(M582) The house was in Sippara, since it is known that Nabi-ilishu
resided there.(607) The “exit,” that is to say, the front door, opened on
the road to the house of Immarum. The scribe means to say that
Ḥaiabni-ilu, who was a neighbor, owned the house of Immarum. It appears
that Immarum was _šar irbitim_, “king of the four quarters,” a title often
borne by Babylonian kings. There is a great probability then that Immarum
was no other than the Immerum, once King of Sippara, in the reign of
Sumu-lâ-ilu. It is not necessary to suppose him still alive. This deed was
executed in the reign of Apil-Sin, whose father, Ṣâbum, had reigned
fourteen years after the death of Sumu-lâ-ilu. Further, one of the
witnesses, Sin-ublam, is said to be a son of Immerum.
Thus we may conclude that Immarum, or Immerum—the difference in spelling
is slight for these times—King of Sippar, bore the title of “king of the
four quarters,” and as such was still remembered in Sippara. The exact
meaning of the term has been disputed, but Sippara was a fourfold city:
Sippar the great, Sippar Amnânu of the goddess Anunitum, Sippar Edinna,
and Sippar Iḫrurum are named in the tablets of this dynasty. Perhaps the
four quarters of Sippara are meant.
Lamazi, the buyer, daughter of Kasha-Upi, votary of Shamash, bought
another house in the nineteenth year of Sinmubaliṭ,(608) borrowed a
quantity of lead in the first year of Ḥammurabi,(609) and bought a female
slave in a year of Ḥammurabi’s reign, the date of which is not yet
fixed.(610) The name Lamazi is common and was borne by several votaries of
Shamash whom we know to be daughters of other men than Kasha-Upi. But she
may well be the same as the lady who figures without such marks of
identity in several other documents. For example, she is named as being a
neighbor of Ilushu-ellatzu.(611)
(M583) The phrase _ina šapiriša_, “by her order,” occurs often. It implies
that Lamazi acted through an agent, when she borrowed the lead, she acted
through a _mâr šipri_, a messenger and agent. She bought her other house
in the same way. This does not imply any disability on the part of women
to enter into business, for they were as free and competent to act as men.
Nor does it arise from her being a votary of Shamash, for these ladies are
concerned in by far the larger part of the transactions recorded at
Sippara. It is merely the fact that on these occasions, as was frequently
done, Lamazi employed a business agent, who is not named. Her father,
Kasha-Upi, is referred to again as buying a house from the sons of
Nabi-ilushu,(612) where we learn that the latter was a son of
Shamash-ina-mâtim and brother of Kasha-Upi. Lamazi was therefore a niece
of Nabi-ilushu.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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