of No. of
Text Family
F
[1]
[1]
45 1
45 1
45 1
34 [1]
23 [1]
56 1
45 1
34 1
45 1
56 1
45 1
23 1
[1]
1
[2]
1?
D BR M
Si
.
Calah, TP III?
Calah, TP III?
Calah, TP III?
Calah, TP III?
Calah, TP III?
Calah, TP III?
Calah, TP III?
Calah, TP III?
Calah, TP III?
Calah, TP III?
Calah, TP III?
Calah, TP III?
PROVENANCE
OF AND DATE
S = ga GAB; 4 Calah, 8th cen

(2); 5; 1D = 4;
1 fSl; FT = A2?
T = 7? 1S = 5 Calah, 8th cen
+ 2BR or S; 2D
= 4; B; FT = A
or B
T > (2)
Calah, 8th cen
1 S = 3; 1 BR or Nineveh, S II
S?; FT = A or B
PN 4 ZI.[MEe]
PN 4 ZI.[MEe]
PN 4 dittto
PN 3 dittto
PN 2 dittto
PN 5 dittto
PN 4 dittto
PN 3 dittto
PN 4 dittto
PN 5 dittto
PN 4 dittto
PN 2 dittto
FT AND NOTES
Table 16: Deportees and Displaced Persons: Broken/Unclear Texts

183
SAA XI 173: 1316
SAA XI 173: r. 13
410
411
157
422
423
424
161
162
SAA XV 303: 2
SAA XV 309: 13
SAA XI 200: 15
SAA XI 146: 3
416
160
SAA XI 146: 2
415
159
SAA XI 172: 710
414
158
SAA XI 174: 68
405
155
SAA XVII 114: s 12
401
SOURCE
153
No. of No. of
Text Family
Table 16 (cont.)
(5)
(6)
[3]
(3)
[1]
[1]
[1]
2?
[1]
[1]
4?
3?
[1]
1?
D BR M
2fSl
.
[1?]
Si
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, 7th cen
Nineveh, Sen
PROVENANCE
OF AND DATE
Nineveh, ?
T = (2)?
2S or 2D = 4;
[a]-hur-[t]
1S = GA;1 or 2
families?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
T = (45); + 1S or Nineveh, ?
BR; FT = B
FT = B3?
Nineveh, ?
FT = A2?
2S or 2D = U; GA Nineveh, ?
FT = A3
T [5]; 1S = ahur-t
FT = A1?
FT = A3?
FT AND NOTES
184
chapter two
SAA XI 195: 6
SAA XI 195: 7
432
433
166
SAA XI 194: 3
SAA XI 194: 4
430
431
165
SAA XI 181: r. 2
SAA XI 199: 45
426
427
SAA XI 199: 23
425
164
163
Table 16 (cont.)
[4]
2
[1]
[1]
[1]
[1]
1
1
?
?
2?
?
?
Nineveh, ?
2S = pir; T (5);
2D or + 2S =
[GA];
FT = A2?
2S = 3; 4;
T (3);
FT = A3?
Nineveh, ?
Nineveh, ?
FT = A4; 3 S or D Nineveh, ?
FT = A4; 1 S or D Nineveh, ?
T > (2)
fSl; + 2S or 2BR; Nineveh, ?

FT = A2 or B2
W or D;
Nineveh, ?
FT = A2 or A3

185
StAT 2 11: 18680: 18;

VAT 8586: 15 ; 8669: 16
VAT 8674: 17;
VAT 8681: 16
StAT 2 11: 2
VAT 8586: 16; 8669: 17
VAT 8674: 18
StAT 2 11: 3
VAT 8586: 17; 8669: 18
VAT 8674: 19
StAT 2 11: 8
VAT 8586: 22; 8669: 23
VAT 8674: 24
KAJ 243: r. 1
VAT 8586: r. 1;
VAT 8665: r. 1
VAT 8674: r. 1;
436
437
438
439
SOURCE
435
No. of
Family
(3)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
Table 17: Rations of Baraley and their Recipietents
A4
A4
A4
A4
A4
FT
Affur,
615*614*
Affur,
615*614*
Affur,
615*614*
Affur,
615*614*
Affur,
615*614*
PROVENANCE AND
DATE
186
chapter two
KAJ 243: r. 10
VAT 8586: r. 10
VAT 8605: r. 5
VAT 8674: r. 10
VAT 8681: r. 10
VAT 8687: r. 7
KAJ 243 r. 13;

VAT 8586 r. 13;
VAT 8674 r. 13;
VAT 8681 r. 13.
KAJ 243: r. 15
VAT 8586: r. 15
VAT 8605: r. 10
VAT 8681: r. 6
VAT 8674: r. 15
VAT 8586: 8; 8664: 10

VAT 8669: 9; 8674: 9
VAT 8680: 10; 8681: 9
VAT 8586: 24
VAT 8674: b. e. 26
VAT 8586: 25
VAT 8674: b.e. 27
VAT 8605: r. 12
VAT 8605: r. 13
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
Table 17 (cont.)
(2)
(3)
(2)
(3)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(3)
A4
A2
A4
A2
A4
A4
A4
A4
Affur, PC
Affur, PC
Affur,
615*614*
Affur,
615*614*
Affur,
615*614*
Affur,
615*614*
Aur
615*614*
Affur,
615*614*

187
CHAPTER THREE
THE TERMINOLOGY, THE FORMULATION OF THE

TEXTS, AND THE STATUS OF THE PEOPLE
The terms which dene people and families in the Neo-Assyrian Period,
particularly, and in the Ancient Near East in general, may mislead. It is
well known that the terminus ARAD = urdu may designate everybody
from the lowest slave to the most exalted servant of the king, and even
to the king himself in relation to the gods.1 Other terms, like = btu,
may dene a large diversity of kinship groups from nuclear families to
clans and tribes.2 The terms AD = bt abi or qinnu are also exible.
Understanding of terminology is no key to an absolute understanding
of social reality,3 claims van Driel. He is right, but no one will deny
the importance of terminology for the understanding of society and
economy in all ages.
This chapter examines the terminology designating people and
families in Neo-Assyrian texts as well as the formulation of these texts,
and the status of these people. The study concentrates on the 177 texts
mentioned in chapter I, above, but other relevant texts are considered
too. The chapter is divided into six main parts as follows: A. Slaves; B.
Pledged Persons; C. Persons and families enumerated in sales and lists
of Land and People; D. Royal Grants; E. The Harran Census; F.
Deportees and Displaced Persons.
A. Slaves
The terms which dene slaves in the Neo-Assyrian period were discussed
recently by Radner.4 The most usual terms designating male and female
van Driel, 1970, p. 174.

Garelli, 1972, pp. 7376.
3
van Driel, 1970, p. 174.
4
Radner, 1997, pp. 203219. Cf. also Dandamaev, 1984, pp. 81102, 469471;
Cole, 1996, p. 61; Baker, 2001, p. 20; Teppo, 2005, pp. 6768, 9091.
2
terminology, formulation of texts and status of the people
189
slaves in this period are ARAD = urdu and GEM = amtu/antu,5 but
the Babylonian equivalents L.QL = qallu and M.QL = qallutu
are also attested.
A slave born in his masters house is called unzarhu,6 and a bought
one: DUMU/L.M = a me; slaves born in the palace are sometimes dened as DUMU GEM .GAL = mr amat ekalli, and a person
donated to a temple is called ltu. In sales of people two main terms
are used: ARAD or GEM (attested 241 timessee appendix A to
this chapter); a third term, DUMU/L.M, occurs only in six sales
of people.
In other cases slaves are dened by general terms such as UN.ME =
n = people; ZI = naputu = person, soul; L.ERIM.ME = people,
workers (see CTN II 9), or ARAD.ME L*.TUR.ME = slaves,
young people of PN (see SAA XIV 56: 3).7 In other cases maids are
dened by the terms M, M.ME and even M- = his woman, see
e.g., SAAB 5 17: 5.8
The formulation of sales of people was thoroughly studied by
Postgate (1976) and Radner (1997).9 This issue will be enlarged and
augmented in the following pages, with special attention to the terms
dening the people sold.
The terms which dene slaves are included in four particular patterns
attested in sales of people in four main places: (1) in the opening lines,
in the presentation of the seller; (2) in the detailed description of the
slaves, right after the personal name of the slave, maid or family head;
(3) in the summary of the detailed description of the slaves; (4) in the
formula that designates the completion of the transaction. The most
usual patterns are as follows (see Appendix C. 1 to this chapter, which
presents the formulation of 49 sales of slave families):
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
5
6
7
8
9
PN, EN L.UN.ME SUM-ni . . .

PN, ARAD-/GEM- . . .
PAB X L.ZI.ME L.ARAD.ME a PN . . .
L.UN.ME (utu) zarip laqi . . .
For the terms urdu and amtu see CAD A/II, pp. 8085, 243253.
Deller, 1984, pp. 235239; Deller, 1990, p. 63.
For the term L*.TUR see FalesJakob-Rost, 1991, pp. 4041, 125126.
See chapter II, Family no. 91, and cf. Radner, PNA, p. 1066b(4).
Postgate, 1976, pp. 2528; Radner, 1997, pp. 316356.
190
chapter three
(1) The seller is usually dened in the opening lines of the sale as the
owner of the sold/given people = PN, EN (L).UN.ME SUM-ni ;
only in very rare cases are slaves designated by the pattern ARAD/
ARAD.ME (see Appendix C, 1, text no. 24), or GEM/GEM.ME
(texts nos. 6566). In sales of families that include only females (e.g., a
maid and her daughter) the scribe usually will use in this place the term
M.ME (texts nos. 29, 42, 50, 54, and possibly no. 7); but in other
sales of maids the general term (L).UN.ME is used (texts nos. 49,
60). In a few cases the seller is listed only by his personal name, with
no indication that he owns the slaves (see texts nos. 1, 26, 72).
(2) The terms ARAD- or GEM- . . . are usually attested in sales
of a single male or female slave immediately after the personal name
of the slave/maid (see discussion below); but in sales of slave families
the picture is much more complicated: the term ARAD- is listed right
after the personal name of the family head only once (text no. 15), but
the term GEM- is attested seven times, that is, in all but two of the
sales of slave families headed by a maid (see texts nos. 26, 42, 49, 54,
60, 62, 65; the two exceptions are nos. 48 and 50).
(3) In the rst part of the summary of the detailed description of
the slaves they are called PAB X L.ZI.ME in 39 out of 49 texts. In
the second part of the summary they are dened as L.ARAD.ME
a PN, ARAD.ME-, ARAD.ME- a PN, or ARAD.ME-ni [a
L.ME]-e an-nu-ti. The term ARAD occurs in 26 out of 49 texts (in
one of these texts, no. 21, the order is reversed: his slaves . . . people
of PN); in three other cases the editors proposed to reconstruct this
term (nos. 13, 32, 36); in another text the term is GEM- a PN
(no. 49, and possibly also no. 50); in the other 16 cases the summary
is absent (nos. 1, 5, 17, 29, 33, 37, 38, 42, 44, 48, 54, 60, 62, 65, 66,
72). In six out of these 16 texts the term GEM occurs immediately
after the personal name of the rst maid (nos. 42, 54, 60, 62, 65), or
in the opening lines that present the seller (no. 66). In two other cases
the text is broken (nos. 1516; in the rst of these the term ARAD is
attested in the detailed description of the people).
(4) In the formula that designates the completion of the transaction
the slaves are usually dened by the term people = L.UN.ME;
sometimes the maids are called by this pattern: women, females =
M.ME (nos. 50, 54), or maid/his maid = GEM-/GEM
(nos. 49, 65); and only once by the rare terms: woman (and) son =
M DUMU (no. 62). In one text only the verb ilqi is attested. In the
Aramaic caption of this text the slaves are dened as the people of
191
PN = n 7 zy PN; in the Akkadian part of the text they are called

people, slaves of PN = ZI.ME L*.ARAD.ME a PN. The term
ARAD is attested in 34 texts, and possibly in four additional ones, and
is missing in ten texts.
In two other texts (nos. 2 and 31), which are not sales of people and
therefore not mentioned in the discussion above, the slaves are dened
as souls, persons (ZI.ME = 31:7; ZI a PN = 2: 8, r.1). In text no. 69,
which is partly published and therefore not mentioned in the discussion
above, a maid and her daughter are dened as: two persons, Elamite
captives whom the king has given to the city of Aur = L*.ZI.ME
hu-ub-t a ELAM.KI a LUGAL a-na URU.a.URU i-din-u-[ni ].
The other texts that list slave families but are not mentioned in the
discussion above are as follows: (1) ve are not sales of people (nos. 2,
31, 59, 61, 85); (2) in three other texts (nos. 5658) a master (Kakkullnu)
buys a maid as a wife for his slave; (3) seven texts are partly published,
and therefore it is not possible to check their formulation; (4) three texts
are broken (nos. 10, 39, 46) and their patterns are not preserved; (5) in
one case (no. 20) only the opening formula (PN, EN UN.ME SU[M-ni])
is not lost; (6) in 11 texts scholars reconstructed the broken document
as follows: in seven cases they read the terms ARAD or GEM (nos.
30, 43, 51, 53, 77, 79, 84), and in the other four texts they suggested
that these terms are missing (nos. 35, 47, 67, 81).
These conclusions concerning the texts which list slave families will
be now compared with the other sales of people, most of them sales of
one single maid or male slave, a grand total of 468 sales of people (of
which about 400 are published). A full list of these texts is presented
in Appendix A, by their geographical provenance, pointing out three
main data: (1) is one of the three terms ARAD, GEM or L.M
attested in the text? (2) Is a guarantee clause mentioned? (3) Is the
slaves profession indicated in the text?
The sales of people will be compared with the sales of Land and
People (a full list of the 50 sales of Land and People in the NeoAssyrian period is presented in Appendix B to this chapter, pointing
out the same three data as in Appendix A). The following discussion
includes sales of families and of singles.
1. The Terminology Used to Dene the People
In 221 out of 248 the sales of people (89%), the sold persons are
dened by one of the following three terms: ARAD/ARAD.ME,
192
chapter three
GEM/GEM.ME or L.M. Only in 27 out of 248 texts (11%),

the sold persons are not dened by any of these three terms.10 In 22
other texts the sold people are free persons enslaved by their relatives,
and therefore they are not dened as slaves by any of these three terms,
but as the sellers daughter, son, brother, sister or wife.11 In the other
sales of people the picture is not clear since the texts are broken.12
In the sales of Land and People only in four out of 18 texts (22%)
are the people being sold dened by one of these terms.13 In the other
14 texts (78%) the people are not dened by any of these three terms
but are called: ZI.ME or UN.ME.14 In the other sales of Land and
People the picture is not clear since the texts are broken. It is important to note that in the sales of people the data are fairly homogeneous
(see belowTable 18). In 8996% of the texts from Aur, Nineveh,
Dr-Katlimmu and the other sites, the sold persons are dened by
the three terms mentioned.
Only the texts from Calah are different, and in only 68% of them are
the persons dened by these terms. Table 18 presents a comparison of
the texts from the mainland of Assyria with the texts from the periphery (Dr-Katlimmu and the West). In the rst group the sold people
are dened by these three terms in 170 texts (87%), which are absent
from the other 25 texts (13%). On the periphery, in 51 texts (96%) the
sold people are dened by these three terms, which are missing from
only two texts (4%).
Since most sales of Land and People are from Nineveh (as mentioned above), there is no room for comparisons. Still, in the four sales
of Land and People from Calah, Dr-Katlimmu and Gezer these
three terms are not attested. In 75% of the texts from Nineveh the
persons are not dened by these terms; by comparison, note that only
in 8% of the sales of people from Nineveh are the sold persons not
designated by these terms.
10
See Appendix A, texts nos. 25, 32, 33, 35, 36, 68, 83, 96 (= Aur); 111, 114,
118, 127, 133, 140, (= Calah); 142, 174, 176 (= Dr-Katlimmu); 238, 246, 254, 259,
261, 296, 314, 342 (= Nineveh), 420 (= Balawat).
11
See Appendix A, the following texts: daughter (11 texts, nos. 62, 122, 123, 129, 131,
135, 166, 198, 266, 369, 456); son (6 texts, nos. 61, 151, 216, 271, 391, 459); sister (3
texts, nos. 112, 344, 422); brother (one text, no. 121) or wife (one text, no. 91).
12
In 29 texts the scholars reconstructed one of these three terms: see Appendix A,
texts nos. 58, 65, 71, 79, 84, 125, 128, 180, 186, 202, 205, 206, 222, 227, 229, 234,
248, 250, 253, 286, 313, 319, 325, 332, 336, 350, 355, 365, 405.
13
See Appendix B, texts nos. 6, 8, 32 and 38.
14
See Appendix B, texts nos. 1, 4, 5, 9, 11, 17, 23, 24, 26, 27, 30, 33, 34 and 47.
193
Table 18: The Terminology used to Dene the People

No
Provenance
ARAD, GEM,
L.M
Other terms
Total
II
III
IV
63
89%
17
68%
89
92%
1
170
87%
8
11%
8
32%
8
8%
1
25
13%
71
43
96%
8
100%
51
96%
2
4%
0
0%
2
4%
45
Total 16
Sales of People
221
89%
27
11%
248
Total
Sales of Land
and People
4
22%
14
78%
18
Sales of Land
and People
Nineveh
4
25%
12
75%
16
I
1
Aur
Calah
Nineveh
Balawat
Total 14
Dr-Katlimmu
Other sites
Total 56
25
97
2
195
8
53
As stated earlier, it is well known that slave is a word which may

designate everybody from the lowest slave to the most exalted servant
of the king, and even to the king himself in relation to the gods,15 and
that Understanding of terminology is no key to an absolute understanding of social reality.16 But if the people enumerated in sales of
Land and People were indeed slaves, why are they not dened in the
same way as the persons mentioned in sales of people?
15
16
van Driel, 1970, p. 174.

Idem, Ibid.
194
chapter three
2. The Guarantee Clauses

The guarantee clauses in the Neo-Assyrian period have been discussed extensively in the literature.17 This clause protects the purchaser
from the loss of the slave to possible diseases for 100 days, and from
crime forever. It is usually found after the litigation clauses section and before the list of witnesses and the date (in some 80% of the
texts). But in about 20% of the texts it is located in other places, as
follows: in 15 texts it is located within the litigation clauses section
and not after it;18 in six texts it is located at the end of the text, after
the list of witnesses.19
One would expect the same clauses to be included in all sales of
persons as well as in all sales of Land and People (if indeed the persons enumerated in the latter sales were also slaves). But the picture is
more complicated. Since many sales of people are broken, only in 198
of them is it possible to check if a guarantee clause is included. In
108 texts (55%) a guarantee clause is attested, and it is not attested
in 90 texts (45%).
In another 36 texts the nal part of the sale of people is broken (see
Appendix A, col. IV, siglum ?), and it is not clear if a guarantee
clause was located at the end of these texts. Assuming that a guarantee clause was not included (since only in about 5% is it located at
the end of the text), and adding them to the rst 198 texts, we obtain
the following: in 108 texts (46%) a guarantee clause is attested and
in 126 (54%) texts it is not.
In the sales of Land and People a guarantee clause is attested
only in three texts (23%),20 and is not attested in the other ten.21 The
other texts are broken. In another six texts the end of the sale of Land
and People is broken, and it is not clear if a guarantee clause was
located at the end of this text.22 If we assume that a guarantee clause
was not included in these texts, for the same reason mentioned above,
and if we add them to the rst 13 texts, the picture will be as follows:
17
See recently Radner, 1997, pp. 174188, with earlier literature.

See BaM 24 12; BATSH 6 21; BATSH 6 90; CTN II 220; FNALD 8; FNALD
9; SAA VI 174; SAA VI 219; SAA VI 284; SAA VI 342; SAA XIV 65; SAA XIV
195; SAAB 1 1; StAT 2 123; StAT 2 269.
19
ARU 214; ARU 507; Div. 88 = Si 703; Div. 124 = Si 660 SAAB 5 44; OLZ 8,
130134.
20
See Appendix B, texts nos. 4, 30 and 49.
21
See Appendix B, texts nos. 2, 5, 8, 9, 11, 22, 23, 27, 33 and 38.
22
See Appendix B, texts nos. 6, 18, 19, 26, 4142.
18
195

Table 19: Guarantee Clauses
No
Provenance
No Guarantee Clause
Total
III
IV
53
82%
27
63%
25
42%
12
18%
16
37%
34
58%
2
65
105
62%
64
38%
169
Dr-Katlimmu
and the West
3
10%
26
90%
29
Total 15
Sales of People
108
55%
90
45%
198
Total
Sales of Land and
People
3
23%
10
77%
13
Sales of Land and

People
Nineveh & Calah
2
15%
10
85%
12
I
1
Aur
Calah
Nineveh
Balawat
Total 14
Guarantee
Clause attested
II
43
59
2
in three texts (16%) a guarantee clause is attested and in the other

16 (84%) it is not.
It is important to point out that there are regional differences (see
Table 19). In the texts from the mainland of Assyria a guarantee
clause is attested in 105 texts (62%) and is notably absent from 64
texts (38%). In the texts from the periphery (Dr-Katlimmu and the
West), a guarantee clause is attested only in three texts (10%) and is
notably absent from 26 texts (90%).
In sales of Land and People from Nineveh and Calah, only in
two texts (17%) is a guarantee clause attested, and is clearly absent
from 10 texts (83%).
If the people enumerated in sales of Land and People were slaves,
how can we explain the presence of a guarantee clause in 62% of
the sales of people from the mainland of Assyria but in only 17%
196
chapter three
of the sales of Land and People from the same area? Is it just an
accident?
3. The Profession of the People
In the sales of people, mention of the profession of the men being
sold can be checked in 187189 cases (it is not clear if SAA VI 255 is
a sale of people or of land and people). The other texts are broken.
The profession of only 1416 male slaves (79%) is attested.23 The
other 9193% of the adult male slaves and all the female slaves are
non-professional. In the sales of Land and People, the profession
of 2325 males (6163%see Table 20) is attested.24 Note that in the
Harran Census the profession of 107 adult men (92%) is mentioned,
and only nine adult men are non-professional (seven of them are
riqu).25
Here too regional differences exist (see table 20). In the texts from the
mainland of Assyria, all 38 adult slaves are non-professional, just as
in the sale of people from the periphery (22 slaves). In the texts from
Calah only three slaves are professional (10%) and the other 28 are
non-professional. Only in the texts from Nineveh are 1113 (1113%)
out of 9698 slaves professional.
In sales of Land and People from Nineveh, 1921 adult sold men
are professional (5860%) and the other 14 are non-professional
(4042%). In sales of Land and People from the periphery four
adult sold men are professional (80%) and only one is non-professional (20%).
As mentioned above, only in one sale of people is the slave dened
as a gardener (L*.NU.GI.SAR = nukaribbu = SAA XIV 49).26 In
another text, also mentioned above (SAA VI 255), two men being sold
were farmers (L*.ENGAR = ikkru).27 Yet this last text is broken,
and it is not clear if it is a sale of people or of Land and People.
The other professional slaves enumerated in sales of people are as
follows:
23
See Appendix A, texts nos. 114, 144, 163, 257, 286, 319, 325, 327, 328, 329,
335, 363, 387, 412, and possibly also 315.
24
See Appendix B, texts nos. 1, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 16, 19, 23, 24, 26, 27, 30, 34, 35,
36, 44.
25
For the Harran Census see Introduction, note 19.
26
For the term nukaribbu see Menzel, AST, pp. 261262.
27
For the term ikkru see AHw, p. 368; CAD, I/J, p. 49 ff; Kmmel, 1979, pp.
97100.
197
Table 20: The Profession of the People

No
Provenance
I
Profession attested
II
No Profession
III
Total
IV
0
0%
3
10%
1113
1113%
0
0%
36
100%
28
90%
85
8789%
2
100%
36
1416
89%
151
9192%
185187
0
0%
22
100%
22
Total 15 Sales of
People
1416
79%
173
9193%
187189
Total
Sales of Land and
People
2325
6163%
15
3739%
3840
Sales of Land and

PeopleNineveh
1921
5860%
14
4042%
3335
Sales of Land and

PeoplePeriphery
4
80%
1
20%
The Harran Census
107
92%
9
8%
116
Aur
Calah
Nineveh
Balawat
Total 14 Sales of
People
Dr-Katlimmu
and the West
a baker
a weaver
= L*.NINDA
= L.U.BAR
a weaver of
= L.U.BAR
multicolored trim bir-me
a weaver of
ipratu-garments = L*.UBAR
TG-ip-rat
a tailor
= L.ka-ir;
L*.TG-KA.K
a hatter
= L.
U.SAG.ME-
= piu
= ipru
31
9698
2
= ipru
= SAA VI 305: 4;
= SAA VI
294: 1;
= SAA XII 94: 5;
= ipru
= SAA VI 301: 4;
= kiru
= SAA XIV
186: 3; 313: 4;
= a-kubiu = SAA VI
342: 4;
(continued on next page)
198
chapter three
Table 20 (cont.)
a tanner
= L.AGAB
= akpu
= SAA XIV
424: 12;
a janitor
= ND 3425
= Wiesman, 1953, p. 141;
an ironsmith
= SIMUG AN.BAR
= napphu = BaM 24
parzillu
9: 2;
a camel driver = [L.U.g]am.mal.ME;
= rdi
= SAA VI
L.U.ANE.AB.[BA.ME] gammali
138: 4;
300: 5;
a donkey driver = L.U.ANE.[ME]
= rdi imri = SAA VI
55: 1.
Other professional slaves are enumerated in a text that documents the

present of a house and slaves by Bl-naxdi to his daughter (SAA XIV
155: 510), but this is not a sale of people.28
In sales of Land and People many adult men being sold are dened
as farmers (1315) or gardeners (56), as follows: farmers = L*.
ENGAR = ikkru = BATSH 6 180 [3 men]; SAA VI 37 (ikkr arri);29
SAA VI 65; SAA VI 253; SAA VI 315; SAA VI 325 [2 men]; SAA
VI 334 [2 men]; SAA XIV 2, SAA XIV 254; and see also SAA VI
255, which may be a sale of Land and People [2 men]; gardeners
= nukaribbu = L*.NU.GI. SAR = SAA VI 37; SAA VI 90; SAA VI
123; SAA VI 329/330; SAA XIV 6; and possibly also SAA VI 314.
The others are a plowman = a epinni = L*.GI.APIN = SAA VI
149:5; and a fowler = L*.MUEN.D = uand = BATSH 6 180:
14. The two last are unclear (SAA VI 169; SAA XIV 3). See also SAA
VI 266: 1 = L.-[xx].
The professions of the slaves are clearly domestic, and also indicate that slaves were usually not employed in agriculture:30 most slaves
are non-professional and work at their masters house, under close
supervision, mainly as personal servants.
In sum, the term ARAD = urdu actually designates true slaves but also
ofcials of various ranks from the lowest state employee to the most
28
The professional slaves in this text are as follows: two bakers (L*.NINDA =
piu = SAA XIV 155:5, 10); a fuller (L*.TG.UD = alku = SAA XIV 155:6); and
a hatter (L* SAGU.ME- = a-kubiu (SAA XIV 155: 8).
29
For the term ikkr arri see Postgate, 1988, p. 141, and see also SAA VII 131
r. 2.
30
On the supposition that slaves were not employed in agriculture see Gelb, 1972,
pp. 8788; Diakonoff, 1974, pp. 5862; Dandamaev, 1984, pp. 249, 652653; Baker,
2001, p. 23.
199
exalted servant of the king, and even to the king himself (in relation to
the gods). On the other hand, it is probably not accidental that the terms
ARAD or GEM are attested in most sales of people, but are rare in
sales of Land and People or in the other texts studied in this book.
B. Pledged People
Radner recently discussed in detail the pledging and redemption for31
mulas in the Neo-Assyrian period, but she did not study the terms
designating the pledged people. This issue is discussed below with a
new look at the formulation of the texts that attest pledging of people
as security for a debt.
Pledges in this period are indicated in 125 documents: most (69)
show pledging of people as security for loans, and the rest (56) attest to
pledging of other items, mainly elds and houses. Most of these 56 texts
are listed by Radner in 1997;32 six additional texts from Dr-Katlimmu
were published in 200233 and one document from Maxallnte (O 3685)
is still unpublished.34
In the 69 texts indicating pledging of people, at least 141 persons
are counted, most of them women and children.35 Of these 69 texts,
31
Radner, 1997, pp. 368383.

Radner, 1997, pp. 383390.
33
Radner, 2002 (= BATSH 6), nos. 41, 108, 114, 117, 129, 157.
34
See PNA, p. 452b.
35
A full list of the 69 texts attesting pledges of people is presented below in a
geographical setting:
Aur (33 texts): A 330 = SAAS VI, p. 380; A 1055+1070 = SAAS VI, p. 380;
A 1797 = StAT 2 73; A 1825 = SAAS VI, p. 380; A 1906 = SAAS VI, p. 380;
A 1912 = StAT 2 45; A 1928 = SAAS VI, p. 380; A 1929 = StAT 2 170;
A 2486 = StAT 2 64; A 2509 = SAAS VI, p. 379; A 2514 = SAAS VI, p. 379;
A 2686 = SAAS VI, p. 380; A 2806 = SAAS VI, p. 379; Ass. 2000 D-26 (= Maul,
2000, pp. 6770); Ass. 2001 D-378 (= Frahm, 2002, pp. 4851); Assur 14 = Rfdn 17 13;
Scheil 5 = BaM 15 (1984), p. 247; VAT 5606 = SAAS V, 28 (= text 91); VAT 8653 =
SAAS VI, p. 380; VAT 8660 = SAAS VI, p. 380; VAT 8663 = SAAS VI, p. 380;
VAT 9319 = SAAS VI, p. 380; VAT 9622 = SAAB 9 69; VAT 9689 = SAAB 9
79; VAT 9694 = SAAB 9 95; VAT 15461 = SAAS VI, p. 367; VAT 15580 = StAT 1 55;
VAT 19500 = SAAS VI, p. 369 (= text 93); VAT 20342 = SAAB 5 13; VAT 20377 =
SAAB 5 50; VAT 20341 = SAAB 5 31; VAT 20395 = SAAB 5 45;VAT 20786 =
StAT 1 36 (= text 92).
Calah (9): ND 2078 = Iraq 16 (1954), p. 33; ND 2333 = Iraq 16 (1954), p. 44;
ND 3441 = Iraq 15 (1953), pl. xii; ND 3443 = FNALD 49 = SAAS VI, p. 364;
ND 5448 = Iraq 19 (1957), pl. xxviii; ND 7004 = CTN III 9; ND 7005 = CTN
III 8; ND 7022 = CTN III 59; ND 7094 = CTN III 37
Dr-Katlimmu (1): BATSH 6 104.
32
200
chapter three
46 are listed by Radner (1997) in chapter XI.2.Ca, which discusses

pledging of people;36 and ten additional texts are mentioned in other
parts of her book. But 13 documents are not listed by Radner, namely
one from Tell Hadid,37 another from Dr-Katlimmu,38 and another from
Tell Shioukh Fawqani;39 seven originated in Aur (Ass. 2000 D-26;
Ass. 2001 D-378; StAT 1 36; StAT 1 55; StAT 2 64, StAT 2 73,
StAT 2 170), two in Nineveh (SAA XIV 202; AECT 13), and one in
Maxallnte (O 3701unpublished).40
Of these 69 texts, 64 originated in the mainland of Assyria, principally the three capital cities: Aur (33), Nineveh (18), and Calah (9), and
from Balawat (4). Only ve documents originated in the periphery, one
in each of the following places: Dr-Katlimmu, Huzrna, Maxallnte,
Tell Hadid, and Tell Shioukh Fawquani. 16 texts are still unpublished
(15 from Aur and one from Maxallnte), and a few texts from Calah
are only partly published.
Which terms designate these pledged people? And do these terms
indicate their legal status? Were they slaves or free people?
The status of the single people pledged is discussed rst. Clearly,
the free singles were indicated by their relation to their family head,
who usually was the debtor, e.g., (his) son, (his) daughter, etc. In
11 cases a son is pledged. He is usually dened by the terms his son
or son (DUMU or DUMU-), the terms attested in the pledging
formula, and sometimes in the redemption formula (see BT 102, 123,
128, 139;41 ND 2078, ND 2333;42 SAAB 5 50; SAA XIV 108, 159; and
Huzrna (1): S.U. 51/43 = An St 7 (1957), p. 144.

Imgur-Illil (Balawat) (4): BT 102; BT 123; BT 128; BT 139;
Maxallnte (1): O 3710 = PNA, p. 744a.
Nineveh (18): ADD 60 = SAA VI 317; ADD 61 = SAA XIV 101; ADD 63 = SAA
XIV 93; ADD 65 = SAA VI 307 (= text 90); ADD 67 = SAA XIV 159; ADD 68 =
SAA XIV 97; ADD 71 = SAA VI 295; ADD 72 = SAA VI 272; ADD 77 = SAA
XIV 202; ADD 78 = SAA XIV 181 (= text 94); ADD 79 = SAA XIV 209 (= text 95);
ADD 85 = SAA XIV 216 (= text 96); ADD 1193 = SAA XIV 108; AECT 13;
(Land and People): ADD 58 = SAA VI 81 (= text 86); ADD 59 = SAA VI 91
(= text 88); ADD 64 = SAA VI 245 (= text 89); ADD 66 = SAA VI 97 (= text 87).
Tell Hadid (1): G/1696 = Tel Aviv 27 (2000), pp. 169176.
Tell Shioukh Fawquani (1): TSF F 204 I/3 = Semitica 46 (1996), pp. 89111.
36
Radner, 1997, pp. 377383.
37
NaxamanZadok, 2000, no. G/1696; see also Galil, 2001a, pp. 6869.
38
See Radner, 2002 (= BATSH 6), no. 104.
39
See Fales, 1996a.
40
See PNA, p. 744a.
41
For the texts of Balawat see Parker, 1963.
42
Parker, 1954, p. 44.
201
O 3701). In the risk clauses attested in these ten texts it is stated only
twice that if the son dies or runs away, responsibility for compensation
rests on his father (AD-see BT 139; ND 2078); in a third text
(SAA XIV 159) the scribe states that responsibility for compensation
rests on PN (= the name of the sons father). But in two other texts
the pattern on his owner occurs (SAA XIV 108, and BT 128; the
latter is probably a pledge of a son, and it should be reconstructed, as
suggested by Wiseman, Nan s[on] of Ulliu, although the formula
on his owner is listed).43 In pledges of daughters the scribes also used
both patterns: on her father and on her owner (see below). The
other two documents indicating pledging of one son are broken at this
place (BT 102, SAAB 5 50); and in other three texts there is no risk
clause (SAA VI 295; BT 123; and ND 2333).
A pledged daughter is usually dened by the term his daughter
(DUMU.M-see ND 3441,44 SAAB 5 13; SAAB 5 45; StAT 2 64;
A 330). In one case (ND 3441) the scribe used the pattern on her
father in the risk clause; but in another case (StAT 2 64) the formula
on (the responsibility) of her owner is given; in the other texts there
is no risk clause. The term his daughter is also attested in a text
indicating a pledge of a maid and a daughter of the debtor (CTN III
59, with no risk clause).
Only once is a brother pledged (Assur 14).45 He is dened by the
term PAP-, and in the risk clause responsibility rests on his brother.
A pledge of a sister is indicated in a text from Tell Hadid (G/1696),
and the two pledged females are dened as his wife and his sister
(M- and NIN-su; with no risk clause).
In four additional documents the pledged female is dened as his
woman (M-, see ND 3443; SAAB 9 69; StAT 2 73; VAT 9319),
and it is reasonable to suppose that it is his wife and not his maid. In
the risk clauses of the texts from Aur (SAAB 9 69; StAT 2 73; VAT
9319) the scribe used the pattern on her owner, and in the text from
Calah (ND 3443) there is no risk clause.
In another document (CTN III 37) three debtors are obliged to
pledge probably their wives if they fail to repay their debt. In Posgates
opinion, here the scribe used the unusual formulation their wives(?)
43
See also PNA, p. 926a(15). For a different opinion see Radner, 1997, p. 379,
no. 7.
44
See Weisman, 1953, pl. xii.
45
See Ahmad, 1996, no. 13.
202
chapter three
(will) belong to Nr-ama (the alternative possibility proposed by the

editors is their [wives(?)] shall be [put] into pledge).46 The risk clause
indicates that responsibility for compensation rest on their owners.
In sum, in 23 out of 69 texts (33.3%) 24 free persons (12 males
and 12 females) are put into pledge, as single individuals, or in one
case with another family member (for pledged families see below). In
most cases the members of the nuclear family are pledged: 11 sons,
six daughters, and ve wives; only in two cases is it members of the
extended family: in one a brother and in the other a sister.47 In ten
documents a risk clause is attested: in four cases the pattern on his/
her father (or on PN = the father) occurs, referring three times to
a son and once to a daughter; in the other six texts the pattern is on
his/her owner, referring twice to a son, once to a daughter, and three
times to a wife, and probably also in CTN III 37. So the pattern on
his owner does not indicate clearly if the pledged person is free or a
slave (see also below).
In texts that in Radners opinion describe pledging of slaves the
picture is less clear: she believes that 11 texts indicate pledging a male
slave and ten pledging a maid.48 Two new texts indicating a pledge
were recently published by Maul and Frahm: Ass. 2000.D-26 and Ass.
2001 D-378 (see above): in the rst one the pledged person is clearly
a maid, and in Frahms opinion a maid is probably also attested in the
second text. The term his maid (GEM-) is mentioned in only six
of these 12 texts (Ass. 2000.D-26; CTN III 59; ND 5448; SAAB 9 95;
VAT 8653; VAT 8663). Two other texts (A 2686 and A 2806) are still
unpublished, and therefore it is not clear whether the term GEM
occurs in these documents; in Ass. 2001 D-378 Frahm restored this
term but this restoration is not certain, and in the other three cases the
term GEM is not mentioned at all (SAA XIV 101; SAAB 5 31 and
SAA VI 272). The claim that a maid is pledged in the last four texts
is mainly based on the pattern on (the responsibility of) her owner
which is attested in all of them except oneSAA VI 272, which does
not include a risk formula (the pattern on her owner is also attested
46
See Postgate in DalleyPostgate, 1984, p. 91.

A list of the 23 texts attesting 24 pledges of free relatives is presented below:
a son (11): BT 102; BT 123; BT 128; BT 139; ND 2078; ND 2333; O 3710; SAA
VI 295; SAA XIV 108; SAA XIV 159; SAAB 5 50; a daughter (6): A 330; CTN III
59; ND 3441; SAAB 5 13; SAAB 5 45; StAT 2 64; a wife (5): G/1696 (= Tell Hadid);
ND 3433; SAAB 9 69; StAT 2 73; VAT 9319; a brother (1): Rfdn 17 13; and a sister (1):
G/1696 (= Tell Hadid).
48
See Radner, 1997, pp. 379383, no. 2, 9, 1112, 1718, 24, 30, 31, 38.
47
203
in ve out of the six documents in which the pledge is clearly dened
as a maid; in CTN III 59 there is no risk clause). It is reasonable to
assume that in the rst six texts a maid is indeed pledged, but in the
others it is unclear. Yet it is possible, since these pledges were not dened
as one of the close relatives of the debtor, but just as a woman, or by
her personal name, without specifying her relation to the debtor. In two
other cases it is also possible that a maid was pledged: StAT 1 55 and
StAT 2 45; in the latter case Rminni, the pledged female, is dened
as her young woman (M.TUR-). In sum, in these 14 documents
15 females are pledged; six are probably maids and the other nine are
possibly also maids although this is not certain. Another maid is probably attested in BATSH 6 104 (see below).
The term ARAD occurs only in two of the 11 texts that indicate
pledging of slaves in Radners opinion (SAA VI 317; SAA XIV
97). In A 2509 the pledged person is dened as a son of a maid
(GEM). Five other texts are still unpublished so it is unclear if the
term ARAD is mentioned in them (A 1055 + 1070; A 1825; A 1906
[3 slaves]; A 2514; VAT 8660). In three other texts the term slave is
not mentioned (SAA VI 295; SAA XIV 93; Scheil 5 = BaM 15[1984],
p. 247). Another text which mentioned the term ARAD (but does not
include a risk clause) is StAT 2 170 (it is not mentioned by Radner).
A risk clause (on their/his owner) is attested in six texts (A 1906; A
2509; A 2514; SAA XIV 93; SAA XIV 97; Scheil 5 = BaM 15[1984],
p. 247); in ve texts a risk clause is missing (A 1055 + 1070; A 1825;
SAA VI 295; SAA VI 317; VAT 8660). The pledged persons attested
in the rst three texts (A 1055 + 1070; A 1825; SAA VI 295) and in
StAT 2 170 were probably true slaves, since the terms slave or son of
a maid are attested in these four documents (which count ve pledges);
in the other eight texts (which mention ten pledges), it is not certain if
the persons are slaves; but it is possible, since they are not dened as
relatives of the debtor.
The pledged (or redeemed) persons attested in the following ten
texts might also be slaves: A 1928; AECT 13; BATSH 6 104 (4 men;
1 woman); CTN III 8 (withdrawing); CTN III 9 (withdrawing); SAA
XIV 202 (redeeming); SAAB 9 79 (release); SU 51/43 = An St 7 (1957),
p. 144; TSF F 204 I/3 (= ); VAT 15461 (withdrawing3 persons).
In all these ten documents (which count 16 persons among them at
least one woman) no risk clause is recorded and the terms ARAD or
GEM are missing (A 1928 is still unpublished).
In these 22 documents at least 30 men are pledged; ve are probably
slaves and the other 25 men (and one woman) are possibly also slaves
204
chapter three
but it is not certain. Adding the pledged maids mentioned above will
bring the grand total to 46 pledged slaves (30 males and 16 females),
of whom 11 are probably true slaves and the other 35 are possibly also
slaves, although it is not certain. These people are attested in 36 of 69
texts (52%) that indicate pledging or redemption of single persons.
In sum, a few people were evidently slaves before they were pledged,
while others were free persons, or pledged people who were re-pledged.
The free people were put into pledge by their family head, in most
cases their father and in others their husband or brother, and they are
dened by their relation to the family head (his son, his wife, etc.).
The risk clause in these cases has the pattern on (the responsibility
of) his/her father or on his/her owner. The slaves that are pledged
will be dened sometimes by the terms (his) slave/maid or son of
a maid, and the risk clause will sometimes include the pattern on
his/her owner. In light of these conclusions the terminology used in
the texts indicating pledges of families will be discussed below.
The terms that dene the members of the families put in pledge are
included in four patterns attested in the documents indicating pledges
of families (texts nos. 8696): (1) In the presentation of the debtor who
put these people into pledge; (2) in the pledging formula; (3) in the risk
clause; and (4) in the redemption formula. The most usual patterns
are as follows (see Appendix C. 2 to this chapter, which presents the
formulation of these texts):
(1) PN, EN L.UN.ME SUM-ni . . .
(2) km X PN . . . PAB X (L.)ZI.ME ana aparte (ina IGI PN)
akin/kammus
(3) (umma) . . . ina UGU EN/AD-//nu
(4) (ina) mu a X tadnu/erbu () . . . L.UN.ME u ()
The terms ARAD or GEM are very rare in these texts (as they are
in the documents that indicate pledging of single persons), although
it is reasonable to suppose that a few of them are slave families. The
term ARAD is attested in these texts only once, in text no. 95, which
probably indicates pledging a slave family. A risk pattern is also very
rare and is attested only once, in text no. 87: r. 6: on their owner.
In the redemption formulas the people are always given by the term
people (L.UN.ME), and in the pledging formulas they are presented by their personal names and by the formula PAB X (L.)ZI.
ME. In the texts indicating a pledge of a few single persons the term
ARAD is also rare and is attested only once, in SAA VI 317: here the
205
pledged people are called his slaves (ARAD.ME-) but their exact
number is not stated.
It is clear that at least a few free families were pledged, for example,
the two re-pledged families (texts nos. 91 and 96), and the family that
was pledged by its head (without himselfno. 94). In all these cases
the people are dened by the terms souls (ZI.ME) or people
(UN.ME).
In addition to the four people listed in text no. 95 who were probably slaves (one of them is dened by the term ARAD a PN) it is
reasonable to suppose that the female and her daughter attested in text
no. 93 were maids, being dened as one woman (and) her daughter
and not as his wife (and) his/her daughter. The people attested in
texts nos. 90 and 92 might also be slaves (see the discussion on these
families in chapter II).
Texts nos. 8689 document Land and People put into pledge, and
the status of the 49 people listed in them was probably like that of
the people attested in sales of Land and People (see the discussion
below).
The presumed free pledged families were larger than the presumed
slave pledged families: the average of the former is 4.33 souls per
family and of the latterit is 2.5 souls per family. The 19 pledged
families attested in texts nos. 8696 consist of 72 souls, an average of
3.79 souls per family.
C. Land and People

The terms that dene people occur in four main patterns attested in
sales of Land and People: (1) in the opening lines, in the presentation of the seller; (2) in the intermediate summaries of the people; (3)
in the summary of the detailed description of the people; (4) in the
formula designating the completion of the transaction. The most usual
patterns are as follows:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
PN, EN A., GI.SAR, UN.ME, SUM-an . . .

PN . . . PAB X ZI . . .
PAB X ZI.ME
A., GI.SAR, UN.ME (utu) zarip laqi . . .
Very rarely a denition of the people is also attested in the penalty

clauses, always by the term UN.ME (see text no. 97 and SAA VI 340).
206
chapter three
In other rare cases a redemption clause is attested, and the people are
also dened by the same term (UN.MEsee text nos. 98, 102 and
SAA VI 65).
In texts nos. 104105 the people are dened as slaves. Text no. 104
is unique: (1) in the opening lines, in the presentation of the owners
of the property, only the term people is attested (and not the owner
of the sold orchard and people); (2) in most sales of Land and people
the detailed description of the people is presented after the description
of the land (with only a few exceptions: see below); in text no. 104 the
people are counted before the land (possibly because 17 people are
counted and only one orchard); (3) the term ARAD denes not only
the sold people but also the owners of the property, who are called:
two men, ARAD.ME of the governor of Barhalza, owners of the
people (UN.ME) being sold. The sellers are clearly not true slaves
but ofcials of the governor; the rst is even dened as the village
manager of the queen.
In a few cases the people are just dened by the formula PAB . . .
A. . . . adi UN.ME without specication of their names and number.
For example, in SAA VI 283 the description of the land is very detailed:
the scribe describes all 19 parcels and in the summary he presents the
grand total of the hectares of land and refers to the sold people
simply by the formula along with the people (adi UN.ME), without
stating even their number (this pattern is usual in grants: see the discussion below). So these people can hardly be presumed slaves, who
were valuable property usually specied by name or at least number.
In two other cases a whole village is sold but its people are dened
merely by this same pattern its people (SAA XIV 1); or 1 farmer
and his people (SAA XIV 2).
In most sales of Land and People the land is described before
the people, in the detailed description as well as in the summary. But
occasionally the people are listed before the land, and at times the scribe
presents a mixed description of land and people. The land is described
before the people in 18 of the 30 sales of Land and People studied
in this book (see texts nos. 97, 103105, 109112, 115116, 118119,
122123), and in 15 of the other 20 sales of Land and People that
do not indicate families (SAA VI 65, 129, 149, 153, 280, 283, 320/321,
329/30, 340; SAA XIV 6, 22, 36, 207, 263, 401), that is, in 33 out
of 50 texts altogether. Land is also described before people in two out
of the four texts that indicate a pledge of Land and People (nos.
8687). Only in ve cases are people listed before land (texts nos. 104,
207
106107, 120121). A mixed description of land and people appears

in nine texts (nos. 108, 11314, 117, 124126; and in SAA VI 332,
SAA XIV 215) and also in two of the four texts showing a pledge of
Land and People (nos. 8889).
In sum, the scribes usually set down the land before the people (in 33
out of 47 texts in which the order is clear, or 70%); but in ve cases the
people are listed rst (11%) and in nine texts the description is mixed
(19%). The other three sales are broken. In the four texts of a pledge
of Land and People, land is listed before people in two of them, and
a mixed description is found in the other two. These variations clearly
indicate that the people are an integral part of the transaction, but
whether their status is slaves or tenants cannot be ascertained. Two facts
are clear: (1) they are not the owners of the land; (2) they dwell on the
land and farm it. The terminology per se does not allow us to judge if
they are slaves or tenants, or even if they are all of similar status. Still,
as demonstrated above, the sales of people and the sales of Land and
People differ in three important ways, which cannot be accidental: if
the people enumerated in sales of Land and People are slaves, why
is a guarantee clause so rare in these texts? Moreover, in a few sales of
Land and People the price seems very low, even unreasonable, if we
suppose that the people sold were slaves. But if we assume that these
people were not slaves, the prices make sense.49 Three examples will
be presented, as follows: The rst is SAA XIV 399 (= BM 134551). It
documents the purchase of a very large property including 60 hectares
of land, 2 vineyard, 3 houses and 18 persons. The price is 15 mina
of silver. This text was discussed by Postgate in 1970.50 In his opinion:
The price is remarkably low. It is possible, therefore, that the seller
and previous owner is in fact Mardduk-ahu-iddina, and that he was
unable to repay the dept of 15 mina of silver, which he owed to the
purchaser, in any other way. If this is so, our document might represent
49
The prices in the Neo-Assyrian period were studied, in the last decade, by Fales
(1996; 1997a) and by Radner (1997, pp. 230248). Fales, on the one hand, presented
the diversity of the prices of persons and of real estate, but on the other hand, he
pointed out the a man was in the main, valued around a mina, while a woman
could be bought most of the time for slightly over half a mina of silver (Fales, 1996,
p. 30). Radner reached same conclusions. In her opinion, the average price of a slave
was 53.15 shekels of silver; of a female slave40.57, and of one person sold within a
group or a family38.16 shekels of silver (Radner, 1997, p. 248). For prices of slaves
in the Neo-Assyrian period see also Galil, forthcoming (a).
50
See Postgate, 1970, pp. 145146, Pl. XXIV.
208
chapter three
the appropriation of a security or guarantee by the purchaser/creditor.

