Babylonians and Assyrians : $b Life and customsSayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
History
Babylonians and Assyrians : $b Life and customs
Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
Assyria -- Social life and customs; Babylonia -- Social life and customs
Two cases which were pleaded before the courts in the reign of Nabonidos
illustrate the carefulness with which the evidence was examined. One of
them was a case of false witness. Beli-litu, the daughter of Bel-yusezib,
the wine merchant (?), “gave the following testimony before the judges of
Nabonidos, king of Babylon: In the month Ab, the first year of
Nergal-sharezer, king of Babylon, I sold my slave Bazuzu for thirty-five
shekels of silver to Nebo-akhi-iddin, the son of Sula of the family of
Egibi, but he now asserts that I owed him a debt and so has not paid me
the money. The judges heard the charge, and caused Nebo-akhi-iddin to be
summoned and to appear before them. Nebo-akhi-iddin produced the contract
which he had made with Beli-litu; he proved that she had received the
money, and convinced the judges. And Ziriya, Nebo-suma-lisir, and Edillu
gave further testimony before the judges that Beli-litu, their mother, had
received the silver.” The judges deliberated and condemned Beli-litu to a
fine of 55 shekels, the highest fine that could be inflicted on her, and
then gave it to Nebo-akhi-iddin. It is possible that the prejudice which
has always existed against the money-lender may have encouraged Beli-litu
to commit her act of dishonesty and perjury. That the judges should have
handed over the fine to the defendant, instead of paying it to the court
or putting it into their own pockets, is somewhat remarkable in the
history of law.
The second case is that of some Syrians who had settled in Babylonia and
there been naturalized. The official abstract of it is as follows:
“Bunanitum, the daughter of the Kharisian, brought the following complaint
before the judges of Nabonidos, king of Babylon: Ben-Hadad-nathan, the son
of Nikbaduh, married me and received three and one-half manehs of silver
as my dowry, and I bore him a daughter. I and Ben-Hadad-nathan, my
husband, traded with the money of my dowry, and we bought together a house
standing on eight roods of ground, in the district on the west side of the
Euphrates in the suburb of Borsippa, for nine and one-third manehs of
silver, as well as an additional two and one-half manehs, which we
received on loan without interest from Iddin-Merodach, the son of
Iqisa-ablu, the son of Nur-Sin, and we invested it all in this house. In
the fourth year of Nabonidos, king of Babylon, I claimed my dowry from my
husband Ben-Hadad-nathan, and he of his own free will gave me, under deed
and seal, the house in Borsippa and the eight roods on which it stood, and
assigned it to me for ever, stating in the deed he gave me that the two
and one-half manehs which Ben-Hadad-nathan and Bunanitum had received from
Iddin-Merodach and laid out in buying this house had been their joint
property. This deed he sealed and called down in it the curse of the great
gods (upon whoever should violate it). In the fifth year of Nabonidos,
king of Babylon, I and my husband, Ben-Hadad-nathan, adopted
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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