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City is always mentioned first. Official orders and authorizations are
usually referred to simply as “tablets of the City,”^13 and the official
messengers sent out to represent Assur in Anatolia are called “Envoys
of the City” (“iprù“a àlim). The absence in the documentation of the
royal palace in Assur and the prominent role played by the “City
house” (bèt àlim) reveal that the City was the main administrative
power. The ruler’s responsibility for maintaining justice was exer-
cised in conjunction with the City. He had to make known its deci-
sions (verdicts, orders), which he sent to the colonies (see 1.3 above)
in envelopes carrying his seal and the inscription: “Tablet of the
waklum(“overseer”), to kàrumKanish.”^14 It was the ruler’s preroga-
tive to assign plaintiffs the right to hire an “attorney” (see 7.4 below),
which people would call “an ‘attorney’ of my lord” (ràbißbèlia), but
the ruler himself “my attorney,”^15 although various records show that
such measures were based on decisions of the City Assembly.2.1.1.2 Anatolian Rulers
On the Anatolian scene, we meet “rulers” (rubà"um) of the various
city-states and occasionally also a reigning queen (rubàtum). The king
heads the palace organization, which includes various officials whom
we know mainly from their contacts with the Assyrians. Some also
appear in purely Anatolian contracts of various kinds, the rabi ma¢ìrim
(“head of the market”), for example, in transactions involving houses
and slaves. The ruler and the “head of the stairway” figure in par-
ticular (and by name) in the so-called “notarization,” which occurs
(for reasons unknown to us) at the end of certain contracts (espe-
cially sale and divorce) and states that the transaction took place
“through/by the hand of the ruler... (etc.)” (iqqàti rubà"im....).^16 A
few Anatolian debt notes mention that the ruler could issue a decree
of debt release (see 7.3.6 below).2.1.2 The City
The City is the most important organ of government, also the high-
est judicial authority. It maintained contact with the colonies by(^13) A rare reference to “a tablet of the City and the ruler” is in TC 2 41:19f.;
see Larsen, City-State.. ., 179. Cf. TC 1 1:24–30 (Larsen, City-State.. ., 163).
(^14) See Sever, “Waklum,” and Veenhof, “Legislation...”
(^15) See Larsen, City-State.. ., 186f.
(^16) For examples, see Balkan, Letter.. ., 45f., Garelli, Assyriens.. ., 63f. (“sous la
jurisdiction de.. .”), 214f., and Donbaz, “Remarkable Contracts...”
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