4.4 Slavery
4.4.1 Terminology
There are two Sumerian words for male slave: ìr and úrdu.d. Both
are written with the sign ×,indicating an original meaning
of “mountain man.” The word for female slave is géme (written
×,i.e., “mountain woman”), a word also used for female
workers in the great estates. Frequently, the texts simply use “head”
(saºg), qualified as female or male. The texts differentiate between
“houseborn slaves” (eme 4 -dú.d)^106 of both sexes and other slaves.4.4.2 Status
4.4.2.1 Slaves were owned by private persons^107 or institutions^108
and could be sold.
They had some legal capacity of their own, as they could witness
a contract,^109 sell another person (a foundling) into slavery, and per-
haps also contest his or her status.^110 They thus could acquire prop-
erty, although on the basis of later practice, it may be presumed
that it would ultimately become property of their owner.4.4.2.2 A small Sargonic tablet with an unwitnessed judicial finding
suggests that houseborn slaves enjoyed a special status.^111 An OS
source counts them not with the (normal) slaves but with the owner’s(^106) Or more simply: ama-tu.d.
(^107) See above and the persons purchased by private persons, e.g., SRU 40–58a;
Krecher, “Neue Sumerische.. .,” nos. 14–15; 17–19 (no. 19 = Steinkeller, Third-
Millennium.. ., 61); MVN 3 62; 80; 81; 102 (cf. also 60 iv 1–3; 77); Donbaz and
Foster, Sargonic Texts.. ., no. 155; Foster, “Business Documents.. .,” nos. 1–4; FAOS
15/2 90; VAS 25 13; Yang, Sargonic Inscriptions.. ., no. 713; Steinkeller, Third-
Millennium.. ., nos. 57–59.
(^108) See above 2.1.3.4 and, e.g., FAOS 15/1 19 vi 8: “They are female slaves
(géme) of the Pasir temple”; SRU 86 2': nam-úrdu-dNin-ºgír-[su-ka] “status as slave
of the god Nin-ºgirsu.k.” Note that in SRU 43 a female slave of Nin-ºgír-su.k sells
a foundling to the wife of the saºgºga. ITT 1 1336: 1–2: Lugal-zà-mí, eme 4 -dú É-
babbar; 2/1, 4543:1–6: -[x x x], zà-“u 4 l[ugal-kam], 3 dumu ?, eme 4 -dú, lugal-
kam, ì-z࢓K., branded for the k[ing], (together with) 3 (.. .) children—he is a
houseborn slave of the king —fled.” (This fragmentary letter should be added to
those from ΩGirsu edited in FAOS 19.)
(^109) SRU 62 iv 1 (note, p. 117).
(^110) See previous footnote and 3.1 above.
(^111) OIP 97 8: “Gan-Gula.k, wife of Kabani-ma¢, fixed for Nin-“ud the respon-
sibility fee of 5 shekels of silver when Geme-Enlil.k had seized Nin-“ud for the sta-
tus of houseborn slave (nam-eme 4 -dú-“è). Geme-Enlil.k need not replace Nin-“ud.”
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