Otherwise, we must suppose that the purchaser here pays the original
owner by transferring to his name a credit of 15 minas owed to him by
a third party, a practice well attested in middle Assyrian times, but not
common at this period.51 Postgate did not considered the possibility
that these people, or most of them, were not slaves.
Another text is ADD 1205+, a broken, undated sale of Land and
People.52 It attested a sale of a family of 3 people, a eld of 210
hectares (within one hectare of land in cultivation) and a vineyard,
for 1 mina of silver by the mina of Carchemish.53 If the people being
sold in ADD 1205+ were slaves, a price of 1 mina (by the mina of
Carchemis) for 3 persons is a low, even before considering the value of
the elds and of the vineyard. On the other hand if the people were
not slaves, it is a reasonable price.
A third example is SAA VI 50/51. This text also documents the
purchase of a very large property including 50 hectares of land,
10,000 vines, a built house and nine persons. The price in this text is
even lower then in the previous texts: only 6 mina of silver, that are
approximately the average price of nine persons. On the other hand,
if we assume that the people were not slaves (or at least most of them)
the price looks much more reasonable.54
In most sales of Land and People the price is lost (see texts nos.
97, 99100, 104, 106, 110114, 117120, 124126; and SAA VI 65,
129, 149, 153, 280, 320/1, 340; SAA XIV 1, 2, 22, 207, 263, 401).
In six texts the price is not lost, but the size or the value of the property is unclear, since the texts are broken (see texts nos. 107, 109, 115,
123, and SAA VI 283, SAA XIV 36). In the last text, SAA XIV 36,
a vineyard and two men change hands for three minas of silver: the
price seems low, but since the size of the vineyard is unclear it is not
possible to estimate if the mens value is included in it. In SAA VI
283 the price is ten minas of silver and the size of the land is clear,
but the people are dened by the vague pattern with the people (see
51
See Postgate, 1970, p. 146.

See SAA XIV 355. For a new discussion on this text see Galil, forthcoming (b).
53
For the mina of Carchemish see Vargias, 1998, pp. 303311 with earlier
literature.
54
For prices of real estate in the Neo-Assyrian period see Zaccagnini, 1979, pp.
2426; Fales, 1984a; Postgate, 1989, p. 151; Fales, 1990a; Fales, 1996, pp. 2829, 1*4*;
Fales, 1997a; Jas, 2000a, p. 253, and note 37.
52
209
the discussion above). In three cases (texts nos. 98, 108, 116) the price
seems high and it admits the possibility that the people are slaves. But
even in these documents the size and value of the land is unclear, so
it cannot be argued that the value of the people (as slaves) is included
in the price.
The socio-economic status of the people enumerated in sales of
Land and People in the Neo-Assyrian period, has been discussed
extensively in the literature. Many scholars are of the opinion that
these people were slaves.55 In other studies they were dened as glebae
adscripti, semi-free, or laborers.56 Another scholar supposed that:
the fact that the names of the occupants of a particular parcel of
land are enumerated when the land changes hands does not necessarily imply that these individuals are slaves or unfree. The enumeration,
on the contrary, might have been intended to safeguard the interests
of the tenants or subtenants contract.57
The diversity of opinions is also reected in the volumes of PNA,
published in the recent years. Five main denitions of the persons enumerated in the sales of Land and People were proposed by different
scholars in 34 items in PNA, as follows: 1. Slave;58 2. Servant;59
3. Dependent Farmer, Dependent Gardener, Dependent Individual, etc.;60 4. Farmer or Individual, without any sociological
55
See Mendelsohn, 1949, pp. 110111: they were slaves pure and simple. For a
same opinion see Postgate, 1970, pp. 145146; Zablocka, 1971, p. 156; Zablocka, 1972,
p. 212; Fales, 1996, 1*2*; Radner, 1997, pp. 219224, and see below note 5.
56
Johns, ADD, I, p. 172; KohlerUngnad, 1913, p. 452; Oded, 1979, pp. 9596;
Renger, 1995, p. 308. B. Parker used the term laborers, see Iraq, 16, p. 37 (= ND
2306): an estate and its laborers.
57
Ellis, 1976, p. 145.
58
See H. D. Baker, PNA, p. 1128bSAA XIV 36; M. F. Fales, PNA, p. 6aSAA VI
100/101; E. Frahm, PNA, p. 493aSAA XIV 168; M. Jursa, PNA, p. 15b(1)SAA VI
315/316; B. J. Parker, PNA, 631b(6)SAA XIV 36; R. Pruzsinsky, PNA, p. 631bSAA
XIV 435 = ADD 1168+; V. Verardi, PNA, p. 379aSAA VI 50/51.
59
See R. Jas, PNA, p. 464a(2)SAA VI 50/51.
60
See K. Akerman, PNA, p. 802a(12)SAA VI 334; PNA, p. 958a(7)SAA VI
251; H. D. Baker, PNA, p. 789b(31)SAA VI 90; PNA, p. 742b(2)SAA VI 94; PNA,
p. 820b(4)SAA VI 173; PNA, p. 849b(8)SAA VI 253; PNA, p. 666b(1)SAA VI
326; A. Berlejung, PNA, p. 66b(1)SAA VI 334; PNA, p. 600aSAA VI 326; E.
Cancik, PNA, p. 1007a-bSAA XIV 399; S. Cole, PNA, p. 25b(2)SAA VI 163; H.
Hunger, PNA, p. 413b(19)SAA VI 253; J. R. Novotny, PNA, p. 1110b(1)SAA VI
334; E. Lipinski, PNA, p. 753aSAA VI 163; PNA, p. 1007b(2)SAA VI 315/316;
J. Llop, PNA, p. 1011aSAA VI 37; M. Luukko, PNA, p. 260b(4)SAA VI 163; D.
Schwemer, PNA, p. 987bSAA VI 315/316; G. van Buylaere, PNA, p. 458bSAA
XIV 399Iraq 32 11); R. M. Whiting, PNA, p. 173b(8)SAA VI 37.
210
chapter three
denition;61 5. Landowner.62 A few scholars suggested different denitions in different items.63 Moreover, for persons enumerated in same
texts, different denitions are at times attested.64
Is it possible that the people enumerated in sales of Land and
People were not slaves? On the one hand, it seams impossible, since
they were sold together with the land and it looks like there is no difference between them and the other items presented in the operative
sections of these texts: elds, houses, vineyards, vegetable gardens, etc.
Moreover, the owner of the property is presented not only as the owner
of the land, but also as the owner of the people being sold. On the other
hand, this possibility is problematic, since if the people enumerated in
sales of Land and People were also slaves, one would expect that a
same terminology will be used to dene the sold people in both sales of
people and of Land and People, but this is not the case (see discussion above). Moreover, if the people enumerated in sales of Land and
People were indeed slaves, one would expect to nd sales of enslaved
farmers without the land, but out of 468 Neo-Assyrian sales of persons,
only in one text the sold man is dened as a gardener (SAA XIV
49), and even in this case it is not clear whether the seller owned the
gardeners land. The issue is indeed very problematic and complicated,
and it is even unclear whether the status of all the people enumerated
in sales of Land and People was the same. In my opinion, although
a few families listed in these texts might be slaves, most people attested
in sales of Land and People were probably tenants.
61
For the denition individual see H. D. Baker, PNA, p. 1046a(2)SAA XIV 90;
S. Cole, PNA, p. 224b(15)SAA XIV 265 = ADD 458; For the denition farmer
or son of a farmer see M. F. Fales, PNA, p. 8b(2)SAA VI 334; R. Mattila, PNA,
p. 481bSAA VI 326; D. R. Brown, PNA, p. 397a(5)SAA VI 315/316; For the
denition palace farmer see A. Berlejung, PNA, p. 65b(3)SAA VI 37.
62
See K. Akerman, PNA, p. 671aSAA VI 329. It is clearly a mistake since Lusumu
was sold with the vineyard and the grove (see line 12). In line 3 he is dened as:
L tadani. Therefore the translation in SAA VI is right: this too is a sale of Land
and People.
63
Baker dened them as dependents or just as individuals (relating to the same
text: SAA VI 90), and Fales dened them once as slaves and in another item as
farmers. See the previous notes.
64
See the items relating to the following texts: SAA VI 315/316 (slaves, dependent
or just individual); SAA VI 50/51 (slaves or servants); SAA VI 90 and 326 (dependent
or just individual); see the previous notes.
211
D. Royal Grants
This group of seven documents is divided into two main sub-groups:
(1) grants and tax exemptions for ofcials (texts nos. 128131); (2)
royal grants and personal decrees for temples (texts nos. 132134).
In texts nos. 128130, 133134 the scribes use mainly the pattern PN
(his profession)X persons, for example, Family no. 249: PN3
L.ZI.ME; or in its shorter version PNX, for example, Family
no. 194: PN4 (persons). In text no. 128 this pattern probably
features in reverse order: X personsPN. In text no. 131 the same
patterns appear, with some exceptions: sometimes all members of the
family are counted, for example, text no. 132 (see the discussion below).
A comparison of these seven documents indicates that the scribes
probably counted families by these patterns and that the total of persons in each probably includes its head. In all texts except one, families
and single persons are presented in mixed order; the exception is text
no. 132, in which families are clearly distinguished from single persons
(DIL-ma-nu = dumnu), who appear after the families at the end of
the list.
Text no. 132 describes all 41 persons (eight families and ve single
people) brought from Arbla and dedicated by Sennacherib to the
newly founded temple of the gods Bbu and Zabba in Aur. All
eight family heads as well as the ve single people are attested by their
personal names. In each family the wife is listed before the sons, and
all wives, sons and daughters are unnamed, with only one exception,
in line 1. The order of the family members is xed: after the family
head the scribe records his wife, always by the pattern his wife; the
adolescent sons are counted after the wife and before the small children
(weaned or suckling), and the daughters are listed at the end, with only
one exception: in line r. 7 (Family no. 247) a son is mentioned after
the two daughters. This is also the only son whose age is not specied. The age of none of the daughters is listed. Only three age/size
categories are attested in this text: adolescent, weaned and suckling
(a-hur-t; par-su; GA).
The professions of these people are not specied in the detailed
description of this text, but in the summary (lines r. 1213) the people
are clearly dened as tillers: a grand total of 41 people from Arbla
whom I have donated to Zabba as tillers (PAB 41 ZI.ME URU.
arba-il-a-a a-na L. qa-tin--te a-na DN ad-din--nu-ti). The scribe chose
212
chapter three
to dene the people by the term qatinnu (ana L qatinnte),65 and

not ana urdnti, so they probably were not temple slaves but temple
employees of low rank, or temple tenants. They became part of the
permanent temple staff, and there are no indications that the temple
administrators were allowed to sell people donated to temples by the
king. Their status might be different from that of slaves bought by the
temple from private individuals or of day-laborers: they are protgs
of the temple, they dwell within it or its surroundings, they cultivate
its land, and they are provided with corn rations or share the elds
corn with it.
Text no. 131 lists dozens of families and single persons; most families
are described by the pattern PN (his profession)X persons, but in
nine cases the scribe enumerates each family member (see Appendix
C.3 to this chapter). Three times (in the description of Families nos.
208209, 223) the scribe counts a woman with her children by the
formula: FPN2 DUMU.ME-; in three other cases (Families nos.
198, 215, and probably 212) a couple is recorded by the pattern PN
(and) his wife, a total of two (persons) (PN, M-, PAB 2); or by the
pattern PN1 (and) PN2, his wife (PN1, FPN2, M-). In another case
(no. 211) a couple with two children is attested; the wife is listed by her
name before the unnamed sons: PN1, shepherd; PN2, his wife, (and)
his two sons, a total of four (persons) (PN1, riu immeru; FPN2, M-;
2 DUMU.ME-; PAB 4). In two other cases (Families nos. 204205)
a woman and her children is also attested, but here one of the sons is
presented as the family head, the woman as his mother and the other
children as his brothers:
204 PN1 [PN2,] PN3, [..-], FPN4, AMA(-) 4 ZI.ME
205 [P]N1, L. [] PN2, PN3, PN4, E.ME-, FPN5, AMA-
[5 ZI.ME]
In this text the people are listed by their professions, all those of
the same profession being counted together, for example, gardeners
(lines 16), shepherds (lines 1921), camel drivers (lines 2122), weavers (line 24), farmers (lines 3637); sometimes a total is also given, for
example, a total of six shepherds (line 21). One family head is a
baker (Family no. 224line 35). In other texts (nos. 129 and 134) only
two professions are attested: a farmer (Families nos. 190, 275) and a
shepherd (Family no. 276).
65
For the term qatinnu see chapter 2, note 163.
213
It is reasonable to suppose that the people enumerated in text no.

131 (= SAA XII 2628) are not true slaves but probably tenants. It is
clearly stated in SAA XII 26 r. 18 that the personnel of these elds
may not be called up for the corve. Clearly then, before Assurbanipal exempted these people of Nab-arru-uur from taxes, they were
obliged to perform ilku duties; the question is, were true slaves liable
for these services? In Postgates opinion this question must be left open
for now:66
There are many problems about the exaction of ilku which it is impossible
to answer at present: were all those who held no land liable? Were true
slaves (rather than serfs) liable to do ilku service, and if so could they do
it on behalf of their masters?
Postgate is right since actually there is still no evidence that true slaves
were sent to perform these services on behalf of their masters in
the Neo-Assyrian period; yet no text indicates the reverse possibility.
However, in the Neo-Babylonian period privately owned slaves were
not obliged to perform public works. Dandamaev, in his monumental
study Slavery in Babylonia refers to this issue in these words:67
The scant materials from the texts examined above permit one to suppose that privately owned slaves were not obliged to pay state taxes or
to perform public obligations. In those cases where they did pay taxes
or perform duties, this was done as a private arrangement in a contract
with a free person for a corresponding fee. Free persons who, because
of age or other reasons, found themselves unable to perform the royal
duties connected with bow efs sometimes adopted slaves and entrusted
to them the performance of these duties.
Moreover, one might claim that sending true slaves to perform public
services would be too risky and economically not sensible, since the
slaves might run away while the yearly cost of ilku service (per person)
was only a few shekels (assuming a cost of one shekel or less per month
for one persons service). Would it be logical to risk a property of 60
shekels or more for an outlay of one or two shekels? More reasonably,
the slave-owner would rather pay money than perform these duties or
send one of his day-laborers or tenants to do them.
66
Postgate 1974a, p. 91. In his opinion the people listed in SAA XII 2628 are
serfs or semi-free; see 1974a, p. 82.
67
See Dandamaev, 1984, p. 418. See also Roth, 1989, no. 5.
214
chapter three
In sum, the personnel attested in the royal grants were probably

tenants and not slaves.

E.1. The Formulation of Texts nos. 135145
In the discussion on the texts of the Harran Census in chapter I these
texts were divided into two main groups, each composed by a different
scribe, A or B. Scribe A was shown to present a detailed description of
the family members, clearly distinguishing wives from daughters; scribe
B omits patronymics, sons names, childrens ages, and totals, and places
all females (wives and daughters) in one category, Women. Both scribes
list the people rst and then the property, including elds (in contrast
to the sales of Land and People which usually record land before
people). Both scribes record the people by families, separating them
from single persons and riqu, and both list the people by farms.
The usual formula found in scribe As texts has four main components
arranged as follows: (1) the family heads personal name and profession (at times patronymics are also presented); (2) the other males of
the family (sons, brothers, and grandsons), listed sometimes by name,
and usually with an indication of their size or age; (3) the females
of the family: wife, daughter(s), family heads mother or sister (usually
unnamed); (4) a total of the family members. Scribe B inserts only
the rst three components, omitting many details, as noted above (see
Appendix C.4 to this chapter). In the following discussion texts nos.
135145 are separated from the other four texts (nos. 146149), which
indicate only fathers and sons; we shall begin with the formulation
of the rst group.
(a) The Denition of the Family Head
The formulas which describe people in these texts (composed by scribe
A or B) always open with the family heads personal name (but never
dene him as head or father; they indicate his relationship to the
family members sometimes by means of a possessive sufx: his son,
his brother, etc.). In ten out of 45 families (22%) scribe A lists the name
of the family heads father, while scribe B, as noted, omits all patronymics (scribe A also inserts the patronymics of two out of 12 single
persons: 17%). Both scribes always record the profession of the family
head (there is only one exception out of 102 cases: see Family no. 322).
215
On the other hand, only rarely is his previous profession indicated (in
the texts of scribe A in six out of 57 cases; in the texts of scribe B only
once: see discussion on these peoples professions below). In two cases
a woman is presented probably as a family head: in SAA XI 203 I:
1415 (scribe A) the wife of PN (M- PN L*.[]) appears in
a fragmentary context, and she is probably a widow (with or without
children); in SAA XI 213 r. I: 79 (scribe B) a female personal name
(Sn-) likewise appears in a fragmentally preserved passage, with a
vineyard of 2,000 vines.
(b) The Denition of the Other Males of the Family
The other males in the family (sons, brothers, and grandsons) are always
listed after the family head. Scribe B omits the sons names and counts
only their number by the formula 1 DUMU or X DUMU.ME. His
brother is mentioned before a son once (Family no. 348), so scribe
B evidently separates sons and brothers. A possessive sufx is attested
only twice, once referring to sons of the family head (Family no. 322)
and once to his brother (see above).
The texts of scribe A exhibit a more complicated picture. In 33 out
of 45 families, males are counted after the family head, usually by their
size and age: rst the adolescent sons and later the small children and
the babies. The adolescents are presented by the pattern PN, A- a
(see e.g. Families nos. 278, 281, 291, 294295, 297, 314, 317) or PN,
A a (see e.g. no. 289) or PN1, PN2, 2 A a (see e.g. nos. 288, 308).
Sometimes the adolescent son is unnamed (see e.g. no. 286 and probably also no. 305). In a few cases one name or more are listed right
after the family head without specifying if he is a son or a brother of
the family head (see e.g. nos. 303, 315, 318). It is clear that at least one
of these adolescent sons is actually an adult, married with at least
one son (Family no. 288).
The terminology for dening children in the Neo-Assyrian period has
been discussed extensively in the literature.68 The Assyrians are known
to have dened children by their height and their state of dependence
on their mother. Adolescent or adult sons are dened by the term
a = ahurtu and adolescent daughters by a or batssu (see below). The
younger children are presented by their height: three, four, or ve spans,
68
Radner, 1997, pp. 126152, with earlier literature; and see also chapter VIII,
note 1.
216
chapter three
sometimes with the addition of the term ruu, probably about 25 cm.69
In other texts the scribe used two additional numbers, two and six.70
This is very likely only a general estimate. The last two denitions are
weaned (UD = pir, pirsu) and suckling (GA = a zizibi).
Scribes A and B used different signs to dene a son: scribe A used
the sign A and scribe B the sign DUMU. The exceptions are the use
by scribe A of the sign DUMU three times (Families nos. 294, 300,
and SAA 205 II: 3).
A brother of the family head is attested in the texts of scribe A only
twice (Families nos. 300, 319); in both cases the brother is listed before
the son, but in both the brother is probably older than the son(s): in
Family no. 319 the brothers are adolescent and the son is 4 spans
high; and in Family no. 300 the son is 3 spans high, but the brothers
height is lost. Since brothers are so rare in these texts it is reasonable
to suppose that in most cases in which males named right after the
family head are not presented as his sons or brothers, they were in fact
his sons and not his brothers; but this is not certain (see Families nos.
287, 292293, 301, 303, 305, 311, 315, 318).
(c) The Denition of the Family Females
Neither scribes records women by their personal names. Moreover, the
terms woman or daughter are always without possessive sufxes
(although three times this sufx is related to a mother or a sister of
the family head: see Families nos. 277, 280, 293). Scribe B places all
females (wives and daughters) in one category, Women, but scribe A
clearly records wives, daughters, sisters, and the family heads mother
separately. So the denition X women does not include the family
heads daughter, sister, or mother. But the family heads daughters-in-law
were probably put in one category with his wife, as is clearly indicated
at least in one case: in the description of Family no. 288 all women are
included in one category and dened as 3 women; since a grandson
is clearly listed, one of these three women was probably his daughterin-law. In a few cases more than one daughter is listed, by the following formulas: the rst one is dened as 1 DUMU.M with her height,
and the others are just counted by the number 1, and another number
69
For the size of one ruu see Fales, 1973, pp. 119122; Fales, 1975, pp. 342346;
see also CAD, R, pp. 438439.
70
Fales, 1973, p. 120.
217
which species her height. Scribe A lists the daughters by their height
(with only one exception: Family no. 279), and separates the adolescents
from the younger ones; in most cases the former are counted before the
latter. The grown-up daughters are dened in three cases as nubile
(battsusee Families nos. 286, 311312), and once as adolescent (a
= ahurtu), in the description of Family no. 312; in this last case the
order of the daughters is problematic since the scribe lists rst a battsu,
then a daughter of 4 spans height, and lastly a ahurtu. Since a ahurtu
and a battsu are listed in one text in this unusual order, the difference
between these two denitions is unclear. The scribe might have used
them as synonyms, but one might still wonder why he has distinguished
these two young women and why he has placed the adolescent after
the daughter of 4 spans height. Might one of these terms in fact refer
to an unmarried daughter (battsu), and the other (ahurtu) to a young
adult woman who returned to her fathers house after her divorce or
after her husbands death?
(d) The Total of Family Members
Scribe A usually presents the total of family members by the pattern
a total of X (persons). Only twice are the families described by the
formula PN, his profession, (with) X persons, a total of X + 1 (persons) (see Families nos. 306, 316). In another case (no. 285) the scribe
does not give the total of this family but only the grand total of the
last two families (284 + 285). Similar grand totals are attested in other
cases, but the scribe always presents the total of each family (with only
the noted exception).
E.2. The Formulation of Texts nos. 146149
In these four texts of the Harran Census only fathers and sons are
enumerated. The rst two texts (nos. 146147 = SAA XI 219220) were
probably composed by scribe A, and the other two by scribe B (nos.
148149 = SAA XI 210211). The formulation of these texts and the
terminology used by both scribes in these texts are similar to those of
the other texts of the Harran Census, with a few exceptions (see below).
In all texts the family head is usually presented rst, and his sons are
listed afterwards. In a few cases only brothers are recorded: two between
Families 359 and 360, one after Family 373, and one after Family
371; in this last case two brothers are presented by the pattern PN1,
218
chapter three
PN2, a total of two sons (of ) [PN3]. All these relatives are considered
no-family since the father of these sons has probably died and it is
not clear if they are married (see Introduction). In another case the
people are considered a family even though they are recorded by the
formula PN1, ditto; PN2, ditto, two son(s) of PN3, since two sons of
one of these two brothers are also attested (Family no. 362).
Scribe B counts only the number of the sons, by the patterns 1
DUMU or X DUMU. ME, and omits their personal names. Only once
is 1 [brother] probably listed (Family no. 377; cf. also no. 348).
The two texts related to scribe A must be discussed separately as
their formulation and terminology are very different. Moreover, text
no. 147 is very fragmentarily preserved and its reconstruction and
interpretation are problematic. In both texts all sons (and brothers)
are listed by their personal names, but their height/size is mostly not
indicated in text no. 147, with only one evident exception (Family no.
373). In text no. 146 the height/size of 12 out of 16 sons and brothers
is mentioned. A short summary (a total of X) is attested for about
half of the families in these texts, but in text no. 146 it occurs only in
three out of eight cases (37.5%), and in text no. 147 it probably occurs
in eight out of 13 cases (61.5%).
In both texts the fathers name is probably always given: but in text
no. 146 only once is the text broken off so it is unclear if the family
heads name is listed (Family no. 360). In text no. 147 only in a few
cases is the family heads name attested distinctly and without any
doubt (see e.g., Family no. 366), and in the others it is just one possible
reconstruction of the text (see the discussion in chapter II).
In text no. 146 sometimes the adolescent sons are listed rst and
the smaller ones later (see e.g. Families nos. 357, 362), with a separation between the biological sons and the attach (see e.g. Family
no. 357, 360); but in the description of Family no. 361 the adolescent
son is listed after a son ve spans high. In most cases the sons and
brothers are noted by the formula PN A-/PAB- X with only a few
exceptions (see Families nos. 357, 360362). Since a baby and small
children are clearly attested in these texts (see Families nos. 357 360,
373) it is clear that all males of these families are listed and not only
the children able to work.
219
E.3. The Peoples Professions and Social Status

Some professions of the people who tilled the soil are attested in the
texts of the Harran Census. They are discussed below, starting with the
professions recorded in texts probably composed by scribe A:
Text no. 135: Five professions are attested in this text: (1) gardener (L*.
NU.GI. SAR = nukaribbu); (2) farmer (L*.ENGAR = ikkru); (3)
cowherd (L*.SIPA GUD.ME = riu alpu); (4) goatherd (L*.SIPA
Z.MEriu enzu); (5) guardian of the grove (L*. ma-ar (GI) qabli = maar qabli). The term gardener occurs 13 times, and twice more
in the summaries in col. I: 1820 and in col. II: 47 (11 gardeners).
Three times their previous profession is mentioned: a tailor, a cook,
and an unclear profession (Families no. 283284, 287). Three out of
seven farms cultivated by farmers are based on eld crops and vineyards; and the other four are based only on vineyards (in one of them
a vegetable garden is attested but its size is unclear). The term farmer
occurs only once in the summary, in lines 4647: a total of 37 farmers
(and) 11 gardeners. In this text as well as in the others of the Harran
Census farmers and gardeners occur in same texts, and one wonders
the difference between these two professions: are they synonyms or
do they signify different specializations? As a working hypothesis we
will assume that gardeners cultivate orchards and vineyards (as also
indicated by the term GI.SAR included in the term NU.GI.SAR),
and the term farmer is related mainly to eld crops. In farms based
on vineyards and on eld crops the scribe sometimes writes gardener
and sometimes farmer. Another interesting question relates to the
terms of cultivation or of tenancy of these two professions: are they
similar or different? In Hammurabis laws the terms for cultivating
elds and orchards are entirely different, and even the tenancy of an
already planted orchard or vineyard is subject to different terms from
those of an orchard or vineyard still to be planted by the tenant (see
the discussion below).
Text no. 136: Most men in this text are farmers (this profession is
recorded probably ten times). All farms cultivated by farmers are
based on eld crops (with no orchards or vineyards). The term gardener occurs only once (I: 20), but the text is broken and it is not clear
if this farm has orchards or vineyards. Other professions attested in
220
chapter three
this text are a guardian of the grove, a herder of donkeys (L*.SIPA

ANE = riu imru), and a singer (L*.NAR = nuru). The previous
profession of three persons is attested in this text, but only one of them
is preserved: a scarf weaver (L*.U.BAR = ipru).
Text no. 137: Gardeners, farmers and shepherds are recorded in this text.
Six or seven farmers are presented, of whom three cultivated only eld
crops and one a mixed farm of a corneld and an orchard; the other
cases are unclear. Three gardeners are listed in this text (one cultivated a
vineyard and the context in the other two cases is unclear). One of the
four shepherds listed in this text was probably missing ( pa-u pau =
dispersed, removed, transferred?). The six empty people (ra-qu-ti )
might be day-laborers, without a xed job, namely at a farm in tenancy, rather than outlaws. This text also indicates two other important
terms, both of which are probably translated laborers, cultivators,
etc.: (1) PAB X ERIM.ME (bu) ZI, attested twice in the summaries,
and (2) L*.qa-tin.[ME] = qatinnu (see text no. 142, below).
In texts nos. 138139 (probably parts of the same text) the term gardener
occurs only once (in relation to a mixed farm), and the three farmers
are clearly associated with a corneld. Two shepherds are also listed in
this text. Text no. 45, another document probably composed by scribe
A mentions a guardian [of the grove] and a shepherd.
In these six texts, probably composed by scribe A, various profession
are attested, including 18 farmers and 11 gardeners, connected to the
following 29 farms:
Farmers
Gardeners
Total
eld crops
mixed
unclear
vineyards
18
11
11
0
1
4
6
3
0
4
Farmers do not cultivate farms based only on vineyards, and gardeners do not cultivate farms based just on eld crops. Three out of four
mixed farms cultivated by gardeners are based mainly on vineyards
and consist of 29,000 or 15,000 or 10,000 vines in each farm, with
only six to ten hectares of eld crops.
221
Texts nos. 140 + 141, probably composed by scribe B, enumerate farmers

and gardeners. The gardeners cultivate four farms: two based just on
vineyards and two mixed; at least one of the latter is based mainly on
vineyards: 4,000 vines and only one hectare of land. The farmers are
connected to ve holdings; two are based on eld crops only, and three
are unclear. The people are deportees from Gambulu (PAB hu-ub-te
KUR.gam-bu-lino. 140 r. III: 4). One of the family heads is dened
in this text as one of the fugitives that were brought/settled by PN
(TA* ZH.ME a PN na-a-an-nino. 140 r. III: 79e). This
person probably tried to run away during his transfer from Gambulu
to the Harran area, but was caught and nally resettled in the area
of Harran.
Text no. 142 numbers many shepherds, probably 26, most of them
dened by the ditto sign (see col. II); they are shepherds with one exception: a single person who is dened as a herder of cattle and donkeys
(col. III: 48). The ve gardeners attested in this text cultivate three
farms based exclusively on a vineyard, and the fourth clear one has
4,000 vines and only four hectares of land. A farmer occurs only once
and he cultivates a eld (without orchards or vineyards). A few other
professions are also indicated in this text: a carpenter, a gate-guard,
and a whitewasher. An additional term recorded in this text is L*.
qa-tin.[ME] = qatinnu = tillers (r. III: 12), but unfortunately the
beginning of this column is broken off.
Text no. 143 + 144 lists farmers, gardeners, shepherds, a cowherd, a
hatter, a barber, and a camel driver. The seven farmers dwell in four
farms based only on eld crops (the other three farms are unclear;
the ve gardeners cultivate two farms based just on a vineyard, one is
unclear, and two are mixed).
In these three texts, probably composed by scribe B, various professions
are attested, including 13 farmers and 14 gardeners, as follows:
Farmers
Gardeners
Total
eld crops
mixed
unclear
vineyards
13
14
7
0
0
5
6
2
0
7
222
chapter three
This picture is similar to the one reected from the six texts probably
composed by scribe A. The following table presents the data in these
nine texts, of both scribes:
Farmers
Gardeners
Grand total
Total
eld crops
mixed
unclear
vineyards
31
25
56
18
0
18
1
9
10
12
5
17
0
11
11
The picture emerging from these 56 cases is clear-cut: farmers do not

cultivate farms based only on vineyards, and gardeners do not cultivate
farms based just on eld crops, and only once is a farmer connected
to a mixed farm (but see below on text 149). On the other hand, most
mixed farms cultivated by gardeners are based mainly on vineyards.
As mentioned above, in sales of people about 9193% of the men
are non-professional. In the texts of the Harran Census the picture
is the reverse: 92% of the men are professional (107 men), and only
8% are non professional: the profession is not attested at all only
twice (SAA XI 202 I: 8; 207 I: 11), and the other seven are presented
as riqu (SAA XI 203 IV: 11; 207 III: 1). In another 20 cases the text
is broken, but in all of them a profession has been reconstructed by
scholars. The data attested in texts nos. 146149 are not included in
these calculations and conclusions. In these texts the persons are evidently professional as is clearly attested in the summaries (see below)
although the profession is not recorded in the detailed description.
The term farmer is listed in texts nos. 146 II: 25 and 149: 3 and 6;
bronzesmiths appear in texts nos. 146 III: 1011 and no. 147 I: 6;
and 22 ironsmiths are listed in text no. 147 r. II: 3.
Another term for tenant in this period is probably erru.71 This term
is also attested in Hammurabis laws (nos. 49, 178, 215217, 221223,
253), and in a few Neo-Assyrian texts as follows: SAA XIV 163 ||
SAA XIV 164 indicates that a eld is put into pledge as security for
a debt of 17 shekels of silver (622* B.C.). The creditor receives the
right to cultivate and harvest the eld and to enjoy its corn until
71
For the term erru see AHw, pp. 243b244a; CAD, E, pp. 304307 (erru; errutu);
Ellis, 1976, pp. 7377, 166168, 172174; Dandamaev, 1984, pp. 585589; Jursa, 1995,
pp. 1416, 8184; Bongenaar, 1997, p. 475.
223
the debt (with interest?) is settled. He does not become its owner, even
temporarily, and he is not allowed to sell it, but just to till it and enjoy
its fruits; therefore, no redemption clause is included in this document.
The creditors status in this period is clearly dened in the text and is
equated to that of a tenant: He will cultivate and harvest the eld as
a tenant-farmer (ina ritu = SAA XIV 163: e. 8r. 1 || SAA XIV
164: 56).
The terms erru or ritu are also present in other Neo-Assyrian
texts: in SAA X 167 (= ABL 500), a petition submitted to the crown
prince by Ri-il, the petitioner refers to the cultivators of his eld and
denes them as tenant-farmers (L.er-re-e-e): Two horses (and) tenantfarmers cultivate my eld (lines 810); in another letter (SAA V 16 =
ABL 201), sent to Sargon II by Liphur-Bl, governor of midu and
eponym of 705 B.C., the sender refers to a eld that is held by Assyrians in tenancy: (as for) the elds of the Assyrians, held in tenancy
(ana ri[te]lines 810).
These texts and others clearly evince the existence of tenancy in the
Neo-Assyrian period, but its terms are not clear. It is therefore possible that the people attested in the Harran Census, as well as in other
texts discussed above might be tenants. These people may be likened
to the helots in Sparta, as suggested by Diakonof and others;72 the
helots worked the elds of the upper class in Sparta, but the owners
of the elds were not permitted to sell or to free them; they paid the
owners a xed share of the produce of the farm, and had the right to
accumulate property.
As mentioned above a few cultivators own land: two gardeners own
ten hectares (text no. 135 I: 111); a guardian of a poplar grove owns
twelve hectares of land; and two farmers own an ox or two (text no.
136 II: 2024; III: 17; 811). Note that the gardeners and the grove
guardian own land, and the farmers own only oxen. But in text no. 146
III: 124 the scribe notes three times that small parcels of two or four
hectares of land have been given to the farmers. So these cultivators,
most probably tenants, are allowed to accumulate land and oxen, namely
means of production, and are apparently independent peasants; yet they
are still tenants who cultivate land owned mainly by the members of
72
Diakonof, 1974, pp. 6468; see also Postgate, 1979, p. 193. For the Helots see
Finley, 1980, pp. 7072; The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ed., Chicago 1993,
vol. 5, pp. 819ab.
224
chapter three
the middle and upper strata in the Neo-Assyrian Empire; one might
suggest that in their eyes they already see a glimmer of light in the
darkness, and they seem to be on the high road to complete economic
independence. But it is most important that these two families that managed to accumulate enough land to maintain themselves continued to
function as tenants and to cultivate land owned by others. They did so
probably not because they were obliged to cultivate these elds or forced
to serve their masters, but because tenancy was an important anchor in
their life, which provided more economic stability and was insurance
against bad times, a shelter from drought and hunger, as well as from
powerful wicked neighbors or corrupt ofcials who might take over the
land accumulated by these tenants through hard work and diligence. So
tenancy in the Assyrian realm is a major economic system, but it also
has signicant social and political implications; a system of patronage
and dependence that serves the masters, but also the tenants. This is
well reected in dozens of documents, mainly petitions to the king, with
complaints about corrupt ofcials who plunder lands owned by other
ofcials, expel the personnel who have cultivated these ravaged farms,
and resettle these holdings with their own tenants.

The 18 texts of this group differ greatly, so they will be discussed individually (see Appendix C.5). The terms that usually dene deportees
in other Neo-Assyrian texts are rare in these 18 texts.73
Text no. 150 records deported families by the pattern PNX persons
(for families) or PN1 person (probably for single people). This pattern is clearly attested at the beginning of col. II, as well as in line 7
of this column and in r. II: 1, 4, and 13. Three main terms dene
these deportees: (1) a ri (L.SAG) = eunuch; (2) a ziqni (L a
NUNDUN) = bearded men; (3) naputu (ZI) = souls, persons (see the
discussion in chapter II).
73
For the terminology of the deportees in the Neo-Assyrian Period see Oded,
1979, pp. 7981.
225
Text no. 151 is a letter which documents the transfer of 35 people from
Babylonia to Assyria. They are listed in a xed order: the family head
is mentioned rst, followed by his brother, sons, women, and daughters, and a total X (people). Most females are unnamed and listed
by the patterns X women or X daughters; the one exception is
the daughters of Haznu, of whom the rst is named and the other
is called her sister. Small children (3 or 4 spans high and a suckling
son) are unnamed; but the son of 5 spans high and all the brothers are
named. The profession of the people is attested only once (two fowlers), and in the summary the people are dened as: PAB 12 ERIM.
KALAG.ME; . . . PAB-ma 35 ERIM.KALAG.ME ZI (see chapter II).
Another letter (text no. 153) records another family transferred from
Babylonia to the king: a named father with his unnamed sons, daughters,
and maids (the wife is missing). In two additional texts (nos. 155156)
deportees from Babylon, Cutha, and Uruk are listed, including a third
man on the chariot, a cavalryman, and an architect. The people are
dened as ERIM ZI (155) or ZI.[ME] (156). In both texts the father
is named rst, followed by his sons, wives, daughters, and sisters (all
family members are unnamed in no. 155 and named in no. 156). In
Family no. 406 the slaves are listed before the women. These people
were previously of the middle stratum in Babylonia but now they are
deportees in transit, and the position they will be assigned to by the
Assyrian administration is not clear.
Text no. 154 is a list of Egyptian deportees, mainly single persons and
two families: the family heads are named and the wives and daughters
are unnamed. In the other texts the women are named and listed before
the sons: in no. 152 all family members are named, including the children that are listed by their height/age, in the following order: family
head, wife, sons or brothers, daughters, and a maid. A similar order is
also attested in Text no. 157 which count four families of farmers: the
wife is counted after the family head and the children after her. In the
rst family the rst daughter is dened as TUR (young) and the other
as a nubile; in the second family sons and daughters are presented in
a mixed description by their height/age.
In text no. 159 the families include the family heads mother, brothers,
and sister, and again the wife features right after the father (in four out
of ve cases; in the fth case the mother is mentioned before the wife
226
chapter three
and the sons). In text no. 158 the order of the family members is not
uniform: in one case the wife is listed before the sons (Family 413); in
the second the sons are mentioned before the wife (414), as in the third
case (412) which indicates two sons and a wife but the family head is
excluded (see the discussion in chapter II).
In the other eight texts of this group (nos. 160167) usually the family
members are unnamed with only one exception (no. 160). In two cases
sons are listed before wives (nos. 160, 163), and totals are attested in
three cases (nos. 161, 163, 165). Professions are very rare in these texts:
a gardener is mentioned in no. 164; and a shepherd in no. 166.
G. The Order of the Family Members and its Status

Does the order in which the family members are recorded indicate its
status? And in which cases are wives listed right after the family head
and before the other members of the family? The answer to this question might be surprising, since wives appear before the family heads
son(s) or brother(s) mainly in slave families (20 out of 27 cases = 74%),
while in the texts of the Harran Census wives are never placed before
sons; the latter are listed before wives 44 times (see table below).
In the group of pledged families in nine out of ten cases the wife
is listed before her children; in the group of deportees and displaced
people this is the order in 13 out of 36 cases (36%), and in the group
of Land and People it is the order in ve out of 12 cases (42%). The
location of the wives in the description of the family members does
not indicate the status of these people, since wives are listed before
sons in most groups, while in the slaves group in 26% of the cases
they are counted after the sons; yet it is clear that the scribes inserted
Wife is counted before

son(s)/brother(s)
Slaves
Pledged people
Land and People
The Haraan Census
Deportees
Total
20
9
5
0
13
47
(74%)
(90%)
(42%)
(0%)
(36%)
(37%)
Wife is counted after

son(s)/brother(s)
7
1
7
44
23
80
(26%)
(10%)
(58%)
(100%)
(64%)
(63%)
Total
27
10
12
44
36
127
227
wives before sons mainly in sales of people, and pledges of Land and
People; they did so less in sales of Land and People and in lists of
deportees and displaced persons, but never in censuses (of probably,
tenants). So there is a correlation between the location of the wife in
the description of the family and the familys status. If the location of
the wife indicates her status within her family, or in the eyes of her
masters or employer, a fact never denied concerning the location of
her husband, one might conclude that the status of the wives in slave
families was better than in free families.
Sometimes wives are listed by their names in these texts: it is astonishing that names of wives occur only 25 times out of at least 225 cases
(less than 11%). This number does not include names of females who
function as family heads. Sixteen of these 25 names are of slaves wives
(64%): a total of 55 slaves wives are attested in this book of whom
16 are named (29%) and 39 are unnamed. In the Harran Census no
wife is named (out of about 70 wives), and, for example, in the group of
deportees and displaced people only two out of 56 wives are named
(4%). So the picture seems similar to the one presented above and may
also indicate that the status of the wives in slave families was better than
in the free families; but the listing of the wives names is relatively rare
in comparison with cases in which they are listed before sons/brothers
(25 cases versus 127 cases = 1:5).
APPENDIX A
SALES OF PEOPLE
Sales of People(Aur)
No.
Text
ARAD/
GEM
Guarantee
Clause
Profession Notes
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
AoF 24,11821
AfO 32, 3842
AfO 42/3,8990
ARU 180
ARU 181
ARU 205
ARU 206
ARU 209
ARU 214
ARU 463
ARU 504
ARU 505
ARU 506
ARU 507
ARU 508
ARU 539
------Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
----?
---?
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
---------Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
?
------?
------------?
------?
------------?
= ARU 70
= BM 103389
= S 72
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
BaM 16, 371

BaM 16, 373
PH 352
OLZ 8, 1304
Rfdn 17 1
Rfdn 17 2
Rfdn 17 3
Rfdn 17 4
Rfdn 17 5
Rfdn 17 6
Rfdn 17 7
Rfdn 17 8
Rfdn 17 9
Rfdn 17 11
SAAB 3,7172
SAAB 5 29
SAAB 5 34
SAAB 5 39
SAAB 5 41
SAAB 5 43
GEM
ARAD
ARAD
GEM
GEM
GEM
GEM
[G]EM
GEM
GEM
?
GEM
GEM
GEM
GEM
GEM.
ME
GEM
GEM
?
ARAD
GEM
ARAD
ARAD
GEM
---GEM
GEM
ARAD
GEM
GEM
GEM
------GEM
-------
?
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
------Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
?
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
---?
?
---------------------------------------2-------------
= 11289a
= 11289b
= RA 18, no. 32
= LB 851
M.TUR
= Ass. 8996b
M
UN. ME/ ZI.ME
M
M.TUR
229
Sales of People(Aur) (cont.)

No.
Text
ARAD/
GEM
Guarantee
Clause
Profession Notes
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
SAAB 5 44
SAAB 5 53
SAAB 5 55
SAAB 5 58
SAAB 5 61
SAAB 9 76
SAAB 9 77
SAAB 9 78
SAAB 9 85
SAAB 9 103
SAAB 9 109
SAAB 9 119
SAAB 9 124
SAAB 9 126
SAAB 9 127
SAAB 9 132
SAAB 9 134
SAAB 9 139
SAAB 11, 4
SAAB 12, 64
SAAB 12, 66
SAAB 12, 68
SAAB 12, 70
GEM
?
?
?
GEM
ARAD
ARAD
ARAD
?
ARAD
ARAD
GEM
GEM
?
ARAD
GEM[]
?
?
ARAD
ARAD
ARAD
[GEM]
?
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
?
?
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
---Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
?
Guarantee Cl.
---Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
?
----?
?
?
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
---?
---?
------------?
------------?
---------?
------------?
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
StAT 2 16
StAT 2 33
StAT 2 91
StAT 2 99
StAT 2 100
StAT 2 105
StAT 2 107
StAT 2 112
StAT 2 113
StAT 2 117
StAT 2 118
StAT 2 119
?
---?
?
?
----?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
---?
------?
?
---?
---?
72
73
StAT 2 120
StAT 2 121
----?
?
?
8----
74
75
76
77
78
79
StAT 2 122
StAT 2 123
StAT 2 124
StAT 2 125
StAT 2 135
StAT 2 136
[GEM]
[----]
---?
ARAD
[ARAD]
?
?
---?
?
[ARAD.
ME]
?
A[RAD.
ME]
?
?
ARAD
GEM
[GE]M
[ARAD]
----?
Guarantee Cl.
?
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
?
?
?
------?
L?
M
[L]*
UN.ME
UN.ME
UN.ME
= TCL 9 63
= Ass. 11393dd
= Div. 318 = Si 686
= Div. 88 = Si 703
= Div. 124 = Si 660
M.TUR
DUMU
DUMU.M
[UN.ME]
M
M
M; Anonymous
UN.ME
[UN.ME]
ZI.ME
UN.ME
Anonymous
ZI.ME
L
Anonymous
230
chapter three
Sales of People(Aur) (cont.)

No.
Text
ARAD/
GEM
Guarantee
Clause
Profession Notes
80
81
82
83
84
85
StAT 2 137
StAT 2 138
StAT 2 139
StAT 2 140
StAT 2 141
StAT 2 142
?
ARAD
?
---[GEM]
?
?
?
?
---Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
------?
----------
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
StAT 2 144
StAT 2 145
StAT 2 146
StAT 2 158
StAT 2 169
StAT 2 178
StAT 2 179
StAT 2 180
StAT 2 181
StAT 2 182
StAT 2 183
ARAD
GEM
GEM
?
GEM
GEM
ARAD
---GEM
[GE]M
----
?
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
----?
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
?
?
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
?
---------------?
-------------
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
StAT 2 245
StAT 2 266
StAT 2 267
StAT 2 268
StAT 2 269
StAT 2 270
StAT 2 271
StAT 2 272
StAT 2 273
StAT 2 274
StAT 2 275
ZA 73, 11
VAT 9582
?
?
?
?
ARAD
ARAD
?
?
GEM
?
?
GEM
ARAD.
ME
?
Guarantee Cl.
?
?
Guarantee Cl.
?
?
----?
?
?
?
----?
Guarantee Cl.
?
?
?
?
------?
?
?
?
?
---2----
A Family
L*.TUR
UN.ME
Sale of People, see:
Radner, 1997, p. 187
= Household.
M.TUR
M; DAM
UN.ME /
ZI.ME
[M]
[L*.T]UR
M
M
M
M
Female
= BM 103956
Radner (e-mail)
Sales of People(Calah)
No.
Text
ARAD/
GEM
Guarantee
Clause
Profession Notes
110
111
112
113
BaM 24 1
BaM 24 3
BaM 24 6
BaM 24 8
?
------GEM
Guarantee Cl.
----------
-------------
M[]
ZI.ME/UN.ME
NIN
231
Sales of People(Calah) (cont.)

