CHAPTER 1 Introduction

Aims of the Book

AlT 56 [22.05]

Irpa-Addu has purchased (the settlements of) Šallun, Tarmanne, Amakwan, together with their pāṭum’s (and) eperū of (the settlements of) Igar, Šibte, Halba, Ure, and Erirambi—and he (Irpa-Addu) will check these landholdings, wherever they are, before he takes (them)— from Labbina for 3800 shekels of silver, [x] parīsū of barley, 50 parīsū of burrum-cereal, seven jars of oil, 23? kuttum-containers of wine, three garments, one kusītum-robe, three šakattûm-garments, three nahlaptum- garments, two (pairs of) shoes, and two (pairs of) kaballum-leggings as the complete purchase price.

During Labbina’s lifetime, he will have possession of a 200 ikû field in the settlement of Lakka just as Irpa-Addu gives (it): He (Labbina) will not choose (the field). After (he dies), Irpa-Addu will take (back) the 200 ikû field which Irpa-Addu gave to him. During Labbina’s lifetime, each year Irpa-Addu will give to Labbina 10 minas of plucked wool, 20 minas of shorn wool, 12 kuttum-containers of wine, nine jars of oil, (and) one jar of fine oil.

If Irpa-Addu violates (the contract), he will pay 10,000 (shekels of) silver to the palace, he will forfeit his silver, and his right hand will be cut off. And if [Labbina vi]olates (the contract), he will pay 10,000 (shekels of) s[ilver to the palace], he will forfeit? his landholdings, and his right hand will be cut off. ------

(Witnesses.)

This contract attests to the non-institutional ownership of settlements— villages, towns, and perhaps even cities are owned by a single person (see the section “Terminology” on my use of “ownership” and “settlement”). In it, Irpa- Addu, the overseer of merchants for the king of Halab/Aleppo, whose kingdom

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���5 | doi ��.��63/9789004292895_002 2 CHAPTER 1 of Yamhad was one of the preeminent political powers at the time, purchases three settlements and something known as eperū-land at five other settle- ments from an individual named Labbina who is not otherwise known. The contract comes from the ancient city of Alalah, modern Tell Atchana, which is located in the Amuq Valley near the great bend of the Orontes about 70 km to the west of Aleppo in what is today the Hatay Province of the Republic of Turkey. The tablet comes from a stratum known as Level VII that dates from the late 18th century BC until some time in the 17th century, i.e., the late Old Babylonian period in Mesopotamia. However, the tablet is prob- ably some years older than this. Its first two witnesses are Abba-el, the king of Yamhad, and Yarim-Lim, his brother who would become Yarim-Lim I, the ruler of Alalah, and the tablet was likely written at Halab in the late 18th century and brought to Alalah when Irpa-Addu or his son took up residence there. Despite being found at Alalah, then, the practice of purchasing settlements was not restricted to that city but occurred throughout the kingdom of Yamhad. Because Yarim-Lim I was a brother of Abba-el of Yamhad, the rulers of Old Babylonian Alalah were a cadet line of the royal family of Halab, mod- ern Aleppo. Approximately 470 published and unpublished cuneiform tablets and envelopes and fragments thereof document the activities of this branch of the family and their officials over the reigns of at least seven kings of Yamhad, beginning some decades after the fall of Mari.1 Among these tablets are more contracts like AlT 56 [22.05] as well as other contracts, testaments, and records of court proceedings that attest to the importance of acquiring settlements to this family. Indeed, legal texts like AlT 56 [22.05] establish that not just the ruling family of Alalah but also officials like Irpa-Addu purchased or otherwise acquired settlements from a variety of different individuals. But what did the purchaser of a settlement actually obtain? Administrative texts document the movement of individuals and commodities to and from these settlements, and after working through the material, it is clear that the settlements sent diverse commodities to the persons who had acquired them. But did those persons have an exclusive right to all arable land at the settle- ment? Or could other individuals acquire real property there? Did the pur- chaser obtain the right to collect rent from the settlement’s inhabitants, who nonetheless remained relatively autonomous provided they made their pay- ments on time? Or were the inhabitants of these settlements like the glēbae ādscrīptī who toiled on Roman lātifundia or the serfs who were bound to medi- eval manors?

1 For a catalog of the corpus of Level VII tablets, see Table A2; for the chronology of the kings of Yamhad and rulers of Alalah documented by this corpus, see Appendix 1.