Basic Metadata
- NaBuCCo ID
- 3882
- Museum No.
- VAT 8439
- CDLI P-Identifier
- Place of issue
- Bitqu-ša-Bēl-ēṭir
- Type and Content
- Purchases
- Archive
- Eanna temple
- Dossier
- None
- Period
- NB
- Year BCE
- None
- Editio princeps
- AnOr 8
Content
- Paraphrase
Sale of 4 slaves.
The tablet lays out a (fictitious) sale of 4 slaves, which were actually given in exchange for the buyer taking over a barley debt of the seller to a third party.
A sold to B, of his own free will (ina hūd libbišu), 4 slaves for the full price of 15/6 minas of silver. The slaves are: C1, A’s slave-woman, her elder son C2, her younger son C3, and her suckling daughter C4.
The 15/6 minas of silver is the equivalent of 100 kor of barley, which A owes (ina muhhi) to D, the supervisor (bēl piqitti) of the Angillu-district, for the remainders (rēhu) of the king. Thus the selling of the slaves is in fact a legal fiction by which B takes over A’s debt.
E1 and E2 guarantee (pūtu našû) against (suits brought by) a person acting unlawfully (sēhû) or a person having claims (pāqirānu) in respect (ina muhhi) to the status of free citizen (mār banūtu) or the status of royal slave (arad šarrūtu) of C1–4. A and E1 swear (tamû) by Bēl, Nabû, and by the adê-oath of Nabonidus that there are no claims (nīdu) concerning the slave they just gave to B.
Names of 5 witnesses and the scribe.
A= Ahhē-iddin/Bēl-ēṭer; B= Šumu-ukīn/Bēl-zēri//Basia, known as a royal supervisor and a rent farmer; C1= fḪadūbāya, slave-woman of A, mother of C2–4; C2= Ana-Nabû-būnia/fḪadūbāya, brother of C3+4; C3= Bēl-eṭēri-Šamaš/fḪadūbāya, brother of C2+4 (for the unusual orthography if that name see Janković 2013 (PhD diss.), 3891424); C4= fNanāya-hitnīnni/fḪadūbāya, suckling baby, sister of C2+3; D= Nabû-zēru-līšir, supervisor (bēl piqitti) of the Angillu-district; E1= Nabû-zēru-ukīn/Manna-damū; E2= Aplāya/Iddināya//Ekur-zakir
- Transliteration
- Babylonian Date (year-month-day):
- Nbn. 0a-VI-15
further information
- Imported (Person, Date)
- Yuval Levavi, Kathleen Abraham (08/09/2023)
- Legacy NaBuCCo ID
- None