No.
Text
ARAD/
GEM
Guarantee
Clause
Profession Notes
114
BaM 24 9
----
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
BaM 24 12
BaM 24 16
BaM 24 17
BaM 24 19
BaM 24 20
CTN II 2
CTN II 3
CTN II 4
CTN II 5
CTN II 6
CTN II 7
CTN II 8
CTN II 9
CTN II 10
CTN II 11
CTN II 12
CTN II 13
CTN II 220
CTN II 248
CTN III 33
CTN III 34
CTN III 48
CTN III 49
CTN III 50
FNALD 8
FNALD 9
ARAD
---?
---GEM[]
AR[AD]
---------ARAD
[ARAD]
ARAD
---[ARAD?]
---?
[----]
?
---GEM
---GEM
GEM
[AR]AD
GEM
----
Guarantee Cl.
------Guarantee Cl.
----?
---?
---------?
?
---?
Guarantee Cl.
?
?
Guarantee Cl.
----?
Guarantee Cl.
------?
----?
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
SIMUG.
AN.BAR
------7---5---------3------------?
---3---?
---?
?
?
6------------?
?
-------
141
142
143
144
145
Iraq 15
ND 3420
# ND 3422
# ND 3424
ND 3425
# ND 3427
---GE[M]
Guarantee Cl.
---Guarantee Cl.
---Guarantee Cl.
------a janitor
----
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
ND 3428
ND 3429
# ND 3460
ND 3479
Iraq 16
ND 2082
ND 2313
ND 2314
ND 2315
ND 2323
L.M
ARAD-
[GEM]
ZI.ME
ZI.ME/UN.ME
UN.ME
ZI.ME/UN.ME
Brother
DUMU.M
DUMU.M[]
ZI.ME/UN.ME
DUMU.M[]
ERN.ME
DU[MU.M]
ZI.ME/UN.ME
DUMU.M
= ND 3421
ZI.ME/
UN.ME
= ND 3426
Female
M
Female
Female and Male
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl. ---Guarantee Cl.
Male
Male
Female
Female
Guarantee Cl. ---?

---Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Girl: 3 ru-u
Son
Female
Female
Male
232
chapter three
Sales of People(Calah) (cont.)

No.
Text
ARAD/
GEM
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
ND 2324
ND 2325
ND 2326
ND 2327
ND 2328
ND 2329
ND 2330
ND 2344
SAA XII 94
L.M
164
SAAB 1 1
---Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
?
Guarantee Cl. L.U.
BAR-bir-me
Guarantee Cl. ?
165
SAAB 1 2
Guarantee Cl. ?
166
SAAB 1 9
----
L.M
ARAD
Guarantee
Clause
Profession Notes
Male
Female
Female
Male
Male
Female
= Kop. 1
M[ ]
= Kop. 2
M[ ?]
= Kop. 9
DUMU.M
# See also Deller, 1966, pp. 192193.
Sales of People(Dr-Katlimmu)
No.
Text
ARAD/
GEM
Guarantee
Clause
Profession Notes
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
BATSH 6 3
BATSH 6 4
BATSH 6 8
BATSH 6 17
BATSH 6 18
BATSH 6 19
BATSH 6 21
BATSH 6 26
BATSH 6 30
BATSH 6 34
GEM
?
ARAD.ME
GEM
?
?
?
---ARA[D]
----
?
---?
?
---2---?
---?
?
?
?
Guarantee Cl. -------?
---?
-------?
----
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
BATSH 6 42
BATSH 6 44
BATSH 6 45
BATSH 6 46
BATSH 6 47
BATSH 6 49
BATSH 6 52
BATSH 6 53
BATSH 6 54
BATSH 6 56
BATSH 6 58
BATSH 6 59
ARAD
ARAD
GEM
[GEM.ME?]
ARAD
ARAD
ARAD
GEM
ARAD
[GEM.ME?]
ARAD
GEM
----?
?
------------------------?
?
------------------------2-------------
[UN.]ME
M
M
M
ZI.ME/
UN.ME
UN.ME
Family
M.ME
233
Sales of People(Dr-Katlimmu) (cont.)

No.
Text
ARAD/
GEM
Guarantee
Clause
Profession Notes
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
BATSH 6 60
BATSH 6 61
BATSH 6 62
BATSH 6 63
BATSH 6 64
BATSH 6 65
BATSH 6 66
BATSH 6 67
BATSH 6 69
BATSH 6 72
ARAD
?
GEM
GEM
GEM
GEM
GEM
ARAD
GEM.ME
----
?
?
-------------------------
---?
-------------------------
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
BATSH 6 75
BATSH 6 76
BATSH 6 78
BATSH 6 79
BATSH 6 85
BATSH 6 86
BATSH 6 89
BATSH 6 90
BATSH 6 91
BATSH 6 92
BATSH 6 95
BATSH 6 96
BATSH 6 97
BATSH 6 99
BATSH 6 100
BATSH 6 105
BATSH 6 119
BATSH 6 124
BATSH 6 126
BATSH 6 136
BATSH 6 141
BATSH 6 142
?
-------?
-------?
---?
?
?
---------?
?
Guarantee Cl. ---------?
?
----?
?
?
?
?
---?
---?
?
----?
---------------------?
---?
---?
----
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
BATSH 6 156
BATSH 6 163
BATSH 6 173
BATSH 6 174
BATSH 6 175
BATSH 6 177
BATSH 6 178
BATSH 6 179
BATSH 6 184
BATSH 6 185
BATSH 6 186
BATSH 6 187
BATSH 6 191
BATSH 6 192
BATSH 6 200
BATSH 6 202
ARAD
?
GEM
[ARAD]
GEM
GEM
[GEM]
[GEM]
GEM
?
?
GEM
GEM.ME
GEM
?
GEM
ARA[D]
---ARAD
GEM
?
[AR]AD
GEM.ME
GEM
[GEM]
ARAD
GE[M]
?
?
[GEM]
?
[GEM]
?
ARAD
GEM.ME
ARAD
[ARAD]
ARAD.ME[]
GEM
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
----?
----?
?
?
?
----
?
---?
?
?
?
?
?
---------?
---?
-------
Family
DUMU.M-su
3 ru-u-u
M
3 ru-[u].
Family
M
L
2 GEM
Family
UN.ME
DUMU
[4 ZI.ME ?]
M
UN.ME[]
M[]
[UN.]ME
Family
234
chapter three
Sales of People(Nineveh)
No.
Text
ARAD/
GEM
Guarantee
Clause
Profession
Notes
237
SAA VI 1
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
SAA VI 2
SAA VI 3
SAA VI 4
SAA VI 5
SAA VI 6
SAA VI 7
SAA VI 8
SAA VI 9
SAA VI 34
SAA VI 38
---?
?
?
Guarantee Cl.
----?
----?
----?
---?
5 --?
?
---------?
?
2---?
248
SAA VI 39
----
249
SAA VI 40
----
3----
250
SAA VI 41
----
251
252
253
254
255
SAA VI 45
SAA VI 48
SAA VI 49
SAA VI 52
SAA VI 53
?
Guarantee Cl.
?
----?
----
---------5-------
256
SAA VI 54
257
SAA VI 55
---?
?
ARAD
ARAD.ME
ARAD
?
?
---[ARAD.
M]E-ni
[ARAD.
ME]
[AR]AD.
ME
[ARAD.
ME]
GEM
GEM[]
[GEM]
---ARAD.
ME
ARAD
[.ME]
ARAD
L adi UN.ME
- -e-a
5 L.ZI.ME
[L]
[UN.ME]
258
259
260
261
SAA VI 56
SAA VI 57
SAA VI 58
SAA VI 59
[AR]AD
---?
----
262
263
SAA VI 82
SAA VI 85
264
SAA VI 86
----
265
266
SAA VI 87
SAA VI 88
?
ARAD.
ME-ni
[ARAD.
ME]-ni
?
----
----?
?
?
----
267
268
SAA VI 89
SAA VI 92
ARAD
?
Guarantee Cl. ---?

?
[UN.ME]
[UN.ME]
UN.ME/ZI.ME
UN.ME/ZI.ME
L.UANE.[ME]
?
---TUR
?
---UN.ME/ZI.ME
?
?
?
3---PN adi
UN.M[E-]
?
?
M
Guarantee Cl. ----
UN.ME
[DU]MU.MI-sa
5 ru-u
= A Family
235
Sales of People(Nineveh) (cont.)

No.
Text
ARAD/
GEM
Guarantee
Clause
269
SAA VI 96
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
SAA VI 98
SAA VI 103
SAA VI 106
SAA VI 109
SAA VI 110
SAA VI 111
SAA VI 116
SAA VI 118
SAA VI 121
SAA VI 122
SAA VI 127
SAA VI 128
SAA VI 130
SAA VI 132
SAA VI 134
SAA VI 135
SAA VI 138
ARAD.
---ME-ni
[GEM]
------Guarantee Cl.
?
?
ARAD.ME ?
ARAD.ME ---ARAD.ME ---ARAD.M[E] ?
ARAD
?
?
?
?
?
ARAD
?
?
?
ARAD.ME ---ARAD
---?
Guarantee Cl.
?
?
[ARAD.ME] ----
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
SAA VI 140
SAA VI 144
SAA VI 145
SAA VI 148
SAA VI 151
SAA VI 152
SAA VI 166
SAA VI 172
SAA VI 174
SAA VI 177
SAA VI 179
SAA VI 185
SAA VI 192
SAA VI 193
SAA VI 195
SAA VI 196
SAA VI 197
SAA VI 198
Profession
Notes
----
------?
3---3------------?
?
---?
2----; 2?
?
?
?
L.U.
ANE.AB.
[BA.ME]
?
----?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
----?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
ARAD
Guarantee Cl. ------------?
?
?
?
----?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
ARAD.ME[] ?
---ARAD
?
?
GEM
------?
?
?
M
DUMU
UN.ME
L
Family
UN.ME
UN.ME
L
UN.ME
L
M
M
UN.ME
UN.ME
UN.ME
UN.ME
[UN.ME]
UN.ME
UN.ME
M
236
chapter three

No.
Text
ARAD/
GEM
Guarantee
Clause
Profession
Notes
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
SAA VI 199
SAA VI 203
SAA VI 219
SAA VI 227
SAA VI 228
SAA VI 229
SAA VI 239
SAA VI 244
SAA VI 246
SAA VI 250
?
?
ARAD
ARAD
GEM
ARAD.ME
[GE]M.ME
ARAD
[ARAD]
----
?
?
Guarantee Cl.
?
?
---?
?
?
----
?
?
------------------?
----
[U]N.ME
UN.ME
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
SAA VI 255*
SAA VI 256
SAA VI 257
SAA VI 261
SAA VI 266
SAA VI 267
SAA VI 274
SAA VI 284
?
?
ARAD
?
[ARAD.ME]
ARAD
ARAD
ARAD.ME
?
?
---?
Guarantee Cl.
?
?
Guarantee Cl.
323
324
325
326
327
SAA VI 286
SAA VI 289/90
SAA VI 294
SAA VI 297/98
SAA VI 300
GEM
ARAD
[ARAD.ME]
ARAD.ME
ARAD
?
Guarantee Cl.
?
---?
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
SAA VI 301
ARAD
SAA VI 305/306 ARAD
SAA VI 309
ARAD
SAA VI 310
?
SAA VI 312/13 [ARAD.M]E
SAA VI 319
ARAD.ME
SAA VI 341
ARAD.ME
SAA VI 342
?
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
?
?
?
---?
Guarantee Cl.
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
SAA VI 343/344 [ARAD.ME]

SAA VI 345
ARAD
SAA VI 346
?
SAA VI 347
ARAD
SAA VI 348
?
SAA XIV 3
?
SAA XIV 4
----
?
?
?
-------?
?
?
343
344
345
SAA XIV 5
SAA XIV 8
SAA XIV 9
?
Guarantee Cl.
?
2 L.ENGAR
?
[UN.ME]
---?
UN.ME
L.-[x-x]
---------GEM +
DUMU
------L.U.BAR
Family
3---Family
[L.U.g]am.
mal.ME
ipr iprti
L*.NINDA
L*.SAG
?
L
L.ka-ir
---?
L.-U.SAG. UN.ME
ME-
?
?
?
L
---?
UN.M[E]
?
ZI.ME
4---UN.ME/
ZI.ME
------NIN
----
ARAD.ME
---ARAD
TUR
UN.ME/
ZI.ME
237

No.
Text
ARAD/
GEM
Guarantee
Clause
Profession
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
SAA XIV 10
SAA XIV 12
SAA XIV 13
SAA XIV 14
SAA XIV 16
SAA XIV 17
SAA XIV 18
SAA XIV 19
SAA XIV 20
GEM
?
ARAD
GEM
[ARAD.ME]
GEM
L.M ARAD
ARAD.ME
GEM
?
?
------?
?
?
----?
----?
---------------------2-------
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
SAA XIV 21
SAA XIV 24
SAA XIV 29
SAA XIV 34
SAA XIV 37
SAA XIV 38
SAA XIV 39
[ARAD.ME]
GE[M]
GEM
GEM
?
GEM
ARAD
----?
---------?
?
----
?
---------?
-------
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
SAA XIV 48
SAA XIV 49
SAA XIV 50
SAA XIV 64
SAA XIV 65
SAA XIV 67
SAA XIV 78
SAA XIV 85
SAA XIV 90
SAA XIV 91
SAA XIV 100
SAA XIV 105
SAA XIV 115
SAA XIV 128
SAA XIV 129
SAA XIV 146
SAA XIV 147
SAA XIV 150
SAA XIV 153
SAA XIV 154
SAA XIV 161
G[EM]
ARAD.ME
GEM
[ARAD.ME]
?
ARAD
ARAD
---?
L.i-me ARAD
ARAD
ARAD
GEM
?
ARAD
?
GEM
?
?
GEM
----
Guarantee Cl.
---Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
------?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
---Guarantee Cl.
(See r. 13).
---L.GI.SAR
------?
---------?
------------?
---?
?
?
?
-------
383
384
385
386
SAA XIV 162

SAA XIV 165
SAA XIV 174
SAA XIV 179
GEM
GEM
?
ARAD. ME
---?
?
?
------?
?
Notes
M.[ME]
+2 DUMU.
ME
M
Excgange for
aGEM
Family
DUMU.M
[M]
L
ZI.ME
M
[M].TUR
For his
son
DUMU.M
M
238
chapter three

No.
Text
387
ARAD/
GEM
Guarantee
Clause
Profession
SAA XIV 186 ARAD.ME
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
SAA XIV 189

SAA XIV 195
SAA XIV 196
SAA XIV 212
SAA XIV 213
SAA XIV 240
SAA XIV 241
SAA XIV 242
SAA XIV 243
SAA XIV 244
SAA XIV 245
SAA XIV 246
SAA XIV 247
SAA XIV 264
SAA XIV 301
SAA XIV 326
SAA XIV 333
SAA XIV 337
SAA XIV 339
SAA XIV 347
SAA XIV 364
SAA XIV 400
SAA XIV 402
SAA XIV 414
SAA XIV 424
?
?
ARAD.[M]E
---?
ARAD
GEM
GEM
?
?
?
?
AR[AD.ME]
?
?
ARAD.ME
?
[ARAD.]ME
?
ARAD
ARAD
?
?
?
ARAD.ME
?
Guarantee Cl.
?
---?
?
?
?
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
?
?
?
?
----?
?
Guarantee Cl.
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
----?
413
414
415
416
SAA XIV 435

SAA XIV 469
SAA XIV 472
SAA XIV 475
GEM
?
?
ARAD.ME
Guarantee Cl.
?
----?
----
L*.TGKA.K
4---?
---2------?
?
?
---?
?
?
?
---?
?
?
?
?
?
------?
?
?
L*.AGAB
3------?
?
----
* Sale of People or of Land and People?
Notes
L*
Male
DUMU
UN.ME
[UN.ME]
Male
UN.ME
UN.ME
UN.ME
M[]
M
UN.ME
L
U[N.ME]
UN.ME
M
239
Sales of People(Other Sites)

No.
Text
ARAD/
GEM
Guarantee
Clause
Profession
Provenance and
Notes
417
GEM[]
----
ARAD (!)
----
----
GEM
---GEM
------?
------?
----
?
(Female)
GEM
ARAD
ARAD
?
424
425
426
427
AfO 42/43,
pp. 100102
An St 7,
pp. 138141
BT 125
BT 126
SAAB 2,
pp. 1415
SAAB 2,
pp. 1516
PSBA 30,
pp. 137141
TB 8
TB 9
TB 13
TB 22
---?
---?
---------?
Maxallnte
= LBAF C 42
Huzrna
= S.U. 51/36
Balawat
M
Nabula
= GIR 78/294
NIN-su
= GIR 75/1572
Provenance
unknown
Til Barsib
428
429
TH 103
TH 109
ARAD
GEM
----?
---Guarantee Cl. ----
418
419
420
421
422
423
Gozan
Sales of Peopleunpublished (Aur; Maxallnte)*

No.
Text
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
MAss. 62
VAT 8232
VAT 8274
VAT 8280
VAT 8641
VAT 8653
VAT 8660
VAT 8663
VAT 8676
VAT 9137
VAT 9755
441
442
443
444
445
446
VAT 9778
VAT 9832a
VAT 9832b
VAT 9832c
VAT 9844
VAT 15506
ARAD/
GEM
Guarantee
Clause
Profession
Notes
Guarantee Cl.
L.M
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
Radner, 1997,
p. 226, note 1253
Guarantee Cl.
Guarantee Cl.
240
chapter three
Sales of Peopleunpublished (Aur; Maxallnte) (cont.)

No.
Text
ARAD/
GEM
Guarantee
Clause
447
VAT 15538
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
VAT 19495
VAT 19497
VAT 19500
VAT 19508
VAT 19530
VAT 19872 ARAD.ME
VAT 20351
Guarantee Cl.
VAT 20366
VAT 20688
Guarantee Cl.
VAT 20761
458
459
VAT 21049
VAT 21538
= Ass. 2282n
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
O 3660
O 3680
O 3681
O 3683
O 3687
O 3695
O 3703
O 3706
O 3709
* See Radner, 1997, pp. 181188, 232247.
Profession
Notes
Radner, 1997,
p. 136
Radner, 1997,
p. 146
DUMU.M
Radner, 1997,
p. 146
Son = DUMU
PNA, p. 452
APPENDIX B
SALES OF LAND AND PEOPLE*
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Text
ARAD
Guarantee Profession
Clause
BATSH 6 180
[= 126]
CTN III 35
Iraq 16, 37
= ND 2306
GEZER 1
[= 117]
SAA VI 37
[= 98]
----
?
?
---?
----
SAA VI 50/
51 [= 105]
SAA VI 65
SAA VI 90
[= 104]
SAA VI 100
/101 [= 97]
SAA VI 112
[= 106]
SAA VI 123
SAA VI 129
SAA VI 149
[= 99]
SAA VI 155
[= 100]
SAA VI 163
[= 102]
SAA VI 169
[= 101]
SAA VI 173
[= 103]
SAA VI 251
[= 109]
SAA VI 253
[= 108]
ARAD. ME
Guarantee 1 ---Clause
---1 ---1 nukaribbu
1 ikkr arri
----?
1 ----
?
ARAD. ME
?
----
----
----
SAA VI 269
[= 107]
SAA VI 280
SAA VI 283
----
Notes
3 ikkru
1 uand
?
?
1 ikkru
4 ---1 nukaribbu
1 ----
[ARAD. ME] ?
---?
?
---?
?
1 nukaribbu = anonymous
?
1 a epinni
1 L.x [xxx]
----
1 ----
----?
----?
1-?
1 ikkru
1 ---?
?
?
?
----
?
?
adi UN.ME
242
chapter three
Table (cont.)
No.
Text
ARAD
Guarantee Profession
Clause
Notes
23
SAA VI 314
[= 113]
SAA VI 315/
316 [= 112]
SAA VI
320/321
SAA VI 326
[= 116]
SAA VI
329/330
SAA VI 332
SAA VI 333
SAA VI 334
[= 114]
SAA VI 340
SAA VI 341
[= 115]
SAA XIV 1
SAA XIV 2
SAA XIV 3
[= 111]
SAA XIV 6
[= 110]
SAA XIV 22
SAA XIV 36
SAA XIV 168
[= 118]
SAA XIV 198
[= 123]
SAA XIV 207
SAA XIV 215
SAA XIV 229
[=119]
SAA XIV 254
[= 125]
SAA XIV 263
SAA XIV 265
[= 124]
SAA XIV 345
[= 120]
SAA XIV 355
[= 121]
SAA XIV 399
[= 122]
SAA XIV 401
----
----
Rmanni-Adad
----
1 L[].
[nukaribbu]
1 ikkru
Rmanni-Adad
----
----?
2 ikkru
Rmanni-Adad
----
----
1 nukaribbu
Rmanni-Adad
?
?
----
?
?
2 ikkru
Rmanni-Adad
Rmanni-Adad
Rmanni-Adad
?
ARAD. ME
?
?
Guarantee
Clause
?
?
?
?
Rmanni-Adad
Rmanni-Adad
------?
---?
?
---1 ikkru
1 L*. [xx]
[adi UN.] ME-

adi UN. ME-
1 nukaribbu
?
ARAD. ME
?
?
---?
?
2 ---?
?
?
?
----?
----?
?
?
?
?
1 ikkru
?
?
?
?
?
?
----
1 ----
Guarantee ?
Clause
?
?
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
Rmanni-Adad
* In four texts documenting pledging of Land and People (SAA VI 81, 91, 97, 245), there is
no guarantee clause; the profession of all 11 men is not mentioned, and the term ARAD is not
attested. A risk clause occurs in SAA VI 97.
----------[ . . . . . .]
UN.ME
UN.ME
[M.ME]
[UN].ME
UN.ME
UN.ME
[UN.ME]
UN.ME
PN ARAD-[] . . . PAB X
UN.ME
UN.ME
UN.ME
L.UN.ME
[. . . . . .]
ARAD.ME-
[. . . . . .]
UN.ME
[AR]AD.ME
UN.ME
---------PN GEM[-] . . .
UN.ME
ZI.ME
--------------a PN
UN.ME
ZI.ME
L*.ARAD.ME
a PN
U[N.ME]
ZI.ME
------------------UN.ME
---------[L*].ARAD.ME a PN
[UN.ME]
ZI.ME
ARAD.ME[-]
[...
. . .]
L*.ZI.[M]E
ARAD.ME a PN
UN.ME
Z[I.ME]
L*.ARAD.ME-ni a PN
UN.ME
[ZI.ME
AR]AD.ME a PN
UN.ME
ZI.ME
[ARAD.ME a PN]
[UN.ME]
ZI.ME
[
]
UN.ME
ZI.ME
[. . .
]
[
. . .]
------------------------ ----UN.ME
ZI.ME
ARAD.ME
a PN
UN.ME
ZI.ME
L*.ARAD.ME[-ni a] PN
[UN.ME]
ZI.ME
[U]N.ME
a PN
[U]N.ME
L*.Z[I.ME ARAD.ME]-ni a PN
[. . .
. . .]
ZI.ME
L*.ARAD.ME
a PN
---------ZI.ME
ARAD.ME- a PN
[UN.ME]
Z[I.ME] L.ARAD.ME a L.[ME-e an-nu-ti] [. . .]
ZI.ME
ARAD.ME
a [PN]
UN.M[E]
ZI.[ME
ARAD.ME
]a [PN]
UN.ME
5, 12
23, 8
5, 9, 12
2, 4, 10
2, 5
2, 7, 11
2, 34, 8
2, 6, 12
2, 7, 13
2, 5, 10
2, 4
2, 9
2, 56, 11
2, 45
2, 4, 5, 10
5-6
2, 78
2, 56, 10
5, 78
23, 9
2, 6, 11, 13
1:
4:
5:
6:
7:
9:
11:
12:
13:
15:
16:
17:
18:
19:
21:
22:
23:
24:
25:
26:
28:
(1) PN EN L.UN.ME SUM-ni . . . (2) PN ARAD/GEM- . . . (3) PAB X L.ZI.ME L.ARAD.ME a PN . . . (4) L.UN.ME (utu)
zarip laqi
1. SLAVES
THE TERMINOLOGY AND THE FORMULATION OF THE TEXTS
APPENDIX C
M[].ME
[. . . . . .]
UN.ME
[. . . . . .]
UN.ME
UN.[ME]
[. . . . . .]
[U]N.ME
UN.ME
M.[ME] PN
UN.ME
UN.ME
UN.ME
PN
[M].ME
UN.ME
M.ME
PN
UN.ME
PN
[. . . . . .]
PN
GEM . . .
PN
GEM.ME
UN.ME
UN.ME
---------UN.M[E]
UN.ME
[. . . . . .]
UN.ME
[. . . . . .]
GEM- . . .
GEM- . . .
GEM- . . .
GEM-
ZI.ME
----------------[ZI].ME
----------------ZI.ME
ZI.[ME]
ZI.ME
[Z]I.ME
[Z]I.ME
[ZI.ME]
[Z]I.ME
ZI.ME
ZI.ME
Z[I.ME
ZI.ME
ZI.ME
ZI.ME
[Z]I.ME
ZI
ZI.ME
ZI
GE[M--n]u . . . ina UGU [xx]
ZI.ME
--------GE[M] . . .
---------
Appendix C (cont.)
--------------a PN
UN.ME
ARAD.ME]
a [PN]
[. . . . . .]
---------------------[. . . . . .]
ARAD.ME-ni [a] PN
[. . . . . .]
[ARAD.ME
a L].ME-e an-nu-te [. . .]
-----------------[UN.ME]
-----------------L.UN.ME
[ARAD.M]E
a [PN]
[UN.ME]
L.ARAD.ME a PN
UN.ME
-------------------M.ME
--------------a L.ME an-nu-ti UN.ME
-------------------UN.ME
GEM-
a PN
GEM-
[GEM.ME-] -----M.ME
ARAD.ME
a PN
UN.ME
-------------------M.ME
-------------------L.ME
-------------------M DUMU
--------------------GEM
-------------------[M.ME]
ARAD.ME-ni a PN
UN.ME
ARAD.ME-ni a PN
UN.M[E]
------------------UN.ME
ARAD.ME
a PN
[. . .
]
AR[AD.ME
...
]
[. . .
]
ARAD.ME
a [PN]
[. . .
. . .]
ARAD.ME-ni [a L.ME] an-nu-ti [UN.ME]
ARAD.ME[
a] PN
[. . .
. . .]
29:
32:
33:
34:
36:
37:
38:
40:
41:
42:
44:
48:
49:
50:
52:
54:
60:
62:
65:
66:
68:
71:
72:
73:
74:
76:
78:
82:
2, 56, 12
34
2, 5
45
4, 78
2, 6, 11
2, 5
3, 56, 12
2, 4, 7
46, 11
3, 5, 12
2, 7
2, 4, 8
4, 6, 10
3, 1213, 17
23, 7
34, 10
12, 6
34, 10
2, 7
2, 45, 8, r. 7
3, 56, 11
5, 10
2, 6
1, 3
78
4, 78, 13
34
244
chapter three
ina UGU EN-nu (ina) mu a X tadnu /erbu () . . . L.UN.ME u ()
Text 129 (SAA XII 16)

190 PN ikkru4 [ZI.ME]; 191 PN4 ZI.[ME];

188 7 ZIPN
189 [3 ZI]PN
3. ROYAL GRANTS
192 PN2 ZI.[ME];
193 PN7 ZI.[ME]
91: 1321: de-e-nu . . . ina km X . . . ni-pa-lh-ka. PN . . . PAB 5 ZI.ME ana PN i-pal-lu-hu.

man-nu a X tadnu
ZH ina UGU ra-me-ni--nu
92: 111:
PN [DUMU-] km X ana P[N] i-pal-l[u-hu]. [ . . . ] ina UGU-hi [. . .]
93: 14: de-e-nu . . .
------------------ ana ma-a-ka-nu-t 1 M DUMU.M- ina -ka ta-sa-kan
UN.ME u ().
86: 5r. 1: km X PN PAB 7 ZI.ME ana aparte ina IGI PN akin

-----------------------ina mu a X tadnu UN.MEu ()
87: 7r. 8:
PN --------------------- ana aparte akin
me-tu hal-qu ina UGU EN--nu ina mu a X erbu () . . . UN.ME u ()
88: 13:
PN EN . . . UN.ME ta-da-ni
413:
PAB 27 ZI.ME km X ana aparte akin [......]
89: 13:
PN [EN] UN.ME ta-da-an
14r. 6:
PN . . . ---------ina km X ana aparte akin
---------------man-nu [a X] erbu () [UN.ME] u ()
90: 610:
PN . . . --------------- ana aparte a[kin]
---------------mu a X [tadnu]
UN.ME u[] ()
94: 58:
PN . . . [PAB 5 ZI.ME ku]-um X kam-mu-su
[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
95:18: [PN]ARAD- PN . . . PAB 4 L.ZI.M[E] . . . [ana aparte a]kin km X ina IGI PN . . . [um-m]a X la id-din P[N UN.ME-u zar]ip
laqi . . .
96: 1r. 2: X ha-bu-li-[u P]N . . . tadnu. PN . . . PAB 3 ZI.ME TA* IGI . . . ip-ta-ar.
[k]m ru-b-e X ana PN i-p[al-lu-hu. lu-u . . . [lu-u . . . ]-u a [X ana ] PN [tadnu UN.ME u] ()
PN EN L.UN.ME SUM-ni . . .
km X PN PAB X (L.)ZI.ME ana aparte akin/kammus
2. PLEDGED PEOPLE
Appendix C (cont.)

245
250
255
260
265
269
273
--- PN

249 PN3 L.ZI.ME;
254 PN2 [ZI.ME];
259 PN3 ZI.ME;
264 PN10 ZI.[ME];
268 PN2 ZI.ME;
272 PN14 ZI.ME;

275 PN ikkru3 ZI
--- PN
251 PN4 Z[I.ME];

256 PN3 [ZI.ME];
261 PN4 ZI.[ME];
266 PN5 Z[I.ME];
--- PNdn
274 PN2 ZI.ME;
196 PN5

--- [PN] nu[karibbu][ ZI.ME];
--- [P]N nukaribbu[ ZI.ME];
--- [PN] nu[karibbu]

--- [P]N nukaribbu
[ ZI.ME];
[ ZI.ME];
--- [P]N nukaribbu

197 [P]N nukaribbu
[ ZI.ME];
2 [ZI.ME];
PAB 5 ZI.ME
PAB 7 ZI.ME
PAB 3
PAB 3
PAB 3
PAB 6
1 DUMU
PAB 5
PAB 4
--- PNdn
276 PN rxiu3 ZI a-di UDU.ME-
252 PN3 L.ZI.ME; 253 PN4 L.ZI.ME;

257 PN3 ZI.ME;
258 PN7 ZI.[ME];
262 PN4 ZI.ME;
263 PN4 ZI.ME;
--- PNdn
267 PN2 ZI.ME;
270 PN4 ZI.ME;
271 PN4 ZI.ME;
[PAB XX L].ZI.ME

241 P[N1] [M-]; PN2, DUMU- a-hur-t;
2 DUMU.M.ME
242 PN1
M-[;
1 DUMU] a-hur-t;
1 DUMU par-su 3 DUMU.M.ME
243 PN1
M-;
1 DUMU par-su
244 PN1
1 DUMU a-hur-t;
1 DUMU par-(su)
245 PN1
M-;
1 DUMU par-(su)
246 PN1
M-;
3 DUMU.ME a-hur-ti;
1 GA
247 PN1
M-;
2 DUMU.M.ME
248 PN1
M-;
2 DUMU.M.ME-
--- PNdn
--- PNdn
--- PNdn
--- PNdn
PAB 45 ZI.ME URU.arba-il-a-a a-na L.qa-tin--te a-na DN ad-din--nu-ti
PN15 L.ZI.ME;
PN5
ZI.ME;
PN5
ZI.ME;
PN3
ZI.ME;
PN7
ZI.[ME];
PN2
ZI.ME;
195 PN5;

194 PN4;
Appendix C (cont.)
246
chapter three
PN
M- PAB 2;
PN
2 Z[I.ME];
[PN
ZI.]ME;
PN
dn;
PN1
[PN2,] PN3, [..-],
[P]N1, L. [] PN2, PN3, PN4, E.ME-,
fPN;
PN
2 ZI.ME;
PN
[..];
PN;
fPN
2 DUMU.ME-;
PN riu immeru3 ZI.ME;
--- PN
[ ZI.ME]
201 [P]N
2 ZI.ME;
203 PN
2 ZI.ME;
--- PN
[.];
fPN4, AMA(-)
4 ZI.ME;
fPN5, AMA-
[5 ZI.ME];
--- fPN;
--- fPN
[..];
--- PN
dn;
--- PN;
--- fPN [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .];
--- P[N] [.];
199 P[N]
4 ZI.ME;
202 PN
2 ZI.ME;
--- PN
[ . . . . . . . . .];
--- PN
dn;
--- PN
[];
--- fPN;
--- fPN;
207 PN
2 ZI.ME;
--- PN
dn;
--- PN;
209 fPN
3 DUMU.ME-;
211 PN1 riu immeru, fPN2, M-; 2 DUMU.
ME- PAB 4;
212 PN1, fPN2 [M-; PAB 2];
--- [PN][X] ZI[.ME];
[PN.] PAB 6 riu immer
213 PN rdi gammal2 ZI.ME;
--- PN rdi gammal[x ZI.ME];
--- PN rdi [gammal]x ZI.ME];
214 PN rdi gammal2 ZI.ME;
--- PN rdi gammald[n];
--- [PN] rdi gammald[n];
215 PN1, fPN2, M- PAB 2;
216 PN2 ZI.ME;
217 PN2 ZI.[ME];
--- P[N ipru burrumu];
218 PN ipru burrumu2 ZI.ME;
219 PN ipru burrumu2 ZI.ME;
220 [PN
]3 ZI.ME;
--- [PN];
221 PN
2 ZI.ME;
222 PN
2 ZI.ME;
--- P[N
x ZI.ME];
--- [P]N
dn;
--- fPN;
--- PN
dn;
--- PN
dn;
223 fPN
[x] DUMU.ME-;
--- P[N];
--- P[N];
--- PN
dn;
--- fPN;
--- fPN;
---- fPN;
--- fPN;
--- fPN; --- fPN; --- fPN;
--- PN L. qa-[tin xx];
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------224 PN piu
4 Z[I.ME];
225 PN ikkru
6 ZI.ME;
--- PN ikkru
[x ZI.ME];
226 P[N] ikkru 2 ZI.ME;
227 [PN] ikkru
4 ZI.[ME];
228 PN ikkru
6 ZI.ME;
--- PN ikk[ru] [x ZI.ME];
229 [P]N ikkru
12 ZI.[ME]; --- PN riu
[ ];
230 P[N]
4 ZI.ME;
231 PN
2 Z[I.ME];
--- PN
[x Z]I.ME;
--- PN
[];
232 PN5 ZI.ME;
--- P[N ZI.ME]; 233 [PN]2 Z[I.ME];
234 [PNx+]2 ZI.ME; 235 [PN] 4 ZI.ME;
236 [PNx+]2 ZI.ME;
237 [PNx+]2 ZI.ME; 238 [PNx+]3 ZI.ME;
239 [PNx+]2 ZI.ME; 240 [PNx+]2 ZI.ME; --- [PNx] ZI[.ME]
198
200
----204
205
--206
----208
210
Appendix C (cont.)

247
Text 135 (SAA XI 201)

277 PN1 A PN2 nukaribbu
278 PN1
nukaribbu PN2 A- a
---- PN1
nukaribbu
279 PN1
ditto
280 PN1
nukaribbu
281 PN1
nukaribbu PN2 A- a
282 PN1
nukaribbu
283 PN1
TA* karkadinnu; nukaribbu
284 PN1
TA* nuhatumm; nukaribbu
285 PN1
nukaribbu
286 PN1
nukaribbu
A- a
4. HARRAN CENSUSScribe A
223 fPN
1
1
1
1
1
1
1 A GA
1A4
1A4
1 M
PN2 A- 4
M
M
M
M
M
M
2 M.ME
PN3 A- 4
[x] DUMU.ME-
2 DUMU.ME-
211 PN1 riu immeru,

212 PN1,
215 PN1,
[PN2,] PN3, [..-],

PN2, PN3, PN4, E.ME-,
2 DUMU.ME-
3 DUMU.ME-
fPN2, M-;
fPN2 [M-;]
fPN2, M-
M-
208 fPN
209 fPN
204 PN1
205 [P]N1, L. []

198 PN
Appendix C (cont.)
1 DUMU.M 5 1 4
1 DUMU.M ba-tu-su
1 DUMU.M 4 1 3
2 DUMU.M.ME
fPN4, AMA(-)
fPN5, AMA-
AMA-
AMA-
PAB 4;
[PAB 2];
PAB
PAB
PAB
PAB
PAB
PAB
PAB
PAB
5
2
6
3
2
3
7
4
PAB 2
PAB 5
4 ZI.ME
[5 ZI.ME];
PAB 2
248
chapter three
P[N1]
P[N1]
PN1
PN1
PN1
TA* [] nu[karibbu] P[N2 xxx]

riu al[pu] PN2, PN3 2 A a
PN3 A PN4 3
riu enzu
PN2 A a
nukaribbu
1A3
maar qabli PN2 A- a
PN3 A- 4

---- PN1
ikkru
302 PN1
[ ]
---- M- PN1 [ ]
303 PN1
ikk[ru]
304 P[N1]
ikkru
---- 1 rxiu immeru pa-u
305 PN1 A PN2 ikkru
306 PN1
ikkru
307 PN1
riu
[PN2? . . . ] 1 A- a
PN2
M
M.ME
M
M
[x] M [x]
[1 DUMU].M 4
1 M
[.]
2 M.ME
1] DUMU.M 3
2 DUMU.M.ME 3
1 DUMU.M UD
1 DUMU.M 3
1
1
1
2
2
1
M
M
M
M.ME
M.[ME
M
1 DUMU.M 4
1 [DUMU.M x]
1 DUMU.M UD
1 DUMU.M 3
1 DUMU.M UD
1 M
1 M
1
3
1
1
[....]
[PN2] A 4

292 P[N1]
[ikkru] PN2 [xxx] PN3 [xxx]
---- PN1 A PN2
293 PN1 A PN2 [ikkru] P[N2 xxx]
294 [PN1]
[ikk]ru [PN] A- a
1 DUMU GA
295 PN1
nukaribbu [PN2 xx] arest broken away
296 PN1
ikkru
297 PN1
ikkru PN2 A- a PN3 A- a PN4 A- 4
298 PN1 A PN2 TA* ipru; ikkru
PN2 A- 4
299 PN1
TA* []; maar [qabli]
PN2 A-[ x]
300 PN1 A PN2 riu imru PN2 PAB- [x]
1 DUMU 3
301 PN1 A [PN2] ikkru; TA* []
PN2 []
---- PN1
ikkru
---- PN1
nuru
287
288
289
290
291
Appendix C (cont.)
[PAB x]
PAB 4
PAB [x]
PAB 3
[PAB x]
P[AB 3]
[PAB] 4
PAB 6
PAB 4
PAB [4]
PAB [6]
PAB 3
[PAB x]
PAB 5
3 ZI
1 NIN-su [1 x]
PAB [?]
[PAB 4?]
PAB 8
PAB 4
PAB 4
PAB 3

249
Text 140+141 (SAA XI 207+208)

320 PN nu[karibbu]
3 DUMU.ME
2 M.ME
321 PN ditto
[] M.ME
322 PN
[? DUMU].ME-
1 M
HARRAN CENSUSScribe B
Text 143+144 (SAA XI 213+214)
344 [PN .]
345 [PN] ikkru
[]
346 PN ikkru
[]
1 M
1 M
1 M
PAB 10
PAB [6]
5
3
2
8
6
[2]
3
3
PAB 5
PAB
PAB
PAB
PAB
PAB
PAB
PAB
PAB

355 [PN1] 1 3 [x X.]ME
356 PN1
maar [qabli] PN2 A- 4 PN3 A-[ x] PN4 A- [x] 1 M
1 DUMU.M 4
4 ZI.ME
2 M.ME
1 M
1 M
1 M
1 DUMU.M ba-tu-su 1 4
1 M
1 DUMU.M ba-tu-su 1 4 1 a?
1 M
1 M
1 M
PAB 6
PAB 6
PN1
[ikkru]
PN2, PN3, 2 A a
PN1 A PN2 nukaribbu
PN2 A 3
PN1 A PN2 ditto
[PN1] A PN2 [nu]karibbu PN3 [xx] PN4 1 A a PN5 3 PN6 UD
PN1
ikkru
PN2 A 3
PN1
[ ]
PN1
[ ]
PN2 A- [a]
PN1
riu immeru
PN2
PAB 1 riu immeru
6 L* ra-qu-ti
PAB 7
Text 138139 (SAA XI 205+206)

316 PN1
ikkru
317 PN1
nukaribbu
PN2 A- a PAB 2
--- PN[1 ]
--- PN1 DUMU [PN2] riu immeru
318 P[N1] A PN2 riu immeru PN2, PN3
[1] A GA 2 M.ME
319 PN1
ikkru
PN2, PN3, 2 PAB.ME- a PN4 4
2 M.ME
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
-----
Appendix C (cont.)
250
chapter three
1 DUMU
PN na-a-an-ni
1 DUMU
2 DUMU.ME

329 PN ditto
PAB 8 L*.qa-tin.[ME]
330 PN at
331 PN riu immeru
[1 DU]MU
332 PN ditto
5 DUMU.ME
333 PN nuka[ribbu]
1 DUMU
334 P[N nukaribbu]
1 DUMU
335 PN ditto
336 PN ditto
2 DUMU.[ME]
337 PN naggru
1 DUMU
338 PN piu
[x DUMU.ME
339 PN nuka[ribbu]
340 PN ikkru
2 DUMU.ME
341 PN nukaribbu
1 DUMU
342 PN riu immeru
1 DUMU
343 PN []
1 DUMU
PN ikkru
PN [ikkru]
PN ditto
PN ditto
PN ditto
PN [ditto]
PN ra-qu
PN L* ?
TA* ZH.ME a
--- PN nukaribbu
328 PN ditto
323
--324
325
--326
--327
Appendix C (cont.)
1 M
1 M
1 M
2 M.ME
1 [M]
[2 M].ME
1 M
1 M
1] M
1 M
2 M.ME
3 M.ME
3 M.ME
[.]
1 [M?]
1 M
1 M
2 M.[ME]
1 M
2 M.ME
[? M.M]E
----347
348
349
--350
------------------351
352
353
354
1
2
5
2
M
M.ME
M.ME
M.ME
3 M.ME
M.ME
3 M.ME
1 M
[PN] ikk[ru]
P[N] L* a U.SAG[.ME-]
PN []
PN ikkru PAB-
1 DUMU
PN ikkru
1 DUMU
PN riu alpu
PN nukari[bbu]
1 DUMU
PN [riu] immeru
PN riu []
PN L* UA.A[B.BA]
PN L* U. I
PN L* []
PN L*
PN L* SI[PA]
fPN, fPN, fPN, fPN
fPN []
PN []
1 DUMU
PN ditto (= nukaribbu)
PN [ikkru]
2 DUMU.ME
PN nukaribbu

251
Text 148 (SAA XI 210 = HARRAN CENSUSScribe B)

374 PN L*. ditto 1 DUMU
375 PN L*. ditto 2 [DUMU.ME]
4 [A.ME-]
PAB 2 A.ME-[() PN3]
[A-]
[]
2 A.ME PN3
PAB[2]
[]
[PAB] 2
PAB 4 []
PAB 2 []
PAB 4
[PAB 2]
[PAB 3?]
PAB 3
PAB 4
P[Nx+2] [] PNx+3 GA- [x] PNx+4

PN4 a
PN5 5
2 A.[ME-]
[3 A.ME-]
[A- x?]
3 A.ME-
A-
[2? A].ME-
PAB 4
PN4 4 PN5 a A PN6
Text 149 (SAA XI 211 = HARRAN CENSUSScribe B)

376 PN ikkru
2 D[UMU.ME]
377 PN [ikkru]
1 DUMU
1 [PAB?]
Text 147 (SAA XI 220 = HARRAN CENSUSScribe A)

363 PN1
[PN2], PN[3]
364 PN1
P[N2], P[N3], P[N3],
365 PN1
PN[2],
366 P[N1] A P[N2]
PN3, P[N4], PN5
367 [PN1]
[P]N2,
368 [PN1]
[P]N2, [PN3],
369 [PN1]
PN2, [PN3], [2?] A.ME- [PAB 3?]
370 [PN1]
PN2,
371 [P]N1
P[N2, P]N3 [PN4], PN5
--PN1, [PN2],
372 P[N1]
[P]N2,
373 [PN1]
[PN2] PNx 3,
--PN1, PN2,
Text 146 (SAA XI 219 = HARRAN CENSUSScribe A)

357 PN1 A PN2
PN3
A- a
358 PN1 A PN2, ditto
PN3
A- 5
359 PN1 A PN2, ditto
PN3
A- a
--- PN1 A PN2
PN3, PN4 PAB.ME- 5
--- PN1
PN2
PAB- a
360 [P[Nx+1] [..]
361 PN1 A PN2
PN3
A- 5
362 PN1 ditto, PN2 ditto, 2A PN3 PN4
A- a
HARRAN CENSUSFATHERS AND SONS
Appendix C (cont.)
252
chapter three
Text 151 (SAA XV 181)

390 PN1
PN2 PAB-
1 DUMU GA
2 M
PAB 5
391 PN1
PN2 PAB-
1 DUMU 4
2 M
PAB 5
392 PN1
1 DUMU 4
1 M
2 DUMU.M
PAB 5
393 PN1
PN2 DUMU 5 3 M
PAB 5
394 PN1
PN2 PAB-
3 M
PAB 5
395 PN1
PN2 PAB-
1 M
PAB 3
396 PN1
PN2
uand
1 DUMU 3
2 M
PAB 5
397
fPN NIN-sa PAB 2 DUMU.M PN
PAB 12 ERIM.KALAG.ME; 1 DUMU 5; 2 DUMU 4; 1 DUMU 3; 1 DUMU GA; 15 M.ME; 2 DUMU.M.ME; PAB-ma 35 ERIM.
KALAG.ME ZI
Text 150 (ND 2443+)

378 PNX ZI.[ME]
379 PNX ZI.[ME]
380 PNX ditto
381 PNX ditto
382 PNX ditto
383 PNX ditto
384 PNX ditto
385 PNX ditto
386 PNX ditto
387 PNX ditto
388 PNX ditto
389 PNX ditto
5. DEPORTEES AND DISPLACED PERSONS
Appendix C (cont.)

253
1 3 [ru]

402 PN1
1 M
403 PN1
1 M
1 L[]
PAB 5
PAB 8
PN3 DUM[U-] fPN4 (M-?), fPN5, fPN6, fPN7, fPN8PAB 4 DUMU.M.ME- PAB 7 qi-in-nu
1 DUMU-NIN
2-ta GEM.ME-[]

408 P[N1 ikkru] [1?] M- 1-en DUMU-[ x] -ni- DUMU- [x] 1-et DUMU.M-su TUR-[xxx] 2-ta M.ba-tu-la-[te
PAB 7 ZI.ME
409 P[N1] ikkru M-;
2 DUMU.M[E-]; [1?] a-hu-ur-t[i]; DUMU.M-su 4 ru--[u]; DUMU- 3 ru--u; [DUMU]- -ni- pir-su
[PAB 8] ZI.ME
410 P[N1] ikkru [1? M]- DUMU- a-hu-ur-t[ ]; [. x] ru--[u]; [. x] ru--[u]; [.]

407 PN1 L.e-lap-pa-a-a A PN2
PN9 . . . PAB 14 ZI.[ME]
[1 DU]MU.M
2-ta DUMU.M.ME-

404 PN1 L*.3
3 DUMU.ME
2 M.[ME]
405 PN1 L[]
1 M
406 PN1 aBAD-HAL 2 L*.ARAD.ME
2 M.[ME]
PAB 16 ERIM (adi) ZI.ME--nu; PAB 20 ERIM (adi) ZI
2 DUMU.ME-
Text 153 (SAA XVII 114)

401 PN1
Text 152 (CTN II 113)

398 [PN1] [PN]2 M-
PN3 D[UMU] 5 ru PN4 DUMU 4 PN5 DUMU 4 PN6 DUMU a GAB PN7 DUMU. M 4 ru
PN8 GEM- x PAB 8
399 [PN1] [PN]2 M-xxx [PN3, PN4, PAB? ME]- [PN5 DUMU] 5 ru [PN6 DUMU.M ba]-t-su [PN7 DUMU. M] 4 ru
[PAB 7?]
400 [PN1] [P]N2 M-
[.]
Appendix C (cont.)
254
chapter three
M- a PN1
AMA-[]
[]
AMA- E- NIN-su
DUMU.M-su
D[UMU.M-su]
2 DUMU.ME-
DUMU-
DUMU-
3 DUMU.M.M[E-
[DUMU.M]-su
GEM-
GEM-
PN[2]; [PN3]; PN4. PAB 3 [DUMU.ME? X?] [PN5, D]UMU GA; 2 [M.ME/DUMU.M.ME]
M-
M-
M-
M-
[M]-
M-
3 DUMU.ME- M-
2 DUMUPN1
[DUMU/ DUMU.M-/su] pir-su [DUMU/ DUMU.M-/su] GA

423 [PN1]
[] [a]-hur-[tu]; [] 4 ru-[u]; D[.] PAB 7 ZI.M[E]

422 [PN1]

415 PN1
416 PN1 AMA- E-
417 [P]N1
418 PN1
419 PN1 AMA-
420 PN1
421 PN1 AMA-
--- [PN1]

412
--- PN
--- PN
413 PN
414 PN karkadinnu
PAB 17 ZI.ME
411 [P]N1
[PAB 3 ZI.ME]
PAB-ma 1 LAL-i a-na 30 ZI.ME
Appendix C (cont.)

