children, suggesting that they were children born to the head of the
family by a female slave.^1124.4.3 Creation
4.4.3.1 Despite the meaning “mountain (wo)man” suggested by the
logograms × and ×, the slaves in the sources do
not seem to be of foreign origin, with the possible exception of the
igi-nu-du 8 “blind ones.”^113 As a Great Merchant was employed to
acquire them,^114 they would have been purchased outside the bor-
ders of the city-state of Laga“.4.4.3.2 The majority of published slave sale documents record the
creation of slavery rather than resale. Nearly a third deal with the
creation of slavery by family members. In eight documents^115 a
mother^116 sells a child, with the person sold being named in three
instances as one of the recipients of the price—an indication of con-
sent barring later revendication.^117 In five, the father is the seller
(once father and brother).^118 Once a husband sells his wife^119 and
once brothers their sister.^1204.4.3.3 Debt as the cause of slavery is evident when creditors receive
the price of an adult “cantor” (gala).^121 The same seems probable
where the governor buys from a judge a family consisting of its head
(a “cantor”), his wife, two daughters and two brothers brought back
to ΩGirsu by the seller’s brother,^122 and it may well be the reason
why a slave woman was sold on behalf of the governor for less than(^112) Gelb, “Terms for Slaves.. .,” 85f.
(^113) See Farber, “Akkadisch blind,” 221.
(^114) SRU 42.
(^115) Further unpublished material is listed in ELTS.
(^116) In Yang, Sargonic Inscriptions.. ., A 713, 2'–3' I restore [T]á-qù-la, [am]a!-ni
“her [mot]her Taqùla.”
(^117) SRU 44; 54; Krecher, “Neue sumerische.. .,” nos. 14; 15; 17; 18; 19; cf.
also MVN 3 60 iv 1–3 (asterisk: person sold among recipients of price).
(^118) BIN 8 363; VAS 25 13; Steinkeller, Third-Millennium.. ., no. 59; MVN 3 80;
102; cf. also 77 (asterisk: father and brother).
(^119) Steinkeller, Third-Millennium.. ., no. 57, reading dam-¢niÜ(l. 3).
(^120) Ibid., no. 58, reading [“e]“sa
ºg-ºgá-me (l. 9).
(^121) SRU 45.
(^122) SRU 46.
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