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adoptee. The point would have been that the adopter then sells the
adoptee not as his son (who might be redeemed) but as a slave.
Nonetheless, by no means all chattel slaves were so marked. It appears
to have been used when the status of the slave might be called into
question or when it was feared that the slave might run away. In
LH 146, the slave concubine who, having borne children, “makes
herself equal” to her mistress, is not sold but marked with the abbut-
tumand “counted among the slave women.” Her status, which she
previously challenged, is thus placed beyond doubt. In LE 51, a
slave bearing fetters, chains, or an abbuttummay not pass out through
the city gate without his owner, presumably because he has shown
a propensity to run away.4.4.4.2 According to LH 282, an owner may cut offthe ear of his
slave who has denied his slave status. Ironically, this suggests limits
on the owner’s right to discipline his slave, since he is allowed to
inflict only a specific punishment and only after proof of his slave’s
status in court.^61 A letter from Mari reports that an owner gouged
out the eyes of his runaway slave but could not execute him with-
out an order of the king.^624.4.4.3 Offenses by slaves against third parties occasionally merited
special punishment, for example, cutting offan ear for slapping the
face of the son of an awìlum (LH 205).4.4.4.4 From LH 176a, we learn that a slave could conduct trans-
actions and accumulate property on his own account, although it
would ultimately return to the owner on his death. Further indica-
tions of a slave’s peculium are found in litigation records. In BE 6/1
103 (= UAZP 273) a slave lends grain said to be his and later wrong-
fully recovers it from the debtor, together with a co-creditor. It is
the co-creditor who appears in court and is made liable for pay-
ment, while allusions are made to the slave’s owner which suggest
that the transaction was made with his authority.^63 In OLA 21 24(^61) Cf. AbB 11 60, in which a slave who made insolent remarks (miqit pîm) about
his owner’s son is held in detention (ina ßibittim), presumably pending final punishment.
(^62) Lafont, “Un ‘cas royale’...”
(^63) Ll. 40–43: “If the sealed tablet... of A (debtor) turns up in the basket of B
(slave owner), it is (deemed) broken.”
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