A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

nected with the land, but it may not have always been the case.^392

A few individual landowners are quite well documented.^393

Private persons often refer to “their own” fields in legal documents.

A typical example is in the Adoption Papyrus, where the woman

declares: “If I have fields in the country, or if I have any property

in the world,...these shall be divided among my four children.”^394

6.1.1.2 The temples appear to have leased out much of their land.^395

In the letter P. Berlin 8523,^396 the Temple of Osiris seems to be

involved in some aspect of land tenure. The writer of the missive

leases or rents out a field which he himself (or his wife) may be rent-

ing from the temple holdings.^397 It may occasionally have been advan-

tageous to donate or lease fields to a temple, in which case the

temple authorities still paid a certain amount to the original owner.^398

6.1.1.3 Taxes or imposts, often connected with land tenure, are

naturally the subjects of legal cases or disputes. P. Valencay 1 is a

protest from the mayor of Elephantine to the chief tax-master regard-

ing what the former considers unjust tax demands.^399 This text reveals

the complicated relationship between the “state,” “temple,” and pri-

vate persons, especially concerning the cultivation and taxation of

land.^400

6.1.2 Special Types of Property

6.1.2.1 Landed property at Deir el-Medina may display unique

legal features. According to Helck and Bogoslovsky, a necropolis

workman was assigned specific buildings as his official property,

persons and portions of land amounting to five arurae in my town” (Lichtheim,

AEL2, 13).

(^392) The king gives ̇nk land to foreign soldiers for support (Kessler, “Land-
schenkung.. .,” 116–17).
(^393) Eyre, “Feudal Tenure.. .,” 114.
(^394) Gardiner, “Adoption Extraordinary,” 24.
(^395) Bleiberg, Official Gift.. ., 13. On qdbland (“leased, rented”), see Gasse, Données...,
35; Eyre, “Feudal Tenure.. .,” 123.
(^396) Wente, Letters.. ., 209. See also Eyre, “Peasants.. .,” 384.
(^397) The identity of the acutal owner of the land is unclear.
(^398) Helck, “Der Papyrus Berlin P 3047,” 70. See also McDowell, “Legal Aspects...,”
206–7.
(^399) Vittmann, Elephantine.. ., 56.
(^400) Thus, ibid., 59.
  331
WESTBROOK_F9_289-359 8/27/03 1:43 PM Page 331