255

434 P[N1] a-ri

432 [P]N1 riu [] 1 DUMU pir
433 [PN1]
[1 DUMU] 4

429 PN1
1 DUMU
430 fPN1
3 DUMU.ME
431 fPN1
1 DUMU

427 [PN1]
M-
428 PN1 nukaribbu
M-
1 DUMU 3

425 [P]N1
[2 DUMU.ME ?]
426 [PN1]
2 DUMU.ME-

--- [P]N
424 [fPN]
[D]UMU.M-sa
Appendix C (cont.)
AMA-
2 DU[MU/DUMU.M GA]
1 M[-
1 M
[1 DUMU?]M
UN.ME-
1 GEM
PAB 2
PAB 3]
PAB [4]
PAB 2
PAB 5 [.]
PAB 4 [.]
256
chapter three
PART TWO
CHAPTER FOUR
FAMILY TYPES
The families of the lower stratum in the Neo-Assyrian Period are divided
into three main types:1 (1) Nuclear/Simple Family (2) Extended Family
(3) Multiple-Family Kinship Group. In each type the family may include
attachs who have no blood ties to the family members and who are
not married to any of them, such as slaves, apprentices and others.2
Single brothers (and sisters) that lived together in the same house are
not dened in this book as a family except in the case of a married
man whose single brother lives with him (see Introduction). A single
person (including eunuchs) with a maid that he owns who lives with
him in the same house are also not dened here as a family; but a son,
including a eunuch, who lives with his mother are dened as a nuclear
family of type A5.
Type A: Nuclear/Simple Family
A nuclear/simple family consists of a father, a mother (or more wives),
with or without unmarried children. A few nuclear families are singleparent ones, and include a father (widower or divorced) with his child/
children; or a woman (divorced, unmarried, or a widow) with her child/
children. In a few cases the family consists of only two persons, a mother
and a son; sometimes she is presented as the family head and sometimes
it is her son. Five main types of nuclear families are found:
A1: A childless married couple; or a childless man married to several
women.
A2: A married couple with unmarried child/children; or a man
married to several women with unmarried child/children.
A3: A male (divorced or widower) with his child or children.
A4: A female (unmarried, divorced, or a widow) with her child or
children.
1
For family types in pre-industrial societies see Laslett, 1972, pp. 2832, with earlier
bibliography; Wall, 1983, pp. 613.
2
For family types in the Ancient Near East see Gelb, 1972, pp. 4142, 49; Gelb,
1979, pp. 5660, 7579; Diakonof, 1985; Roth, 1987, p. 718, note 10.
260
chapter four
A5: A childless male (unmarried, divorced, or widower) with his

mother; or with his mother and unmarried brother(s) and
sister(s).
Type B: Extended Family
An extended family consists of a nuclear family (types A1A4) with
additional members, such as a parent, a brother, or a sister of the family
head. There are three main types of extended families:
B1: Extended upwards: A nuclear family (types A1A4) with at least
one parent of the family head.
B2: Extended laterally: A nuclear family (types A1A4) with at least
one unmarried brother or sister of the family head.
B3: Extended upwards and laterally: A nuclear family (types A1A4)
with at least one parent and one unmarried brother or sister of
the family head.
Type C: Multiple-Family Kinship Group
A multiple-family kinship group consists of at least two nuclear families
that live in the same house and are dened by themselves or by others
as one family. There are two main types of multiple-family kinship
group:
C1: Secondary units up/down: A kinship group that consists of a
nuclear family (types A2 or A3) with the family heads married
son (with or without his children).
C2: Units all on one level (or: frrches): A kinship group that consists
of a nuclear family (types A1A3) with the family heads married
brother (with or without his children), or with his divorced/widower brother, with his child/children.
A. Families whose type is clear
The types of 192 families (43%) of the 447 discussed in this book are
clear (see Table 21); the types of another 114 (25%) can be only estimated in general lines (see Table 23), and the types of the remaining
141 (32%) are unclear.3
The types of the following 141 families are unclear: Slaves (18): families nos. 14,
family types
261
Of the 192 families whose types are clear, 180 (94%) are nuclear
(types A1A5) and only 12 (6%) are clearly extended families or multiple-family kinship groups. A full list of the families whose type is clear
is given below, by their types and working groups.
Type A: Nuclear/Simple Family
A1: Slaves: families nos. 78, 22, 2829, 36, 48, 50, 5556, 62, 68, 69,
8286, 101, 108, 110.
Pledged people: families nos. 118, 128.
Land and People: families nos. 148, 176, 187.
Royal grants: families nos. 198, 215.
Harran Census: families nos. 283, 310, 313, 328, 330, 339.
Deportees and displaced people: families nos. 402, 420, 428.
A2: Slaves: families nos. 1, 36, 27, 42, 49, 58, 67, 77, 96, 100, 114.
Pledged people: families nos. 117, 119, 121123, 127, 135.
Land and People: families nos. 147, 149, 164166, 169, 184186.
Royal grants: families nos. 211, 241243, 245248.
Harran Census: families nos. 279, 281282, 284286, 289290, 294,
296298, 309, 312, 314, 324, 327, 331332, 334, 336337, 349,
351, 356.
Deportees and displaced people: families nos. 392, 403, 407409, 412413,
417, 429.
Rations recipients: families nos. 444, 446.
A3: Slaves: families nos. 38, 5152, 7071.
Pledged people: family no. 120.
Land and People: family no. 146.
Royal grants: family no. 244.
Harrran Census: families nos. 291, 317.
Deportees and displaced people: families nos. 397, 411.
16, 1821, 2324, 39, 60, 95, 103107, 111, 116; Land and People (19): families nos.
137140, 151153, 156158, 160, 167, 174175, 177180, 182; Royal grants (49):
families nos. 188191, 193196, 199, 210, 212, 220, 224225, 227230, 232, 234240,
249253, 255266, 269272, 275276; Harran Census (37): families nos. 295, 304307,
316, 321323, 335, 338, 343347, 355, 357361, 363377; Deportees and displaced people
(18): families nos. 378389, 400, 410, 422424, 427.
262
chapter four
A4: Slaves: families nos. 1011, 31, 4041, 43, 4647, 6366, 7275,
8081, 88, 9094, 97, 99.
Pledged people: families nos. 130132.
Land and People: families nos. 150, 168.
Royal grants: family nos. 208209, 223.
Deportees and displaced people: families nos. 430431.
Rations recipients: families nos. 435443, 445, 447.
A5: Slaves: families nos. 2, 9, 57, 59, 76.
Harrran Census: families nos. 277, 280.
Deportees and displaced people: families nos. 421, 434.
Type B: Extended Family
B1: Deportees and displaced people: family no. 419.
B2: Slaves: families nos. 17, 78.
Deportees and displaced people: family no. 395.
B3: Slaves: family no. 26.
Pledged people: families nos. 124126.
Deportees and displaced people: family no. 418.
Type C: Multiple-Family Kinship Group
C1: Harrran Census: family no. 288.
C2: Slaves: family no. 25.
The Nuclear Families (Type A)
Clearly attested families of type A are 180 in number: 111 (58%) are
of type A1 or A2, and 69 (36%) are of types A3A5 (see Table 21).
In the group of the slave families 47% of the A-type families are of
types A1A2 (35) and 48% are of types A3A5 (36). But only four
of the 35 A-type families attested in the Harran Census are of types
A3A5 (11%), while the others are of types A1A2 (86%). In most of
the other groups the families of types A3A5 account for 23%33%
of the type-A families (Pledged persons, 4 out of 13 = 31%; Land
and People, 4 out of 16 = 25%; Royal grants, 4 out of 14 = 29%;
Deportees, 6 out of 18 = 33%); the sole exception is the Rations
recipients, 11 out of 13 = 85%.
263
family types
Table 21: Family Types
Fam.
Type
Slaves
Pledged
People
Land
and
People
Royal
Grants
Harran
Census
Deportees
and
Displaced
RA.
A1
21
A2
14
25
TA
12
A3
35
47%
5
9
56%
1
12
70.5%
1
10
71%
1
31
86%
2
12
57%
2
2
15%
A4
26
11
A5
TA
35
TA
15
B1
B2
B3
TB
13
C1
C2
TC
13
GT
36
48%
71
95%
2
1
3
4%
1
1
1%
75
4
25%
13
81%
3
3
19%
4
23.5%
16
94%
1
1
6%
4
29%
14
100%
4
11%
35
97%
11
85%
13
100%
16
17
14
1
3%
36
6
29%
18
86%
1
1
1
3
14%
21
13
37
19%
74
39%
111
58%
12
6%
47
25%
10
5%
69
36%
180
94%
1
3
6
10
5%
1
1
2
1%
192
100%
The percentage of families of types A1A2 out of the total families

whose type is clear ranges from 47% (the slaves group, except for the
group of rations recipients17%) to 86% (the Harran Census). The
groups in between show the percentages from 56% to 71% (Pledged
persons, 56%; Deportees, 57%; Land and People, 70.5%; Royal
grants, 71%).
The great differences in the percentages of families of types A3A5
(single-parent families) among these various groups, especially between
the slaves and the Harran Census, are probably not accidental but
indicate the different status of the families of these groups (see also
the discussion in chapter IX below).
Families of Type A1: 19% of the families whose type is clear are of type
A1 (37 out of 192 families). Most of these families (57%) are of slaves
264
chapter four
(21) and only 16% are listed in the Harran Census (6); the other ten
families occur in the other groups: deportees and Land and People,
three in each group; pledged persons and royal grants, two in each
group. All these families are childless married couples, and there is not
a single clear case of a childless polygamous family (see chapter VI).
It is reasonable to suppose that most families of this type are young
couples still without children, and only a few are old childless couples.
About 28% of the slave families whose type is clear are of this type
(21 out of 75); in the other groups the percentage of type-A1 families
is only 13%18% (see Table 21).
Families of Type A2: About 39% of the families whose type is clear are
of type A2 (74 out 192 families). Many A2-type families (25 out of 74,
or 34%) occur in the Harran census and only 14 (19%) are found in
the group of slave families; the other 35 are listed in the other groups
as follows: deportees and Land and People, nine in each (12%); royal
grants, eight; pledged persons, seven; and rations recipients, two. All
these families are married couples with at least one unmarried child
(on the possibility of A2-type families consisting of a man married to
several women with unmarried child/children, see the discussion below).
Only 19% of the 75 slave families whose type is clear are type A24a
relatively low gure compared with the data of the Harran Census
which indicate that about 25 of the 36 families whose type is clear
are type A2 (69%). In the other groups the percentage is 57%43%:
royal grants, 57%; Land and People, 53%; pledged persons, 44%;
and deportees, 43%.
Families of Type A3: 12 families of this type are clearly attested (6% out
of 192). In all these families the mother is missing, but it is not clear
if she has died or was divorced. In slave families it is also possible that
the family was sold without the mother, who remained in the sellers
possession (as a concubine?). The percentage of the A3 families is low
in all groups (6%10%), as follows: in three groups the percentage is
6% (Land and People, the Harran Census and pledged persons);
slaves and royal grants, both 7%; and deportees, 10%.
For a similar percentage (17%) see the families of the rations recipients.
family types
265
Families of Type A4: A quarter of the families whose type is clear are
type A4 (47 out of 192, or 25%). This is the second largest group,
right after the type-A2 families (39%). In all these families the father
is missing, but it is not clear if he is divorced or deceased. In slave
families it is also possible that the family was sold without its head who
remained in the sellers possession; in other cases it is possible that the
seller himself was the father.
Most type-A4 families (55%) are slaves (26 out of 47); not a single typeA4 family is attested in the Harran Census. The other 21 type-A4 families are
mainly rations recipients (11 out of 47, or 23%); three families each in
the groups of pledged persons and royal grants; and two families each
in the groups of deportees and Land and People. The percentage
of the type-A4 slave families is the highest: 35% (26 out of 75 slave
families; with only the exception of the rations recipients85%). The
percentages of the type-A4 families in the other groups are as follows:
royal grants, 21%; pledged persons, 19%; Land and People, 12%;
deportees, 10%; and the Harran Census, 0%.
Most of these families consist of only two persons: a female and
her son or daughter, generally a maid with her child. As mentioned
above, these maids might not be widows or divorcees but were their
masters concubines who gave birth to bastards, and perhaps were sold
at the instigation of the sellers wife. In the other groups at least in a
few texts the head of a type-A4 pledged family is clearly a free widow
(see family no. 130), but in other cases type-A4 pledged families are
denitely slaves (families nos. 131132).
Families of Type A5: Ten families of this type are clearly evident (5% out
of 192). Five of these families are slaves; the other ve are attested in
a sale of Land and People (one), in the Harran Census (two), and in
the group of deportees (two). The percentage of the type-A5 families
is low in all groups: Harran Census and Land and People, each 6%;
slaves, 7%; deportees, 10% (most of these percentages are similar to
those of type A3, above).
Seven out of these ten families consist of only two persons: an unmarried son with his mother. One family includes a maid (in addition to
the son and the mother: deportees, family no. 421); another consists
of three people: two brothers with their mother (slaves, family no. 57),
and yet another consists ve people: four sons with their mother (Land
and People, family no. 145).
266
chapter four
The Extended Families (Type B)

Only 5% of the families whose type is clear are extended (ten out of
192): one family is of type B1, three are of type B2, and six are of
type B3. However, about 30 more families might be extended, but it
is unclear (see the discussion below).
A Type-B1 Family: The only clear type-B1 family is no. 419: a deported
family of ve: a couple with their two sons and the family heads
mother. This is one of the very rare families of three generations (see
chapter XI).
Type-B2 Families: Three B2 families are attested: nos. 17 and 78 (slaves)
and no. 395 (deportees). The last family consists of three people, a
couple with the family heads brother; the rst two are of four people:
a couple with the family heads brother and a son (no. 17) or a daughter (no. 78).
Type-B3 Families: Six B3 families are clearly attested: no. 26 (slaves), nos.
124126 (pledged), no. 159 (Land and People), and no. 418 (deportees). Most families consist of four or ve people, with one exception,
namely seven people (no. 26: a couple with the family heads mother,
two brothers, and two sisters). Two families (nos. 125 and 159) include
one son (see Table 22).
Table 22: Families of Type B3
Slaves
Pledged
persons
Land &
People
Deportees
Family
no.
BR
Si
26
124
+
+
+
+
+
+
2
+
7
4
125
126
159
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
5
4
4
418
family types
267
All families include the family heads mother and at least one brother,
but no daughters. The total of these six families is 29 persons, an average of 4.83. Most of these families probably include a young couple
recently married (therefore still childless), probably quite soon after the
family heads father died having bequeathed the leadership of the
family to one of his sons. The family heads brothers and sisters are
all still young and unmarried. The percentage of the sons out of these
29 persons is very low, namely 7%, while the usual percentage of the
sons is about 30%40% (see chapters V and X).
Multiple-Family Kinship Group (Type C)
Multiple-family kinship groups are very rare: only two such families
are clearly attested (1% out of 192): one is of type C1 and the other
of type C2. Even supposing that all 19 families whose type is unclear
but that might be a C type family (see Table 23), and also the three
largest families of 12, 14 and 15 people (nos. 229, 250 and 272), are all
indeed multiple-family kinship groupstype-C families would be only
account for about 5% of the 447 families discussed in this book.
The C1 Family: The only clear C1 family is no. 288, attested in the
Harran Census; it is a family of eight: a cowherd with his two adult
sons, three women, and two small children. One of the small children
is evidently a grandson, the son of one of the two adult family heads
sons (see the discussion in chapter II, above).
The C2 Family: This is clearly a frrche: two married brothers living in
the same place with their wives and children (family no. 25). It is a slave
family, most probably a free family enslaved for an unknown reason
(probably an economic one). It is a ten-person family: a couple with
three sons and two daughters, with the family heads brother and his
two sons (his wife is missing).
Family no. 404 is probably also a type-C2 family: it is a deported
family of eight: Rmtu, his three sons, a daughter, his sisters son, and
two women; these two might be his wife and sister, since his sisters son
is clearly attested in the text. But since the other woman might be his
second wife or even his daughter-in-law, the denition of this family
type is not clear (see the discussion below).
268
chapter four
Table 23: The Unclear Type Families
Family
Type
Slaves
Pledged
persons
A
AB
B
ABC
BC
T
11
11
1
23
1
2
Land Royal Harran

and Grants Census
People
14
2
16
25
1
26
1
12
11
4
28
Deportees
and
Displaced
7
5
2
1
3
18
59
33
3
12
7
114
B. Families whose type is unclear

The type of 114 families is unclear but can be estimated in general
lines (26% out of 447 families). These are divided below into ve main
groups: (1) 59 families of type A; (2) 33 families of type A or B; (3)
three families of type B; (4) 12 families of types A or B or C; (5) seven
families of types B or C (see Table 23).
Type-A Families
59 families are probably of type A but there is no possibility of knowing the specic type (A1A5; see also chapter II, especially Tables 2, 4,
610, 12 and 16). Most of these families consist of only two persons,
and with such a number the family is bound to be nuclear (the smallest
extended family has to have at least three people). 25 families (about
42%), are attested in royal grants;5 11 are recorded in sales of People;6
14 in sales of Land and People,7 one is a pledged family (no. 129), one
is mentioned in the Harran Census (no. 329), and seven in the group
of deportees.8 A few of these families are probably A2-type families,
but it is not clear (see, for example, Families nos. 112, 115, 141144,
155, 170, 183, 398, 432). In other cases it is not clear if the family is
of A2-type or A3-type (for example, families nos. 12, 89 and 426).
5
See families nos. 192, 197, 200203, 205207, 213214, 216219, 221222, 226,
231, 233, 254, 267268, 273274.
6
See families nos. 12, 3435, 4445, 87, 89, 98, 112113, 115.
7
See families nos. 141144, 154155, 161162, 170173, 181, 183.
8
See families nos. 398, 401, 405, 414, 426, 432433.
family types
269
Families of Type A or Type B

33 families might be of type A or type B.9 In most of these families it
is not clear if one of the family members is the family heads son or
brother (see the discussion below). Four of the families attested in the
Harran Census consist of three people: a male with two females (nos.
302, 326, 352, 354). The rst one is attributed to Scribe A, and three
others to Scribe B. In the rst case it is reasonable to suppose that the
second woman is the second wife of the family head, but she may also
be his mother or sister. In the three other cases the possibilities are
larger, since Scribe B counts all females in one category.
It is unclear if the additional males in Families nos. 37, 5354, 109
and more are the family heads sons or brothers, so it is not clear if
these families are nuclear or extended. Families nos. 3233 (which are
two of three largest slave families attested in Neo-Assyrian texts), are
of ten persons each, and both include slaves, probably acquired before
they themselves were enslaved. Family no. 32 includes ten persons: a
couple with a suckling son, two slaves, and ve additional members
(brothers or daughters); the rst possibility (ve brothers) is the more
likely but the other is still possible so the type of this family is unclear.
Family no. 33 is also of ten people: the head of the family, his two
wives, and three sons. As suggested in chapter II, this family most
probably includes three slaves, and the tenth member of the family
is its heads mother or sister or daughter. This uncertainty about the
tenth member prevents determination of this family type: it may be
nuclear or extended. Family no. 15 consists of a couple with or without a family heads brother; and in family no. 13 it is not clear if the
additional member is the family heads wife, son or brother. In other
families it is also unclear if the additional males are the family heads
sons or brothers, for example, Families nos. 287, 292293, 301, 303,
311, 315, 318 (The Harran Census); 393, 396, 399, 406, 425 (Deportees). The type of two additional deported families might be A or B:
nos. 393 and 406. Both are deported families, and both consist of ve
persons: a male with three females and a son (no. 393), or a male with
two females and two slaves (no. 406). The identity of the extra females
9
Slaves (11): families nos. 13, 15, 30, 3233, 37, 5354, 79, 102, 109; Pledged people
(2): families nos. 133134; Land and People (2): families nos. 136, 163; Royal grants
(1): family no. 204; Harran Census (12): families nos. 287, 292293, 301303, 311,
315, 318, 326, 352, 354; Deportees and displaced people (5): families nos. 393, 396, 399,
406, 425.
270
chapter four
in each family is unclear: in no. 393 they might be the family heads
second wife, sister, or mother, but probably not his daughters since
in this text the scribe separates the daughters from the women (see
family no. 392). It is reasonable that this is an extended family even if
this male has two wives. The two women in family no. 406 might be
the family heads wives, but since polygamy is rare, the second female
may be his mother or sister (it is also possible that the family head is
unmarried and the women are his mother and sister). So again, it is
not clear if this family is nuclear or extended.
Families of Type B
Three families are extended families, nos. 61, 415 and 416: in the former, it is not clear if the additional person is the family heads brother
or mother; nos. 415416 are clearly extended but their size and structure
are unclear (see chapter II).
Families of Types A or B or C
In 12 cases it is not clear if the family type is A, B, or C: eleven are
attested in the Harran Census and only one in the group of deportees.
Three of the 11 families attested in the Harran Census are attributed
to Scribe A (nos. 278, 299, 308), and the other eight to Scribe B. The
rst three families include a male with two women and one or two
sons: the extra woman is clearly not a daughter, but she might be the
males second wife or his sister, mother, or daughter-in-law. Each of the
other eight families has two to ve women and at least one son:
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
320:
325:
333:
340:
341:
342:
350:
353:
7
5
4
5
5
5
5
8
persons
persons
persons
persons
persons
persons
persons
persons
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
Father
Father
Father
Father
Father
Father
Father
Father
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
3
2
2
2
3
3
3
5
women
women
women
women
women
women
women
women
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
3
2
1
2
1
1
1
2
sons
sons
son
sons
son
son
son
sons
In all these families the relation of the extra women to the family
head is unclear: she might be his second wife, daughter, mother, sister,
or daughter-in-law. In the last family, which has ve women and two
sons, one of the women may even be a granddaughter of the family
family types
271
head, but even so this could still be a nuclear family (a couple with four
daughters and two sons, or three daughters and two wives).
Family no. 394 (deportees) consists of ve persons: a male, three
females, and a brother: it is unclear if it is a type-A5 family (a male with
his mother, brother, and two sisters), or a type-B family (a couple with
a brother and two sisters or a sister and a mother), or a type-C family
(two married brothers with their wives and a sister or a mother).
Families of Types B or C
Seven families are of type B or C, but denitely not type A: four are
attested in the Harran Census (nos. 300, 319, 348, 362) and the other
three in the texts indicating deportees and displaced families (nos.
390391, 404; this last family was already discussed in this chapter:
see The C2 family, above).
Family no. 300 is an extended family of six: the family head, his
brother, two young children, and two women, who might be his
two wives; also possible is that the extra woman is his brothers wife.
Accordingly, the young son and daughter might be his own children or
his brothers; so this family is an extended one, or frrche.
Family no. 319 is probably a multiple-family kinship group (units all
on one level), since two brothers of the family head are attested, and it
is reasonable to suppose that the second woman is the wife of one of
these brothers; but the extra woman could be the family heads sister
or mother, so the type of this family is unclear.
Family no. 348 consists of six people: the family head, his brother,
and three women. It might be a multiple-family kinship group since
one of these three women may be the brothers wife, but there are
other possibilities. For example, the extra women might be the family
heads daughters, sisters, or related in other ways, so the type of this
family is unclear.
Family no. 362 is described in an unusual way: two brothers (Nabuallim and Inrta-ualli) are presented as the sons of Qun without
the family head being specied. The total (four) indicates that Qun is
not included, and is not the family head, and he might have died. One
may conclude that in the view of the Assyrian administration the two
brothers lead this family. Two other sons are included in it: Ilx-ab,
an adolescent, and Il-dal, of ve spans height; but it is not clear who
is their father, Nab-uallim or Inrta-ualli, so it is not clear if it is an
extended family or a frrche.
272
chapter four
Families nos. 390 and 391 are attested in a letter probably sent to
Sargon II by Ar-blu-taqqin concerning a group of people transferred
from Babylonia; both families consist of ve persons: a family head, his
son, his brother, and two women. Polygamy, as noted, was extremely
rare in this period, but each of these families might be polygamous,
although other possibilities are more likely: the extra woman is clearly
not the family heads daughter (since the scribe separates the daughters
from the women) or daughter-in-law (the sons are small), but she
might be his mother, his sister, or his brothers wife.
CHAPTER FIVE
FAMILY SIZE
Of the 447 families discussed in this book, the size of 327 (73%) is
clear; the size of most of the other families (84, or 19%) is unclear
but can be estimated; and the size of only 15 families (3%) is wholly
uncertain (in most of these cases it is not clear if one family is counted
or more). In the other 21 families (5%) only the father and the sons
are attested (see discussion below). In this chapter the clear and the
unclear data are arranged according to the seven working groups (see
Introduction). In each group the clear data are discussed rst and then
the unclear, with a perusal of the differences between data dated before
and after 681/680 B.C.
A. Slave Families
The discussion on the size of the slave families is divided into two main
parts: 88 families which size is clear (76% out of 116), and 25 families
(21.5%) whose size is unclear but can be estimated (the size of three
families2.5%cannot be estimated). The determinate data are discussed rst, with data dated before 681/680 B.C. being distinguished
from data after that time or whose date is uncertain, and with an indication of the texts provenance. Accordingly Table 24 presents exclusively
the 88 families whose size is clear; and the 28 families dated before 681
B.C. are separated from the 55 families dated after 680 B.C. and from
the ve families whose date is uncertain. The extreme left column in
this table displays the number of persons in each family; in the next
column are the numbers of the families of each size; the third shows
the total number of families of each size (= T); and the fourth presents
the total of persons included in these families (= P). Columns VVII
present data later than 680 B.C., and the undated data are set out in
the next three columns. In the last three columns the grand total of the
families of all periods is listed (= GT), the total number of persons in
these families (= GP), and the percentage of these families.
274
chapter five
Table 24: Family Size: Slaves
10
9
8
7
6
T
5
4
800681
25, 32, 33
4*, 13, 26,

1*, 19, 27
3
3
9
2
3
6, 18
17, 20, 35
T
3 3, 5,
11#,
14
T
GT
AV
2, 7, 8,
9, 10,
22#,
28, 29,
31, 36
5
4
10
14
28
After
680
GT
GP
30
21
37
18
69
10 61, 77
12 49, 52,
53, 54,
78, 81
22
12 38, 42,
46, 57,
58, 67,
70, 96,
100
20 40, 41#,
43, 47,
48, 50,
51, 55,
56, 59,
62, 63,
64, 65*,
66, 68,
69, 71,
73, 74,
75, 76,
80, 82,
83, 84,
85, 86,
87, 88,
90, 91#,
92, 93,
94, 97,
99
32
123
4.39
1
2
6
7
10
24
111
115
1
1
5
4
4
3
10
5
10
30
28
18
76
25
40
8
9
34
27
15
13
65
39
17
15
37
74
50
100
57
46
55
101
142
2.58
3
5
6
15
3
63
88
139
280
3.18
72
100
101,
108,
110
Provenance of Texts:
3 = Aur; 4* = Calah; 94 = Dr-Katlimmu; 26 = Nineveh; 11# = Maxallnte
T = Total of Families; P = Total of persons; AV = Average;
GT = Grand total of Families; GP = Grand total of persons
11
family size
A.1
275
Slave Families of Known Size
The 88 slave families whose size is known are divided into three subgroups according to their size: large (106 persons), medium (54
persons), and small (32 persons: see Table 24).
Large Families (106 persons): Ten out of the 88 slave families consist of
106 persons (11%). The three largest families are of ten members: all
three were bought before 681. Seven families consist of seven or six
persons: they were also bought before 681 or in 680 (no. 37). Three of
these large slave families have a few members dened as slave: two
maids in family no. 13 (a family of seven persons); and two or three
slaves in families nos. 3233 (each of ten persons). Most families occur
in texts from Nineveh; the exceptions are nos. 1 and 4 (from Calah).
Medium Families (54 persons): Fifteen out of 88 slave families (17%) consist
of four or ve persons. Only ve consist of ve souls and the other ten
are of four persons each. Most texts in which these families are attested
originate in Nineveh. The exceptions are two families of four persons
from Aur, which are the largest slave families from this city.
Small Families (32 persons): The great majority of slave families in the
Neo-Assyrian period (studied in this book), 63 out of 88 (72%), are
very small, only two or three persons. Most families of this group, 50
out of 88 (57%), consist of only two persons, and the other 13 have
three members. In the period before 681 B.C. 14 out of 28 families
(50%) consist of two or three persons, but after 680 small families of
two or three persons account for 84% (46 out of 55). All slave families
from Dr-Katlimmu consist of three persons (two cases) or two persons
(ve cases); a similar picture emerges from the texts from Aur and
Maxallnte: eight out of the 10 slave families originating in Aur are
of two or three persons, as are the two families from Maxallnte.
Family Size Before and After 681/680 B.C.: A Comparison
Signicant differences exist between data dated before and after 681/680
B.C. Twenty-eight families dated to the earlier period consist of 123
persons, an average of 4.39: nine are of 106 persons (32%), ve of
276
chapter five
54 persons (18%), and 14 of 32 persons (50%). In the later period

(after 680 B.C.) there is a drastic decline in the size of the slave families:
55 families consist of only 142 persons, an average of 2.58: about two
thirds of the slave families in this period consist of only two persons,
and additional 16% of three persons; only three out of these 55 families consist of ve or more persons. The great differences between the
earlier and the later groups of families cannot be accidental. They
probably reect a decline in the size of the average slave family in the
seventh century, and especially the second half: a comparison of the
data dated to 680649 B.C. with those dated after 648 B.C. indicates
that the average slave family in the period between 680649 was 2.81
persons (27 families with 76 people), and after 648 B.C. the average
was only 2.36 (28 families with 66 people).
A.2
Slave Families of Indeterminate Size
The size of 28 slave families is unclear: in 25 cases it can be estimated

and in the other three (nos. 16, 21, 24) it is not clear if one family
is attested or more. Five out of the 23 families are dated before 681
B.C. (nos. 12, 15, 23, 30 and 34): one consists of two or three persons
(no. 15), one of probably three (no. 23), one of three or four (no. 30),
and two of four or ve persons (nos. 12 and 34). So these ve families
amount to 1620 persons, an average of 3.24.0. These families are
relatively smaller than the 28 whose size is known and which are dated
to the same period (their average size is 4.39 people). If the unclear
data are added to the known, the change will be negligible: the average
will be 4.214.33 (139143: 33) instead of 4.39.
Nine out of the 25 families are dated after 680 B.C. (nos. 39, 4445,
60, 72, 79, 89, 95 and 98): one consists of at least two persons (no. 72),
two consist of two-three persons (nos. 89, 98), three are probably of
three persons (nos. 4445, 79), two consist of more than three (nos. 39,
60), and one of more than four persons (no. 95): a total of over 25 or
over 27 persons, an average of over 2.78 or over 3. These families are
relatively larger than the families of known size in this period (average
of 2.58). Addition of the indeterminate to the determinate data again
results in an insignicant change: the average will be over 2.61 or over
2.64 (over 167 or over 169: 64) instead of 2.58.
The date of 11 of these 25 families are unclear: four consist of at
least two people (nos. 105107 and 113); one of three or four persons
(no. 112), two at least of four (nos. 114, 116); one of at least ve (no.
109); two of ve or six (nos. 102 and 104), and one of four to six people
family size
277
(no. 103): a total of at least 38 or 43 persons, an average of 3.45 or

3.91 members per family. Adding the uncertain gures to the known
gures of the ve families alters the average of 3 for the clear data to
3.31over 3.63 (53over 58: 16).
In sum, these 25 families consist of 79over 90 persons, an average
of over 3.16 or over 3.60; this average is higher than the average of
the families of known size (3.18). If the indeterminate and the determinate data are added, the average of all data is over 3.18over 3.27
members per family.
B. Pledged Families
The 19 pledged families consist of 72 persons, an average of 3.79 (see
Table 25). The size of the pledged families differs greatly before and
after 681/680 B.C., as with the slave families. In the earlier period ten
pledged families are attested, and they consist of 43 persons, an average
of 4.3; in the later period (after 680) the six pledged families consist of
only 17 persons, an average of 2.83. The date of the other three pledged
families is unclear; together they consist of 12 persons, an average of
4. Only 11% of the pledged families consist of six or more persons (as
in the group of slave families); 47% consist of four or ve persons and
42% of the pledged families are of two or three persons.
Again, as with the slave families the pledged families attested in texts
originating in Nineveh are larger than the families from Aur: there
the three families consist of nine people, an average of 3, while the 16
families attested in texts originating in Nineveh consist of 63 persons,
an average of 3.94.
C. Land and People

The discussion on the size of the families attested in sales of Land
and People (and in a schedule of Land and People: text no. 127) is
divided into two main parts: rst concerning 28 families of known size
out of the total of 52 families (54%; see Table 26) and then concerning 20 families (38%) whose size is unclear but can be estimated. The
size of the other four families (8%) is impossible to determine (families
nos. 101, 137, 151, 158). Of the 28 families of known size, eight dated
before 681/680 B.C. are separated from six dated after 680 and 14
whose date is uncertain.
278
chapter five
Table 25: Family Size: Pledged People
Before
681
7 119, 121
6
T
5 117, 125
4 122, 124,
126
T
3 123
2 118, 120
T
GT
AV
After
680
GT
GP
2
2
3
14
14
10
12
130
127
1
1
5
4
133
134
1
1
5
4
2
4
5
14
14
20
20
11
5
1
2
22
3
4 128, 129
131, 132
7
43
4.3
2
1
9
3
9
2
6
40
6
12
47
135
4
6
8
17
2.83
1
3
3
12
4
8
19
18
72
3.79
42
100
3
10
130 = Aur; 117 = Nineveh
C.1
Families of Known Size
The 28 families of known size consist of 92 persons, an average of

3.29. This is a relatively low gure close to the average of the slave
families (3.16) and even lower than that of the pledged families (3.79).
The size of these families in the earlier period (before 681: in this case
all families are dated to the reign of Sennacherib) is a slightly largely
than that of the families dated to the later period, but the differences
in this case are relatively narrower: the average in the earlier period
is 3.88 and in the later it is 3.67. The average of the families whose
date is uncertain is 2.79. Only 7% of these 28 families consist of six
or more person; 29% are of ve or four persons, and most (64%) are
minimal families of three or two persons. The families originating in
Dr-Katlimmu are clearly smaller than the others (most of them from
Nineveh, with only one exception, from Gezer).
C.2
Families of Indeterminate Size
The 20 families whose size is unclear but can be estimated number at

least 62 people in all, an average of 3.1; a higher possibility is 68 persons,
an average of 3.4. The ve families dated to the earlier period (before
279
family size
Table 26: Family Size: Land and People
Before
681
After
680
GT
GP
6
6
10
161
1
1
138, 145
1
1
2
10
2
2
4
12
12
20
136, 147
159,
166#
184,
186
16
T
3
150
4
1
18
3
2
5
10
15
8
8
36
24
146, 148
14
10
20
3
8
7
31
3.88
12
14
29
39
2.79
18
28
44
92
3.29
7
6
T
5
T
GT
AV
149
164,
165
162
6
6
2
2
8
6
3
6
8
22
3.67
169,
170,
179,
180,
185
168,
171,
172,
173,
176,
181,
187
29
64
100
181 = Dr-Katlimmu; 166# = Gezer; 116 = Nineve
681 B.C.; nos. 139, 141144) consist at least 16 people, an average of

at least 3.2. The nine families dated to the later period (after 680 B.C.;
nos. 152157, 160, 163, 167) consist of at least 26 persons altogether, an
average of 2.89 (a higher possibility is at least 32 people, an average of
3.56). The six families attested in texts of uncertain date (nos. 174175,
177178, 182183) consist of at least 20 persons, an average of 3.33.
All these data are close to those of the families of known size.
If the data of the families which size is clear is added to the data of
the families which size is unclear the picture is as follows: the average
is 3.21 or about 3.4 (according to a higher estimate), while the average
of the clear families is 3.33, so the differences are not signicant.
The data attested in the schedule of Land and People (text no.
127) are included in these calculations (as mentioned above). These
four families consist of 15 persons, an average of 3.75 (or about 3.6
counting the fth family, whose size is unclear but can be estimated).
280
chapter five
If the data of this text are not included in the calculations of the size
of the families attested in sales of Land and People their average will
be 3.2 instead of 3.29. So again the differences are not signicant.
D. Royal Grants
The size of 80 out of 89 families attested in these texts is known (90%;
see Table 27). These families consist of 317 persons, an average of
3.96. As in the other groups, the families dated before 681 B.C. are
evidently larger than those dated after 680: the average of the earlier
period is 4.67 while that of the later is only 3.14. Only four out of
these 80 families (5%) consist of ten persons or more; eight consist of
seven or six (10%), 27 of ve or four (34%), and again, most families
are small with only three or two people (41 out of 80: 51%).
The size of the 36 families donated to temples is clearly larger than
the size of the others: the average of these families is 4.71 (or 4.62 if
private donation is not considered) while the average of the 44 families attested in tax exemptions for ofcials is only 3.43. One possible
explanation of this feature might be the fact that the royal donations to
temples are dated to the reign of Sennacherib, whereas most families
attested in tax exemptions for ofcials are dated after 680 B.C.: note
that the average size of the nine families attested in tax exemptions
dated to the 8th century is 4.56 (see Table 8, families nos. 188196),
while the average of the 35 families dated to the reign of Assurbanipal
is only 3.14 (Tables 89, families nos. 197204, 206211, 213222,
224233, 235).
The differences in the size of the families originating in various places
(but dated to the 8th century) are not signicant: the average for the
27 families from Raappa is 4.77; for the eight families from Arbail it
is 4.5; and for the nine families from Nineveh it is 4.43 (but note that
the average for the 35 families from Nineveh, dated to the period of
Assurbanipal, is 3.14 ).

The discussion on the size of the families in the Harran Census is
divided into two main parts: families attested in texts 135145, and
fathers and sons listed in texts 146149.
281
family size
Table 27: Family Size: Royal Grants
Before
681
15
14
12
10
7
250
272
264
188
193, 242*
258; 269
246*
6
T
5 195, 196
241*, 247*
255; 260
266
4 190, 191
194, 248*
251, 253,
261, 262
263, 270
271
T
3 189
243*, 244*
245*, 249
252; 256
257; 259
265
2 192; 254
267, 268
273, 274
T
GT
AV
1
1
1
5
GT
GP
15
14
229
10
35
12
1
1
1
1
5
15
14
12
10
35
1
9
7
6 225, 228
80
35 232
2
3
1
12
24
5
3
12
8
18
104
40
11
44 199, 204
209, 211
224, 227
230, 235
32
19
76
18
10
79
30 208, 210
220
9
3
37
9
275
276
27
15
116
45
12 197, 198
200, 201
202, 203
206, 207
213, 214
215, 216
217, 218
219, 221
222, 226
231, 233
42
201
4.67
20
40
26
52
23
35
49
110
3.14
2
2
6
6
3
41
80
97
317
3.96
16
43
After
680
374* = Nineveh (Arbla) = Av: 4.5; 382 = Nineveh (Raappa) = Av: 4.77
367 = Nineveh (AN III, TP III?) = Av: 4.56; 408 = Nineveh (Ass) = Av: 3.14
15
34
51
100
282
E.1
chapter five
Size of the Families in texts Nos. 135145
E.1.1 Families of Known Size

4.08 (see Table 28 showing data attributed to Scribe A or to Scribe
B separately; the three families attested twicein a text of scribe A
and in a text of Scribe Bare counted with the data of Scribe A). The
differences in the sizes of the families attested in the texts attributed
to these two scribes are not signicant: the average size of the families
attested in the texts of Scribe A is 4.16 and that in the texts of Scribe
B is 3.96. These small differences probably do not indicate a different
date for these two groups. In both groups the largest families consist
of eight persons: only three families (5%); ten families consist of seven
or six persons (16%), 21 are of ve or four persons (33%), and about
a half of the families consist of only two or three persons (29 families,
or 46%, compared with 72.5% in the slave families).
E.1.2 Families of Indeterminate Size
The 16 families whose size is unclear but can be estimated consist of at
least 47 persons in all, an average of at least 2.94; a higher possibility is
at least 50 persons, an average of at least 3.13. These data are clearly
lower than those of the families of known size. Adding the uncertain
gures to the known ones alters the average of 4.08 for the clear data
to about 3.85 or over 3.89 (257+47/50 = 304/307: 79).
E.2
Fathers and Sons in Texts Nos. 146149
The number of sons included in 18 of the 21 families attested in texts

nos. 146149 is known; in the other three families the number of sons
is uncertain (see Table 29). It is reasonable to suppose that these were
all the sons belonging to these families, as may be borne out by a
comparison of their number with the number of sons in other families
attested in the Harran Census or in other groups (see the discussion
below).
The average number of sons per family in texts nos. 146149 is
1.94: most families have one or two sons (13, or 72%), four have three
sons (22%) and only one has four sons (6%). The average number of
sons per family in texts nos. 135145 is only 1.53 (these data relate to
45 families that include sons, recorded in these texts).
283
family size
Table 28: Family Size: Harran Census
Scribe
A
Scribe
B
GT
GP
8 288, 311
7
6 281, 297,
300, 312,
318, 319,
356
T
16
42
353
320, 332
348
1
2
1
8
14
6
3
2
8
24
14
48
9
23%
5
58
4
16%
5
28
86
25
13
21%
10
50
36
11
44
14
37%
9
61
7
28%
10
33
94
30
21
33%
19
57
12
10
20
15
40%
38
100%
39
14
56%
25
100%
38
29
46%
63
100%
77
5 278, 279,
294, 308,
316
4 285, 286,
287, 289,
290, 296,
298, 299,
306
T
3 282, 284,
291, 301,
302, 303,
309, 314,
315
2 277, 280,
283, 310,
313, 317
T
GT
AV
25
27
158
4.16
325, 340,
341, 342,
350
333, 336
324, 326,
327, 331,
334, 337,
349, 351,
352, 354
328, 329,
330, 339
99
3.96
257
4.08
Assuming that the proportions of family members in texts nos. 135

145 and nos. 146149 are similar, then the average size of these 18
families attested in texts 146149 is about ve persons (4.99), since the
size of the 40 families with sons attested in texts nos. 135145 is 4.58
(1.941.53 = 0.41+4.58 = 4.99). So if the data of these 18 families
are added to those of the 63 families attested in the Harran Census of
known size, then the size of the average family in the Harran Census
will be 4.28 (257+90 = 347: 81 = 63+18). If the data of the families
284
chapter five
Table 29: Family Size: Harran CensusFather and Sons
Total of Haran
Sons
Census
4
3
2
1
T
AV
371
357, 362,
364, 366
361, 363,
368, 369,
375, 376
358, 359,
365, 367,
370, 372,
374
1
4
4
12
6
22
12
33
39
18
35
1.94
100
T = Total of Families; P = Total of persons; AV = Average
of indeterminate size but which may be estimated are added to the

data of the families of known size and to the data of the Fathers and
sons, the average family size will be about 4.05 or over 4.08 persons
(303/306+90 = 393/6: 97 = 81+16), a gure very close to the average
size of the known families in texts nos. 135145 (4.08).
E.3 Number of Sons in Texts Nos. 146149 Compared with Number of
Sons in Other Texts
Here are compared the numbers of sons in the following groups: (1)
Slaves; (2) Pledged people; (3) Land and People; (4) Harran Census
(texts nos. 135145); (5) Deportees (see Table 30: clear data only). In
each group the number of sons is ascertained, as well as the ratio of
this number to the size of the families, and to the average family size
in each group, including the childless families.
Thirty families with sons are attested in the Slave families; the number
of sons per family is 1.7. The average family size (in this group of 30
families) is 3.9, so the sons make up 44% of the family members (1.7:
3.9); since the average slave family is 3.18 persons, the sons constitute
53% of the members of the average family (1.7: 3.18).
Nine pledged families with sons are attested: each has an average of
1.89 sons. The average family size is 4.78, so the sons are 40% of the
family members; since the average pledged family is of 3.79 persons,
285
family size
Table 30: The Number of Sons
TS
5
4
T
3
2
1
T
GT
AV1
AV2
AV3
%
(1)
%
(2)
Slaves
T
1
1
2
3
8
17
28
30
Pledged
People
P
5
4
9
9
16
17
42
51
1.7
3.18
3.9
44
53
3
2
4
9
9
9
4
4
17
17
1.89
3.79
4.78
40
50
Land and
People
T
2
2
2
1
8
11
13
8
8
6
2
8
16
24
1.85
3.29
3.92
47
56
Harran
Census
T
1
1
4
9
26
39
40
P
5
5
12
18
26
56
61
1.53
4.08
4.58
33
38
Deportees
T
2
2
2
5
8
15
17
8
8
6
10
8
24
32
1.88
4.56
5.59
34
43
TS = Total of Sons; T = Total of Families; P = Total of persons; AV1= Average of sons; AV2 =
Average of persons in all the families; AV3 = Average of persons in the families with sons; GT =
Grand total of Sons; GP = Grand total of persons;
% (1) = Percentage of sons out of family members in families with sons.
% (2) = Percentage of sons out of family members in families with and without sons.
the sons constitute 50% of the members of this average family (3.79:
1.89).
13 families with sons are attested in sales of Land and People, each
having an average of 1.85 sons. Average family size (in this group of
13 families) is 3.92, so the sons make up 47% of the family members
(1.85: 3.92); since the average pledged family is 3.29 persons, the sons
constitute 56% of the members of this average family (1.85: 3.29).
Forty families with sons are attested in the Harran Census (texts nos.
135145); the average family has 1.53 sons (as noted above). Average
family size (in this group of 40 families) is 4.58, so the sons are 33%
of the family members (1.53: 4.58); since the average family listed in
the Harran Census is 4.08 persons, the sons are 38% of the members
of this average family (1.53: 4.08).
Seventeen families with sons are attested in the Deportees group,
each with an average of 1.88 sons. The size of the average family (in
this group of 17 families) is 5.59, so the sons are 34% of the family
286
chapter five
members (5.59: 1.88); since the average family in this group is of 4.56
persons, the sons make up 43% of the members of this average family
(1.88: 4.33).
In Sum, sons usually constitute at least a third of the members of
families with children (33%47%). Therefore, the 18 families of Fathers
and Sons attested in the Harran Census (texts nos. 146149) probably
consist of 4.135.88 persons (1.94: 3347%; compare with the estimate
offered above4.99).
G. Deportees and Displaced Persons

The discussion on the size of the deported or displaced families is
divided into two main parts. Out of the 57 families in this group, rst
the data of 36 families of known size (63%) are considered (see Table
31), then those of 20 families whose size is unclear but can be estimated
(35%). The size of one family (2%) cannot be estimated. Regarding
the families of known size, ten dated before 681 B.C. are considered
separately from the other 26 families, for most of which the date is
uncertain, with only two exceptions dated to the reigns of Esarhaddon
or Assurbanipal (families nos. 402403). Fourteen of the 20 families
of indeterminate size are dated to the 8th century and the date of the
other six is uncertain.
G.1
Families of Known Size
The size of 36 of the 57 families attested in these texts is known: these

families consist of 164 persons, an average of 4.56. As in the other
groups, the families dated before 681 B.C. are larger than those dated
after 680: the ten families dated before 681 B.C. consist of 51 persons,
an average of 5.1. The 26 families dated after 680 B.C. consist of
113 persons, an average of 4.35. Twenty-two percent of these families
consist of more than six persons, 42% are of ve or four persons, and
36% of two or three persons.
G.2
Families of Indeterminate Size
The 20 families whose size is unclear consist of 74 to 87 people, an

average of 3.70 to 4.35: one family is probably of seven persons;
287
family size
two of ve or six; two of ve or more, seven are of four or ve, two
are of three or four persons, one of at least of three, two of two or
three, and three are probably of two persons or of at least two persons each. The families of unclear size seem therefore smaller than
the known ones.
Adding the data of the families of indeterminate size to those of
the families of known size yields an average family size in this group
of about 4.254.48.
H. Summary
3.71 (see Table 32). The two largest families were of 15 and 14 persons;
11 others consist of eight persons or more. But these 13 large families
Table 31: Family Size: Deportees and Displaced People
Before
681
After
680 or ?
GT
GP
1
1
8
7
2
3
16
21
3
4
24
28
2
6
15
30
404, 409
407, 408,
423
414
1
6
6
6
43
30
1
8
12
6
58
60
12
12
6
2
30
6
9
6
42
18
15
8
72
24
10
10
T
GT
AV
2
10
6
51
5.1
11
26
28
113
4.35
13
36
34
164
4.56
8
7
6
T
5
398*
401
390, 391,
392, 393,
394, 396
4
T
3
395, 397
406, 413,
416, 418,
419, 425
412, 426,
430
403, 405,
411, 417,
421, 429
402, 420,
428, 431,
434
398* = Calah; 116 = Nineveh
22
42
36
288
chapter five
account for only 4% of these 327 families of known size. About 10%
consisted of six or seven persons (34 families); another 95 families are
of four or ve persons (29%). The remaining 185 families (57%) are
minimal families of only two or three persons. The average family size
of recipients of rations is the smallest (2.31). The average slave family
size is 3.18 persons, the average pledged family size is 3.79, and the
average size of families attested mainly in sales of Land and People
is 3.29. The highest average family size is attested in the group of
deportees and displaced people, namely 4.56; the average family size
in the Harran Census is 4.08 and in the group of Royal grants it
is 3.96.
The average size of the deported families is even larger than the
families of the Harran Census and the royal grants. This gure clearly
lies between the family size of the lower stratum, being about four
people in the 8th century and the beginning of the 7th century, and
even less than three in the 7th century (after 680 B.C.: see below), and
the families of the middle and upper strata, which number ve to six
people (on average; see my forthcoming study on the middle and upper
strata in the Neo-Assyrian period). The reason might be that at least a
few families of deportees discussed in this book evidently belonged to
the middle stratum in their homelands before their deportation; these
families are now in transit and therefore are dened as deportees, but
they could be incorporated into the same stratum in their new place
in Assyria.
One of the main conclusions of this chapter is the manifest reduction in the size of the families after 680 B.C. compared with the size
before 681 B.C. (see Tables 3334). The size of the average family in
the earlier period is 4.36, and in the later it is 2.79. These differences,
apparent in most working groups, cannot be accidental. They probably
indicate the weakening and reduction in size of the families of the
lower stratum on the one hand, and the strengthening of the middle
and upper strata at the expense of the lower stratum at the zenith of
the Neo-Assyrian Empire, mainly in the reigns of Esarhaddon and
Assurbanipal. These differences in most working groups are as follows:
slaves, 4.39 before 681 B.C. and 2.58 after 680 B.C.; Pledged Families,
4.30 before and 2.83 after; Land and People, 3.88 before and 3.67
after; royal grants, 4.67 before 681 B.C. and 3.14 after 680.
Another important nding is the homogeneity of data relating to
these two periods, especially in the early period: the differences between
289
family size
Table 32: Family Size: Summary
Slaves Pledged
People
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
T
7
6
T
4
3
7
5
4
T
Land
and
People
3
3
3
3
5
3
8
2
8
10
4
1
5
5
10
15
4
5
9
4
4
8
8
19
27
10
11
21
12
3
15
3
2
T
13
50
63
2
6
8
8
10
18
15
26
41
19
10
29
8
5
13
GT
88
280
3.18
19
72
3.79
28
92
3.29
80
317
3.96
63
257
4.08
36
164
4.56
1
1
2
2
AV
Royal Haran Deportees RA.

