We have noted that in many ancient societies, the treatment
of slaves was subject to legal oversight. Hammurabic and Hittite
society provide clear examples of this. Both had laws to ensure
that slaves as well as all other members of society were justly
treated. But like its Babylonian counterpart, Hittite justice was far
from blind. Slave and free were clearly distinguished in the meting
out of penalties for offences committed against or by them. Thus a
personwhoblindsaslaveorknocksouthistoothorbreakshis
arm or leg or bites off his nose, or tears off his ear pays only half
the amount, or less, of the compensation imposed for inflicting
the same injuries on a free person. Punishments for thefts of a
fairly trivial nature committed by a slave (or by a free person for
that matter) were fairly lenient. But when a slave committed a
serious offence, he suffered a much severer penalty than a free
person. Thus a slave found guilty of arson had his nose and ears
cut off. A free person who committed the same offence was
obliged to pay full compensation to his victim. But his bodily
features were left intact.
MATRILOCAL AND MIXED MARRIAGES
One of the distinctive features of Hittite society was theantiyant-
marriage. The Hittite term, which literally means‘one entering
into’, refers to a marriage in which a husband enters into his
wife’s family, rather than what is traditionally the other way
round. We’ve seen that at society’s topmost level, provision was
made for the husband of a king’s daughter to enter into the royal
family as the king’s adopted son and successor to the throne.
Provision was made for this in the event of a king having no sons,
or suitable sons, of his own tofill the position of heir designate.
The term‘matrilocal’is used to refer to such marriages.
Similarly at lower social levels, the Laws indicate a number of
cases where such marriages were contracted. One obvious reason
for a family seeking to bring a son-in-law within its fold was to help
ensure the continuation of a family line which had been weakened
by the loss of at least some of its own male members on military
campaigns. Alternatively, or in addition, such marriages boosted
150 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA