A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

perhaps to “finalizing payment” (see below). A special feature of

Sargonic texts from the Diyala region is the use of “adàdum ana “to

measure for someone,” for “to sell (a house) to (someone).”^156

7.1.2 ED I Period

The exchange of property against a payment in kind is the earliest

recorded transaction in private law. For a long time, the written

form is restricted to landed property. The earliest inscribed stone

documents contain a description of the object sold (measurements,

location), the buyer’s and sellers’ names, a description of the pay-

ment, and a reference to a feast (“⁄.).^157

7.1.3 Fàra Period

With the advent of the Fàra period, the documents develop a fixed

pattern in which the element of a festive meal also plays an impor-

tant role. It creates the necessary social context for the transaction.^158

7.1.3.1 Documents from Fàra and contemporaneous texts from

Uruk^159 and of unknown provenance^160 have a set form, naming first

different parts of the price and the relevant qualities of the object

sold.^161 The “price” (sa 10 .m, níºg-sa 10 .m) is related to the dimensions

of the object sold and appears to be standardized, at least for fields.^162

(^156) Gelb, Old Akkadian.. ., nos. 1; 2.
(^157) The sign group names a kind of vat for alcoholic liquids (see FAOS 5/1:
Ukg. 6 v 2–3; 10 I 6) and may also designate a drinking party, which fits well with
the later evidence from Fàra of sales being concluded with a feast.
(^158) See Bottéro, “Antiquités.. .,” Krecher, “Neue Sumerische.. .,” “Die Aufteil-
ung.. .,” and “Kauf,” Glassner, “Aspects du don.. .,” and “La gestion.. .,” Wilcke,
“Neue Rechtsurkunden.. .,” 16f.
(^159) See Krebernik, “Die Texte aus Fàra.. .” 243 and n. 73.
(^160) See ibid., “Die Texte aus Fàra.. .,” 372–377.
(^161) See Wilcke, “Neue Rechtsurkunden,” 9–26.
(^162) The authors of ELTS observed that “in field sales in which the price is paid
in copper...the value of one iku of land usually is two pounds of copper.” Fixed
prices per unit of field may also be observed in ELTS 25 (Nippur Stele) where 1
rope of land corresponds to 10 pound of copper. In the Isin stone tablets, the rate
is 10 shekels of silver per rope of land and an additional tenth of that in grain as
i“-gána (< i“kinù). Lummatur in ELTS no. 22 pays four times the amount of 2 kor
of barley per dike (= iku) of land; in no. 23 he pays 8 times 2 kor of barley à
2 ul (= a half sized kor) and 3 pounds of wool per dike. In “Appendix to nos. 22–
23” the rate would be 1¼kor per dike.
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