Grants Census
GT
1
1
6
13
4%
17
17
34
10%
43
52
95
29%
4
69
9
116
13
185
57%
13 327
30 100%
2.31
GP
15
14
12
40
48
129
119
102
221
215
208
423
207
232
439
1212
3.71
the sizes of the average family in the six groups attested in this early
period are very modest: the average family size is 4.36 people, exactly
the size of the average slave family in this period; for the slaves the
number is 4.39; for the pledged families it is 4.3 persons, for Land
and People families it is 3.88, and for the Harran Census families it
is 4.08. The highest averages are those of the royal grants4.67and
of the Deportees5.1. So the lowest datum (3.88) is about 89% of the
average (4.36) and the highest (5.1) is 117% of this average.
In the data dated after 680 the differences between the groups are
more signicant, but still moderate compared with the differences
between the two main periods: the average family size is of 2.79 people,
approximately the size of the average pledged family in this period
290
chapter five
(2.83); the average family size of recipients of rations is 2.31 people;

that of slaves is 2.58; that of royal grants is 3.14; and that of Land
and People is 3.67. So the lowest data (for ration recipients and slaves)
are about 83%92% of the average (2.79), and the highest (for Land
and People and royal grants) are 113%132% of this average.
Table 33: Family Size: Summary (Before 681 B.C.)
Slaves
Pledged
People
Land
and
People
Royal
Grants
Haran Deportees
Census
15
14
13
12
11
10
8
T
1
1
3
3
1
1
7
6
T
3
3
6
1
1
5
1
6
2
8
10
5
4
T
2
3
5
2
3
5
2
2
4
7
11
18
10
11
21
3
2
T
4
10
14
1
2
3
1
2
3
10
6
16
19
10
29
GT
GP
AV
28
123
4.39
10
43
4.30
8
31
3.88
43
201
4.67
63
257
4.08
10
51
5.1
GT
GP
1
1
4
4
10
6%
13
13
26
16%
29
30
59
36%
37
30
67
42%
162
15
14
40
32
101
91
78
169
145
120
265
114
60
174
706
4.36
291
family size
Table 34: Family Size: Summary (After 680 B.C.)
Slaves
Pledged
People
Land
and
People
Royal
Grants
RA.
GT
GP
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
T
12
12
12
7
6
T
1
1
2
2
5
4
T
2
6
8
1
1
2
2
2
1
8
9
3
2
T
9
37
46
4
4
2
1
3
3
20
23
4
9
13
GT
GP
AV
55
142
2.58
6
17
2.83
6
22
3.67
35
110
3.14
13
30
2.31
1
1
1%
1
3
4
3%
4
17
21
18%
18
71
89
78%
115
7
18
25
20
68
88
54
142
196
321
2.79
CHAPTER SIX
MARRIAGE PATTERNS
Most families discussed in this book are patriarchal and monogamous;

however, a few families are clearly polygamous.1 Their exact percentage
is vague mainly because the scribes do not always separate the family
heads wife from the other females in the family: at times the scribe
counts wives and daughters in a same category (e.g., Scribe B in the
texts of the Harran Census); in other cases the scribe lists wives and
daughters in distinct categories, but still does not separate the family
heads wife from his daughter-in-law, for example.
The Neo-Assyrian marriage agreements2 as well as other Ancient
Near Eastern marriage contracts clearly indicate the monogamous
nature of the marriage in the Ancient Near East: the male is usually
forbidden to marry a second woman unless his rst wife is childless;3
1
For marriage patterns in the Neo-Assyrian Period see Roth, 1987, pp. 720722, with
earlier literature; cf. also Fales, 1975, p. 338; Postgate, 1979a; Kuhrt, 1989, pp. 225
226; Stol, 1995, p. 125; Friedl, 2000; Gelb, 1979, p. 75. Note that in Gelbs study only
one out of 112 families is polygamous. For polygamy in the Old-Assyrian period see
Larsen, 2002, pp. xxvxxvi, 233234, with earlier literature.
2
For Neo-Assyrian marriage agreements see Postgate, 1976, pp. 101107; Postgate,
1979a; Roth, 1987; Radner, 1997, pp. 157164, 207219. Marriage or dissolutions
of marriages are attested in 22 Neo-Assyrian texts, all originating in the three capital
cities of Assyria (Aur [9 texts], Calah [7 texts], and Nineveh [6 texts]). Two texts are
dated to the rst half of the 7th century B.C., and 11 to the post-canonical period
(the date of the other texts is unclear), as follows:
Aur: A 310 (= StAT 2 184); A 334 (= StAT 2 313); A 1857 (= StAT 2 8); A 2527
(= StAT 2 164675 B.C.); A 2648 (= StAT 2 94); A 9745 (= Radner, 1997, pp.
160161; PNA, pp. 201b(6), 580bPC); VAT 3216 (= StAT 2 6PC); VAT 20761
(= Pedersen, 1986, p. 127 [N 31 (3)]; Radner, 1997, pp. 146[m], 167, note 881; PNA,
p. 390a[5]PC); VAT 20834 (= PNA, pp. 282a[2], 282a[8], 869a[10]676 B.C.);
Calah: ND 267 (= CTN II 1); ND 407 (= CTN II 219PC); ND 815 (= CTN II
247);
ND 7011 (= CTN III 47); ND 7028 (= CTN III 51 (PC?); ND 2307 (= FNALT
14PC) ND 2316 (= Parker, 1954, p. 40PC).
Nineveh: ADD 307 (= SAA XIV 161PC); ADD 308 (= SAA XIV 34PC);
ADD 309 (= SAA XIV 37PC); ADD 509 (= SAA XIV 218);
ADD 711 (= SAA XIV 38PC); TIM XI 14 (= SAA XIV 443).
See also SAA XVIII 56 (= ABL 336), and SAA XVIII 161 (= ABL 969).
3
See Roth, 1989, with earlier literature. See also van Seters, 1968, pp. 408409;
Graysonvan Seters, 1972, 485486; Roth, 1987, pp. 720722; Stol, 1995, pp. 125,
129.
marriage patterns
293
not having children (especially sons) was apparently the main reason
for marrying a second wife, in the few texts were polygamy is clearly
attested.
A. The Slave Families

Polygamous slave families are very rare, only two known ones being
found: nos. 33 and 37; in both cases the scribe signies that the family
head has two wives by the pattern his two wives. Both texts originate in Nineveh; one is dated to 680 B.C. and the other was probably
also from the reign of Sennacherib. Both families are large: the rst
consists of ten persons and the second of seven; the rst (no. 33) also
includes three sons and probably also three slaves and an additional
female, probably its heads mother or sister or daughter. The second
family (no. 37), the famous Israelite family headed by sax, consists, in
addition, of his two wives, Mexs and Bdia, his two unnamed weaned
daughters, and two other males, Sx-gab and Bl-Harrn-taklk,
probably his sons but possibly his brothers. The size and structure of
these families, as well as their having slaves, may indicate that they had
been free and wealthy before their enslavement, which was possibly for
economic reasons.
Out of the 116 slave families there are no other known polygamous
families; but in only 83 cases can this issue be checked precisely, since
in the other 33 cases the texts are broken and the number of wives
cannot be determined. All these 83 families are listed in Tables 12 in
chapter II (all families in Table 1 and the following families in Table 2:
nos. 3233, 35, 37, 5354, 61, 72, 79). In ten of these families there
is no wife (ve families of type A3: nos. 38, 5152, 7071, and ve
families of type A5: nos. 2, 9, 57, 59, 76); in 26 of these 83 families
there is no man (all families of type A4: nos. 1011, 31, 4041, 43,
4647, 6366, 7275, 8081, 88, 9094, 97, 99).
So only 45 slave families are clearly monogamous, as follows: 21 type
A1 families (nos. 78, 22, 2829, 36, 48, 50, 5556, 62, 68, 69, 8286,
101, 108, 110); 14 type A2 families (nos. 1, 36, 27, 42, 49, 58, 67, 77,
96, 100, 114); four families of types B and C (nos. 17, 2526, 78); and
eight families of unclear type (nos. 32, 35, 5354, 61, 79).
In sum, the relation between monogamous and polygamous slave
families is 1:22.5, namely about 4% of the slave families studied in
this book were polygamous.
294
chapter six
B. Pledged Families
Thirteen of the 19 pledged families are clearly monogamous and there

is not even one polygamous family. The 13 monogamous families are as
follows: two type A1 families (nos. 118, 128); seven type A2 families (nos.
117, 119, 121123, 127, 135); three type B3 families (nos. 124126),
and one family of unclear type (no. 134).
Four of the remaining six pledged families are single-parent families
of type A3 (no. 120) or A4 (nos. 130132); the type of the last two
(nos. 129, 133) is unclear.
C. Land and People

Only one among the 52 families of this group is clearly polygamous: it
is family no. 166 which is a nuclear family of four persons, a male his
two wives and a son (Gezer, 651 B.C.). But in 23 cases the text is broken
and no conclusions about polygamy in them can be drawn (families nos.
137140, 151154, 158, 160, 162, 170175, 177180, 182183).
Only 23 families are clearly monogamous: three type A1 families
(nos. 148, 176, 187); nine type A2 families (nos. 147, 149, 164166,
169, 184186); one type B3 family (no. 159), and ten families of indeterminate type (nos. 136, 141144, 155157, 163, 167). In two of the
other ve families there is no woman (one type A3 family, no. 146;
and one type A5 family, no. 145). In the other three there is no male
(family no. 181, and two type A4 families, nos. 150, 168).
In sum, the relation between monogamous and polygamous families
in this group is 1:23, namely about 4% of the families mainly attested
in sales of Land and People studied in this book were polygamous,
an identical percentage as in the slave families.
D. Royal Grants
Most families in this group are listed by the pattern PNx people, so
it is not clear if they are monogamous or polygamous. Only ten families are clearly monogamous: two are of type A1 (nos. 198 and 215);
and eight are of type A2 (nos. 211, 241243, 245248). Three other
families are single-parent (one of type A3: no. 244, and three of type
A4: nos. 208209, 223).
marriage patterns
295

E.1
The Monogamous Families (42 families)
The Harran Census covers 101 families: 62 in texts attributed to Scribe

A and 39 in texts attributed to Scribe B. Of these 101 families 42 are
clearly monogamous (25 in Scribe As texts and 17 in Scibe Bs texts).
All 31 type A1 and type A2 families are clearly monogamous: six are
A1 families, three of them attested in Scribe As texts (nos. 283, 310,
313), and three in Scribe Bs texts (nos. 328, 330, 339); 25 are type A2
families, 16 attested in Scribe As texts (nos. 279, 281282, 284286,
289290, 294, 296298, 309, 312, 314, 356), and nine in Scribe Bs
texts (nos. 324, 327, 331332, 334, 336337, 349 and 351). The type
of the other 11 monogamous families is unclear: six are attested in
Scribe As texts (nos. 287, 292, 301, 303, 311, 315), and ve in Scribe
Bs texts (nos. 322, 338, 344346).
E.2 Single-parent Families and Families in which the Number of Wives is
Indeterminate (36 families)
Four families had no women: two type A5 families (nos. 277, 280),
and two type A3 families (nos. 291, 317). In the other 32 families the
number of wives is unclear: 24 of these are in texts attributed to Scribe
A (nos. 293, 295, 304307, 316, 357373); and eight in texts attributed
to Scribe B (nos. 323, 329, 343, 355, 374377).
E.3
Possible Evidence of Polygamy in the Harran Census (23 Families)
Possible evidence of polygamy in the Harran Census is found in 23

families, all listed in eight texts. Four are attributed to Scribe A: text no.
135 with families nos. 278 and 288; text no. 136 with families nos.
299300; text no. 137 with families nos. 302 and 308; and text no. 139
with families nos. 318319. The other four texts are attributed to Scribe
B: text no. 140 with families nos. 320321, 325326; text no. 142 with
families nos. 333, 335, 340342; text no. 143 with families nos. 347348,
350 and 352; and text no. 144 with families nos. 353354.
In the texts related to Scribe A the family heads wife is distinct from
the other females included in the family (the family heads mother,
daughters or sisters), but at least in one case it is reasonable to suppose
that the family heads daughter-in-law is included in the same category
296
chapter six
with his wife; therefore, in the eight families attested in Scribe As texts
that list more than one woman, the additional women were presumably
not the family heads mother, daughters, or sisters, but his second wife
or his daughter-in-law (if he had adult sons: see below).
Scribe Bs texts with 15 families do not distinguish wives and
daughters, and the family heads mother, sisters, or daughters-in-law
are not mentioned separately. The probability that these families are
polygamous is low.
Only in one of the eight families attested in Scribe As texts are
three women listed in one category (family no. 288), and in the other
cases two women are mentioned. In the 15 families listed probably by
Scribe B the picture is more complicated: one family has ve women
(no. 353); ve families have three women (nos. 320, 341342, 348, 350);
six families have two women (nos. 325326, 333, 340, 352, 354), and
three families have at least two women (nos. 321, 335, 347).
The best point of departure for the discussion on possible evidence
for polygamy in Scribe As texts is family no. 288: this is a multiplefamily kinship group of eight people, consisting of at least two nuclear
families: a father with his two sons and his grandson. In addition to
the four named males, four females are listed: three women and one
weaned daughter who might be a daughter or a granddaughter of the
family head. One of the three women is probably his wife; another
is probably his daughter-in-law, wife of his son Kanknu and mother
of his grandson Lub-Nahu. The third woman might be another
daughter-in-law of the family head rather than his second wife, but
still it is not impossible that she is his second wife; but in this case one
may suppose that the married sons are the sons of the second wife,
and that the rst wife is childless.
In families nos. 278 and 308 the picture is similar. Family no. 278 has
ve persons: the family head, his two sons, one of them an adolescent
or an adult and one a small child, and two women. The additional
woman might be the family heads second wife or his daughter-in-law,
the wife of his adult son. Family no. 308 also consists of ve persons: a
father, his two sons, and two women; here too, since the two sons are
adults the additional woman may be the family heads daughter-in-law,
yet she may also be his second wife. These two cases constitute possible
evidence of polygamy, but are not denite examples.
Family no. 299 consists of four persons: a father, his son and two
women. The sons age is unclear; had the scribe written that this son
is a teenager or a small child, this would be hard evidence of polygamy.
marriage patterns
297
But his age is not specied and he may be an adult, so the question if
this family is polygamous or not should be left open.
Family no. 302 is a childless family of three persons: a male with two
women. It is probably polygamous: the additional woman might be a
second wife whom the male married since his rst wife was childless.
Although the scribe did not present these two women as his wives,
this might be the preferred interpretation here.
Family no. 300 consists of six persons: a family head, his brother,
two small children (a son and a daughter, each of three spans height)
and two women. The additional woman is probably the wife of
the family heads brother, but since the latters age is not specied the
additional woman may be the family heads second wife, the mother
of his children.
Family no. 319 also consists of six persons: the family head, his
two adult/adolescent brothers, a son of four spans height, and two
women. This is probably a multiple-family kinship group (units all on
one level), since both brothers of the family head are probably adults
and not teenagers, so the additional woman may well be the wife of
one of them. Yet they may be teenagers, and the extra woman might
be the family heads second wife.
Family no. 318 also consists of six persons: the family head, a suckling
son, two women, and two additional sons or brothers, whose age is
not specied. The extra woman may be the family heads second wife,
but there are other possibilities too, for example, she might be the wife
of one of the two brothers/sons, so this case is unclear.
In sum, only in one case (out of these eight) is the likelihood of
polygamy very high (family no. 302); in most other cases polygamy is
possible but not certain.
The likelihood of polygamy in the 15 families attested in Scribe
Bs texts is low. One might divide these cases into four sub-groups, as
follows:
(1) Childless families consisting of one male and two women (families
nos. 326, 352, 354). The probability of polygamy here is low since the
additional woman might be one of the following four possibilities: the
family heads daughter, mother, sister, or second wife.
(2) Families with one or more sons consisting of one male and two to
ve women (families nos. 320, 325, 333, 340342, 350, 353). The probability of polygamy here is very low since the additional women might
be one of the following ve possibilities: the family heads daughter(s),
mother, sister(s), daughter-in-law (or daughters-in-law where two sons
are attested), or second wife.
298
chapter six
(3) One family consisting of one male, three women, one son, and
one brother. The probability for polygamy in these cases is even lower
than in the foregoing cases since the additional women might be one
of the following six possibilities: the family heads daughter(s), mother,
sister(s), daughter-in-law, brothers wife, or second wife.
(4) Families consisting of one male and two or more women but
whose size and structure are unclear, so the probability for polygamy
in these cases is likewise unclear (see families nos. 321, 335, 347).
In sum, the texts of the Harran Census display not even one clearcut piece of evidence of polygamy; however, in one case the likelihood
of polygamy is very high (family no. 302), and in another seven cases
polygamy is possible but not certain (all these cases relate to Scribe As
texts). The likelihood of polygamy in the 15 cases attested in Scribe Bs
texts is low in some cases and very low in most. So the precise percentage of polygamy in these texts cannot be determined; it is probably
not more than a few percent.

Fifty-seven deported/displaced families are attested but none is clearly
polygamous; in seven families more than one woman is attested, and
these cases might serve as possible evidence of polygamy.
22 families are clearly monogamous: three type A1 families (nos. 402,
420, 428); nine type A2 families (nos. 392, 403, 407409, 412413, 417,
429); three types B13 families (395, 418419); and seven families of
uncertain type (398400, 405, 414, 425, 427).
The other 28 of the 57 families of this group are divided into
two sub-groups: 21 cases where the text is broken so the number of
women is uncertain (families nos. 378389, 401, 410, 415, 422423,
424 [possibly a type A4 family?], 426, 432433); and the remaining
seven families that are single-parent: two of type A3 (nos. 397, 411); two
of type A4 (nos. 430431); two of type A5 (nos. 421, 434); and one
extended family (no. 416).
In seven cases polygamy is possible but not evident (families nos.
390391, 393394, 396, 404, 406). In ve cases two women are listed
in each family, and in the other two cases (nos. 393394) three women
are recorded. All these data are preserved in two texts, nos. 151 and
155 (the rst dated to the reign of Sargon II, and the second to the
marriage patterns
299
7th century). In both texts daughters are counted separately from

the other women, so the extra woman/women is/are not the family
heads daughter(s). Five of these seven cases are attested in text no. 151
(= SAA XV 181 = ABL 212): family no. 393, which consists of ve
persons: a male, three women, and a son of ve spans height. The
two additional women might be the family heads mother and sister (or
his two sisters), but one of them might be his second wife. Family no.
394 also includes three women, with two males: the family head and
his brother; again, the extra women might be the family head mother
and sister, or his brothers wife; but there is a possibility that one of
them is his second wife. Polygamy is also possible in two other cases
attested in this letter: families nos. 390391: both families consist of
ve persons, and each has a family head, his brother, a small son, and
two women; the additional woman might be his brothers wife, or the
family heads mother or sister, but also his second wife. Family no. 396
might be of a similar structure as families 390 and 391; it also consists
of ve persons: the family head with a small son and two women, and
an additional male who may be a brother or a son.
The last two cases are attested in text no. 127 (= SAA XI 174).
Family no. 406 consists of ve persons: the family head, two slaves,
and two women. The additional woman may be the family heads
mother or sister, or his second wife; since this family is childless, the
last possibility, might be preferable. Family no. 404 is probably not
polygamous, even though it has two women, since it also includes the
son of the family heads sister; the additional woman may well be his
sister. In that case this family of eight persons contains two nuclear
families: the family head with his wife, three sons, and one daughter;
and his sister with her son.
In sum, in one case out of the seven, the likelihood of polygamy is
very low since the additional woman is probably the family heads sister
(family no. 404); in three cases the additional woman is probably the
wife of the family heads brother (nos. 390391, 396). In the other two
or three cases the probability for polygamy is higher, albeit not certain,
and the additional woman may be a second wife of the family head
(families nos. 393, 406, possibly also 394). So in these texts, as in other
groups, there is no clear-cut evidence of polygamy; since monogamy
is distinctly attested in 22 cases, and polygamy is likely in only a few
cases, the percentage of polygamy in these texts is probably also low,
not more than a few percent.
300
chapter six
G. Recipients of Rations
11 of the 13 families in this group are singe-parent ones (of type

A4). The other two families (nos. 444 and 446) are monogamous. No
polygamy is attested here.
H. Summary
Of 190 families discussed in this chapter, 157 (83%) are clearly
monogamous:
45 slave families; 13 pledged families; 23 attested in sales of Land
and People; ten in royal grants; 42 listed in the Harran Census, 22
enumerated in lists of deportees and displaced persons, and two in the
lists of ration recipients. Only three families are denitely polygamous
(1.5%): two slave families (nos. 33 and 37) and one attested in a sale
of Land and People (no. 160). Polygamy in the groups of slaves and
Land and People exists in about 4% of the families.
Each of the other 30 families (15.5%) has two or more women,
included, and theoretically it is possible that they are polygamous:
all these families are attested in the texts of the Harran Census (23)
or in the group of the Deportees and Displaced persons (7). Only in
three cases is the likelihood of polygamy high (families no. 302 [The
Harran Census] and 393 and 406 [Deportees]); in another eight cases
the likelihood is medium (seven cases in the Harran CensusScribe A:
families nos. 278, 288, 299300, 308, 318319; and one in the Deportees groupfamily no. 394); and in the other 19 cases the likelihood is
low or even very low.
Polygamy in the families of the lower stratum in the Neo-Assyrian
period is thus very rare: even adding the three cases of high likelihood
of polygamy to the denitely polygamous families only makes the percentage of these families 3%; further addition of four out of the eight
cases of medium likelihood of polygamy to the foregoing six families
still leaves the percentage of these families only about 5% (and about
10% in each of two groups, the Deportees and the Harran Census).
This conclusion fully accords with other sources, principally the NeoAssyrian marriage agreements which indicate the monogamous nature
of the marriage in this period: the male is usually forbidden to marry
a second woman unless his rst wife is childless; if the husband annuls
this stipulation, the wife may cancel the marriage: see, for example,
marriage patterns
301
CTN II 247: [If ] Atara[. . .] takes a woman in addition to her, she

may take away whatever has been acquired, (and) may go and leave.4
Only if the rst wife is childless is the husband permitted to marry
another woman, and under very specic terms: see, for example, ND
2307 = FNALT 14: If ubtu does not conceive and bear (children),
she shall buy a slave girl in her stead and set her in her place and (so)
bring sons into existence. The sons (will be) her sons. If she loves the
slave-girl she shall keep (her), if she hates her, she shall sell her.5 Similar terms are also attested in Neo-Babylonian marriage contracts: If
Dagal-il takes a woman in addition to her, he will pay L-tubinni (his
wife) one mina of silver, and she may go wherever she likes;6 and in
another case the parties agree that If ama-Uballi takes a woman in
addition to her, he will pay Rimini (his wife) . . . and (she) will go back to
her fathers house.7 The various sources on this issue in these periods
are thus wholly in agreement.
4
5
6
7
See also Deller, 1991, pp. 7374; in his opinion the woman was a princess.
Postgate, 1976, pp. 104107, esp. p. 106.
See Roth, 1989, no. 4.
See Roth, 1989, no. 30.
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHILDLESS FAMILIES
The issue of childless families in the Ancient Near East has been
discussed by scholars.1 It is a very central issue, with implications for
various concerns, including infertility and adoption.2
In 285 of the 447 families discussed in this book (64%) it is clear
whether the family is childless or not. Childless families are attested in
all groups except one, the recipients of rations: all 13 families of this
group have children.
The ten type-A5 families are regarded in the discussion below as
childless since the family head clearly has no children (he is probably
unmarried, although he might be divorced or a widower).
The 89 families in the royal grants group are problematic since the
type of only 13 is known for certain, and many other families consist
of only two people; yet one should not conclude from this number
that these are childless couples; it is possible that at least a few of these
minimal families are single-parent, consisting of a father and his one
child.
Adoptive families attested in this period should be added to the list of
the childless families.3 Most of those who adopt children are probably
members of the middle or upper strata, since money is usually paid to
1
For childless families in the Ancient Near East see van Seters, 1968, pp. 401408;
Graysonvan Seters, 1972, pp. 485486; Stol, 2000, pp. 3337, with earlier literature.
2
For adoption in the Neo-Assyrian Period see Radner, 1997, pp. 137143, with earlier
literature. See also Danndamaev, 1984, pp. 438446; Knobloch, 1992, pp. 7679.
3
Adoption of children is attested in twelve Neo-Assyrian texts. Adoption of a son
is listed in seven texts, all originating in the three capital cities of Assyria: Aurfour
texts: A 2221 (= TCL 9 57 = FNALT 17658 B.C.); A 2644 (= StAT 2 95650 B.C.?);
Aur 12 (= Ahmad, 1996, no. 30638*); VAT 19550 (= SAAB 5, 51620*); Calahone
text: ND 5480 (unpublished. See Radner, 1997, p. 140, and note 708, date unknown);
Ninevehtwo texts: TIM XI 15 (= SAA XIV 442634*); TIM XI 24 (= SAAS V 23
= SAA XIV 450date lost, probably post-canonical). Adoption of a girl is mentioned
in ve texts, all dated to the post-canonical period, three originating in Aur: A 77
(= StAT 2 81625*); A 2494 (= StAT 2 79641*); VAT 9930 (unpublished. See Radner,
1997, p. 142, and note 719629*); and two in Calah: ND 3423 (= Wiseman, 1953,
p. 140644*); ND 7091 (= CTN III 36622*).
childless families
303
the parents or relatives of the adopted son or daughter by the childless

couple. It is reasonable to suppose that they are fairly wealthy. 4
Adoption does not necessarily indicate infertility as a couple may
decide to adopt a son even though they already have a daughter (or
several daughters); even in cases where the scribe clearly notes that the
adaptive parent has no sons (DUMU.ME- la--), he might have
a daughter.5 In any event, in most cases it is clear that adoption was
preferred by the couple to the other option, namely marrying a second
wife (or begetting children by a maid). In other cases the child might
have been adopted by a single person. An example is the known case
of adoption of a daughter by a eunuch.6
A. Slaves
29 slave families are childless (families nos. 2, 79, 15, 22, 26, 2829,
36, 48, 50, 5557, 59, 62, 6869, 76, 8286, 101, 108, 110 and probably also family no. 60).
75 families has at least one child (families nos. 1, 36, 1013, 1617,
21, 25, 27, 3035, 3747, 49, 5154, 58, 61, 6367, 7075, 7778,
8081, 88100, 102104, 107, 109, 112115).
In the other 12 cases the text is broken and therefore it is not clear
if the family is childless or not (families nos. 14, 1820, 2324, 79, 87,
105106, 111, 116).
In sum, 75 of 104 slave families are known to have at least one child
(72%), and the other 29 families are childless (28%). Males and females
of these families are certainly infertile, but the percentage of infertility is clearly not 28%: at least a few of these families are presumably
young couples still without children (see chapter II, discussion on family
no. 26), and in other few cases males who lived with their mothers are
possibly still unmarried (type-A5 families). Moreover, an adult slave
couple might have been sold without their child/children.
4
One of these wealthy adoptive parents is Ar-mtu-taqqin. For his archive
unearthed in the New city of Aur see Ahmad, 1996; PNA, p. 195a(5).
5
Aur 12: 3 (= Ahmad, 1996, no. 30, p. 266).
6
ND 3424 (= Wiseman, 1953, p. 140).
304
chapter seven
B. Pledged People
Fourteen families of pledged people have at least one child; in one case
it is not clear (no. 129) and only four families are known to be childless, two of type A1 (nos. 118 and 128), and two extended (nos. 124,
126). The percentage of childless families in this group is thus 22% (4
out of 18). As with the slave families, here too a few of these families
might be young couples still without children. For example, the two
extended families could have developed from type-A5 families with a
mother and her two sons, one of whom is now married and presented
as the family head, still without children.
C. Land and People

Clear Data
Ten out of the 16 families listed in Table 5, have at least one child (see
chapter II). Three families are clearly childless, two of type A1 (nos.
148 and 176), and one of type A5 (no. 145). In the other three families the picture is unclear since only the total of the family members
is listed (nos. 179181).
Indeterminate Data
Seventeen out of 31 families presented in Table 6 (chapter II) have at
least one child (nos. 137, 139, 141142, 144, 151155, 158, 160161,
163, 170, 174175). Three families are most likely childless, and consist
only of two persons, a childless couple (nos. 171173).
In another eleven cases the picture is unclear: seven may include
children. No. 136 is a family of four persons, a couple with two sons
or two brothers; no. 138 consists of ve people, but is counted by the
pattern PNx persons so it might include children, but this is not
certain; in no. 140 a child is known to be included, but it is not clear
if one family is attested or more; no. 143 may include a child; and
nos. 177178 are families of three persons of whom one might be a
child. No. 167 has at least a couple but probably more members, yet
it is not clear if they are children. The situation in the following four
families is less distinct, but they might have children: nos. 156157 are
both couples, but it is not clear if they have children; and nos. 162 and
childless families
305
182, each with two people, consist of a family head and an additional
member of the family, who might be his wife or a child.
In the schedule of Land and People (text no. 127) one family is
childless (no. 187) and the other four have at least one child.
In sum, seven of the 38 families in this group (18%) are childless.
D. Royal Grants
In this group only two of the 13 families are childless (nos. 198 and
215); the other 11 have children (no. 208209, 211, 241248). Accordingly, 15% of these families are childless.

Clear DataScribe A
Six out of 30 families (19%) are childless (nos. 277, 280, 283, 302, 310
and 313: see Table 11). The other 24 families have at least one child;
and two other cases are unclear (nos. 306 and 316).
Clear DataScribe B
Three out of 21 families (14%) are childless (nos. 328, 330 and 339).
The other 18 families include at least one child; and three other cases
are unclear (nos. 326, 352 and 354); in all these cases a male with two
females is attested, and the additional woman might be a daughter, a
mother, a sister, or a second wife of the family head. If we add the
data attested in texts attributed to these both scribes, the sum will be
nine childless families out of 51 families (18%).
Indeterminate Data
The data presented in Table 12 are extremely unclear, and it is hard
to draw any conclusion from this material. 13 families are recorded in
texts which bear Scribe As characteristics: four families clearly have
children (nos. 305, 311, 318 and 355); but the other nine cases are
306
chapter seven
unclear: four might have children (nos. 287, 292293 and 301); and
two might be childless (nos. 295 and 307).
In the texts attributed to Scribe B the picture is even less distinct:
two clearly include children (nos. 322 and 343); one family might be
childless, but it is unclear (no. 329), and the other eight are indeterminate but might have children. So the only clear conclusion is that six
out of these families include at least one child.
In sum, nine out of the 57 families in this group (16%) are childless.
F. Deportees and Displaced People

Clear Data
Nine of the 24 families presented in Table 15 are childless: three of
type A1 (nos. 402, 420 and 428); two are of type A5 (nos. 421 and 434),
two extended ones (nos. 395 and 418), and two of indeterminate type
(nos. 394 and 406). The other 15 clearly include at least one child.
Indeterminate Data
Seventeen of the 33 families presented in Table 16 have at least one
child. Only one family is childless (no. 405), and in the other 15 the
situation is unclear (nos. 378389, 400, 425 and 427).
In sum, ten out of 42 families (24%) are childless. This relatively high
percentage may also indicate child mortality during the transfer of
people.
G. Summary
About 22% out of the 272 families discussed in this chapter are childless (61): most of them are type-A1 families, ten are of type-A5, and a
few are extended or of indeterminate type. The highest percentage is
observed among the slaves (28%), and a relatively high percentage is
evident in the groups of the Deportees (24%) and the pledged people
307
childless families
Table 35: Childless Families
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Slaves
Pledged people
Land and People
Royal grants
The Harran Census
Deportees
Total
29
4
7
2
9
10
out
out
out
out
out
out
of
of
of
of
of
of
104
18
38
13
57
42
=
=
=
=
=
=
28%
22%
18%
15%
16%
24%
61
out of
272
22%
(22%). Relatively low percentage is evident in three groups: Land and

People (18%), the Harran Census (16%), and Royal grants (15%).
These data probably do not indicate the rate of infertility in this
period, which was probably lower than 22%. If the ten A5-type families are reduced from these calculations, the average percentage of the
childless family is about 19%. Moreover, one might suppose that the
percentage of infertility was actually about 15% or even less, because a
few of these childless families were presumably young couples recently
married and still without children. This is based on the assumption that
females married at a relatively young age.7
Infertility is a well known matter in Ancient Near Eastern literature,
and in various cultures is a central motif especially in literary texts, but
also in marriage contracts, which address the possibility that the wife
will be barren.8 The differences between the percentages of childless
families among the various groups presented in the discussion above
probably do not indicate various fertility rates among these groups but
other factors, mainly low motivation to reproduce in slave families,
7
For the marriage age in the Neo-Assyrian period see Roth, 1987, with earlier
bibliography. A comparison of the conclusions of this book with the results of the
World Fertility Survey (= WFS) conducted in the 1970s and 1980s may be of special
interest. The WFS survey in Cameroon indicated that about one fth of all ever-married women were childless at the end of their reproductive period and higher national
gures have been reported in several other countries in West Africa (see ClelandScott,
1987, pp. 1000 1001). The causes of childlessness include poor health, early sexual
union, and especially venereal diseases. In several developing countries such as Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Senegal the median age at rst marriage is 16 years or less.
These women who marry very young, particularly in some Asian countries, have lower
completed fertility due to greater risk of complications and miscarriages from early
pregnancies, and a number of developing countries have even tried to raise age at
marriage by legislation (see ClelandScott, 1987, p. 1001).
8
See Stol, 2000, pp. 3337.
308
chapter seven
or the sale of some members of the family by the master, who keeps
the others in his hands.
The term {aqara (childless woman) occurs in the Bible ten times, and
once in the locution {qar ve {aqarqa (Deut 7: 14), which probably does
not signify a concept that the male may also be barren.9 In Akkadian
there are various general denitions to a childless woman/man or
to childlessness, such as (a woman) that does not conceive and bear
(children) (see chapter VI), or DUMU ul iraihe will not have
a son;10 or DUMU-a-a la--uI have no son.11 The closest terms
to the Hebrew {aqara are la littua woman who does not bear;12
munutukwithout heir, childless; munutuktuthe status of being without
heir, childlessness, for example, in the sentence: If a dog urinates on
the chair of a man MU.NU.TUKU illak he will have no heirs.13
9
See Gen 11: 30; 25: 21; 29: 31; Exod 23: 26; Judg 13: 23; 1 Sam 2: 5; Isa 54: 1;
Ps 113: 9; Job 24: 21.
10
See CAD, M/I, p. 309a.
11
See SAA X 294: r. 25. For this text see Parpola, 1987, pp. 28278.
12
Stol, 2000, p. 35.
13
See CAD, M/II, p. 208; CDA, 2nd ed., p. 217b.
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHILDRENS AGE
The Assyrians customarily dened children by their height and their

state of dependence on their mother (as pointed out in chapter III).
Adolescent or adult sons are dened by the term a = ahurtu and
adolescent daughters by a or batssu. Younger children are presented
by their height: three, four, or ve spans, sometimes with the addition of the term ruu, probably about 25 cm. In other texts the scribe
uses two additional numbers, two and six (SAAB 9 92B: 4; ND 2485).1
This is very likely only a general estimate. The last two denitions are
weaned ( UD = pir, pirsu) and suckling (GA = a zizibi ). The term
a = ahurtu in a few texts refers to an adult son, as clearly indicated
by SAA XI 202, II: 1623 (text no. 135 = family no. 288): this text
denes a married son who already has begot his own baby by the term
a = ahurtu.
The distinction between the categories weaned and 3 is especially
unclear since a newborn baby was probably about two spans in length,
ca. 50 cm., and most babies probably reached the length of about three
spans (ca. 75 cm.) during their rst year, so one might suppose that
breastfeeding, which was probably widely practiced in all Ancient Near
Eastern societies, stopped during the childs rst year.2
Accordingly, one might suggest that the terms UD (weaned) and 3
may be interchangeable, and refer to children independent of their
mothers or wet nurses breastfeeding; similarly, the terms 2 and GA
(suckling) are synonyms because, as mentioned above, a newborn baby
was about two spans long. On the other hand, sometimes scribes dene
two children in the same family by the terms UD and 3, so at least
1
Fales, 1973, pp. 118122; Fales, 1975, pp. 342346; Roth, 1987, p. 717; Radner,
1997, pp. 126152; Radner, 1997a, pp. 119120; Fales, 2001, pp. 176178, 327; For
the registration of children in the Neo-Babylonian records see Joannes, 1997, pp.
120133; Brinkman, 1982, pp. 18. See also CAD, R, pp. 438439.
2
The WFS indicates that a large majority of women, particularly in Africa and
Asia, breastfeed their children usually between one and two and a half years (see
ClelandScott, 1987, p. 1002). Stol (2000, pp. 181, 190) states that in the Ancient
Near East children were nursed for two or three years.
310
chapter eight
in his opinion these terms were probably not synonyms. One possible
explanation for this complex issue might be related to the unxed and
vague nature of these terms, like the others, 4 or 5, which are also
very general denitions which might refer to children of various ages
that look like a 4-span child or a 5-span child.
The size/age of 147 children are attested in the texts studied in
this book (see Table 36): 136 of them feature in ve groups (Slaves,
Land and People, Royal grants, The Harran Census, and Deportees), and the remaining eleven are enumerated in lists of Fathers
and Sons of the Harran Census. About two thirds are sons, and only
one thirddaughters. In the Slave group the age of only 22 children
(17%) is mentioned; a similar ratio (nine children, 18%) is attested in
the group of Land and People. In the Deportee group the age of 36
children (48%) is attested; and in the Harran Census the age of about
50% of the children is indicated (in Scribe As texts the gure is 95%).
In the Royal grants group the age of only eleven children is mentioned
(probably a very low percentage of the children in this group).
Note that the level of infant and child mortality in the Ancient Near
East was relatively high, so the number of children attested in these
texts obviously does not indicate the number of children actually given
birth by the familys mother.3
On the other hand, measures of population control are clearly evident
in Ancient Near Eastern texts, so in the following discussion it is supposed that family planning was usual in the Neo-Assyrian period.4
3
On infant mortality in the Ancient Near East see Robbins, 1999, p. 58, and note
16.
The rate of infant mortality in the Ancient Near East is unclear, but it is reasonable to
suppose that it was not very different from the rate in pre-industrial societies in Europe
in the 17th18th centuries A.D. or in several developing countries in Africa or the
Middle East in the 20th century. The WFS indicates that the level of infant and child
mortality of children under ve in Senegal in 19751979 was 26%, in Yemen 23%,
and in Nepal 23% (see ClelandScott, 1987, pp. 868869). In Egypt and Turkey (in
the same period) the rate of infant mortality of children in their rst year of life was
about 13%, and of children under ve 17%19%. The rates in northern France and
in the Paris Basin in the 17th18th centuries were similar: 21%28.8% (Flandrin, 1979,
p. 198, and see also p. 59). In the same regions of France in the 20th century the rate
of infant mortality was only about 3%. See also Beaver, 1973, pp. 243254.
4
For means of population control in the Ancient Near East see Gruber, 1989,
pp. 7579; Malul, 1999; Biggs, 2000; Stol, 2000, pp. 3739.
childrens age
311
A. Slave Families
In the Slave group the age of only 22 children (out of at least 130, 17%)
is mentioned (see Tables 12, chapter II). Most are the only child in
the family (12 out of 22, 55%), and the great majority (86%91%) are
babies or small children: suckling, weaned, or of three spans height
(19 or 20 out of 22). Only a few children were of four or ve spans
height, and adults or adolescent children are entirely absent.
Eight out of 19 (42%) of the families in which the age of the children
is attested are of type A4, namely a maid (probably unmarried) with
a child: in all these cases the child is very youngsuckling or weaned
(for possible causes of this phenomenon see chapter IX below). The 22
children whose age is clear are divided into ve sub-groups, as follows:
Suckling5 (23%)3 sons and 2 daughters: families nos. 32, 74, 80, 90 and
93. The rst family probably includes additional children; but in the
other cases the son (90, 93) or the daughter (74, 80) is an only child.
Weaned9 (41%)4 sons and 5 daughters: families nos. 37, 5253, 72,
78, 88, 98 and 104. The rst family has two weaned daughters (this
family has two sons also); family no. 52 has two sons and a daughter.
One son is of three spans, the other is weaned, and the age of the
daughter is not noted; family no. 53 has a weaned daughter and a son
(or a brother of the family head) whose age is unclear; family no. 104
has four sons, one of them weaned and three whose age is not attested;
family no. 72 has at least a weaned son; and no. 78 has only a weaned
son. Families nos. 88 and 98 both have an only daughter.
35 or 6 (2226%)4 or 5 sons and one daughters: families nos. 65 and
73 both have an only son; family no. 52 has two sons and a daughter;
family no. 42 has an only daughter; family no. 77 has a son of three
or four spans tall (see below5); and family no. 103 has 35 sons,
one of them of three spans.
41 or 2 sons (5%9%): family no. 51 has an only son; and family
no. 77 has two sons and a daughter whose age is unclear: one son is
ve spans tall and the other son is three or four.
312
chapter eight
51 son (5%): family no. 77 (see 4 above).

