MIDDLE ASSYRIAN PERIOD
Sophie Lafont
1. S L
1.1 Law Codes No code of laws in the modern sense has been discovered for the Middle Assyrian period. There is, however, a collection of fourteen tablets, the so-called Middle Assyrian Laws (MAL), some of them very fragmentary, compiled in the manner of modern “restatements,” which organize laws broadly by subject matter. Thus, Tablet A, the best preserved, sets out laws relating to women (“Frauenspiegel ”); Tablet B deals principally with landed property, and Tablet C+G with mov- able property. Most of these documents are copies from Assur from the eleventh century, based on fourteenth-century originals.1
1.2 Palace Regulations The so-called “Harem Edicts” are a collection of twenty-three reg- ulations on nine fragmentary tablets. Composed in the reign of Tiglat- Pileser I (1114–1076), it comprises the decrees (riksù) of nine kings over three centuries, between 1363 and 1076. They concern the internal running of the palace and the royal harem.2
1 Translation and/or commentary: Driver and Miles, Assyrian Laws . . .; Cardascia, Lois . . .; Saporetti, Leggi . . .; Borger, “Gesetze . . .” (Tablet A only); Roth, Law Collections . . ., 153–94. 2 Editio princeps, cf. Weidner, Hof . . .; supplemented by Cardascia, Gesetze ..., 286–88 and Roth, Law Collections . . ., 195–209. Citation follows the numbering in Roth. 522
1.3 Documents of practice These documents come primarily from Assur,3 Tell Billa,4 and Tell al-Rimah,5 but also from sites in northern Syria such as Tell Fakha- riya,6 Tell Chuera,7 Tell ”èh Óamad,8 and Tell Sabi Abyad.9 Some of these tablets come from the archives of the leading noble fami- lies, documenting their public and private activities, and some from the archives of the royal administration. They mostly concern loan and sale.
2. C A L
2.1 Organs of Government 2.1.1 The Administration 2.1.1.1 The political rise of Assyria begins in the reign of A““ur- uballi† I (fourteenth century) with a series of military successes that enable it to expand into northern Syria ( Jezirah). Diplomatic rela- tions with Egypt underline this development: Assyria treats Pharaoh at first with deference but soon thereafter as a political equal.10 Power is in the hands of the king, in a very centralized system. The prince was perhaps a co-ruler, which would account for oaths sworn by the name of the king and his son (cf. MAL A 47). The kingdom was divided into provinces ( pà¢utu) administered by governors (bèl pà¢àti ), who were responsible for provisioning and transport,11 and into dis- tricts (¢alßu) run by commandants (¢assi¢lu), who were in charge of supply services (provisioning, stores, and census of land holdings). These two offices were later combined in that of the “aknu. Villages were represented by “mayors” (¢azànù) and “inspectors” (rab àlàni ), assisted by officials responsible for collecting the local grain tax and distributing rations to workers. Alongside this local administration,
3 Pedersén, Archives . . .; Ebeling, KAJ; Schroeder, KAV. 4 Finkelstein, “Billa...” 5 Saggs, “Tablets... 1965”; Wiseman, “Tablets... 1966.” 6 Güterbock, “Tablets...” 7 Kühne, “Verwaltungsarchiv...” 8 Cancik-Kirschbaum, Briefe . . ., ix–xii, for bibliography relating to the site. 9 Akkermans and Rossmeisl, “Excavations...” 10 Cf. EA 15 and 16, cited by Kuhrt, Near East . . . 1, 350–51. 11 Kühne, “Aspects . . .,” 5–6.