Law and Trade in Ancient Mesopotamia and Anatolia

This book contains a selection of nineteen articles published by K.R. Veenhof, focusing on his main field of study: law and trade in the Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian society of the early second millennium B.C. They were originally published in journals, conference proceedings and collective volumes over the past fifty years. Their reissue here is motivated by their lasting value and their fundamental importance to the study of these subjects.It includes both "broad" articles, which give an introduction to or an overview of a specific subject, e.g. Old Assyrian trade and the practice of justice in Babylonia in the early second millennium B.C., and "narrow" ones that give an in-depth study of a single issue or a single text, such as a problematic paragraph of Hammurabi's law code or the meaning of the noun isurtum. The first two articles provide a general introduction to the subject; the next nine focus on Old Assyrian society, and the final eight concern Old Babylonian.The inclusion of "broad" and "narrow" articles makes this publication of interest both to the well-informed general reader interested in the Ancient Near East and to the specialist working on Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian society.Prof. dr. Klaas R. Veenhof (1935) was a teacher at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, professor at the Free University of Amsterdam and from 1982 until his retirement in 2000 professor at the University of Leiden.ContentsForewordAbbreviations1. Justice and Equity in Babylonia2. Old Assyrian and Old Babylonian Law: Some Comparative Observations3. Ancient Assur: The City, its Traders and its Commercial Network4. The Archives of Old Assyrian Traders: Their Nature, Functions and Use5. "In Accordance with the Words of the Stele": Evidence for Old Assyrian Legislation6. Trade and Politics in Ancient Assur7. Silver and Credit in Old Assyrian Trade8. Old Assyrian and Ancient Anatolian Evidence for the Care of the Elderly9. Redemption of Houses in Assur and Sippar10. Old Assyrian Isurtum, Akkadian Es rum and Hittite GIS. UR11. A Deed of Manumission and Adoption from the Later Old Assyrian Period12. Before Hammurabi of Babylon. Law and the Laws in Early Mesopotamia13. The Interpretation of Paragraphs t and u of the Code of Hammurabi14. The Relation Between Royal Decrees and 'Law Codes' of the Old Babylonian Period15. Fatherhood is a Matter of Opinion. An Old Babylonian Trial on Filiation and Service Duties16. The Dissolution of an Old Babylonian Marriage According to CT 45, 8617. Three Old Babylonian Marriage Contracts Involving Naditum and Sugitum18. Trade with the Blessing of Shamash in Old Babylonian Sippar19. Assyrian Commercial Activities in Old Babylonian Sippar - Some New Evidence