Only in two cases (families nos. 52 and 77) it is possible to estimate the
childrens age difference. In family no. 52 the two sons are very young,
and they are dened as weaned and three spans tall, so it is reasonable to suppose that the difference is minimal, and that the daughter
is older than the sons. In family no. 77 the older son is ve spans tall
and the other is three or four, so the age difference between them is
evidently a few years.
Fourteen of these 22 children (64%) are sons and only eight (36%)
are daughters. The sons are clearly older than the daughters: of eight
children three to ve spans tall, only one is a daughter; but among
the 14 suckling and weaned children the number of daughters is equal
to that of the sons (seven).
The absence of older children in slave families might be related to
the early age of marriage of slaves, mainly maids, or possibly the sale
of these children by their owner, who kept the other members of the
family.
B. Land and People

The age of only nine children (out of at least 51, 18%) are enumerated
in sales of Land and People (see Tables 56, chapter II). Most are
babies or small children: suckling, weaned, or three spans in length (5
out of 9, 56%). Only two children are four or ve spans tall, and two
are adults or adolescents.
The nine children whose age is clear are divided into ve subgroups:
Suckling3 (33.3%): families nos. 151, 170 and 174. The rst family has
a son or a daughter, the second a daughter (probably an only child),
and the third a suckling son and a daughter four spans tall.
Weaned1 (16.7%): family no. 159: an only son.
31 (16.7%): family no. 155, a son probably an only child.
childrens age
313
42 (22.2%): families nos. 154 and 174: the rst has a son four
spans tall and the other a suckling son and a daughter of four spans
height.
Adult or adolescent2 (22.2%): families nos. 164165, each with an
only son. Only in one case (family no. 174) is it possible to estimate
the childrens age difference. This family has two children, a suckling
son and a daughter four spans tall, so their age difference is probably
a few years.
Six or seven out of these nine children are sons (about two thirds) and
only two or three are daughters. Here too the sons are older than the
daughters; there are no adult or adolescent daughters.
C. Royal Grants
The ages of only eleven children of this group are listed, so one should
be cautious in drawing conclusions from these data. Moreover, all
these eleven children are sons, and all of them are adolescent/adults
(six), or very small (ve: four weaned and one suckling). In two cases
the age difference is very signicant: family no. 244 has two sons, one
weaned and the other an adolescent/adult; and family no. 246 has three
adolescent/adult sons and one suckling. In both cases the families are
monogamous, but it is not clear if the babies in both families are the
descendents of the same mother who bore the adolescent/adult son(s),
or if the family head has married another woman after his rst wife
perhaps died or was divorced. Family no. 242 also has a weaned son
and an adolescent/adult son, but it also has three daughters whose age
is not specied. The age difference among these ve children is thus
unclear, and the daughters might be between the adolescent/adult son
and the weaned one.
D. The Harran Census

D.1 Texts Nos. 135145
The age of 58 out of at least 61 children (about 95%) are attested in
texts attributed to Scribe A (texts nos. 135139, 145; see Tables 1112,
314
chapter eight
chapter II). Actually this is the only group of texts that indicates most
childrens age/size. On the other hand in the texts attributed to scribe
B, the age/size of the children is missing entirely (these texts list at least
31 sons; probably also daughters, but their exact number is unclear
since they are included within the same category as the women).
3637 of these 58 children are sons (63%), and 2122 are daughters
(37%). The group of 3637 sons whose age is clear are divided into
ve sub-groups:
Suckling3 (8%): families nos. 281, 294, 318.
Weaned1 (3%): family no. 311.
367 (1719%): families nos. 288 (grandson), 290, 300, 309,
311312, 355 (son or daughter).
410 (2728%): families nos. 278279, 282, 284, 291, 297298,
304, 319, 356.
Adult or adolescent16 (4344%): families nos. 278, 281, 286, 288 (two),
289, 291, 294, 297 (two), 305, 308 (two), 311, 314, 317.
The 2122 daughters whose age is clear are divided into ve subgroups, as follows:
Weaned3 (14%): families nos. 288, 290, 297.
367 (2932%): families nos. 281, 289, 296 (two), 298, 300, 355
(son or daughter).
47 (3233%): families nos. 281, 285, 294, 305, 311312, 356.
51 (5%): family no. 285.
Adolescent or batssu4 (1819%): families nos. 286, 311, 312 (two).
childrens age
315
These data may be placed in three main groups: (1) small children (suckling, weaned, and 3), with a total of all children (sons and daughters)
of 20 (34.5%); (2) 4 and 5 spans tall, with a total of 18 children
(31%); and (3) Adolescent/adults, with a total of 20 children (34.5%)
The groups may thus seem relatively balanced in size, but actually this
picture is misleading. The relation between the number of sons and
daughters in each group is of interest, and here the conclusions are
different: the rst group, (20 small children) has 1011 sons (53%) and
910 daughters (47%); the second group (18 bigger children) has ten
sons (56%) and eight daughters (44%). In both these groups males and
females are relatively balanced. But in the third group, adolescents/
adults, 16 of the 20 children are sons (80%) and only four are daughters (20%); this signicant difference probably indicates the early age
of marriage of females, as already pointed out by Fales and Roth.5
D.2
Texts Nos. 146147: Fathers and Sons
The age/size of children is attested in seven out of 19 families listed in

texts nos. 146147: the total is eleven sons (see Families nos. 357362
and 373). Of these, one is a suckling, one is three spans tall, one is
four spans, three are ve spans, and ve are adolescents or adults.
As in texts nos. 135145 there is a relative balance between the older
and the younger sons: in texts 134145 there are 2021 small sons
(56%) as against 16 adolescent or adult sons (44%); and in texts nos.
146147 there are six small sons (55%) as against ve adolescent or
adult sons (45%).
E. Deportees and Displaced Persons

In 16 out of 57 families of this group the age/size of the children is
listed (28%): a total of 36 children (out of more than 75) are listed
(about 48%). 2027 out of these 36 children are sons, and 916 are
daughters.
The group of sons whose age is clear is divided into six sub-groups:
Fales, 1975, pp. 342343, 346, 349; Roth, 1987, p. 735.
316
chapter eight
Suckling36 (1522%): families nos. 390, 398, 422, possibly also 411
(son or daughter), and possibly also no. 432 (two sons or two daughters).
Weaned34 (15%): families nos. 409, 432 (two), possibly also no. 411
(son or daughter).
334 (15%): families nos. 396, 409, 433, possibly also no. 403
(son or daughter).
456 (2225%): families nos. 391392, 398 (two), 433, and possibly also no. 423 (son or daughter).
53 (15%): families nos. 393, 398399.
Adult or adolescent34 (ca. 15.5%): families nos. 409 (two), 410, possibly
also no. 423 (son or daughter).
The daughters whose age is clear are divided into ve sub-groups, as
follows:
Suckling03 (0%19%): Possibly family no. 411 (son or daughter);
and possibly also no. 432 (two sons or two daughters).
Weaned01 (0%6%): Possibly family no. 411 (son or daughter).
301 (0%6%): Possibly family no. 403 (son or daughter).
445 (3144%): families nos. 398, 399 (two), 409, and possibly
also no. 423 (son or daughter).
Adolescent or batssu56 (3856%): families nos. 399, 408 (three daughters), 409, and possibly also no. 423 (son or daughter).
These data may be placed in three main groups: (1) small children
(suckling, weaned and 3), with a total (sons and daughters) of 14
childrens age
317
(39%); (2) 4 and 5 spans tall, with a total of 13 (36%); and (3)
adolescents/adults, with a total of 9 (25%). Here too, as in the Harran
Census, the groups appear relatively balanced in size, but this picture
likewise is misleading. The relation between the number of sons and
daughters in each group is of interest, and here the conclusions are
different. In the rst group (14 small children) there are 914 sons
(64%100%) and only 05 daughters (0%36%); in the second group
(13 bigger children) there are 89 sons (62%69%) and 45 daughters
(31%38%); the most surprising data are those in the third group (adolescents/adults): only 34 out of 9 are sons (33%44%) and 56 are
daughters (56%67%). This is a most signicant nding since against
410 small daughters, there are 56 adults (43%56%), more than
twice of the percentage of the adult daughters in the Harran Census
(1819%4 out of 2122). It is hard to believe that this difference is
just accidental, and one possible explanation is that the transfer and
the resettlement process delayed the age of marriage of the females.
4
45
12
1
14
0
14
Weaned
3
4
5
Total of
small
children
Adolescents
or adults
Grand total
0
8
5
1
0
0
0
22
22
9
56
12
1
0
0
1
0
2
0
67 23
45 23
1
1
1
0
12 12
2
9
1
1
2
0
LAND AND
PEOPLE
6
11
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
6
11
4
0
0
0
ROYAL
GRANTS
3
67
7
1
16
4
3637 2122
2021 1718
1
67
10
0
S
3
20
58
38
4
13
17
1
HARRAN
CENSUS
01
01
45
0
03
34 56
2027 916
1723 410
34
34
56
3
36
9
36
27
4
4
10
3
DEPORTEES
37
18
2728 910
8796 4049
6068 3139
37
136
99
1314
89
22
1417
79 2324
1719 1213 3031
4
1
5
1115
TOTAL
* The Harran Census: Fathers and Sons: GA1; UD0; 31; 41; 53; total of small children6; AD5; Grand total11
Suckling
SLAVES
Table 36: Childrens Age
318
chapter eight
CHAPTER NINE
SINGLE-PARENT FAMILIES
A. Single-Parent Families versus Monogamous and Polygamous Families

74 single-parent families of the lower stratum are attested in the NeoAssyrian Period. In chapter VI, 192 families with both parents were
discussed: 159 monogamous; three polygamous; and 30 that are either
monogamous or polygamous. So the percentage of the single-parent
families is 28%. 36 out of these 74 single-parent families (48%) are
slave families; 11 (15%) are ration recipients; eight (11%) are deported
families; six (8%) are enumerated in sales of Land and People; ve
(6.5%) each are in the groups of pledged people and royal grants; and
only four single-parent families (5% of the 74 families) are attested in
the Harran Census.
Most families of rations recipients are single-parent: 11 out of 13
(85%); the other two are monogamous. The percentage of single-parent families in this group is almost double the gure for slave families;
however this is a very small sample and this percentage may be accidental and not representative.
About half of the slave families are single-parent (42%): 36 out of
85 (the other 49 are monogamous or polygamous).
In the royal grants ve single-parent families are attested against ten
monogamous, so the percentage of these families is relatively high (one
third ); but since the type and structure of most families in these group
are unclear, and only in 15 out of 87 cases (17%) is it possible to know
if the family is monogamous or single-parent, one should be cautious
in drawing any conclusions from these data.
In the group of pledged families ve are single-parent and 13 are
monogamous: single-parent families in this group thus constitute
28%.
In the group of Land and People six families are single-parent and
24 are monogamous or polygamous ones: single-parent families in this
group constitute about 20%, only half of gure for the slave families.
In the group of Deportees and Deported Persons seven singleparent families are attested versus 29 monogamous or polygamous ones:
320
chapter nine
single-parent families in this group thus constitute 19%. This datum

refers to 63% of the families of this group (it is unclear if the other
families are single-parent, monogamous or polygamous).
In the Harran Census only four single-parent families are attested
versus 65 monogamous or polygamous ones: single-parent families in
this group thus constitute only 6%the lowest gure for all groups.
This datum refers to 86% of the families listed in texts nos. 135145
(it is unclear if the other families are single-parent, monogamous or
polygamous).
The groups of the rations recipients and slaves present the highest
percentages of single-parent families (83% and 42% respectively), and
the Harran Census group presents the lowest (6%); clearly, group status is correlated with percentage of single-parent families in the given
groups. Between these two poles, slaves and probably tenants attested
in the Harran Census, other groups are located that evidently include
slaves as well as free families, such as pledged people, and possibly
Land and People, which might also include a few slave families. Note
however that the percentage of single-parent families in the group of
Land and People (20%) is only a half the gure for these families
in the slave families (42%). The gure for single-parent families in the
group of Deportees and Deported Persons (19%) may indicate changes
that take place in the structure of these families during the conquest
and the transfer.
B. Families without a Father versus Families without a Wife/Mother

In 74% of the single-parent families (55 out of 74) the father is missing, and only in 19 cases (26%) is the wife/mother missing (most of
them are type-A3 or type-A5 families; a few are extended families).
The gures for motherless as against fatherless families in the various groups are as follows: ration recipients0%: no families without a
wife/mother versus 11 without a father; slaves16%: ve motherless
families versus 31 fatherless; pledged families20%: one motherless versus four fatherless; Royal grants40%: two motherless families versus
three fatherless; Land and People67%: four families motherless and
two fatherless; Deportees71%: ve motherless versus two fatherless;
the Harran Census100%: four families motherless and no fatherless
families, especially no type-A4 families.
single-parent families
321
Here too an evident clear correlation is found between groups status and the relation between the numbers of fatherless and motherless
single-parent families. Among the ration recipients and the slaves, the
percentage of motherless single-parent families is the lowest (0% and
16%); the highest percentage of motherless families out of the single-parent ones is attested in the groups of the Harran Census (100%); between
these two poles the other groups are located: deportees71%; Land
and People67%; royal grants40%; pledged families20%.
C. Reasons for the Existence of Single-Parent Families

Most single-parent families in the Ancient Near East probably came
into being not through the free choice of a man or a woman who at
some time decided to establish a single-parent family because he or
she had not found a suitable partner or preferred not to marry; it is
more reasonable to suppose that most single-parent families came into
being due to various constraints, as follows:
(1) Death of Father or Mother
Since the bride was probably younger than the groom (the eastern
pattern),1 it is possible that the husband died before his wife, leaving a
widow with children, and turning a nuclear family into a single-parent
one. If one of the sons was already an adult it probably became a typeA5 family (a childless unmarried male with his mother and sometimes
also his brothers and sisters). In other cases attested in Neo-Assyrian
texts the wife took her husbands place and become the head of the
family, probably until her son grew up (see, e.g., SAAS V 28 = text
no. 91). There were probably also unnatural causes of death, like the
mothers death in childbirth or through illness: these might explain
cases where only a father is attested with babies or very young children
(type-A3 families). But only 13 type-A3 families are attested (7%), and
only in three cases are infants listed (families nos. 52, 244 and 411two
infants, one suckling and one weaned). Even if one assumes that in all
three cases the mother had died in childbirth, the percentage of such
See Roth, 1987, pp. 720722.
322
chapter nine
deaths would still be very low.2 Giving birth is a natural process which
usually does not require external intervention, so there should be no
surprise that death in childbirth was a rare phenomenon.
(2) Divorce
It is reasonable to suppose that in a few cases the reason for the existence of single-parent families was a divorce.3 It is well known that the
males as well as females could initiate divorce;4 but the penalties for
dissolution of marriage were heavy and probably made the divorce
option difcult, especially for the women, and even more problematic
for women of the lower stratum.
(3) A Maid Who Bears Her Master a Child without Marrying Him
One of the most usual single-parent family patterns is a maid and her
child. There might be two main reasons for this situation: (1) breakup
of a slave family in a sale (see reason [4] below); (2) a maid who was
not originally bought as the wife of one of the masters slaves or other
family member, but at some time lay with her master or one of his sons
and bore him a child. In a few of these cases the masters wife may
have initiated the sale of the maid with her illegitimate child.5
(4) Breakup of a Slave Family in a Sale
In a few cases the master might have decided, for personal or economic
reasons, to break up the slave family, and to sell only a few of its members, retaining the others.6 This might be the reason for the sale of a
slave with his child or children, without the family mother; she might
be dead, but she also might have been left with her current master.
2
For a similar conclusion see Roth, 1987, p. 736, note 55. For an elegy for a woman
dead in childbirth see Reiner, 1985, pp. 8593; Livingstone, 1989, pp. 3739 (no. 15);
Stol, 2000, pp. 140141; Foster, 2005, p. 949. For the possibility of the death of the
mother at childbirth see also von Weiher, 1998, pp. 5861; Foster, 2005, p. 980.
3
For dissolutions of marriages in the Neo-Assyrian period see Chapter VI, note 2.
4
See Postgate, 1976, pp. 105107; Postgate, 1979a; Roth, 1989, pp. 1214.
5
In Diakonof s opinion many slaves in the Ancient Near East were illegitimate,
born of a female slave to her master. See Diakonof, 1972, p. 73.
6
Fales, 1975, p. 351.
323
(5) Pledging of Some Family Members

At least in one case a family head is known to have placed his family
as a pledge, and it is unclear whether this family was ever reunited
(Family no. 133 = SAA XIV 181).
(6) Breakup of Families Due to Political Circumstances
Scholars have discussed the Neo-Assyrian deportation policy: the Assyrian kings were interested in resettlement of the exiles and the continued
existence of nuclear families. It is not reasonable to suppose that they
formed single-parent families by breaking up their previous structure.
Yet there are a few cases of corrupt ofcials who abused their status,
and even enslaved deportees, as clearly stated in text no. 151 (SAA
XV 181 = ABL 212). During the transfer a few people might have
died of disease, or were killed during the conquest of their lands by
the Assyrian army. Single-parent families are probably presented in
several Neo-Assyrian paintings and bas-reliefs which depict deportees:
these artifacts sometimes depict only one adult with his child.
In the following discussion single parent-families are arranged in
their work-groups.
D. Single-Parent Slave Families (36)

Thirty-six out of 85 slave families (42%) are single-parent; 26 of them
(72%) are type-A4 families, namely a maid with her child or children. In
23 of these families (88%) only one child is attested. Usually the age/size
of children is not attested in sales of people: of 116 slave families, only
in 19 cases (16%) are the childrens ages/sizes attested. But in the A4
families the percentage is almost double: in eight of these 26 families
(31%) the ages/sizes of the children are listed, and in all these cases
the children are babies or very small. In six cases they are suckling
or weaned: families nos. 72, 74, 80, 88, 90, 93; and in the other two
cases the child is three spans tall: nos. 65 and 73). In another 15 cases
a maid is mentioned with her single son or daughter without indication
of their age/size: in ve texts a maid is sold with her son (nos. 31, 40,
66, 91, 99) and in the other 10 cases a maid is sold with her daughter
(nos. 10, 41, 43, 47, 6364, 75, 80, 92, 97). Only in three families are
two or three children attested (no. 11: a maid with her two daughters;
324
chapter nine
no. 46: a maid with her two sons; no. 81: a maid with her two sons
and daughter). Since the mother is presented as the family head it
is reasonable to suppose that the children are minors.
As mentioned above, out of 23 transactions of a maid and an only
child, 14 (61%) are the sale of a maid with her daughter and only nine
(39%) are a maid with her son.
Four single-parent slave families are of type A5, and include a son
with his mother (nos. 2, 9, 59, 76), or in one case a family consisting
of a son, his mother and two brothers (no. 57). Five other single-parent
slave families are of type A3, namely a father with his child or children:
in two cases a father is listed with one son (nos. 51 and 71); one family
is a father, a son, and a daughter (no. 38); another is a father with two
daughters (no. 70); and in the fth family (no. 52) a father is listed with
three children: a daughter, and two sons.
A single-parent slave family is included in a frrches (no. 25), consisting of the family heads brother and two sons, but no wife.
E. Single-Parent Pledged Families (5)

Five out of 18 pledged families (28%) are single-parent. Four out of these
ve families are of type A3 or A4: no. 120 is a father and a son; three
families consist of a woman with her children (no. 131, a woman with
her son; no. 132, a woman with her daughter; and no. 130, a woman
with a son and probably three daughters). The fth family (no. 133)
consists of a mother, two sons, a daughter, and an additional male; the
father placed his family members as a pledge. In most of these families
the father is absent.
F. Single-Parent Families Listed in Sales and Lists of Land and People (6)
Six out of 30 families listed in sales and lists of Land and People
(20%) are single-parent. One is a type-A3 family consisting of a father
and a son (no. 146); two are type-A4 families: a mother with a son and
a daughter (nos. 150) and a mother with a daughter (no. 168); one is
an A5 family: a family head, with his mother and three brothers (no.
145); one is an extended family of four persons: a family head with
his son, mother and brother, but his wife is absent (no. 159); and the
325
sixth (no. 181) is an A-type family: a woman with an additional unclear

family member.
G. Single-Parent Families Enumerated in Royal Grants (5)

Only ve single-parent families are attested in the royal grants. Three
of these families are type-A4 families: a woman with two or three children (nos. 208209, 223); in another case (no. 244) a father is attested
with his two sons, one adult and one weaned; and the fth family is a
male with his mother and brothers (no. 205). The type and structure of
most families in this group are unclear, so caution should be exercised
in drawing any conclusions from these data.
H. Single-Parent Families Enumerated in the Harran Census (4)

Two of the four single-parent families attested in the Harran Census
are of type A3 (a father with his children) and the other two are of type
A5 (a son with his mother); only one family consists of three persons:
a father with an adult son and a minor of four spans height (no. 291);
the other three families are of two persons each: a father with an adult
son (no. 317) and two families consisting of a son with his mother (nos.
277, 280). In the last two cases it is reasonable to suppose that after the
death of the father the son took his place; and in the rst two families
the male was probably divorced or a widower.
I. Single-Parent Families of Deportees and Displaced Persons (7)

In the group of Deportees and Deported Persons seven single-parent
families are attested. Six are nuclear, and one is extended. Two type-A3
families are listed, both of three persons: the rst is a father with his
two daughters (no. 397) and the other is a father with two babies (no.
411). The two type-A5 families consist of a male with his mother and
maid (no. 421) and the other of a eunuch with his mother (no. 434).
Two are clearly type-A4 families (nos. 430431; possibly no. 424 also).
The extended family consists of ve persons: a father, with his son,
daughter, mother and brotherbut without his wife (no. 416).
326
chapter nine
J. Single-Parent Families of Rations Recipients (11)
All eleven single-parent families in this group are of type A4: seven
consist of a mother with her daughter (nos. 435438, 445 and 446); two
are a mother with her son (nos. 442 and 443) and two are a mother
with her two daughters (nos. 439440).
CHAPTER TEN
NUMERICAL PROPORTIONS AMONG FAMILY MEMBERS
The numerical proportions among family members in the Neo-Assyrian period have been discussed in previous studies, especially by Fales;1
but, as mentioned previously, Fales studied only a few of the available
data, and therefore the issue will be reconsidered. Of the 447 families
discussed in this book, this chapter covers data of 181, as follows (see
Table 37):
73 slave families (40.5%: see all the families recorded in Chapter II,
Table 1);
15 pledged families (8%: see all the families recorded in Chapter II,
Table 3);
17 families enumerated in sales of Land and People (9.5%: see all
the families recorded in Chapter II, Tables 5 and 7, without families
nos. 179181, 183);
11 families enumerated in the Royal grants (6%: see Chapter II, Tables
8 and 10, families nos. 198, 211, 215, 241248);
35 families enumerated in the Harran Census (19.5%):
23 are attested in texts which bear Scribe A characteristics: (12.5%: texts
nos. 135139, 145, families nos. 277, 279286, 289291, 294, 296298,
309310, 312314, 317, 356);
12 are attested in texts which bear Scribe B characteristics: (7%, texts
nos. 140144: families nos. 324, 327328, 330332, 334, 336, 337, 339,
349, 351);
17 families of Deportees (9.5%: see Chapter II, Table 15, families nos.
392, 395, 397, 402, 407409, 412413, 417421, 428429, 434.
Fales, 1975, pp. 335340, 342; Fales, 2001, pp. 174175.
328
chapter ten
13 families enumerated in the lists of ration recipients (7%; see Chapter

II, Table 17).
The average family in this sample of 181 families consists of 3.20 persons: 0.78 men, 0.88 women, 0.80 sons, 0.55 daughters, 0.20 others
(brothers, sisters, etc.).
A. Men Women
There is almost a balance between men and women (24% men, 27%
women).
The small difference reects the fact that many families are singleparent, headed by women. The percentage of men in most groups is
close: 23%27% (see Table 37); and the percentage of women in most
groups is 20%31.5%, with the exception of the rations recipients (7%
men, 43% women).
B. Sons Daughters
There are signicant differences between the number of sons and the
number of daughters in the average family: sons account for 25% of the
family, close to the percentage of the fathers (24%) and the wives (27%);
but only 17% of the family members are daughters. The most probable
explanation for this feature is the relatively early age of marriage of the
daughters, attested in most groups, as mentioned previously.
The percentage of sons ranges from 20% in the slaves families (and
even only 13% in the rations recipients) to 35.537% in the groups
of Land and People and the Harran Census (Scribe B). The other
groups lie between these two poles: 32% in the royal grants, 27% in
the Harran Census (Scribe A), 25% in the Pledged persons, and 20%
in the Deportees.
The percentage of daughters in most groups ranges from 16% to
23% as follows: pledged people, 16%; slaves, 17.5%; royal grants,
20.5%; Harran Census (Scribe A), 21% and Deportees, 23% The two
exceptions are rations recipients, 37%, and Land and People group,
only 3.5%. The reason for this very low percentage in the last-named
is clearly related to the poor preservation of the sales of Land and
People: in the clear cases only 3.5% daughters are found in the aver-
numerical proportions among family members
329
age family as against 35.5% sons; but in the indeterminate families

(see chapter II, Table 6) at least 16 sons are attested as against at least
15 daughters (these data are not considered in our discussion as they
are unclear).
C. Other Family Members

Only 37 of the 580 persons (6%) constituting these 181 families are
others: brothers, sisters, mothers, slaves, maids, and more. In a few
groups there are no others at all, for example, royal grants; but the
size and structure of only ten out of the 89 families included in this
group are attested, so the sample is small, and it should not be supposed that there are no others in the families of this group. On the
other hand, it is most important that in the very large sample of the
Harran Census only 2% of the family members are others, while
the highest percentage is attested in the group of Deportees12%.
However, in the texts of the Harran Census attributed to Scribe B it is
possible that a few other women (sisters, mothers, etc.) are included
in the category of women. In the slaves group the percentage of the
others is 7.5%, and in the groups of Land and People and pledges
it is 10%11%.
The relatively high percentage of others (12%) in the determinate
families of the Deportees group accords well with the fact that about
25%30% of the determinate and indeterminate families of this group
included others (1417 out of 57 families: see Chapter II, Tables
1516, Families nos. 390391, 394395, 398, 401, 406, 415416, 418
419, 421, 425, 434; and possibly families nos. 396, 399, 405 also).
D. Male Female
The proportions of males and females is studied in two main groups:
(1) the above-mentioned 181 determinate families, and (2) 42 families
which have an additional male who might be the family heads brother
or son; and/or additional women/woman whose relationship to the
family head is unclear (see Table 38).2
The list of these 42 families is the following:
330
chapter ten
In the 181 families the relation is 51% males (298) and 49% females
(282); in most groups the percentage of the males exceeds that of
females, with three exceptions: slaves (53% females and 47% males),
deportees (52% females and 48% males) and rations recipients (80%
females and 20% males). In two of the other groups the percentage
of males is 54%, and that of females is 46% (pledged persons and the
Harran Censusscribe A). But in the groups of Land and People
and the Harran Census (scribe B) the percentages are different: 6668%
males and only 3234% female.
In the 42 families the relation is 54% males (113) and 46% females
(97), close to this relation in the 181 families; in most groups, the
percentage of the males is about 4658%, and that of females is
4254%, with one exception: Land and People (83% males and
17% females).
In sum, there is almost a balance between males and females in both
studied groups, and the grand total of all these 223 families is as follows: 52% males (411) and 48% females (379).
Excursus: The Exiles of Que (SAA XI 167)
This text enumerates exiles from Que, divided into four main groups:
334 men; 172 sons (divided into ve sub-groups: suckling, weaned, 3,
4, 5); 349 women; 121 daughters (divided into ve sub-groups,
like the sons): a total of 976, but the grand total attested in r. 3, is 977
Slaves (4): families nos. 37 (3 males, 4 females), 53 (2 males, 2 females ), 54 (2

males, 2 females), and 87 (1 male, 1 female);
Pledges (3): families nos. 130 (1 male, 4 females), 133 (3 males, 2 females), and
134 (3 males, 1 female);
Land and People (1): family no. 161 (5 males, 1 female);
Harran Censusscribe A (12): families nos. 278 (3 males, 2 females), 288 (4 males,
4 females), 299 (2 males, 2 females); 300 (3 males, 3 females), 301 (2 males, 1
female); 302 (1 males, 2 females), 303 (2 males, 1 female), 308 (3 males, 2 females),
311 (5 males, 3 females), 315 (2 males, 1 female), 318 (4 males, 2 females), and
319 (4 males, 2 females);
Harran Censusscribe B (12): families nos. 320 (4 males, 3 females), 325 (3 males,
2 females), 326 (1 male, 2 females); 333 (2 males, 2 females), 340 (3 males, 2
females), 341 (2 males, 3 females);
342 (2 males, 3 females), 348 (3 males, 3 females); 350 (2 males, 3 females); 352
(1 male, 2 females); 353 (3 males, 5 females), and 354 (1 male, 2 females);
Deportees (10): families nos. 390 (3 males, 2 females), 391 (3 males, 2 females), 393
(2 males, 3 females), 394 (2 males, 3 females); 396 (3 males, 2 females); 399 (4
males, 3 females), 404 (5 males, 3 females), 406 (3 males, 2 females), 425 (3 males,
2 females), and 426 (3 males, 1 female);
331
persons. Since adult sons and daughters are not attested in a separate
category, but probably included in the numbers of the males and the
females, it is impossible to determine the number of the families. The
relation between males and females is clear: 506 males (52%) versus
470 females (48%), exactly like the relation between males and females
in the 223 families studied in this chapter.
The relation between sons and daughters in SAA XI 167 is similar
to that in the group of 181 families. In SAA XI 167 there are 293
children, of whom 172 (59%) are sons and 121 (41%) are daughters;
the 181 families include 245 children (including two sons of the family heads brother), of whom 145 (59%) are sons and 100 (41%) are
daughters. The relation between men and women is also close in these
two groups: in SAA XI 167 there are 334 men (49%) and 349 women
(51%); in the 181 families group there are 140 men (47%) and 160
women (53%).
5
2
6
2
200
73
2.74
Persons
Families
Average
150.217.5%
Others
Brothers
Brothers sons
Mothers
Sisters
Slaves
Maids
470.6423.5%
630.8631.5%
400.5520%
350.4817.5%
Men
Women
Sons
Dau.
Slaves
56
15
3.73
60.4111%
130.8623%
140.9325%
140.9325%
90.6016%
Pledged
Persons
58
17
3.41
2
1
60.3510%
150.8826%
150.8826%
201.1835.5%
20.123.5%
Land
and People
44
11
4.00
111.0025%
100.9122.5%
141.2732%
90.8220.5%
Royal grant
Deportees
Rations
Total
85
23
3.70
20.092%
38
12
3.17
69
17
4.06
4
1
80.4712%
30
11
2.31
580
181
3.20
13
2
17
4
370.206%
231.0027% 121.0031.5% 171.0025% 20.177% 1400.7824%

190.8322% 121.0031.5% 140.8220% 131.0043% 1600.8827%
231.0027% 141.1737% 140.8220% 40.3313% 1430.8025%
180.7821%
160.9423% 110.8337% 1000.5517%
The Harran Census

Scribe A
Scribe B
Table 37: Numerical Proportions among Family Members
332
chapter ten
750%
750%
3753%
3347%
847%
953%
42 Families
Males
Females
Total: 223 Families

Males
10247%
Females
11553%
3054%
2646%
9447%
10653%
4367%
2133%
583%
117%
3866%
2034%
Pledged
Land
Persons and People
181 Families
Males
Females
Slaves
2557%
1943%
2557%
1943%
Royal
grants
8156%
6444%
3558%
2542%
5355%
4445%
2746%
3254%
2668%
1232%
13355%
10845%
6152%
5748%
7259%
5141%
The Harran Census

B
A+B
4654%
3946%
6452%
5948%
3157%
2343%
3348%
3652%
Deportees
Table 38: Numerical Proportions among Family Members: Males versus Females
620%
2480%
620%
2480%
Rations
41152%
37948%
11354%
9746%
29851%
28249%
Total

333
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE NUMBER OF GENERATIONS IN THE FAMILY
This chapter concerns 295 families: most of them, 247 families (84%),
consist of two generations; 42 of them (14%) are of one generation;
and only six families (2%) have three generations (see Table 39); in ve
out of these six cases only the mother of the family head is listed, and
in one single case a man is clearly attested with his son, grandson, and
probably also his wife (family no. 288).1
There are differences between the various groups: 80 slave families
(78.5%) are of two generations as against 22 families (21.5%) of only
one generation (there are no three-generation families); in the Harran
Census only six families (8%) are of one generation, one family is of
three generations (1%), and 71 (91%) are of two generations. In the
Deportees only four families (11%) are of one generation, three families
are of three generation (8%), and 30 families (81%) are of two generations. Pledged families: one family (6%) is of three generations, 14 (82%)
are of two generations, and two (12%) are of one generation. Land
and People: one family (3%) is of three generations, 27 families (79%)
are of two generations, and six (18%) are of one generation. Royal
grants: 12 families (86%) are of two generations and two (14%) are of
one generation (there are no three-generation families). The rations
recipients group is again unusual, with 100% two-generation families.
The most signicant datum in this chapter is the very low percentage
of the three-generation families: only six of these 295 familiesabout
2%. This is a clear-cut nding, with only a few exceptions: (1) nine
families attested in texts of the Harran Census attributed to Scribe
B consist of two or three generations (families nos. 320, 325, 333,
340342, 348, 350, 353), but since all the women in these texts are
placed in one category, it is unclear whether the additional woman/
women are the family heads daughter(s), sister(s), mother(s), second
wife, or daughter-in-law; it is reasonable to suppose that in most of
See Fales, 1975, pp. 332, 344; Gelb, 1979, pp. 7677; Snell, 1993, p. 222.
the number of generations in the family
335
these cases the additional woman is the family heads daughter, sister,
or even daughter-in-law or second wife, so these families are of only
two generations. Still, in a very few cases the additional woman may
be the family heads mother, and this would enlarge the number of the
three-generation families slightly; (2) four slave families are of two or
three generations since an additional person in each of these families
may be the family heads mother (Families nos. 33, 61, 95, and 102),
but it is unclear whether this additional person is the family heads
daughter, sister, mother, or brother, and again it is possible that in a
few cases the additional person may be the family heads mother, and
this would also enlarge the number of the three-generation families
slightly; But even assuming that all these 13 families consist of three
generations they would still amount only about 6%.
The meaning of this nding is that only in very rare cases did
members of the lower stratum see their grandchildren. This conclusion
carries highly signicant implications for the question of longevity in
the Neo-Assyrian period. In the second volume of this study it will be
shown that the members of the middle and the upper strata reached
their sixties, as can be clearly indicated from the dates of their legal
transactions. Roth is right in claiming that there are no clear-cut data
on longevity in Ancient Near Eastern records, with a few exceptions;2
on the other hand, as mentioned earlier, there are dozens of dated
legal transactions which may serve as important data on this issue.
Moreover, the Book of Kings states the age of the kings of Judah as
well as the duration of their reigns, so it is possible to calculate their
longevity:3 there are clear indications of the age of 15 kings and their
average lifespan was 46 years. The duration of one generation is about
22.3 years. Even if one calculates only the longevity of the ten kings of
Judah that died in natural circumstances, and were not assassinated
or killed on the battleeld, their average age at death is only about 51
years; still, about half of these kings lived past the age of 50, and a few
even reached their late sixties (Manasseh, 67 years; Uzziah, 68).4
These gures well match the conclusions of this chapter: assuming
an average of about 25 years duration for one generation, it is clear
2
See Roth, 1987, pp. 718719, and note 9. For a different opinion see Dandamaev,
1984, p. 185.
3
See Galil, 1996, p. 155.
4
See also Galil, 2004, pp. 419420.
336
chapter eleven
that most males did not reached the age of 50 since only in one out of
these 295 families does a grandfather live with his grandchild. Moreover, if the marriage pattern in the Ancient Near East is the eastern
one, as rightly claimed by Roth,5 and if females bore their rst child
around the age of 20 or even a few years younger, then these females
lifespan might be even shorter than their husbands, since only in very
rare cases did these females live to see their grandchildren; they probably died in their forties.
A. Slaves
One Generation (22)
Clear Data (21)
Twenty-one families have only one generation. All these are type-A1
families (nos. 78, 22, 2829, 36, 48, 50, 5556, 62, 6869, 8286,
101, 108, 110).
Unclear Data (1)
One unclear family distinctly includes one generation: nos. 15.
Two Generations (80)
Clear Data (54)
The following 54 clear families have two generations: 14 nuclear
families with children (type A2): nos. 1, 36, 27, 42, 49, 58, 67, 77,
96, 100, 114; ve A3 families: nos. 38, 5152, 7071; 26 A4 families,
nos. 1011, 31, 4041, 43, 4647, 6366, 7275, 8081, 88, 9094,
97, 99; ve A5 families: nos. 2, 9, 57, 59, 76; three extended families
(nos. 17, 26, 78); and one frrche (no. 25).
Unclear Data (26)
Twenty-six unclear slave families evidently include two generations:
nos. 1213, 16, 21, 30, 3235, 37, 39, 4445, 5354, 61, 89, 95, 98,
102104, 107, 109, 113, 115; four out of these families (nos. 33, 61,
95, and 102) clearly include two generations, but since an additional
See Roth, 1987, pp. 720722.
337
person in each of these families may be the family heads mother they
might be of three generations (see introduction to this chapter ).
Unclear Number of Generations (14)
In 14 cases the number of generations is unclear: in four cases it is
unclear if one or two generations are attested: no. 14 is a family of three
persons, and it may include a child, but this is only one possibility; no.
24 consists of six persons, but it is not clear if this gure refers to one
or two families; no. 87 consists of two persons: a man with his wife,
daughter or mother; nos. 105106 probably include a couple but it is
unclear whether another member of this family is mentioned. Eight
of the other nine families probably are of two generations but it is not
certain: it is likely in families nos. 23, 79, 112 and is possible in the
ve more cases: nos. 1820, 111, and 116. In the last family, no. 60,
there are two women, probably the heads two wives; this is the most
reasonable possibility but it is no more than that.
B. Pledged People
One Generation (2)
Two type-A1 families are clearly of one generation: a couple without
children (Families nos. 118, 128).
Clear Data (13)
The following 13 clear families include two generations: seven nuclear
families with children (type A2: nos. 117, 119, 121123, 127, 135); one
A3 family (no. 120); three A4 families (nos. 130132); and two extended
families (nos. 124 and 126).
Unclear Data (1)
Family no. 133, which is placed as pledge by its head, clearly has two
generations: a woman with her two sons and a daughter, and one
additional male, possibly the family heads son, brother, or slave.
338
chapter eleven
Three Generations (1)

Family no. 125 clearly has three generations: the family heads mother,
wife, brother and son.
The number of generations in the following two families is unclear:
family no. 129 has one or two generations (a couple without children,
or a father with his child or another family member); and family no.
134 is a couple with two additional males: probably the family heads
sons or brothers.
C. Land and People

One Generation (6)
Clear Data (3): Three A1 families (a couple without children): nos. 148,
176,187.
Unclear Data (3): Families nos. 171173 are probably also A1 families.
Clear Data (13)
The following 13 known families have two generations: nine nuclear
families with children (type A2: nos. 147, 149, 164166, 169, 184186);
one A3 family (no. 146); two A4 families (nos. 150 and 168); and one
A5 family (no. 145).
Unclear Data (14)
Fourteen families clearly are of two generations since each has at
least one child (families nos. 139, 144, 151155, 160161, 163, 170,
174175, 183).
Family no. 159 clearly has three generations: the family heads mother,
sister, and weaned son.
339

The number of generations in the following 18 families is unclear:
families nos. 141143 probably include a couple and a son each, but
it is not clear; no. 136 is a family of four persons, a couple with two
sons or two brothers; in three other cases (nos. 137, 140, 158) it is not
clear if one family is attested or more; in Families nos. 138, 179180,
only the name of the family head is attested, with a total of the family
members; in two other families (nos. 156157) it is not clear if children
are included; nos. 162 and 182 consist of only two persons each, possibly a couple without children; Family no. 167 consists of two to ve
persons, but it is not clear if it includes children; families nos. 177178
are each of three people, and they may include a child but it is not
clear; and no. 181 consist of two persons: a woman and an additional
family member whose identity is unclear.
D. Royal Grants
One Generation (2)
Clear Data (2)
Families nos. 198 and 215 are two type-A1 families, each of one generation.
Clear Data (12)
The following 12 known families include two generations: eight nuclear
families with children (type A2: nos. 211, 241243, 245248); one A3
family (no. 244); and three A4 families (nos. 208209, 223).

One Generation (6)
Families nos. 283, 310, 313, 328, 330, 339 are type-A1 families, each
of one generation.
340
chapter eleven

The following 71 families have two generations: 25 nuclear families
with children (type A2: nos. 279, 281282, 284286, 289290, 294,
296298, 309, 312, 314, 324, 327, 331332, 334, 336337, 349, 351,
356); two A3 families (nos. 291, 317); two A5 families (nos. 277, 280);
21 families of Fathers and sons (nos. 357377); 12 unclear families
which clearly include two generations (nos. 278, 299300, 304305,
308, 311, 318319, 322, 343 and 355); and nine are of two or three
generations (nos. 320, 325, 333, 340342, 348, 350, 353: see introduction to this chapter).
Family no. 288 clearly has three generations: the family heads two
sons, a daughter, and a grandson, and three women, probably his wife
and two daughters-in-law.
The number of generations in the following 23 families is unclear: nos.
287, 292293, 295, 301303, 306307, 315316, 321, 323, 326, 329,
335, 338, 344347, 352, 354.

One Generation (4)
Nos. 402, 420 and 428 are type-A1 families, each consisting of one
generation; and no. 395, an extended familyis a couple and the
brother of the family head.
Clear Data (17)
The following 17 clear families include two generations: nine nuclear
families with children (type A2: nos. 392, 403, 407409, 412413,
417, 429); two type-A3 family (no. 397, 411); two type-A4 families
(nos. 430431); two type-A5 families (nos. 421 and 434); an extended
341
family (no. 418): a couple without children but with the family heads
mother and sister; and no. 404, probably a multiple-family kinship
group (see chapter II).
Unclear Data (15)
The following 15 families, whose type is unclear, consist of two generations, parents and children: nos. 390391, 393, 396, 398399, 401,
410, 414, 422424, 426, 432433.
Family no. 419 clearly included three generations: a couple with two
sons and the family heads mother. Families nos. 415416 include the
family heads mother and at least one of his children, so both clearly
include three generations.
The number of generations in the following 18 families is unclear: nos.
378389, 394, 400, 405406, 425 and 427.
Table 39: The Number of Generations in the Family
Slaves (102)
Pledges (17)
Land and People (34)
Royal grants (14)
Harran Census (78)
Deportees (37)
Rations (13)
Total (295)
One
Generation
Two
Generations
Three
Generations
22
21.5%
2
12%
6
18%
2
14%
6
8%
4
11%
80
78.5%
14
82%
27
79%
12
86%
71
91%
30
81%
13
100%
247
84%
42
14%
1
6%
1
3%
1
1%
3
8%
6
2%
SUMMARY
This book studies 447 families of the lower stratum in the Neo-Assyrian
Empire. These families are divided into seven groups for discussion:
A. Slaves (116 families); B. Pledged persons (19 families); C. Persons
enumerated in sales and lists of Land and People (52 families); D.
Families attested in royal grants (89); E. Families of the Harran Census
(101); F. Deportees and displaced families (57); and G. Recipients of
rations (13 families).
These lower stratum families are attested in 177 texts, which are
divided into four main types: legal transactions, administrative records,
court decisions, and letters. Most texts (69%) are legal transactions
(122), mainly conveyances of two types: sales of people (78) and sales
of Land and People (30); the others are administrative records (49)
or letters (6). Most texts originate in the three main cities of Assyria
(Affur, Calah, and Nineveh); however, the texts do not reect only
the situation in these three cities; on the contrary, many texts from
Nineveh refer to diverse areas of the Assyrian empire, from Til Barsib
and Nrubu in the west to Arbail in the east; and from Talmsa,
the province of the rab-fq and Izalla in the north, to Babylonia in
the south.The earliest text is dated to 800 B.C. and the latest ones to the
end of the 7th century, but most data refer to the end of the 8th and
the 7th centuries B.C.
About 30% of these families are clearly slaves or temporarily in that
status, namely pledged people (groups A and B). Most of the other
families were probably free persons employed as tenants on land owned
by the members of the middle and upper strata. The signicant differences between these seven groups are reected in the various chapters
of this book. In most chapters the two poles are slaves on the one
hand and the people in the Harran Census on the other hand (see the
discussion below).
The status of the families enumerated in sales of Land and People is
discussed in chapter III as well in the second part of this book. These
people seem to be slaves since they are sold along with the land and
are recorded with the land in the inventory of sold property; however,
very signicant differences in terminology and formulation appear
in sales of people and in those of Land and People: A. The usual
summary
343
terms signifying slaves (ARAD/ARAD.MEe, GEM/GEM.MEe,

L.eM), which are very common in sales of people, are very rare
in sales of Land and People. In 221 of 249 sales of people (89%),
the ones sold are dened by one of the above three terms, and only in
28 of 249 texts (11%) are the sold people not dened by any of these
three terms; but in the sales of Land and People only in four out of
18 texts (22%) are the people sold dened by one of these terms, and
in the other 14 texts (78%) the people are not dened by any of them,
but are called souls/persons: ZI.MEe or UN.MEe. B. Guarantee
Clauses are rare in sales of Land and People, while in sales of people
they are more frequent: a Guarantee Clause exists in only three sales
of Land and People (21% of the unbroken texts), while in sales of
people this clause is found in 104 of 193 unbroken texts (54%). C. In
sales of people, whether the profession of the men being sold is noted
can be checked in 187189 cases (it is not clear if SAA VI 255 is a
sale of people or of land and people); the other texts are broken. In
fact, the profession of only 1416 male slaves (79%) is attested. The
other 9193% of the adult male slaves and all the female slaves are
non-professional. In the sales of Land and People the profession
of 2325 males (6163%) is indicated. Note that in the Harran Census
the profession of 107 adult men (92%) is mentioned, and only nine
adult men are non-professional (seven of them are riqu).1 D. In some
sales of Land the People the price of the transaction is so low as to
be unreasonable for people (if they were slaves) to be included, even
if we assume that the price of the land was very cheap (this matter
is considered at length in chapters IIIII). E. Moreover, if the people
enumerated in sales of Land and People were indeed slaves, one
would expect to nd sales of enslaved farmers without the land, but
out of 468 Neo-Assyrian sales of persons, only in one text is the sold
man dened as a gardener (SAA XIV 49), and even in this case it is
not clear whether the seller owned the gardeners land. All these points
indicate that the issue is indeed very problematic and intricate, and it is
even unclear whether the status of all the people enumerated in sales
of Land and People was the same. In my opinion, although a few
families listed in these texts might be slaves, most people attested in
sales of Land and People were probably tenants (see below).
1
Families of riqu or of day-laborers are not attested at all in Neo-Assyrian records,
probably since most of these men were unable to maintain a family.
344
summary
Most families listed in the texts of grants and exemptions from tax to
ofcials as well in royal grants and personal decrees to temples were probably
also tenants or temple employees of low rank. A very common formula
in the texts of grants and exemptions from tax to ofcials signies that
the family head is with his people (adi UN.MEe-g), without detailing
how many people; this differs from the sales of people, in which those
sold are almost always indicated by their name or by their connection
with the family head. Moreover, the people enumerated in text no.
131 (= SAA XII 2628) are probably not true slaves but tenants. It is
clearly stated in SAA XII 26 r. 18 that the personnel of these elds
may not be called up for the corve. Clearly then, before Assurbanipal
exempted these people of Nab-farru-uur from taxes, they were obliged
to perform ilku duties; therefore their status is related to the question of
whether true slaves were liable for these services. In the Neo-Assyrian
period there is actually still no evidence that true slaves were sent to
perform these services on behalf of their masters; yet no text indicates
the reverse possibility. However, in the Neo-Babylonian period privately
owned slaves were not obliged to perform public works (Dandamaev).
Moreover, one might claim that sending true slaves to perform public
services would be too risky and economically not sensible, since the
slaves might run away, while the yearly cost of ilku service (per person)
was only a few shekels (assuming a cost of one shekel or less per month
for one persons service). Would it be logical to risk a property of 60
shekels or more for an outlay of one or two shekels? More reasonably,
the slave-owner would rather pay money than perform these duties,
or would send one of his day-laborers or tenants to do them. So it
is more reasonable to suggest that the personnel attested in the royal
grants were tenants and not slaves.
The families recorded in royal grants and personal decrees to temples were
probably also tenants or temple employees of low rank. In text no.
132 the professions of these people are not specied in the detailed
description of this text, but in the summary (lines r. 1213) the people
are clearly dened as tillers: a grand total of 41 people from Arbla
whom I have donated to Zabba as tillers (PAB 41 ZI.MEe URU.arbail-a-a a-na L. qa-tin--te a-na DN ad-din-g-nu-ti ). The scribe chose to
dene the people by the term qatinnu (ana L qatinnte), and not ana
urdnti, so they probably were not temple slaves but temple employees
of low rank, or temple tenants. They became part of the permanent
temple staff, and there are no indications that the temple administrators were allowed to sell people donated to temples by the king.
summary
345
Their status might be different from that of slaves bought by the temple
from private individuals or of day-laborers: they are protgs of the
temple, dwell within it or its surroundings, cultivate its land, and are
provided with corn rations or share the elds corn with it.
The families attested in the Harran Census were probably tenants,
and their status was not different from that of other farmers and
gardeners who tilled land that was not in their possession in return
for a portion of the crop. It is most important to point out that a few
cultivators attested in the Harran Census own land: two gardeners
own ten hectares (text no. 135 I: 111); a guardian of a poplar grove
owns twelve hectares of land; and two farmers own an ox or two
(text no. 136 II: 20 24; III: 17; 811). The gardeners and the grove
guardian own land, and the farmers own only oxen. But in text no.
146 III: 124 the scribe notes three times that small parcels of two or
four hectares of land have been given to the farmers. So these cultivators, most probably tenants, are allowed to accumulate land and oxen,
namely means of production; yet they are still tenants who cultivate
land owned mainly by the members of the middle and upper strata
in the Neo-Assyrian Empire; one might suggest that in their eyes they
already see a glimmer of light in the darkness, and they seem to be
on the high road to complete economic independence. But it is of
great signicance that these two families, which have managed to
accumulate enough land to maintain themselves, continue to function
as tenants and to cultivate land owned by others. They do so probably
not because they are obliged to cultivate these elds or forced to serve
their masters, but because tenancy is an important anchor in their life,
which provides better economic stability and is an insurance against
bad times, a shelter from drought and hunger, as well as from powerful wicked neighbors or corrupt ofcials who might take over the land
accumulated by these tenants through hard work and application. So
tenancy in the Assyrian realm is a major economic system, but it also
has signicant social and political implications; a system of patronage
and dependence that serves the masters, but also the tenants. This is
well reected in dozens of documents, mainly petitions to the king, with
complaints about corrupt ofcials who plunder lands owned by other
ofcials, expel the personnel who have cultivated these ravaged farms,
and resettle these holdings with their own tenants.
The deportees and displaced persons discussed in this book are only the
families still in transit from their original places to their new ones, and
not deportees who have been settled in their new place. During their
346
summary
transfer the deportees probably hold the provisional status of prisoners

of war. Only at the second stage does the Assyrian administration place
them in different positions on the various levels of Assyrian society.
In the fullness of time they become an inseparable part of Assyrian
society. The deportees are slotted in primarily according to the kings
requirements and their talents. Some are given low-level or even senior
positions in the Assyrian bureaucracy; others (only in rare cases) are sold
as slaves by corrupt ofcials or are awarded, by the king, as slaves to his
ofcials. But most of the deportees are apparently placed as tenants on
lands owned by the king or his ofcials, or by the temples.
The 327 families whose size is clear constitute 1212 persons, an
average of 3.71 per family (see Table 32). The two largest families
are of 15 and 14 persons, and eleven families consist of eight persons
or more. But these 13 large families account for only 4% of the 327
families of known size. Thirty-four families consist of six or seven persons (some 10%); and another 95 families are of four or ve persons
(29%). The other 185 families are of minimal size, having only two
or three members.
The average family size of rations recipients is the smallest (2.31
members). The average slave family has 3.18 members, the average
pledged family has 3.79, and the average family attested mainly in sales
of Land and People has 3.29. The largest average family is attested
in the group of deportees and displaced people: 4.56 members; the
average family in the Harran Census has 4.08 members and that in
the group of Royal grants has 3.96.
One of the main conclusions of this book is the manifest reduction
in the size of the families after 680 B.C. compared with the size of
families before 681 B.C. (see Tables 3334). The size of the average
family in the earlier period is 4.36, and in the later it is 2.79 (only
about 64% of the size of the average family in the earlier period).
These differences, apparent in most work groups, cannot be accidental; they probably indicate the weakening of the lower stratum with a
reduction in its family size, as against the strengthening of the middle
and upper strata at the expense of the lower stratum at the zenith of
the Neo-Assyrian Empire, mainly in the reigns of Esarhaddon and
Assurbanipal. These differences, as mentioned, are indicated in most
work groups: slaves, 4.39 members in the average family before 681
and 2.58 after 680 B.C.; Pledged families, 4.30 and 2.83 respectively;
Land and People, 3.88 and 3.67 respectively; royal grants, 4.67 and
3.14 respectively.
summary
347
Another important conclusion is the homogeneity of the data relating

to these two periods, especially in the earlier one. The differences in
the sizes of the average family in the six groups attested in this early
period are very modest: the average family is of 4.36 close to the size
of the average slave family in this period (4.39), that of pledged people
has 4.3, that of Land and People3.88, and that of the Harran
Census4.08. The highest gures are for the royal grants4.67, and
for the Deportees5.1. So the lowest datum (3.88) is about 89% of
the average (4.36) and the highest (5.1) is 117% of this average.
In the material data dated after 680 the differences between the
groups are more signicant but still moderate compared with the differences between the two main periods: the average family has 2.79
members, approximately the size of the average pledged family in this
period (2.83); the average family of rations recipients has 2.31 members;
that of slaves 2.58, of royal grants 3.14, and of Land and People
3.67. So the lowest gures (for rations recipients and slaves) are about
83%-92% of the average (2.79) and the highest (for Land and People
and royal grants) are 113%132% of this average.
In the second part of this study, which will be published as a separate
volume, I reach the conclusion that the average family of the various
groups of the middle and upper strata in the Neo-Assyrian period
consists of about ve to six persons, so there is a clear correlation
between the families status and size in the 8th and early 7th centuries;
this phenomenon is even more signicant in the reigns of Esarhaddon
and Assurbanipal. This last conclusion is in full accordance with the
results of the study of the relation between families size and their status
in various pre-industrial societies worldwide, but especially in England
and France in the 17th and 18th centuries A.D.2
A popular French proverb holds that children are the wealth of the
poor but the conclusions of my study indicate that the motivation for
reproduction among the members of the lower stratum in the NeoAssyrian period was low, even very low.
The small size of the lower stratum families in this period might
be a result of a strict planning of manpower by the landowners:3 they
probably preferred small and efcient families, namely nuclear families, to large and inefcient kinship groups. These landowners possibly
2
3
See, e.g., Flandrin, 1979, pp. 5365.

