To Whom Does a Wronged Man Turn for Help? The Agent in Old Babylonian Letters. Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of "DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY" By Shirley Graetz Submitted to the Senate of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Approved by the adviser: Approved by the Dean of the Kreitman School of Advanced Graduate Studies: March 2012 Adar 5772 This work was carried out under the supervision of Prof. Victor Avigdor Hurowitz. In the Department of Bible, Archaeology and Ancient Near East. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Research-Student's Affidavit when Submitting the Doctoral Thesis for Judgment I SHIRLEY GRAETZ, whose signature appears below, hereby declare that (please mark the appropriate statements): ___ I have written this Thesis by myself, except for the help and guidance offered by my Thesis Advisors. ___ The scientific materials included in this Thesis are products of my own research, culled from the period during which I was a research student. ___ This Thesis incorporates research materials produced in cooperation with others, excluding the technical help commonly received during experimental work. Therefore, I am attaching another affidavit stating the contributions made by myself and the other participants in this research, which has been approved by them and submitted with their approval. Date: _________________ Student's name: SHIRLEY GRAETZ Signature:______________ Acknowledgments I met many people who influenced me in some way in the course of my doctoral journey. I wish to express my gratitude to these individual, as I am very thankful for having met them. Lucy Plitman, z"l, was the first person who taught me about the Ancient Near East. She was an amazing and charismatic teacher, who kindled my interest and passion to learn more about this fascinating society. She died in the prime of her life, may her memory be blessed. When searching for a topic for my MA dissertation, I was introduced to Dr. Joan Goodnick Westenholz, who suggested that I look into the corpus of the Old Babylonian letters (AbB). These letters have provided me with a topic for my MA and PhD dissertations, and they still do not cease to amaze me. They are a priceless treasure, and I thank Dr. Westenholz for pointing me in the right direction. I cannot express enough my appreciation and gratitude to my teacher and mentor for the last 8 years, Prof. Avigdor Victor Hurowitz. Studying with him has been an honor and a great pleasure. Each class was intellectually stimulating, and I have profited greatly from his deep well of knowledge. But more than a teacher, he is also my mentor, and I can truly say that without his reassurance and help I would have never finished my MA or my doctorate. I thank Dr. Uri Gabbai for lending me a helping hand every time I turned to him. Whether it was finding something in the library or just listening to a lost doctoral student, his kind words and encouragements saved my day many times. I wish to thank my parents-in-law who have supported us financially and stressed the importance of higher education. I especially thank Naomi Graetz for showing me another way of understanding mother- and womanhood. I wish to thank my parents, Simcha and Ilana, for teaching me to be independent from an early age and for having imprinted in me the value of hard work. I wish to thank Ben-Gurion University for providing me with a four and a half year scholarship. Last but not least I want to thank my amazing, loving, and kind husband, Tzvika. Thank you for your great support and acceptance about my being the eternal student for many years. IV To my husband Rabbi Tzvi Graetz , who told me: "Go and get a doctoral degree, it's good for us." Thank you for having so much patience, for being a wonderful father and a kind and loving man, and for teaching me to see things from a better perspective. When I am with you there is nothing more I need. To my three adorable, beautiful, sweet, smart, and energetic children; Uriah Avshalom, Ayelet Lucy, Talya Miriam. Thank you for being born, for making me a mother. Your presence completes my soul. V Abstract The main goal of the present study is to examine a social and legal problem in the Old Babylonian period, namely, to whom could a person who was wronged turn for help. Although the Old Babylonian period was characterized by a sophisticated justice system that included laws, legal and social reforms, courts, and arbitration, there were no jurists who studied the law and could be approached by those who needed legal help. Therefore, the question arises whether a person who was not able to deal with a wrongdoer or with the courts directly, was able to turn to others for help. The Babylonian legal system in general has been the topic of discussion since the turn of the 20th century, and many important studies continue to be produced about it. Superior works that have laid the foundation for the understanding of the Old Babylonian court and legal system include M. Schorr, Urkunden des Altbabylonischen Zivil-und Prozeßtechts, 1913; A. Walther, Das Altbabylonishe Gerichstwesen, 1917; J.G. Lautner, Die richterliche Entscheidung und die Streitbeebdigung zum Altbabylonischen Prozessrechte, 1922, Driver G.R. and Miles J.C., The Babylonian Laws, 1952 and Eva Dombradi's Die Darestellung des Rechtsaustrags in den Altbabylonischen Prozessurkunden, 1996. Most of the studies about the law and court system are based on information found in legal sources such as the law corpora, edicts, trial records, and private legal documents. Hardly anything has been written about the early stages of the conflict, when a person came to the realization that he has been wronged and wanted to seek justice. As the major studies are based on information derived from trial records which usually start with the judge's examination or the institution of the trial (dīnam šuhuzu), many important questions are not asked or debated. For example: Does every wronged person know his rights? What if he cannot manage to solve the dispute by himself? Are there people who specialize in helping the wronged person? The only legal source that addresses the question directly is a paragraph of the Stele of Hammurabi: "Let any wronged man who has a lawsuit come before the statue of me, the king of justice, and let him have my inscribed stela read aloud to him, thus he may hear my VI precious pronouncement and let my stela reveal the lawsuit for him; may he examine his case, may he clam his (troubled) heart, (and may he praise me) saying."1 The validity of the Code of Hammurabi as an active source for legal activity is greatly debated by scholars. Is the situation described on the stele what actually happened? Did the wronged man (awīlum hablum) always have the ability to understand what was read to him? What if he could not visit the stele because he lived in the villages outside the city, and did not have the means to travel? What if the specific crime was not mentioned on the stele? And what if he was born before the stele was erected? We therefore return to the initial question that the present study asks and explores: Who were the individuals in a position to help a wronged person deal with his (legal) claim? The current study examines this topic using the corpus of Old Babylonian (OB) letters that have been published in the series: Altbabylonische Briefe (AbB). This research focuses on letters written according to a certain schema, an Agent writes on behalf of the wronged persons: "a-na PN1 qí-bí-ma um-ma PN2,( followed by blessings), aš-šum PN3" To PN1 say, thus (says) PN2, concerning PN3. To illustrate the general pattern, a "tag" was assigned to each figure according to its function in the letter. The tag describes the figure’s action in the letter, ignoring specific names, places, and the details of the complaint. This procedure is used to emphasize the similarities and the differences between the letters. PN1 is the addressee of the letter; he is called the Recipient (R). There are three types of Recipients, labeled as follows: The letters in chapter 1 are addresses to the Rw (Recipient-wrongdoer): This recipient is directly responsible for PN3's problem. The letters in chapter 2 are addressed to the Rh (Recipient-helper): This recipient has the power to help PN3 and is characterized by holding some type of influential position. 1 Transliteration and translation: M. Roth (1995) 134. VII The letters in chapter 3 are addressed to the Rj (Recipient-judge): This recipient is approached by PN2 in his role of a Judge. PN2 is the writer of the letter and is called the Agent. PN3 is the wronged person and is called the Victim. To examine the persona of the Agent, five questions were formulated and used in each of the first three chapters in order to establish the main characteristics of the Agent. The questions are: 1. Who are the Agent, the Recipient, and the Victim referenced in the letter? 2. What is the relationship between the Agent and the Victim based on the information provided in the letter? 3. What information does the Agent provide to the Recipient in order to help the Victim? 4. In what manner does the Agent approach the Recipient? Is he merely stating the facts of the case, does he criticize the Recipient, or does he flatter him? 5.