A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

4. P S

4.1 Citizenship

4.1.1 From the Fàra period onward persons outside their native

city are characterized by reference to that city. A certain notion of

citizenship may be found in Enmetena’s remark that he “freed the

children” of the cities Uruk, Larsa.m and Patibira.k and let them

return to their respective deities (see 1.1.2 above). They were all sub-

jects of Lugal-kine“-dudu of Uruk. Their ties to their local deities

and cities seem stronger than to their suzerain. The strength of the

bond with one’s city of origin is also shown when an officer from

Umma taken captive by Urnan“e of Laga“and acquiring landed

property in Laga“is there called the “field recorder of Umma.”^96

4.1.2 If no city could be named, affiliation to one’s own native

land was in late OS times expressed by qualifying a person as being

“of (our) country” (kalam-ma-ke 4 ), parallel to the description of

another man as “from Adab.”^97

4.1.3 In Sargonic Umma, that is, in the Sumerian part of the

empire, we find a group of people qualified as “of Akkadian offspring”

in contrast to another group called “Sumerian.”^98

4.1.4 A group called nisqu“selected” occurs in texts from southern

Babylonia during the Sargonic period. It is organized under “inspec-

tors/officers” (nu-banda) and “overseers” (ugula).^99 It is likely that

(^96) Bauer, “Der vorsargonische.. .,” 452.
(^97) Wilcke, “Neue Rechtsurkunden.. .,” 57 and n. 110.
(^98) MAD 4 161 (see Wilcke, “Zum Königtum...,” 205):
21 6 lú, a uri-me, “21 people à 6 (units of something unnamed): they are of
Akkadian offspring”;
22 2 eme-gi 7 , “22 (people) à 2 (units of something unnamed): Sumerian.”
This unique, small, and very laconic document uses two seemingly different cat-
egories to differentiate the groups of people. The first, a biological one, is well
known from animal terminology; see J.N. Postgate apud Steinkeller, “Studies...,”
4f. and n. 22; “Sheep.. .,” 54, 59, on the terminology for hybrids; Wilcke, “Neusu-
merische Merkwürdigkeiten,” 636: gu 4 a am. The second category is language
related but also used figuratively to qualify other things Sumerian, among them
domestic sheep in contrast to foreign breeds; see Wilcke, “Zum Königtum.. .,”
218–19 (repeated by Steinkeller, “Sheep.. .”).
(^99) OIP 14 162; FAOS 19 Ad 9;
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