For this idea see Fales, 1975, pp. 352358.
348
summary
encouraged their tenants second and subsequent sons to move to other

farms owned by the same landowners, and to cultivate them (as tenants)
as potential family heads, rather than remain at the farm cultivated
by their father and under his or the eldest brothers supervision. That
brother probably remained on the farm cultivated by his father, and
became the family head after his death, taking care of his mother and
other family members.
The small size of the lower stratum families exacerbated the shortage of manpower in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, especially of people
employed in agriculture (therefore, deportees are placed as tenants
even though they were formerly weavers or cooks see SAA XI 201 I:
4143; 202 II: 1617).
The dearth of manpower and the surplus of lands allowed the
resettlement of nuclear deported families on relatively large parcels
(see, e.g., SAA XI 219) and a system of cultivating only about 50% of
the land per year, as is indicated in the various texts of placing land
as a pledge.4
The lack of manpower created the feature of abandoned and
uncultivated lands, indicated in a few Neo-Assyrian records, mainly
letters. One of these letters originating in Calah, and probably sent
ca. 730 B.C. (ND 2734+ = CTN V, p. 210, rev. ll. 4850), distinctly
refers to the right to cultivate abandoned land (or land presented as
abandoned): eqlu (A.e.GA) ga phat URU ur-zu-hi-na gum-ma ra-mu ga
la bl e-gu- man-nu ga eqlu (A.e.GA) a-hi-t-u-ni i-bat-taq (= If land
of the province of Arzhina is abandoned, there will be confusion
without (an appropriate decision by) my lord. Whoever desires a eld,
he should cut off (a piece from unused land). This information is
very important since the disputed area was only about 100 km north
of the city of Affur, an area under Assyrian control since the reign of
Assurnairpal II.
There is a similarity between this letter and Hammurabis Laws (no.
30), which refers to a problem seems similar. It states that if a soldier
or a trapper abandons his land for three years and in the meantime
See, e.g., Jas, 2000, with earlier literature. There are no indications of land shortage in the Ancient Near East in any period: see van Driel, 1998; van Koppen 2001,
p. 486; Oded, 1979, pp. 6474; and cf. Liverani, 2004, p. 214, who refers to the fact
that Assurnasirpal II returned Assyrians to lands abandoned, (see RIMA 2 134135,
A.O. 98.1: 6063). For manpower shortage in the Hittite Empire see Bryce, 2002,
pp. 7778.
summary
349
someone else has cultivated it, and then the rst one returns and wants
it back, his landed assets are not restored to him. Instead, the one
who has taken them over and assumed the duties shall continue to do
so himself .5
Other Neo-Assyrian records indicate donations of abandoned lands
to deportees for cultivation: for example, in a letter sent to Sargon II by
Nab-hamta, possibly the deputy governor of Mzamua, he refers
to the people whom he settled outside the forts and cites the order he
gave them: Go! Each one of you should build (a house) in the eld and
stay there! (SAA V 210: 1113 = ABL 208). Another example is SAA
XV 219 (=ABL 314), sent to Sargon II by earru-muranni, governor of
Babylon; in r. 510 of this letter, he writes: . . . there are fty who came
here and are building houses for themselves. I told them: Everybody
should build himself a house, enter it, and live in his house . A third
example is SAA XV 54 (= ABL 556, see especially ll. 717).
The excess land caused a further reduction in the size of the cultivators families since some of the younger sons may have taken the
opportunity to leave their fathers houses and go to work as tenants in
another farm, with the option of establishing their own families.
The size of lower stratum families in the reigns of Esarhaddon and
Assurbanipal is reduced; so the weak elements apparently grew still
weaker, while the wealthy families grew still richer and stronger, accumulating more and more estates and slaves. Smallholders probably lost
their land in time; they were obliged by economic circumstances to sell
their lands, becoming tenants in their own erstwhile properties. Large
estates grew up in various areas, and the large holdings of RmanniAdad are probably only one example of the feature of latifundization
in the 7th century; the records clearly indicate transfer of land from
small landowners to large ones, and from the king to his ofcials. Middle
and high ranking ofcials sometimes buy whole villages from many
5
See Richardson, 2000a, pp. 5253; and cf. also Roth, 1995, pp. 8687. This law is
similar to the law on the abandoning of a wife: if a man has abandoned his city and
his family and has disappeared (probably for a few years), his wife is allowed to marry
another man and to enter his house; and if then the man returns and wishes to take
his wife back the wife shall not be restored to her rst husband. See Hammurabis
Laws, no. 136 (Richardson, 2000, pp. 8485); and see also MAL, 36, 45 (for a period
of abandonment of two or ve years), and the Laws of Eshnunna, no. 30. On this
issue see recently Fleishman, 2005, pp. 487491, with earlier literature.
350
summary
small owners, and receive generous land grants and exemptions, and
a salary from the kings treasury.
The Assyrian kings seem to have tried to counter and slow these processes by close control of the accumulation of the means of production
in the hands of a relatively small group of ofcials. At the same time a
clear tendency is evident in the central administration to allow tenants
to own some of the holdings that they cultivate. Accumulation of land
and people by ofcials might be translated into political power, and the
possibility that a few of these ofcials were at least suspected of involvement in the conspiracy headed by Ss, is well known.6 To weaken the
power of these ofcials the Assyrian king decentralized their holdings
by donating land to ofcials not in the province that they governed but
in that under a different governor. The intention was twofold: to limit
the land owned or administered by a given provincial governor, and to
cause interminable conicts between the governor and other ofcials
who owned land in that area (divide et impera).
Most families of the lower stratum are nuclear (about 94%: see the full
discussion in chapter IV); only about 5% are extended families, which
include other family members, such as the family heads brother,
sister, mother, and more. Multiple-family kinship groups are a very rare
phenomenon among the lower stratum families (only about 1%).
The families are patriarchal, and most are monogamous (see chapter
VI). Polygamy is very rare in families of the lower stratum: only three
of the families treated here are known to be polygamous (1.5%), and
even with the addition to them of three cases where the likelihood of
polygamy is high the percentage of these families will still be very low
(about 3%).
One of the central issues discussed in this book is single-parent families. About 28% of the known families discussed were single-parent ones
(see chapter IX). Moreover, great differences exist in the percentages of
single-parent families in the various groups: the highest level is attested
among the slave families (42%; only the rations recipientswho are
a very small sampleare exceptional). At the other end of the scale
the Harran Census families show the lowest percentage: only 6%;
in the other groups the percentage is between 33% and 19%. Most
single-parent families in the Ancient Near East probably did not form
6
See Nissinen, 1998, pp. 103153, with earlier literature; idem, PNA, pp. 1093b
1094a (7).
summary
351
voluntarily but resulted from various constraints such as (1) the death
of the father or mother, (2) divorce, (3) a maid who bore a child to her
master without marrying him, (4) breakup of a slave family that was
sold, (5) pledging of a few family members and (6) breakup of families
due to political circumstances.
About 22% out of the 272 families discussed in chapter VII are childless (61): most of them are nuclear families without children (type-A1),
ten are of type-A5 (a childless male, unmarried, divorced, or widower,
with his mother; or with his mother and unmarried brother or sister),
and a few are extended or of indeterminate type. The highest percentage is observed among the slaves (28%), and a relatively low percentage
is evident mainly in two groups: the Harran Census (16%), and Royal
grants (15%). These data probably do not indicate the rate of infertility
in this period, which was probably lower than 22%. If the ten A5-type
families are reduced from these calculations, the average percentage
of the childless family is about 19%, and one might suppose that the
percentage of infertility was actually about 15% or even less, because a
few of these childless families were presumably young couples recently
married and still without children. This is based on the assumption that
females married at a relatively young age.
In the whole population under study there is almost equality in the
numbers of men (24%) and women (27%), as well as between males and
females (52% males, 48% females: see chapter X and Tables 3738).
But there are signicant differences between the number of sons and
the number of daughters in the average family: the sons constitute
25% of the family, close to the percentage of the fathers (24%) and
the wives (27%); but only 17% of the family members are daughters.
The main explanation for this is probably the relatively early age of
marriage of the daughters, attested in most groups, with only one
notable exception: the Deportees (see chapter VIII). The transfer and
the process of resettlement could have delayed the age of marriage of
the deported females.
Most of the lower stratum families usually consist of two generations
(84%). About 14% are of one generation and only six families (2%) have
three generations; in ve out of these six cases only the mother of the
family head is listed, and in one single case a man is attested with his
son, grandson and probably also his wife. This is a clear-cut conclusion,
with only a few negligible exceptions (see chapter XI). But even assuming that in these few exceptions the families consist of three generations
the percentage of these families will still be only about 6%.
352
summary
The meaning of this nding is that only in very rare cases did
members of the lower stratum see their grandchildren. This conclusion carries signicant implications for the question of longevity in
the Neo-Assyrian period. In the second volume of this study it will be
shown that the members of the middle and the upper strata reached
their sixties, as can be clearly indicated from the dates of their legal
transactions. Assuming an average of about 25 years duration for one
generation, it is clear that most males of the lower stratum died in their
forties since only in one out of these families does a grandfather live
with his grandchild. Moreover, if the marriage pattern in the Ancient
Near East is the eastern one, as rightly claimed by Roth, and if
females bore their rst child around the age of 20 or even a few years
younger, then these females lifespan might be even shorter than their
husbands, since only in very rare cases did these females live to see
their grandchildren; they probably died in their early forties.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS
ABC = J. Stevenson, Assyrian and Babylonian Contracts with Aramaic Reference Notes, Chicago
1901.
ABD = D. N. Freedman (ed.), Anchor Bible Dictionary, IVI, New York 1992.
ABL = R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Letters belonging to the Kouyunjik Collection of
the British Museum, IXIV, Chicago 18921914.
ADB = C. H. W. Johns, An Assyrian Doomsday Book or Liber Censualis of the District Round
Harran in the Seventh Century B.C., Leipzig 1901.
ADD = C. H. W. Johns, Assyrian Deeds and Documents, Cambridge, I (1898), II (1901),
III (1901), IV (1923); and AJSL 42 (1925/6), pp. 170204, 228275.
AECT see Fales, 1986.
AertsKlengel, 1990 = E. Aerts and H. Klengel (eds.), The Town as Regional Economic
Centre in the Ancient Near East, Leuven 1990.
AfO = Archiv fr Orientforschung.
AfO Bh. 6 = see Friedrich, et al., 1940.
Aharoni, 1973 = Y. Aharoni (ed.), Excavations and Studies: Essays in Honour of Professor
Shemuel Yeivin, Tel-Aviv 1973 (Hebrew).
Ahmad, 1996 = A. Y. Ahmad, The Archive of Affur-mtu-taqqin found in the New
town of Affur and Dated Mainly by Post-Canonical Eponyms, Al-Rdn 17 (1996),
pp. 207288.
AHw = W. von Soden, Akkadisches Handwrterbuch, Wiesbaden 19581981.
AJSL = American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures.
kerman = K. kerman, The Aussenhaken Area in the City of Assur during the
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I. INDEX OF SOURCES
Cuneiform Sources
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
77
310
330
334
341
795+2565
962
1055+1070
1182
1797
1825
1857
1906
1912
1928
1929
2221
2486
2494
2509
2514
2527
2644
2648
2686
2692
2806
2919
3660
9745
ABL 201
ABL 208
ABL 212
ABL 314
ABL 336
ABL 500
ABL 556
ABL 969
ADB 1
ADB 2
ADB 3
ADB 4
ADB 5
see StAT 2 81
see StAT 2 184
199, 201202
see StAT 2 313
see StAT 2 118
see StAT 2 119
see StAT 2 101
199, 203
see StAT 2 11
see StAT 2 73
203
see StAT 2 8
199, 203
see StAT 2 45
199, 203
see StAT 2 170
see FNALT 17
see StAT 2 64
see StAT 2 79
199, 203
199, 203
see StAT 2 164
see StAT 2 95
see StAT 2 94
199, 202
see StAT 2 140
199, 202
see StAT 2 137
44, 86, 161
see SAAS VI, pp.
160161
see SAA V 16
see SAA V 210
see SAA XV 181
see SAA XV 219
see SAA XVIII 56
see SAA X 167
see SAA XV 54
see SAA XVIII 161
see SAA XI 201
see SAA XI 202
see SAA XI 203
see SAA XI 213
see SAA XI 219
ADB 6
ADB 7
ADB 8
ADB 9+11+
12+16
ADB 10
ADB 13
ADB 14
ADB 19
ADB 20
ADB 21
ADD 58
ADD 59
ADD 64
ADD 65
ADD 66
ADD 78
ADD 79
ADD 85
ADD 221
ADD 229
ADD 230
ADD 231
ADD 232
ADD 233
ADD 235
ADD 236
ADD 237
ADD 238
ADD 240
ADD 241
ADD 244
ADD 245
ADD 246
ADD 247
ADD 248
ADD 250
ADD 253
ADD 257
ADD 258
ADD 259
ADD 261
ADD 265
ADD 266
see SAA XI 207

see SAA XI 220
see SAA XI 206
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
XI 209
XI 210
XI 205
XI 208
XI 211
XI 218
XI 214
VI 81
VI 91
VI 245
VI 307
VI 97
XIV 181
XIV 209
XIV 216
XIV 165
VI 111
VI 177
VI 110
VI 89
XIV 24
XIV 49
VI 53
VI 319
VI 40
VI 41
VI 130
VI 96
VI 250
VI 52
VI 342
VI 6
XIV 16
VI 57
VI 284
VI 313
XIV 475
VI 86
XIV 196
VI 297
374
ADD 268
ADD 269
ADD 270
ADD 271
ADD 274
ADD 275+593
ADD 277
ADD 282+283+
802
ADD 283
ADD 284+
ADD 287
ADD 288
ADD 294
ADD 296
ADD 305
ADD 306
ADD 307
ADD 308
ADD 309
ADD 310
ADD 316
ADD 322
ADD 369
ADD 399+803
ADD 420
ADD 421
ADD 422
ADD 423
ADD 424
ADD 426
ADD 427
ADD 428
ADD 429
ADD 430
ADD 432
ADD 435
ADD 443
ADD 447
ADD 448
ADD 452
ADD 453
ADD 455
ADD 456
ADD 457
ADD 458
ADD 462
ADD 471
ADD 473
ADD 474+
ADD 509
ADD 614
ADD 619
ADD 711
index of sources
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
VI 294
VI 195
VI 343
VI 344
VI 172
XIV 146
VI 193
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
SAA XIV 213

ADD 282+
SAA XIV 65
SAA XIV 4
SAA VI 266
SAA VI 116
SAA XIV 186
SAA XIV 247
SAA VI 256
SAA XIV 161
SAA XIV 34
SAA XIV 37
SAA XIV 64
SAA XIV 5
SAA VI 345
SAA XIV 254
SAA XII 7
SAA VI 315
SAA VI 316
SAA VI 50
SAA VI 51
SAA VI 341
SAA XIV 198
SAA VI 37
SAA VI 253
SAA VI 334
SAA VI 173
SAA VI 149
SAA XIV 168
SAA VI 169
SAA VI 90
SAA VI 314
SAA XIV 6
SAA VI 163
SAA VI 112
SAA VI 155
SAA XIV 229
SAA XIV 265
SAA VI 269
SAA VI 326
SAA VI 100
SAA VI 101
SAA XIV 218
SAA VI 128
SAA XIV 155
SAA XIV 38
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
ADD
718
719
727
741+
763
783
789
801
802
804 +
811
825
826
861
882
891
911
1158
1168+
1205+
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
see
SAA XIV 326

SAA XI 181
SAA XIV 3
SAA XII 27+28
SAA XI 169
SAA XI 173
SAA XIV 337
SAA VI 312
ADD 282+
SAA VI 251
SAA XI 194
SAA XI 232
SAA XI 172
SAA XII 16
SAA XI 174
SAA XI 154
SAA XI 146
SAA VI 229
SAA XIV 345
SAA XIV 355
AECT 5
ACET 13
AECT 14
AECT 16
AECT 17
AECT 20
AECT 24
AECT 30
AECT 61
34
199200, 203
35
38
36
35
36
36
27, 39, 76 164, 180
An St 7, 139140
An St 7, 144
239
200, 203
AoF 24, 118121

AoF 24, 129133
27, 32, 76, 228

see SAAS V,
28
AfO 32, 3842

228
AfO 42/3, 8990
228
AfO 42/3, 100102 239
ARU 70
ARU
ARU
ARU
ARU
ARU
ARU
ARU
ARU
ARU
ARU
180
181
205
206
209
214
463
504
505
506
see AoF 24,

118121
228
228
228
228
228
228
228
228
228
228
375
index of sources
ARU
ARU
ARU
ARU
507
508
539
655
228
228
228
see SAAS V, 28
Ass. 2000 D-26 199200, 202

Ass. 2001 D-378 199200, 202
BaM
BaM
BaM
BaM
BaM
BaM
BaM
BaM
BaM
BaM
BaM
BaM
BaM
15,
16,
16,
24,
24,
24,
24,
24,
24,
24,
24,
24,
24,
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
247
371
373
1
3
6
8
9
12
16
17
19
20
199, 203
228
228
230
see ND 673
230
230
198, 231
231
231
231
231
231
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
232
232
232
232
232
232
232
232
232
33, 80, 159, 232
199
232
232
232
33, 69, 158, 232
232
232
232
33, 7172, 232
232
33, 72, 158, 232
232
232
233
233
233
233
233
233
33, 74, 159, 233
233
233
3
4
8
17
18
19
21
26
30
34
41
42
44
45
46
47
49
52
53
54
56
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
69
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
72
75
76
78
79
85
86
89
90
91
92
95
96
97
99
100
104
105
108
114
117
119
124
126
129
136
141
142
156
157
163
173
174
175
177
178
179
180
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
BATSH
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
184
185
186
187
191
192
200
202
233
233
233
233
233
233
233
233
233
33, 78, 159, 233
233
233
233
33, 78, 159, 233
233
233
199200, 203
233
199
199
199
233
233
233
199
233
33, 71, 161, 233
33, 73, 161, 233
233
199
233
233
233
233
233
233
233
37, 108, 164, 166,
198, 241
233
33, 8485, 161, 233
233
233
233
233
33, 85, 161, 233
233
BM 103389
BM 103956
see AfO 32, 3842

230
BT 102
BT 123
BT 125
200202
200202
239
376
index of sources
BT 126
BT 128
BT 139
239
200202
200202
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
113
219
220
247
248
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
CTN
III
III
III
III
III
III
III
III
III
III
III
III
III
8
9
33
34
35
36
37
47
48
49
50
51
59
292
231
231
231
231
231
231
231
189, 231
231
231
231
231
41, 142143, 183, 254
292
194, 231
292, 301
231
199, 203
199, 203
231
231
241
302
199, 201202
7, 292
231
231
231
292
199, 201203
CTN V, 210
348
CTNMC 68
see AECT 61
EPHE 352
228
FNALD 8
FNALD 9
FNALT 14
FNALT 17
FNALT 18
FNALT 24
FNALT 49
194, 231
33, 6970, 194, 231
292, 301
302
see AECT 61
see SAA VI 97
see ND 3443
G/1696
GEZER 1
GIR 75/1572
200202
37, 104105, 164, 241
239
GIR 78/294
Hadid, Tell
239
see G/1696
Hammurabis laws
30
49
136
178
215
216
217
221
222
223
253
348349
11, 222
349
11, 222
11, 222
11, 222
11, 222
11, 222
11, 222
11, 222
11, 222
JEOL 27, 8182

KAV 39
KAV 197
KAJ 243
Laws of Eshnunna
30
LB 851
LBAF C 42
see GEZER 1
see SAA XII 87
86
26, 43, 153155,
186187
349
see OLZ 8, 1304
see AfO 42/3,
100102
MAL
36
45
349
349
MAss. 62
239
NABU 2002/90
see A 3660
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
see CTN II, 1

see CTN II, 219
see CTN II 113
33, 47, 157, 230
see CTN II, 247
199202
231
209, 241
see FNALT 14
231
231
231
292, 231
232
232
232
232
267
407
451
673
815
2078
2082
2306
2307
2313
2314
2315
2316
2323
2324
2325
2326
377
index of sources
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
ND
2327
2328
2329
2330
2333
2344
2443+
2621
2734
3420
3422
3423
3424
3425
3426
3427
3428
3429
3441
3443
3460
3479
5448
5480
7011
7028
7091
232
232
232
232
199202
232
41, 136140, 183, 253
see ND 2443+
see CTN V, p. 210
231
231
302
231
197, 231
see FNALD 9
231
231
231
199, 201202
199, 201202
231
231
199, 202
see SAAS VI, 140
see CTN III 47
see CTN III 51
see CTN III 36
O 3648
O 3660
O 3680
O 3681
O 3683
O 3685
O 3687
O 3695
O 3701
O 3703
O 3706
O 3709
O 3710
OLZ 8, 130134
29
33, 51, 157, 240
240
240
240
199
240
240
200201
240
33, 55, 157, 240
33, 62, 157, 240
200, 202
228
PSBA 30,
137141
PKTA 2730
239
see SAA XII 86
RA 18, 32
see EPHE 352
RIMA 2
A.0.98.1: 6063
348
RIMA 3
A.0.105.2: 9
138
Rfdn
Rfdn
Rfdn
Rfdn
Rfdn
Rfdn
Rfdn
Rfdn
Rfdn
Rfdn
Rfdn
Rfdn
Rfdn
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
17
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
11
12
13
30
228
228
228
228
228
228
228
228
228
228
302
199, 201
303
SAA I 21
86
SAA V 16
SAA V 210
223
349
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
34
37
8, 234
234
234
234
234
34, 49, 157, 234
234
234
234
50, 234
37, 94, 165, 198,
208210, 241
SAA VI 38
50, 234
SAA VI 39
50, 234
SAA VI 40
34, 50, 54, 160, 234
SAA VI 41
34, 50, 54, 160, 234
SAA VI 45
50, 234
SAA VI 48
50, 234
SAA VI 49
234
SAA VI 50/51 38, 9899, 164,
208210, 241
SAA VI 52
34, 50, 157, 234
SAA VI 53
34, 50, 157, 234
SAA VI 54
234
SAA VI 55
198, 234
SAA VI 56
50, 234
SAA VI 57
34, 58, 160, 234
SAA VI 58
234
SAA VI 59
234
SAA VI 65
198, 206, 241
SAA VI 81
40, 86, 162, 200, 241
SAA VI 82
234
SAA VI 85
14, 234
SAA VI 86
34, 59, 160, 234
SAA VI 87
234
378
SAA VI 88
SAA VI 89
index of sources
234
34, 5556, 160,
234
SAA VI 90
37, 9798, 164, 198,
209210, 242
SAA VI 91
39, 8788, 162, 200,
242
SAA VI 92
234
SAA VI 94
209
SAA VI 96
34, 53, 157, 235
SAA VI 97
40, 8687, 162, 200,
242
SAA VI 98
235
SAA VI 100/101 37, 94, 165, 209, 241
SAA VI 103
235
SAA VI 106
235
SAA VI 109
58, 99, 235
SAA VI 110
34, 57, 99, 157, 235
SAA VI 111
34, 54, 58, 60, 99,
160, 235
SAA VI 112
38, 99, 165, 241
SAA VI 116
34, 51, 157, 235
SAA VI 118
235
SAA VI 121
235
SAA VI 122
235
SAA VI 123
198, 241
SAA VI 127
235
SAA VI 128
34, 53, 160, 235
SAA VI 129
206, 208, 241
SAA VI 130
34, 51, 157, 160, 235
SAA VI 132
8, 235
SAA VI 134
235
SAA VI 135
235
SAA VI 138
198, 235
SAA VI 140
235
SAA VI 144
235
SAA VI 145
235
SAA VI 148
235
SAA VI 149
37, 95, 165, 198,
206, 208, 241
SAA VI 151
235
SAA VI 152
235
SAA VI 153
206, 208
SAA VI 155
37, 95, 165, 241
SAA VI 163
37, 9697, 165, 209,
241
SAA VI 166
235
SAA VI 169
37, 69, 96, 165, 198,
241
SAA VI 172
34, 56, 160, 235
SAA VI 173
37, 97, 165, 209, 241
SAA VI 174
194, 235
SAA VI 177
34, 57, 157, 235
SAA VI 179
235
SAA VI 185
235
SAA VI 192
SAA VI 193
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
195
196
197
198
199
203
219
227
228
229
239
244
245
SAA VI 246
SAA VI 250
SAA VI 251
SAA VI 253
SAA VI 255
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
VI
VI
VI
VI
256
257
261
266
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
267
269
272
274
280
283
284
286
289/90
294
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
295
297/98
300
301
305/6
307
309
310
312/313
SAA VI 314
SAA VI 315/316
235
34, 5758, 157,
160, 235
34, 58, 157, 235
235
235
235
236
236
194, 236
61, 236
61, 236
35, 61, 157, 236
88, 236
88, 236
39, 88, 162, 200,
242
88, 236
35, 63, 157, 236
38, 100, 165, 209,
241
38, 165, 198, 209,
241
68, 196, 198, 236,
343
35, 68, 161, 236
8, 236
236
35, 6364, 160161,
198, 236
236
38, 99, 165, 241
200, 202
236
206, 208, 241
206, 208, 241
35, 62, 157, 194, 236
236
236
35, 65, 157, 197,
236
200203
35, 6162, 160, 236
66, 198, 236
66, 197, 236
66, 197, 236
40, 89, 163, 200
236
236
3536, 66, 68, 161,
236
38, 102103, 166,
198, 242
38, 102, 164, 198,
209210, 242
index of sources
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
317
319
320/321
325
326
SAA VI 329/330
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
VI
VI
VI
VI
331
332
333
334
SAA VI 340
SAA VI 341
SAA VI 342
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
VI
VI
VI
VI
VI
343/344
345
346
347
348
200, 203204
36, 6869, 236
206, 208, 242
198
38, 104, 164,
209210, 242
112, 198, 206, 210,
242
112
242
242
38, 103, 105, 166,
198, 209210, 242
205206, 208, 242
38, 104, 166, 236,
242
35, 66, 158, 161,
196, 236
35, 67, 158, 236
35, 67, 158, 236
236
236
236
SAA VII 131
198
SAA X 167
223
SAA XI 146
41, 148149, 182,

184, 255
56
6, 41, 56, 146, 182,
254
330331
41, 144145, 181,
254
41, 147148, 182,
184, 255
41, 146147, 150,
182, 184, 254255
41, 145, 181, 184,
254, 299
41, 151, 182, 185,
256
41, 151, 182, 185,
256
26, 41, 151152,
185, 256
26, 41, 152, 182,
256
26, 41, 150151,
185, 256
27, 41, 149150,
184, 255
29, 42, 117120,
SAA XI 202
SAA XI 203
SAA XI 205
SAA XI 206
SAA XI 207
SAA XI 208
SAA XI 209
SAA XI 210
SAA XI 211
SAA XI 213
SAA XI 214
SAA XI 153
SAA XI 154
SAA XI 167
SAA XI 169
SAA XI 172
SAA XI 173
SAA XI 174
SAA XI 181
SAA XI 194
SAA XI 195
SAA XI 196
SAA XI 199
SAA XI 200
SAA XI 201
SAA XI 218
SAA XI 219
SAA XI 220
SAA XI 232
SAA XII 7
SAA XII 15
SAA XII 16
SAA XII 17
SAA XII 26
SAA XII 27+28
SAA XII 86
SAA XII 87
SAA XII 94
SAA XII 98
379
173, 177, 248249,
348
29, 42, 120123,
132, 173, 177, 222,
249, 309, 348
29, 42, 119,
123126, 131, 174,
177, 215, 222,
249250
29, 42, 126127,
174, 250
29, 42, 126127,
174, 177, 250
29, 42, 127129,
174175, 178, 222,
250251
29, 42, 128129,
175, 250251
29, 42, 129130,
175, 178, 251
29, 42, 136, 179,
217, 252
29, 42, 136,
179180, 217, 252
29, 42, 124126,
130131, 176, 178,
215, 250
29, 42, 130131,
176
29, 42, 132, 176,
178, 250
2930, 42, 132134,
179180, 217, 252,
348
29, 42, 134135,
179180, 217, 252
41, 108109, 167
42, 109, 168, 245
110
42, 109110, 168,
245
26, 42, 110, 168,
246
112113, 213, 344
42, 110113,
168170, 213,
246248, 344
27, 43, 115116,
170172, 246
27, 43, 113115,
170171, 246
197, 232
27, 43, 116, 172,
246
380
index of sources
SAA XIV 1
SAA XIV 2
SAA XIV 3
SAA XIV 4
SAA XIV 5
SAA XIV 6
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
7
8
9
10
12
13
14
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
24
29
34
SAA XIV 36
SAA XIV 37
SAA XIV 38
SAA XIV 39
SAA XIV 48
SAA XIV 49
SAA XIV 50
SAA XIV 64
SAA XIV 65
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
67
78
85
90
91
93
97
100
101
105
108
115
128
65, 101, 206, 208,

242
65, 198, 65, 206,
208, 242
38, 65, 101, 165,
198, 236, 242
35, 65, 158, 236
35, 6566, 158,
236
38, 65, 101, 165,
198, 206, 236, 242
65, 236
236
236
237
237
237
237
36, 72, 158, 237
237
237
237
237
237
206, 208, 242
36, 69, 158, 237
237
36, 74, 159, 237,
292
206, 208, 209, 242
36, 75, 159, 237,
292
36, 75, 159, 237,
292
237
237
36, 78, 159, 196,
210, 237, 343
237
35, 63, 157, 237
35, 67, 158, 194,
237
237
237
237
210, 237
237
199, 203
199, 203
237
199, 202
237
199202
237
237
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
129
146
147
150
153
154
155
237
36, 7071, 158, 237
237
237
237
237
40, 75, 159, 161,
198
SAA XIV 159
200202
SAA XIV 161
237, 292
SAA XIV 162
237
SAA XIV 163/164 222223
SAA XIV 165
36, 77, 159, 237
SAA XIV 168
38, 105, 166, 209,
242
SAA XIV 174
237
SAA XIV 179
237
SAA XIV 181
40, 91, 163, 199
SAA XIV 186
36, 80, 159, 197,
238
SAA XIV 189
238
SAA XIV 195
238
SAA XIV 196
37, 84, 159, 238
SAA XIV 198
39, 107, 166, 242
SAA XIV 202
200, 203
SAA XIV 207
206, 208, 242
SAA XIV 209
40, 92, 163, 199
SAA XIV 212
238
SAA XIV 213
36, 81, 161, 238
SAA XIV 215
242
SAA XIV 216
39, 9394, 162,
200
SAA XIV 218
292
SAA XIV 229
36, 39, 105106,
164, 242
SAA XIV 240
238
SAA XIV 241
238
SAA XIV 242
238
SAA XIV 243
238
SAA XIV 244
238
SAA XIV 245
238
SAA XIV 246
238
SAA XIV 247
80, 161, 238
SAA XIV 254
39, 108, 164, 198,
242
SAA XIV 263
206, 208, 242
SAA XIV 264
238
SAA XIV 265
39, 107108, 166,
210, 242
SAA XIV 301
238
SAA XIV 313
197
SAA XIV 326
36, 82, 161, 238
SAA XIV 333
238
SAA XIV 337
36, 8283, 159,
161, 238
381
index of sources
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
339
345
347
355
SAA XIV 364

SAA XIV 399
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
400
401
402
414
424
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
435
442
443
450
469
472
475
SAA XV 54
SAA XV 181
SAA XV 219
SAA XV 303
SAA XV 309
SAA XVI 53
SAA XVII 114
105, 238
39, 106, 164, 242
238
39, 106, 166, 206,
208, 242
238
27, 39, 106107,
166, 207, 209, 242
238
206, 208, 242
238
26, 37, 84, 161, 238
27, 36, 7273,
159, 198, 238
209, 238
302
292
302
238
238
36, 83, 161, 238
349
26, 44, 140142,
181183, 253,
299, 323
349
27, 44, 150, 184, 256
27, 44, 150, 184,
256
SAA XVIII 56
SAA XVIII 161
27, 44, 64, 157

26, 44, 144, 184,
254
292
292
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
1,
1,
1,
1,
3,
1
2
9
5763
7172
194, 232
232
232
see SAA XII 98
228
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
13
17
29
31
34
39
41
43
44
45
50
51
199, 201202
27, 40, 77, 159, 189
228
202
228
228
228
228
229
199, 201202
199202
228, 302
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
5 53
5 55
5 58
5 61
5, pp. 136137
229
229
229
229
39, 77, 159
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
9
9
9
9
69
76
77
78
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
79
85
95
103
109
119
124
126
127
132
139
199, 201202
229
229
27, 32, 80, 159,
229
199, 203
229
199, 202
229
229
229
229
229
229
229
229
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
SAAB
11,
12,
12,
12,
12,
46
6466
66
6870
7071
SAAS V, pp. 2830

SAAS V 23
SAAS V 28
SAAS V 29
SAAS
SAAS
SAAS
SAAS
VI,
VI,
VI,
VI,
140
142
160161
369
229
229
229
229
229
59
see SAA XIV 450
44, 8990, 163,
199, 321
see SAA XIV 15
302
302
292
44, 91, 162, 199,
240
S 72
see AfO 42/3,

8990
StAT 1 36
40, 9091, 162,

199200
199
StAT 1 55
StAT 2 6
StAT 2 8
StAT 2 11
StAT 2 16
StAT 2 33
StAT 2 45
292
292
27, 43, 152153,
186
229
229
199, 203
382
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
index of sources
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
64
73
79
81
91
94
95
99
100
101
105
107
112
113
117
118
StAT 2 119
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
120
121
122
123
124
125
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
144
145
146
158
164
169
170
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
245
266
267
268
269
270
271
199202
199202
302
302
229
292
302
229
229
27, 39, 4849, 157
229
229
229
229
229
27, 32, 85, 161,
229
27, 33, 85, 161,
229
229
229
229
229
229
229
229
229
27, 32, 78, 161, 230
27, 230
230
27, 32, 71, 230
230
56, 230
230
71, 230
71, 230
230
292
230
199200, 203
230
230
230
230
230
230
292
230
230
230
230
230
230
230
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
StAT
2
2
2
2
2
272
273
274
275
313
S.U. 51/36
S.U. 51/43
TB
TB
TB
TB
8
9
13
22
230
230
230
230
292
see An St 7, 139140
see An St 7, 144
239
239
239
239
TCL 9 57
see FNALT 17
TH 103
TH 109
239
239
TIM
TIM
TIM
TIM
XI
XI
XI
XI
2
14
15
24
see
see
see
see
SAA
SAA
SAA
SAA
XIV
XIV
XIV
XIV
TSF F 204 I/3
200, 203
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
see StAT 2 6
3216
5602
5606
8232
8274
8280
8586
VAT 8592
VAT 8605
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
8641
8653
8660
8663
8664
8665
8669
8674
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
8676
8678
8680
8681
8695
8833
9137
9319
424
443
442
450
see SAAS V, 28
32, 74, 159, 239
239
239
43, 153155,
186187
see SAAB 9 78
43, 154155,
186187
239
199, 239
199, 203, 239
199, 239
43, 154, 187
43, 154, 186187
153154, 187
43, 153155,
186187
239
43, 154, 186187
see A 1182
43, 153155, 186187
155
see KAJ 243
239
199, 201
383
index of sources
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
9582
9622
9689
9694
32, 70, 158, 230

see SAAB 9 69
see SAAB 9 79
see SAAB 9 95
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
9755
9778
9832a
9832b
9832c
9844
9930
14450
15461
15538
15580
19495
19497
19500
19506
32, 79, 159, 239

239
239
239
239
239
see SAAS VI, 142
see SAAB 5 17
199, 203
32, 79, 161, 240
see StAT 1 55
240
240
see SAAS VI, 369
239
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
VAT
19508
19530
19550
19872
20341
20342
20349
20351
20363
20366
20377
20395
20688
20761
20786
20834
21049
21538
ZA 73, 11
240
240
see SAAB 5, 51
32, 49, 157, 240
see SAAB 5 31
see SAAB 5 13
see SAAB 5 17
240
see SAAB 5, pp. 136137
240
see SAAB 5 50
see SAAB 5 45
240
240, 292
see StAT 1 36
292
240
240
see BM 103956
Biblical Sources
Gen
11: 30
25: 21
29: 31
308
308
308
Exod
23: 26
1 Sam
2: 5
308
Kings
335
308
Isa
54: 1
308
Deut
7: 14
308
Ps
113: 9
308
Judg
13: 23
308
Job
24: 21
308
II. INDEX OF NAMES
Personal Names
Ab-il 103
Abd (1) 82
Abd (2) 123, 125
Abdi-Kubbi 94
Abdnu 103
Abi-dal 75
Abi-hri (1) 123
Abi-hri (2) 124
Abi-iahia 63
Abi-rah (1) 35, 63, 157
Abi-rah (2) 91
Abu- . . . 71
Abu-erba 104
Abu-lmur 147148
Abu-rifa 77
Abu-ba 4849
Adad-ahu-iddina 63
Adad-blu-uur 123, 126
Adad-bssunu 155
Adad-bixd 126
Adad-erba 96
Adad-milki-ref 80
Adad-nrri III 20, 48, 109
Adad-rmanni 131
Adad-farru-uur 62
Adad-uballi 111
Add 57
Adda-hutn 136
Adda-lkidi 130
Adda-naaba 110
Adda-sr (1) 132
Adda-sr (2) 137
Addat 34, 40, 86
Add 124
Adi-mti-ilu 117
Adrtu 146
Adn-bu 5455
Adnu 82
Ag-[. . .] 137
Ah 126
Ah-ab (1) 117
Ah-ab (2) 120, 122
Ah-ab (3) 129
Ahat 78
Aht-abfa 70
Ah[t-. . .] 90
Aht-lxi 69
Aht-bat 72
Ahtu-lmur 89
Ahi-dr 137, 139
Ah-imm 9495
Ahi-ngi 134
Ahi-nr (1) 50
Ahi-nr (2) 132
Ahi-pad 103
Ahi-all 37, 39, 56, 98, 160,
164
Ahu 137
Ahxa (1) 111
Ahxa (2) 115
Ahxa-erba 74
Ahu-dr 96
Ahu-iddina 151
Ahu-lxi 111
Ahu-lfir 85
Ahu-lxt 111
Ahnu (1) 115
Ahnu (2) 117
Ahnu (3) 132
Ahu-nr 132
Ahtu-k-[. . .] 79
Aia-ahh 74
Aia-ehu[. . .] 75
Aia-lmur 152153
Akbaru 78
Aktur-la-Nafuh 132
Amat-Bl-uur 140
Amat-Kurra 91
Amat-Salmnu (= mtglmn) 71
Amman-tanahti 76
Ammi-iababa 82
Amurr 5556
Ana-mni-allak 109
Anu-ahu-u[ur] 79
Anu-ref 140
Ap 76
Aplia 94, 165
Aqr-Bl-lmur 144
Arad-Nergal see Urdu-Nergal
Arbailiu (1) 60
Arbailiu (2) 104
Arbail-hammat 8990
index of names
Arbail-farrat 93
Arbiu 87
Arnab 117
As 111
Asalluhi-ahh-iddina 73
Asalluhi-fumu-iddina 73
Asannu 123
Ass 124
Assurbanipal 21, 51, 63, 6567,
7880, 101104, 111, 144, 280, 286,
344, 347, 349
Assurnairpal II 348
Asusi 108
Affr-bni 49
Affr-blu-taqqin (1) 9495
Affr-blu-taqqin (2) 141142
Affr-blu-uur (1) 49
Affr-blu-uur (2) 52
Affr-blu-uur (3) 109
Affr-erba 70
Affr-mtu-taqqin 272, 303
Affr-mtu-[taqqin?] 79
Affr-mtu-balli 80
Affr-mu-BI-KAT 70
Affr-mufallim 75
Affr-ndin-ahi 75
Affr-naxid 80
Affr-rewa 116
Affr-rf-iffi 70
Affr-fallim-ahh (1) 62
Affr-fallim-ahh (2) 66
Affr-fumu-iddina 107
Atara[. . .] 301
Attr-. . . 72
Attr-ail 152153
Attr-bixd 129
Attr-idr 72
Attr-fumk 121
Ateqanni 51
Atti 72
Awr 111
Azi-il 128
Baxal-sr 102
Baxalt-ibatu 7576
Baxassi 66
Bbia 51
Bb 147
Bbiliu (1) 5354
Bbiliu (2) 80
Bbu- . . . 95
Bdia 6061, 293
Bia 8485
Baiadi-il 111
Bakfa 110
Balai 55
Balku-ammar 115
Bali-Aia (1) 52
Bali-Aia (2) 96
B[a . . .] 72
Bn (1) 89
Bn (2) 110
Bntu-abu-uur 155
Bntu-ummi 153
Bann 111
Bap 80
Baq 154
Bar-aht 9899
Barku 103
Barsipitu 54
Bss 151
Baffafa 105
Btnu 74
Baui 64
Bl-abu-uur 83
Bl-ahhfu 146
Bl-aplu-iddina 68
Bl-bni 126
Bl-muranni (1) 68
Bl-muran[ni] (2) 91
Bl-ref 80
Bl-iddin 146
Blet-issxa 76
Blet-taddina 144
Bl-Harrn-blu-uur 137139
Bl-Harrn-idr 131
Bl-Harrn-issxa 50, 54
Bl-Harrn-taklk (1) 50
Bl-Harrn-taklk (2) 6061, 293
Bl-iqbi 83
Bl-lmur 140
Bl-lxi (1) 89
Bl-lxi (2) 152153
Bl-nadi 68, 7576
Bl-nir 4849
Bl-nri 85
Bl-rba 78
Bl-famka 137, 139
Bl-uballi (1) 110
Bl-uballi (2) 113
Betuzati 74
Bibia 85
Biba 86
Bi-Ddi 99
Bit 105
Bitt 146
Bru-ahu-iddina 74
Bru-rapax 74
Busuku 84
Buxfia 72
385
386
index of names
Ddi-dilni 120
Dadu 49
Dagal-il 301
Dainu-idr 72
Daxxinanni-Nergal 67
Dal-[. . .] 134
Dalwa (1) 64
Dalwa (2) 71
Dandsi 61
Dannia (1) 39
Dannia (2) 88, 162
Dannia (3) 123
Danq 98
Dri-Bl 86
Dd (1) 64
Dd (2) 89
Dihatari 78
Dimb 64
Dnna 68
Dnnu 128
Df 82
Dugul-pn-ili 137
Dullaiaqanun 87
Ebsu 142
du-qidira 51
Ehij 87
Emq-Affr 4748
n-il 102
Enq 155
Epix 85
Erba/Rba[. . .] 137
Erba-Affr 80
risu 133
Esarhaddon 51, 57, 6364, 6566, 68,
88, 100101, 144, 286, 342, 346347,
349
ir-[. . .] 84
Gabbu-mur 100
Gabbu-ilni-ref 67
Gabia 68
Gabr (1) 49
Gabr (2) 110
Gabri-il 132
Gaddij 70
Gad-il 96
Gag 111
Gameu 142
Gir-Iu 137138
Gula-ramt 154
Gula-rifat 75
Gurdu 137
Haia-ahi 71
Halma 124
Haldi- . . . 99
Halmusu (1) 80
Halmusu (2) 120
Hamad 108
Hambussu 69
Hammia 153
Hamnnu 57
Hanabax 115
Hanabuf 76
Hanna (1) 85
Hanna (2) 144
Han-Ddi/dada 120122
Hand/hdy 51, 55, 63, 157
Hann (1) 120
Hann (2) 136
Hanpafnu 120, 122
Hannu (1) 57
Hannu (2) 121
Han[nu] (3) 134
Hannu-il 107
Hanzab 111
Harm 123
Harr 111
Harrniu/hrny 51
Harrniu 137
Harrn 140
Harurnu (1) 94
Harurnu (2) 115
Hafnu 98
Hatezia 75
Haznu 141, 225
Hazi . . . 69
Hazg 137
Hehe-ilx 70
Hilq-Iu 137139
Hiubarra 111
Huddia 72
Hulli 87
Hurubisa[. . .] 104
Husaz 127
Hu-nahti 76
Ia-ahh 104
Iahim 108
Iluzu 115116
Iamani 134
Iannuqu 64
Iaqar-ah 63
Iaqr 105
Ia-sr 137
Iatm 111
Ia-idr 111
index of names
Ibnia 97
Idia/Id-Aia 70
Iddti-Bl-allak 62
Iddinia 134
Iddxa 35, 68, 161
Idr-Anu (1) 117
Idr-Anu (2) 130
Idr-l 136
Ikkru 104
Il-abadi 117
Il-amar 95
Ilx-ab 133, 271
Ilia-takara 142
Il-ban 123
Il-ba[. . .] 120, 122
Il-bak 71
Il-Ddi (1) 129
Il-Ddi (2) 132133
Il-Ddi (3)
Il-dal 133, 271
Il-gabr 132
Il-hazi 72
Il-iba 115
Il-iadax 141142
Il-idr (1) 72
Il-idr (2) 131
Il-naqam 123
Il-Nafuh-milk (1) 120, 122
Il-Nafuh-milk (2) 134
Il-natan (1) 5455
Il-natan (1) 124
Il-nr 117
Il-paxal 130
Il-sx-milk 117
Il-sri 57
Il-fumk (1) 80
Il-fumk (2) 118
Ilu-bni 128
Ilu-ibni 70
Ilu-iddina 137
Ilu-islaka 129
Ilu-ittja 120, 122
Ilu-knu-uur 6162
Iltu 153
Ilssa 64
Ilu-fal[. . .] 106
Indib 40, 87
In-ili 111
Inqia 146
Inrta-ref 133
Inrta-ualli 133, 271
Iqbi-Affr 74
Iqbi-Issr 147
Iqf 141
387
Is 72
Isinniu 84
Issr-. . . 85
Issr-dr-qalli 75
Issr-dr (1) 38
Issr-dr (2) 100
Issr-dr (3) 123
Issr-ilx 154
Issr-kulitti 85
Iffal[-. . .] 71
Kakkullnu 36, 7475, 79, 159, 191
Kalbi-Uk 63
Kamasu 104
Kandalnu (1) 57
Kandalnu (2) 86
Kn 134
Kanknu 117, 120, 296
Knu 113114
Knu-abxa 103
Knu-lfir 108
Kn-zru 115
Kiqillnu (1) 5051
Kiqillnu (2) 72
Kiqillutu 153
Kiribtu 145
Kubbu-ilx 147
Kubbu-lnu 106
Kudurr[nu] 79
Kul-ba-iadi-[il] 120, 122
Kullia 146
Kummiu 72
Kur-ilx 67
Kurz 129
Ksi 118
L-abfi 145
L-dgil-ili 75
Lai 82
L-nashi 80
L-qpu 61
L-tenni-amassa 63
L-tubfinni 301
L-turamanni-Affr 76
Libf 111
Liphur-ilu 137
Liphur-Bl 223
Lt-ili 121
L-balat (1) 58
L-bala (2) 104
L-balat (3) 107
Lub-Nafhu 117, 120, 296
Lqu (lqh) 36, 69, 158
L-fakin 76
388
index of names
Mdiu 60
Mammtu-dri 79
Manasseh 335
Mannu-. . . 67
Mannu-idix 121
Mannu-k-Ddi 133
Mannu-k-Adad 111
Mannu-k-Allia 63
Mannu-k-Arbail 85
Mannu-k-Affr (1) 76
Mannu-k-Affr (2) 79
Mannu-k-Affr (3) 137
Mannu-k-Inrta 9394
Mannu-k-Nnua (1) 50
Mannu-k-Nnua (2) 104
Mannu-k-ummi 75
Mannu-k-Sx 127
Mannu-l-amni 132
Mr-[. . .] 80
Mard (1) 78
Mard (2) 9798
Marduk-ahu-iddina 107
Marduk-erba 104
Marduk-rmanni 66
Mr-gubbi 137
Mr-larm 68
Marqihit 62
Marif-adllal 67
Mrt 63
Matx 137
Matix 111
Martux 9798
Mexsu 120
Mexs 6061, 293
Milkia 8788
Milki-natan 77
Milki-nr 35, 6566, 101, 157158,
165
Milki-sr 96
Minahimi 63
Mnu-ahi 146147
Mudammiq-Affr 77
Muhhi-ili-fapkku 64
Murabbataf 75
Musukiu 70
Muuriu 72
Mufallim-Issr 4950, 157
Mufallim-Nafhu 120122
Mutakkil-Marduk 75
Nabt
Nabxa
Nabxa
Nabxa
87
(1) 53
(2) 62
(3) 85
Nabxa (4) 97
Nab-ahu-ref 140
Nab-ahu-iddina 4748
Nab-ahu-uur 103
Nab-pil-kmxa 108
Nab-apkal-ilni 91
Nab-aplu-iddina 67
Nab-ballssu-iqbi 132
Nab-balli 115
Nab-bni 140
Nab-bl-uur 62
Nab-dexiq 97
Nab-dn-amur 115
Nab-dri 108
Nab-ref 144
Naxid-Eferiga
Nab-erba (1) 5758
Nab-erba (2) 89
Nab-ir 50
Nab-iranni 114
Nab-ir-napfti (1) 97
Nab-ir-napfti (2) 113
Nab-hamta 349
Nab-iddina (1) 50
Nab-iddina (2) 115
Nab-kir 115
Nab-knu-ubbib 107
Nab-knu-uur 115
Nab-kibs-uur 49
Nab-lad 132
Nab-lxni 115
Nab-ndin-ahh 100
Nab-ndin-ahi 140
Nab-ndin-apli 123
Nab-naid 154
Nab-rf-iffi 113
Nab-fabfi 115
Nab-far-ilni 88
Nab-farru-uur 111, 213
Nab-fzib (1) 58
Nab-fzib (2) 113
Nab-fumu-ibni 47
Nab-fumu-iddina (1) 6970
Nab-fumu-iddina (2) 70
Nab-fumu-ifkun 34, 59
Nab-fumu-kaxxin 113
Nab-fumu-lfir 7879
Nab-tf-balli 109
Nabt 65
Nabtu 83
Nab-tuklatxa 4748, 50,
157
Nab-ualli 133
Nab-ufallim 133, 271
389
index of names
Nab-zqip-enfi 115
Nab-zru-iddina (1) 78
Nab-zru-iddina (2) 91
Naxdi 104
Naxdi-ilu 52
Nagaha 72
Nahir 9293
Naxid-Affr 101
Naxid-Eferiga 140
Nania-ilx 79
Nania-Rmat 8485
Nan (1) 111
Nan (2) 111
Nan (3) 121
Nan (4) 124
Nan (5) 201
Napus 115
Naqixa/Zakutu 101
Nafuh-dal 132
Nafuh-dilni (1) 123
Nafuh-dilni (2) 123, 126
Nafuh-dimr 123
Nafku-dr 123
Nafuh-gabr 132
Nafuh-iddina 126
Nafuh-idr (1) 117
Nafuh-idr (2) 129
Nafuh-manni 134
Nafuh-qatar (1) 117
Nafuh-qatar (2) 132
Nafuh-sagab 129
Nafuh-samaxani 118
Nafuh-sa[. . .] 117
Nazibir 111
Nufhu-salahanni 102
Nergal-dn 63
Nergal-iddina 60
Nergal-ilx 129
Nergal-farru-uur (= xAthar-farru-uur)
71
Nergal-uballi 100
Nnuiu 36, 72, 158
Ninuxtu 96
Nria 50
Nr 111
Nr-Issr 110
Nr-eamaf 69, 202
Nufku-ilx (1) 117
Nufku-ilx (2) 117
Nufku-fzibanni 120
Pad 130
Pah 75
Pala . . . 78
Plihka-liblu 140
Palu 120
Paltai 141
Pn-Affr-[. . .] 149150
Parnu-uarri 7273
Paru 100
Pilaqq 87
Pirahu 115
Pd 72
Pufh 69
Pui-Hru 144
Pui-Mnu 76
Qallussu 86
Qans 107
Qarh 102
Qausu 9495
Qibt-Affr 74
Qsia 114
Qt-ilni 111
Qt-mt 111
Quia 137
Qun 133, 271
Qunnabatu 146
Qurdi-Adad 86
Qurdi-Issr 147
Qurdi-Issr-lmur
Qutar 72
101
Rabba-il 142
Rahm 118
Ram 72
Rfi-il 223
Ratux 86
Ratulu 105
Rhnu 141
Rmanni-Adad 3536, 38, 40, 62,
6669, 89, 102104, 112, 158,
160161, 163164, 166, 241242,
344
Rmanni-Issr 116
Rmt-Gula 146
Rmt-ilni 97
Rmtu 145
Ribsiru 142
Rimini 301
Rsia (1) 51
Rsia (2) 130
Sadaia 67
Sagx 137
Sagb-Adda 137
Sagb/Skip-Affr
Sagb (1) 65
77
390
index of names
Sagb (2) 151

Sagbu 117
Sai 142
Saxlu 137
Skip-Affr 79
Salmnnu 70
Salm[nu-. . .] 134
Sallnu 94
Salmnu-imm 67
Smidu 71
Sams[i-. . .] 77
Samsi-ibi 126
Samsi-ilx 123, 126
Samnu-aplu-iddina 126
Sannu 89
San 80
Sargon II 2022, 31, 4951, 95, 99,
141, 223, 272, 298, 344
Ss (1) 97
Ss (2) 127
Ss (3) 350
Ssu 110
Sx-aplu-iddina 117
Sx-aqba (1) 118
Sx-aqba (2) 129
Sx-dikir 126
Sx-dilni 120
Sx-gab 6061, 293
Sx-hri 69
Sx-iabba 132
Sx-it 82
Sx-idr 117
Sx-imm 82
Sx-law 55
Sx-mad 34, 38, 57, 60, 99, 157,
160, 165
Sx-manni (1) 134
Sx-manni (2) 134
Sx-npi 117
Sx-ntan 6869
Sx-nr 65
Sx-sak 132
Sx-fumk 126
Sennacherib 2022, 31, 5051, 57,
5960, 63, 95, 99, 101, 115116,
144, 211, 278, 280, 293
Shalmaneser IV 48
Shalmaneser V 49, 141
Silim-Adad 55
Silim-Affr (1) 61, 157
Silim-Affr (2) 79
Silim-Ddi 103
Silim-Inrta 107
Simk-il 85
Sn-[. . .] 124
Sn-lik-pni (1) 66
Sn-lik-pni (2) 91
Sn-ref 131
Sn-knu-di 44, 91, 162
Sn-naxdi (1) 2
Sn-naxdi (2) 117
Sn-fumu-. . . 104
Sitir-[. . .] 60
Sukki-Aia (1) 70
Sukki-Aia (2) 91
Sukki-Aia (3 = son of
Parnu-uarri) 7273
Sukktu 111
Supala 74
Sr 129
Sria 123
Sr-rmu 129
alam-farri-iqbi 9394
alimtu (1) 74
alimtu (2) 153154
arru-iqbi 73
il-Affr 6162
il-bl 52
il-Issr 137, 139
il-Nab (1) 114
il-Nab (2) 116
ii 137
ubtu 301
umafferi 144
u 111
eaddtu 38, 100101
eamaf-abxa 9192
eamaf-ahu-iddina 134
eamaf-ahu-uur 71
eamaf-ail 64
eamaf-blu-uur 110
eamaf-erba (1) 77
eamaf-erba (2) 84
eamaf-ilxi (1) 58
eamaf-ilxi (2) 65
eamaf-immi 49
eamaf-issxa 99
eamaf-nir 8990
eamaf-farru-uur 70
eamaf-fumu-iddina 108
eamaf-uballi (1) 97
eamaf-uballi (2) 301
eamgainu 111
ea[ng-. . .] 105
ear-ilni-ilu 123, 126
ear-ili 77
ear-Issr 110
earranu 56
index of names
earr 111
earru-muranni 349
earru-l-dri 111
earru-fumu-kaxxin 62
eep-Affr 79
er-dal 117
er-manni 118
eti-aht 152153
eiti-dannat 80
eulmtu 89
eulmu-Bl 104
eulmu-bli 53
eulmu-bli-lmur 75
eulmu-farri 69, 7172, 74, 78,
158159
eumma-Adad 100
eumma-ibaffi-kettu 61
eumma-ilni 21, 34, 3738, 5051,
54, 95, 99, 157, 160, 164165
Taxallu 115
Taxl (1) 123, 126
Taxl (2) 126
Tabliu 69
Tang 137
Tarhu-[. . .] 9293
Tarhu-nazi 74
Tarhundap 96
Tarba-Issr 75
Tarbi-Issr 53
Texitu 76
Tela-il 129
Tr-dal 132
Thuri-[. . .]bi 49
Tiglath-pileser III 20, 4849, 110,
138
Tini 126
Tir 57
Tiurame 9293
Tuqnnat/Tuqn-mti 77
ba-rigimtu-Adad 88
b 132
ab-rigim-[. . .] 107
b-rhiti 87
uri-Aia 104
us 89
Uar[i . . .] 104
Uas 123, 126
Ubru 141
Ubru-Affr 75
Ubru-ilni 70
Ubru-Nab 59
Ulliu (1) 57
Ulliu (2) 129
Ulliu (3) 134
Ulliu (4) 201
Uppahir-ilu 137
Uqaiaqi 115
Urad-Issr (1) 67
Urad-Issr (2) 129
Urad-Issr (3) 129
[Ur]ad-Issr (4) 149150
riu 60
Urda-Bnitu 110
Urda-Gula (1) 110
Urda-Gula (2) 115
Urda-Issr (1) 57, 60
Urda-Issr (2) 111
[Urd]a-Nab (1) 108
Urda-Nab (2) 115
Urd (1) 111, 113
Urdu 83
Urdu-Inrta 70
Urdu-Issr 79
Urdu-Mullissu 94
Urdu-Nab 75
Urdu-Nania 75
Urdu-Nergal 146
Urdu-eamaf 49
r-i 87
Urkittu-ilx 5556
Urkittu-lxt 75
Urkittu-refat 75
Urua 62
sax (1) 6061, 293
sax (2) 65
Ua . . . 66
Uzziah 335
Zabd 123
Zabnu 9798
Zakutu see Naqixa
Zarhi-ili 148149
Zar 97
Zzia 140
Zr-Issr 132
Zru-ibni 83
Zil 67
Zizibiu 148149
Zur[. . .] 122
391
392
index of names
Place Names
Adia 4546
Adian, Adi-il 45, 96
Agurima 49
midu 223
Andit 4546
Arbail (Arbla) 22, 45, 211, 246,
280281, 342, 344
Arpad 104
Arrapha 94
Arumu (Aram) 45
Arzhina 348
Affr 20, 2223, 2527, 30, 3233,
3940, 43, 4849, 7071, 74, 7680,
8586, 8990, 115, 157159,
162163, 186187, 192193, 195,
197, 199200, 211, 228230,
239240, 274275, 278, 292, 342,
348
Affr (Tabira gate) 114
Babylon 141, 145, 344
Babylonia 22, 45, 133, 141, 144, 225,
272, 342
Bhia, Kapar Bhia 65
Balawat see Imgur-Illil
Balhu 28
Bt-faffiri 45, 109
Calah (Kalhu) 2023, 26, 33, 41,
4549, 6263, 70, 80, 116, 199, 138,
143, 157158, 183, 192193, 195,
197, 200, 230232, 274275, 287,
292, 342
Carchemish 57, 6263, 6768, 70, 85,
8789, 101
Cutha 146, 225
Dadi-ualla 45, 87
Dimeti 137
Dru 141
Dr-Katlimmu 14, 2223, 2627, 33,
37, 69, 7172, 74, 78, 8485, 108,
158159, 164, 166, 192193, 195,
197, 199200, 232233, 274275,
278279
Dr-earrukn 95, 99
Elam
87, 191
Galilee 138
Gamblu 30, 128, 144, 221
Gezer 2223, 26, 37, 104105, 164,

192, 278279
Gzn 239
Hadattu 28
Hadid see Tell Hadid
Harrn 22, 2829, 45, 61, 71, 82,
133, 173180
Hindnu 72
Huzrna 28, 200, 239
Imgur-Illil (Balawat) 193, 195, 197,
200, 239
Ispallur 45, 103
Izalla 22, 103, 342
Kalhu see Calah
Kannu 45
Kapar Adunu 70
Kapar Bl-ahh 87
Kapar Mallsi 45
Kapar Nab-nir 4546
Kfijri 45
Khabur 29
Kipnu 28
Kif 114
Kummuh 73
Kurru-. . . 4546
Lahru 45, 68, 101
L-ahh 105
Maxallnte 2123, 26, 29, 33, 51, 55,
62, 157, 199200, 239240, 274275
Maganuba 95, 99
Magrsu 29
Maliyati 45
Mzamua 344
Musina-aplu-iddina 104
mt rab gq (mt rbgqn) 22, 45, 103, 342
Nabula 239
Nab-fzib, Kapar Nab-fezib 65
Nabur 45, 97
Naibina 29
Nrubu/Nrab 22, 45, 104, 342
Nikuxa 45, 107
Nineveh (Nnua) 2023, 2527, 30,
3445, 49, 5163, 6569, 7172,
7476, 7980, 8284, 8689, 92,
9497, 99106, 149152, 157160,
393
index of names
162172, 181185, 192193, 195,
197, 199200, 234238, 274275,
278279, 281, 287, 292, 342
Paddnu 45
Pattu-. . . 46
Qubate 88
Qudru 46, 53
Que 330331
rab gq, provincesee mt rab gq
Raappa 46, 88, 115116, 280281
Sagbat 137
Sargu 28
Singra ( Jebel Sinjar) 46, 112
Sparta 223
eazabin 58
eibanba 46, 97
eiddi-hiriti 46, 9495
eulmu-birti
46
Talmsa 22, 4546, 53, 8788, 342

Tamnna 30
Tell Abta 138139
Tell Aqra 141
Tell Hadid 200
Tell Shioukh Fawqani 200
Tixi 46, 9899
Til-Barsib 22, 46, 68, 239, 342
Til-Bu . . . 46
Til-Nahiri 46, 102
Til-ra . . . 46
Tll zy Qpn Hrn (= Tilul of the Qipan of
Harran) 29
Transjordan 138
Uruk 145, 225
Urakka 46, 54
Zabarra
46
God Names
Affr
2, 30
Bbu 114, 211

Bl 114
Inrta
116
Nab 114, 116

Nafuh 29
Ninurta see Inrta
Sn 28, 61, 82
eamaf 76
Zabba
114, 211, 344
III. INDEX OF TERMS
Akkadian and Sumerian Terms

A see maru
abu 200, 204
AD see abu
adi 12, 93, 144, 234, 246, 254,
344
a-di qi-ni-ti-g ha-am-g hu-a-bu 87
ahtu 201, 230, 236, 239, 249
ahu 52, 91, 122, 201, 212, 247248,
253254
littu, l 308
AMA see ummu
amtu/antu 8, 10, 7374, 189193, 198,
202204, 228240, 243244,
254256, 343
ana L qatinnte 114, 212, 246, 344
ana magkanti gaknu 91, 245
ana urdnti 114, 212, 344
ana gaparte gakin / kammus 204, 245
piu 197198, 236, 248
ARAD see urdu
rigtu 223
A.e see eqlu
agkpu 198, 238
aglku 198
at 251
batku 348
batssu 119, 215, 217, 248, 250, 254
(M .ba-tu-la-[te]), 309
blu 189191, 204205, 245, 348
bt PN 56
bt abi 188
bt akti 115
btu 6, 5556, 75, 160, 188, 230, 245,
254
dannu 225, 253
dnu 89, 91, 245,
DIL-ma-nu see dumnu
DUMU see marxu
DUMU/L.eM see ga gme
DUMU.MEe-g la-g-g 303,
308
DUMU.M see marxutu
DUMU ul iraggi 308
see btu
AD see bt abi
dn 247
dumnu 211
EN see blu
epgu 71, 73
eqlu 205206, 348
erbu (e) 245
ERIM.MEe, L.ERIM.MEe see bu
errgu 222223
errgutu 222
GA see ga zizibi
gallbu 251
GEM see amtu/antu
gimru 52, 60, 70, 73, 77, 81, 85, 91,
134, 189, 205, 218, 246250, 252,
254256, 344
GIe.SAR see kiriu
halqu 221, 245, 251
hubtu 128, 191, 221
habullu 245
hubut qagti 13
IGI see pnu
ikkru 102, 196, 198, 219, 236,
241242, 245247, 249251, 254
ikkr garri 198, 241
ilku 213, 344
immeru 246
imittu 11
ina rigtu 223
ina qanni . . . 30
ina UGU-(hi) zi-zi 71, 78
issu 5253, 55, 60, 62, 64, 68, 71, 73,
77, 85, 106, 189, 201, 212, 215,
228230, 237239, 243251,
254256
igpru 197, 220, 232, 236, 247, 249
paxu
220, 249
KALAG see dannu

kammusu 204
index of terms
karkadinnu 248, 255
kiru 197, 236, 238
kiriu 205, 219
kigittu 13
KUG.UD see arpu
km 93, 204, 245
LAL see mu
L.AeGAB see agkpu
L*.ENGAR see ikkru
L.er-re-ge-e 223
LUGAL see garru
L*.GIe.APIN see ga epinni
L.ka-ir see kiru
L*.ma-ar (GIe) qab-li see maar qabli
L*.MUeEN.D see ugand
L*.NAR see nuru
L*.NINDA see piu
L*.NU.GIe.SAR see nukaribbu
L.QL see qallu
L.SAG see ga rgi
L*.SIPA ANeE see rxiu imru
L*.SIPA GUD.MEe see rxiu alpu
L*.SIPA Z.MEe see riu enzu
L.ga NUNDUN see ga ziqni
L* f - SAGeU.MEe-f see fa-kubfifu
L.g - U.SAG.MEe-g see ga-kubgigu
L.eM, L.gi-me see ga gme
L.eU.I see gallbu
L*.TG-KA.Ke see kiru
L*.TG.UD see aglku
L.Ue.ANeE.[MEe] see rdi imri
L.Ue.BAR see igpru
L.Ue.BARbir-me see igpru
L*.Ue.BARTG-ip-rat see igpru
[L.Ue.g]am.mal.MEe; L.Ue.ANeE.
-AB.[BA.MEe] see rdi gammali
madbar 30
mr amat ekalli 189
maru 28, 52, 5960, 62, 64, 71, 77,
8182, 85, 91, 97, 134, 136, 200,
212, 215, 218, 235, 238, 240, 245,
247252, 254256
marutu 53, 55, 59, 74, 77, 79, 85, 106,
201, 216, 231234, 237, 247250,
253, 255256
maar qabli 219, 249250
MA.NA see man
man 93
mtu see mutu
M see issu
M.QL see qallutu
M.TUR see ahurtu
395
mutu 245
muhhu 204, 244245
munutuk 308
MU.AN.NA see gattu
MU.NU.TUKU illak 308
munutuktu 308
mu 255
nadnu see tadnu
napphu parzillu 198, 230
napgutu 60, 7071, 73, 77, 81, 8485,
91, 93, 95, 105106, 139, 189192,
204205, 211, 224225, 228236,
238, 243250, 253255, 343
NIN see ahtu
ng 12,13, 89, 189192, 204205,
228236, 238, 241245, 256,
343344
nuru 220
nuhatumm 248
nukaribbu 102, 196, 198, 219, 237,
241242, 246251, 256
PAB see ahu
PAB see gimru
pau 220
phutu 348
palhu 90, 93, 245
pnu 204
pirsu, pir, parsu; par(su) 71, 79, 159161,
184, 211, 216, 246, 250, 254, 256,
309
piu 251
q 152155
qallu 189
qallutu 189
qanni 30
qatinnu 114, 211212, 220221, 247,
251
qinnu 6, 56, 87, 254, 344
rab gq 22, 45, 103, 342
rdi gammali 198, 235236, 247, 251
rdi imri 198, 220, 234
riu 246247, 249, 251, 256
riu alpu 219, 249, 251
riu enzu 219, 249
riu imru 249
riu immeru 212, 247248, 250251
raksu 63
riqu 214, 222, 250, 343
rub 93
ruu 216, 231, 233234, 254
396
index of terms
sartinnu 30
sekret ekalli 87
SIMUG AN.BAR see napphu parzillu
SUM-an see tadnu
stu 11, 153
a see ahurtu
bu 123, 135, 141, 189, 220, 225,
253, 254
abtu 59
ahru; ahurtu 6162 (M.TUR), 79
(M.TUR), 88 (M.TUR), 99
(M.TUR), 119 (ahurtu), 147 (TUR),
161 (M.TUR), 174 (ahurtu), 182
(ahurtu), 184 (ahurtu), 189 (L*.TUR),
203 (M.TUR), 211 (ahurtu), 215
(ahurtu), 217 (ahurtu), 225 (TUR), 228
(M.TUR), 229230 (M.TUR; L*.
TUR), 234 (TUR), 236 (TUR),
237 (M.TUR), 247250 (ahurtu),
252 (ahurtu), 254 (ahurtu), 309
(ahurtu)
arpu 93
ipratu 197
ga BAD-HAL see ga-pthalli
ga epinni 198, 241
gaknu 204
gakinu 57
gakintu 56, 60
gaknu ga ekalli 51, 63
ga-kubgigu 197198, 236, 250
gallatu 13
ganiu 254
ga-pthalli 254
gapartu see ana gaparte gakin/kammus
ga qurbti 69, 7172
ga ramanigu/ga ramannigunu 30, 97, 118
ga rgi 48, 139, 224, 236, 256
garru 191
ga gpi 73
ga gme 189, 191193, 231, 237, 343
gaggugu 118
gattu 93
ga ziqni 139, 224
ga zizibi, ga GA, GA, GAB 74, 77, 106,
122, 135, 159, 180, 183184, 211,
216, 247250, 252256, 309
gelapiu 254
gltu 189
eEe see ahu
gaggugu 118
gumma 93, 204, 348
tadnu 93, 190191, 204205, 245
talmdu 135
tamkru 73, 93
taglgu 254
TUR see ahru
turtnu 68
UD see pirsu, pir
UDU see immeru
UGU see muhhu
ummu 212, 248, 255256
mu 245
UN.MEe see ng
unzarhu 189
urdu 8, 10, 49, 52, 58, 60, 70, 73,
85, 91, 98, 114, 145, 188193, 198,
203206, 228245, 254, 343
u (e) 204, 245
ugand 198, 241, 253
ZH see halqu
zarip laqi 93, 189190, 205, 243, 245
ZI see napgutu
Aramaic
xmt, xmtx, xmt PN 71, 158
ng 171, 191
xg 203
xgt g PN 75
br 71, 97
brh
brt
brth
dnt
zy
62, 157
62
62
158
191
Hebrew
{aqar 308
{aqara 308
IV. INDEX OF SUBJECTS*
abandoning of a land see land,

abandoning of a
abandoning of a wife see wife,
abandoning of a
adoption 213, 302303
of a son 302303
of a daughter 302303
adoptive families/parents 302303
administration, Assyrian 23, 118,
133, 139, 143, 145, 225, 271, 346,
350
administrative standing 4
Africa 309310
Akitu Temple 116
amulet 116
apprentice 135, 259
Aramaic caption 67, 25, 45, 54, 60,
6263, 67, 69, 71, 75, 103, 156160,
190
architect 49, 146, 225
Asia 307, 309
attach 133, 179180, 218, 259
baker 49, 75, 79, 111, 197198, 212
Bangladesh 307
barber 221
barley 19, 90, 153154
barnyard 102103, 107
barren 307308
bas-reliefs 323
bastards see illegitimate child
bear (children) 301, 308, 322
bearded men 137, 139, 224
bed 65
bigamy see polygamous
biological afnity 5
birth 265, 310, 322
blankets 65
blood ties 5, 118, 121, 259
bodyguard, (royal) 51, 69, 7172, 74,
78, 150
breastfeeding 309
bride 321
bronze 4849
bronzesmith(s) see smith(s), bronze
brother 47, 30, 5253, 5657, 59, 61,
6669, 72, 7576, 80, 8384, 8788,
9192, 94, 9697, 102, 111, 113,
117, 119123, 125127, 130131,
133, 135136, 140, 142143,
148149, 151, 157, 159162, 164,
166, 170, 174, 176177, 179180,
182, 185, 192, 201202, 204,
212, 214218, 225227, 259260,
265267, 269272, 293, 297299,
304, 311, 321, 324325, 332, 335,
337340, 348, 350351
brothers wife 57, 127, 131, 271272,
298299
bureaucracy, senior 1
, Assyrian 13, 346
business(es), businessmen 1, 5051,
5455, 62, 77
camel(s) 88, 145
driver 111, 198, 212, 221
Cameroon 307
cap-man 75
captives 79, 128, 138, 191
carpenter 129, 221
castes 2
cattle 8788, 118119, 221
, herder of 221
cavalryman 145, 225
census, Harran see Harran census
chaff and twinge 87
chair(s) 65, 308
chamberlain 67
chariot 49
driver 21, 5051, 54, 59, 62, 66,
95, 99
, chief 66, 89, 102104
chariotry 102
* The following items are not listed in the index of subjects since they appear
frequently in the book: adolescent, child/children, (a child of ) 2/3/4/5/6
spans height, couple, daughter(s), familys head, father, female, girl(s), male, man/men,
mother (of a family child, not of the familys head), person(s), son(s), suckling, weaned,
wife/wives, woman/women
398
index of subjects
chattel 8
chief eunuch see eunuch, chief
chief judge see judge, chief
chief physician see physician, chief
childless families see family, childless
class, master(s) 2
, middle 12
, lower 12
, ruling 2
, serf 2
, upper 1, 3, 232
clauses, guarantee 10, 105, 191,
194195, 207, 228242, 343
of penalties for litigation 48, 50,
54, 59, 66, 88, 194, 206
, redemption 199200, 204, 206,
223
, risk 200204, 242
cohort commander of the palace (guard)
73
commander-in-chief 68, 76
commander-of-fty 76, 86
conceive 308
concubine 264265
, palace 87
Confectioner 117, 147148
conspiracy 350
conveyance, restricted 8, 90
cook 30, 117, 131, 219, 348
, chief 30, 131
copper 13, 4849, 8384, 116
corrupt ofcial(s) 13, 86, 141, 224,
323, 345346
corve 213, 344
court decision(s) 1921, 2324, 44,
342
cowherd 117, 219, 221, 267
craftsman, craftsmen 13
creditor 8, 75, 8994, 208
crop(s) 1011, 219222, 345
crown prince 223
, cohort commander of the 69,
7475
, ofcial of the 70
, third man of the 94
, treasurer of the 30
, village manager of the 57, 61,
99
cultivate, cultivation, cultivator(s) 30,
88, 9798, 118119, 121124,
128, 133, 208, 212, 219224, 345,
348350
cultivators, tied 7
cupbearer, chief 30, 103
currency 13
daughter-in-law 7, 56, 120, 122, 126,

130131, 216, 267, 270, 272, 292,
295298, 334335, 340
day-laborer(s) see laborer(s), daydeath, fathers 57, 7576, 78, 8889,
118, 217, 265, 267, 321322, 348
in childbirth 321322
through illness 321, 323
, wifes 127, 149, 264, 321322,
351
debt 8, 1920, 2324, 40, 90, 93, 201,
222223
, security for 8, 11, 8788, 199,
208, 222
debt-note 1921, 2324
debtor 9192, 200201, 203204,
223
decrees, personal 1112, 211, 344
dependence 215, 224, 309, 345
dependent people see people, dependent
deportees, deportation(s), displaced
people 1213, 20, 2224, 30,
136152, 181185, 224226,
253256, 261263, 265266,
268269, 272, 286291, 298300,
306307, 315318, 320, 323, 325,
327330, 342, 345347, 351
divide et impera 350
division of inheritance/property 4,
1920, 2324, 39, 48, 7677
divorce, divorced 127, 149, 217,
259260, 264265, 302, 313, 322,
325, 351
donation(s) 1920, 2123, 45, 109,
113, 116, 172, 280
donkey(s) 145, 221
driver 198
, herder of 121122,
220
drought 224, 345
economic difculties 90
independence 224, 345
Egypt 310
Egyptian Aramaic 62
deportees 21, 145
elderly 15
elegy 322
employees, temple see temple employees
employer(s) 3, 7
England 347
eponym ofcial 53, 61, 68, 76,
91
Eshnunna, laws of 349
estate(s) 86, 88, 90, 9497, 99100,
index of subjects
102103, 105, 107, 109, 111, 116,
131, 209, 349
eunuch, royal eunuch 48, 50, 6566,
70, 72, 8990, 101102, 109, 137,
139, 152, 182, 224, 259, 303, 325
of the queen see queen, eunuch
of
, chief 63, 111112
, ofcial of the 105
, village manager of the 49
Europe 310
exile(s) see deportees
ex ofcio 88
exorcists 12, 22, 186
exploitation of labor see labor,
exploitation of
extended family see family, extended
family, childless 14, 8384, 98, 107,
259260, 264, 266, 292, 297, 301,
302308, 351
, efcient 347
, extended 259262, 266,
269270, 350
, monogamous 149, 292295,
298, 300, 319320, 350
, multiple- kinship group 7,
118119, 127, 259262, 267, 271,
296297, 341, 350
, no 6, 98, 140, 149, 152, 218
, nuclear 7, 4849, 72, 80, 98,
104, 106, 118, 126, 131, 202,
259262, 267, 269271, 323, 347,
350
, patriarchal 350
, polygamous 105, 125, 130,
142, 145, 264, 270, 272, 292300,
319320, 350
, single-parent 12, 14, 62, 64,
67, 7072, 74, 7879, 87, 8990, 98,
100, 106, 127, 148149, 152, 155,
200, 262, 264265, 294295, 298,
302, 319326, 350
, size 5, 14, 157187, 273291,
346347
type(s) 47, 157187, 259272
farm(s) 8990, 97, 118119, 121122,
124, 207, 214, 219224, 345,
348349
farmer(s) 4, 1011, 30, 94, 100,
102104, 108, 110111, 116, 118,
120131, 134, 136, 146, 151, 196,
198, 206, 209210, 212, 219223,
225, 343, 345
, free 12
399
, palace 94
farming seasons 11
fathers and sons 29, 132136,
179180, 214, 217, 252, 280, 282,
284, 286, 310, 315, 318, 340
fathers house 75, 217, 301, 349
eld(s) 87, 99, 104, 106, 199, 210,
221, 223, 348
elds corn 345, 212
, sown 88
ngernail, sealing with 13
forts 349
fowl 96
fowler 198
France 310, 347
freedom, degree of 7, 8
frrches 260, 267, 271, 324, 336
fugitive 144, 221
fuller 75, 198
garden(s) 8788, 97, 99100, 104, 135
gardener(s) 4, 10, 7879, 9498, 101,
110, 117131, 151, 196, 198,
209210, 212, 219223, 226, 343,
345
gate-guard 129, 221
generations in the family 14, 27, 119,
266, 334341, 351352
gift(s) 1921, 2324, 40
glebae adscripti 8, 209
goat 118
goatherd 118, 219
goldsmith(s) 2, 90
governess 56, 60, 63, 86, 98
governor 30, 5253, 58, 8688,
98, 107, 131, 141, 143, 206, 223,
349350
, deputy 52, 88
, ofcial of 58
, subordinate of 107
grace, period of 87
grain 2, 153155
granaries, chief of the 95
grandchild(ren) 7, 335336, 352
granddaughter 120, 270, 296
grandfather 48, 336, 352
grandson 48, 50, 59, 88, 119120,
173, 214216, 267, 296, 314, 334,
340, 351
grant see royal grant
grantee 110
groom 321
guild 2
guarantee 208
guarantee clause see clause, guarantee
400
index of subjects
guarantor 92
guardian of a grove 118, 120, 122,
219220, 223, 345
of poplars 132, 223
Hammurabi, laws of 11, 219, 222,
348349
Harran census 10, 1314, 1920,
2225, 2831, 42, 117136, 173180,
214224, 248252, 261266,
268271, 280286, 288291,
295298, 300, 305307, 313315,
317318, 320321, 325, 327330,
332334, 339343, 345347, 350351
harvest 11, 222223
hatter 66, 197198, 221
hectares 86, 88, 94100, 102103,
105107, 109, 111, 118119, 122,
128, 133, 206208, 220221, 223,
345
helots (in Sparta) 7, 223
herald, palace 30, 138
herd(s) 119
herder of donkeys see donkeys, herder
of
of cattle see cattle, herder of
Hittite(s), Hittite kingdom 1213, 348
Homer(s) 90, 135
horse(s) 118119, 135, 199, 207, 210,
223
trainer 9192, 102, 110
house(s) 8, 12, 15, 22, 56, 64, 69,
7576, 8788, 91, 97101, 103105,
107, 116, 134, 189, 198199,
207208, 210, 217, 259260, 301,
349
of PN 142, 146
household(s) 56, 124, 230
hunger 224, 345
illegitimate child 265, 322, 351
India 2, 307
infant mortality 306, 310
infertility 302303, 307, 351
inheritance by widows 8990, 124
inheritance, division of see division of
inheritance
interest 8, 10, 87, 9093, 209, 223
iron 107
ironsmith(s) see smith(s), iron
Israelite(s) 6061, 138, 293
Janitor 198, 231
Judah 335
judge, chief
73
king of Assyria 101, 144, 150, 191, 212

kinship group(s) 57, 118119, 127,
259262, 267, 271, 296297, 341,
350
labor, exploitation of 1, 3
, organization of 1, 3
, productive 1, 3
laborer(s) 209, 220
, day- 1, 11, 212213, 220,
343345
, hired 13
, wage 3
land 13, 9, 11, 3031, 86, 88, 9495,
97, 99105
, abandoning of 348
, accumulation of 223, 345, 350
and people 910, 1314,
1924, 37, 39, 4547, 65, 88, 94109,
116, 164166, 205210, 261266,
268269, 277280, 288291, 294,
300, 304305, 307, 312313,
318320, 325330, 332334,
338339, 341343, 346347
, grants 23, 350
, ownership of 13, 30
, plundered/ravaged 24
, small holders of 349
, state 88
, surplus of 348
landowners 12, 1011, 15, 30, 131,
210, 347349
latifundization 349
laws of Eshnunna see Eshnunna, laws
of
laws of Hammurabi see Hammurabi,
laws of
leader, leadership 141, 267
leasing contract(s) 11
lessees 11
letter(s) 4, 15, 1924, 2627, 44, 64,
116, 141142, 144, 150, 223, 225,
272, 299, 342, 348349
lifespan 335336, 352
loan(s) 8, 1921, 2324, 40, 8788,
9093, 199
longevity 335, 352
manpower, planning of 347
, shortage of 348
marriage 36, 124
, age at 307, 312, 315, 317, 351
index of subjects
agreements/contracts 292,
300301, 307
, dissolution of 292, 300, 322
pattern(s) 5, 14, 47, 292301
pattern, eastern 336, 352
, penalties for dissolution of 322
, previous 53, 63, 70
, second 75, 349
married, just 7475
Marx, K., Marxist 1, 3
master(s) 13, 68, 189, 191, 198, 213,
224, 227, 265, 308, 322, 344345,
351
means of production 2, 4, 10
, accumulation of 223, 345,
350
, ownership of 1, 3
merchandise 77
merchant(s) 1, 73, 87, 9394
, private 73
Middle East 307
military administration 19, 41
mina(s) 4850, 5254, 5657, 59,
6163, 6680, 8293, 95, 98101,
104, 106107, 109, 208, 301
of Carchemish 57, 6263,
6768, 70, 85, 8789, 101, 208
of the king 67, 9899
of the merchant 87
miscarriage(s) 307
mistress 71, 74, 76, 78
monogamous see family, monogamous
mortality see infant mortality
mother (of the familys head) 57,
30, 56, 58, 8788, 97, 102, 113,
117119, 125, 130, 143, 148149,
157158, 160162, 164, 170, 173,
182, 184, 192, 212, 214, 216, 226,
259, 265272, 293, 290295, 303,
305, 324325, 329, 334335,
337338, 341, 348, 351
multiple-family see family, multiple
Nepal 307, 310
nobleman 148
ofcial(s) 34, 1113, 30, 54, 86, 88,
109, 112, 133, 138141, 149, 198,
206, 211, 224, 280, 344, 346, 350
, high rank/senior 11, 30, 139,
349
, low rank 3, 30
, middle rank 30, 349
operative section 47, 53, 82, 210
401
orchard(s) 9798, 107, 206, 219221

ox(en) 30, 88, 90, 97, 122, 128, 223,
345
palace concubine see concubine, palace
palace herald see herald, palace
palace sector 34
Paris Basin 310
patronage 224, 345
patronymics 28, 30, 126, 128, 134,
214
peasant(s) 3, 118, 223
peasantry, free 23
penalties for litigation see clauses of
penalties for litigation
for late payment 90, 92
for dissolution of marriage see
marriage, penalties for dissolution of
people, dependent 2, 7
, free 1, 7
, freed 148149
, semi-free 1, 7, 910, 209
, single; bachelor(s) 6, 14, 50, 69,
71, 73, 105, 107, 109, 114115, 121,
144, 150152, 191, 202, 211, 259
petition(s) 1920, 2324, 44, 6465,
86, 224, 345
physician, chief 89
pledge(s), pledged people 4, 89, 14,
24, 8694, 162163, 199205,
241242, 245, 261266, 268269,
277, 288291, 294, 304, 307,
318320, 324, 327328, 330, 332,
334, 337338, 341342, 346347
plow 90
plowman 95, 198
polygamy see family, polygamous
population control, means/measures of
310
management 19, 41
populazione servile 7
possessive sufx 52, 121, 143, 214216
prefect(s), palace 51, 55
of the Harranians 57
pre-industrial societies see societies,
pre-industrial
priest(s) 4, 4849, 74, 116
princess 100
prisoner(s) 59, 138, 143
of war 13, 115, 138, 346
profession(s) 5, 30, 47, 55, 94, 100,
107, 121, 128, 130131, 142, 148,
191, 196198, 211212, 214215,
219223, 226, 228242, 343344
402
index of subjects
professional 66, 196, 198, 222

professional, non 196, 198, 222,
343
province 22, 45, 87, 101, 103104,
342, 348, 350
pseudo-sklaven 7
queen, eunuch of the 6566, 101102
, scribe of the 100
, town manager of the 68
, village manager of the 98,
206
rations 12, 2021, 43
, recipients of 13, 152155,
186187, 261263, 264265,
288289, 291, 300, 302, 320, 326,
328, 332334, 341342, 347
receipt 1921, 2324, 40
recruit 63
redeemed person 203
redemption from pledge 1921, 2324,
39, 93, 199, 203204, 206
reproduction, motivation of 307, 347
restricted conveyance(s) see
conveyance(s), restricted
risk, risky 11, 92, 213, 307, 344
royal grants 1113, 1921, 24, 42,
109116, 168172, 211214,
245248, 261266, 268269, 280,
288291, 294, 305, 307, 313, 318,
320, 325, 327, 332334, 339,
341342, 344346, 351
run away, runaway(s) 128, 200, 213,
221, 344
schedule of Land and People 20,
2224, 41, 108109, 167
scribe 4, 6, 4748, 53, 70, 91, 101,
114, 133, 143, 190, 200, 211, 214,
216217, 292293, 297, 305
, palace 48
scribal error 79, 97, 102, 119, 125
seah(s) 152155
security for debt see debt, security for
Senegal 307, 310
serfs 7, 213
servile labor force 7
single people see people, single
sheep 30, 8788, 116
shekel(s) 4951, 5358, 61, 63, 67, 69,
7072, 74, 76, 7880, 8285, 9092,
213, 344
shepherd(s) 4, 111, 116, 123126, 129,
151152, 212, 220222
silver 1920, 2324, 40, 4859, 6163,

6680, 8293, 95, 98101, 104,
106107, 109, 207208, 222, 301
singer 220
, chief 68
single(s), single people see people, single
single-parent family see family,
single-parent
sister(s) 47, 30, 5657, 59, 101, 119,
121122, 125, 130, 140142, 145,
148149, 157, 160161, 164, 182,
184, 192, 214, 216, 225226,
259260, 267, 269272, 293299,
305, 328329, 334335, 341, 351
slave(s) 14, 710, 1213, 15, 2324,
4786, 105, 107, 157161, 188198,
212213, 228240, 243244,
260263, 265, 268269, 273277,
288291, 293, 303, 307, 311312,
318319, 323324, 327330,
332334, 336337, 342343,
346347, 349350
trading 50, 54, 5758, 73
smith(s), bronze 134, 222
, iron 69, 75, 134135, 197198,
222
society stratication 1, 3
structure 1
societies, pre-industrial 259, 347
sociological afnity 5
soldier(s) 138, 348
status 2, 5, 710, 1214, 87, 90, 93,
98, 114, 125, 188, 200, 205, 207,
209210, 212, 219, 223, 226227,
263, 308, 320321, 323, 342347
stone wall(s) 103
stratum, lower 34, 7, 910, 13, 47,
288, 302, 342, 347348
, middle 34, 225, 288, 302, 335,
342, 345, 346, 347, 349, 352
, upper 34, 288, 302, 335, 342,
345, 346, 347, 349, 352
table 65
tailor 68, 80, 197, 219
, chief- 105
talent 100, 107, 109
tanner 7273, 197
tax exemption 1112, 31, 109, 112,
211213, 289, 344, 350
temple(s) 1, 1213, 2021, 24,
113114, 116, 189, 211212, 280,
344, 346
, Akitu see Akitu Temple
employees 12, 114, 344
403
index of subjects
of Affur 2
, treasurer of the 30
of Sn in Harran 82
of Zabba and Bbu in
Affur 114, 221, 344
protgs 212, 345
sector 34
staff 212
tenancy 219220, 223224, 345,
350
tenant(s) 1, 34, 913, 133, 207,
209210, 212214, 219, 222224,
227, 320, 342, 344350
third man 105
on the chariot 145, 225
threshing oor 97, 102
tied cultivators see cultivators, tied
tiller(s) 114, 211, 221, 344
tower 94
trade agent, private see merchant,
private
agent, royal 73
enterprise 77
, slave- see slave-trading
trapper 348
treasurer of the crown prince, see crown
prince, treasurer of the
of the temple of Affur see temple
of Affur, treasurer of the
Turkey 310
twin 122
vacant lot 96
vegetable garden 97, 104, 111, 210,
219
venereal diseases 307
village manager 49, 57
, deputy of a 86
vine(s) 9899, 104, 119, 124, 128, 208,
215, 220, 221, 226
vineyard(s) 87, 9495, 100, 102, 104,
106, 108, 111112, 118, 128, 131,
207208, 210, 215, 219222
vizir, grand 61
wage 3, 11
weaver(s) 65, 120, 197, 212, 348
of multicolored fabrics 111, 197
, scarf 120, 122, 220
West Africa 307
wet nurse 309
whitewasher 129, 221
widow(s) 7, 86, 8990, 123124, 151,
215, 259, 265, 321
widower(s) 259260, 302, 325, 351
wife, abandoning of a 349
wine lists 48
witness(ess) 48, 53, 73, 194
World Fertility Survey (= WFS) 307,
309310
writing-board 147148
Yemen
310

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The Lower Stratum Families in the

Culture and History

Eckart Frahm, W. Randall Garr, B. Halpern,

The Lower Stratum Families

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

List of Tables ..............................................................................

F. Deportees and Displaced Persons ....................................

Bibliographical Abbreviations ...............................................

Slave Families ............................................................

The Number of Sons ................................................

I wish to express my deep gratitude to Professor B. Halpern and to

Bibliographical Abbreviations are presented below on pp. 353 ff.

siglum of texts in the Aur collection of the Istanbul Arkeoloji Mzeleri

child of 3 spans height

The social structure of the Neo-Assyrian Empire has been discussed

See Gelb, 1972; Gelb, 1976; Gelb, 1979.

size, structure, and socio-economic status of these families; and many

What is a Family and in which Cases a Group of Persons May be

between them; and it is unclear if they are a family, or individuals

his slave. I reckoned these three couples as families, as the amount of

See Zablocka, 1971; Zablocka, 1972; Zablocka, 1986.

glebae adscripti.12 In some cases dening a familys degree of freedom

See Jas, 2000a.

Structure of the Work

have been dated according to Parpolas method.32 The conclusions of

landowners, and more. Fales similarly examined the implications of his

See also Fales, 2001, pp. 174178.

A. Legal Transactions (122)

C. Provenance of the Texts

D. The Division of the Texts into Groups for Discussion

See Kwasman, 1986, p. 239; Kwasman, 1988, pp. xxxixl.

E. The Publication of the Documents

1. Slaves (85 texts; 116 families):

4. Division of Property/Inheritance (Aur, 3);

7. Recipients of Rations (10 texts; 13 families):

of these texts was presented by Lieberman in 1968,13 but, the most

Parpola, 1979a, no. 9, 325, 604.

F. The Harran Census

Radner, 2002 (= BATSH 6).

Fathers and Sons

SAA XI 207 = K 4754+

Fathers and Sons

attested in other Neo-Assyrian documents too.37 It is possible that

F.3. The Main Characteristics of the Harran Census

F.4. The Date and the Purpose of the Harran Census

Parpola, 1975, p. 108.

A. Legal Transactions (122)

= ARU 65a+537 = NALK 246 = SAA VI 312 =

umma-ilni (709680 = end of S II or Senn)

6. Private Gifts (Nineveh1)

II. Contracts (6)

III. Receipts (1)

B. Administrative Records (47)

I. Population Management and Military Administration (15)

Nineveh (Sargon II)

III. Royal Grants and Private Votive Donations (7)

IV. Lists of Rations (Private Archive10)

The Texts from Nineveh According to Their Geographical Setting

Pattu- . . .see note below

A SURVEY OF THE LOWER STRATUM FAMILIES

a survey of the lower stratum families

18 slaves (probably, 12 men and six women), and a chariot. Bl-nir