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issue, the existence of a testament is mentioned or implied. EL 287,
the division of an inheritance agreed upon before thirteen witnesses
ends with: “All of them have divided (the estate) in accordance with
their father’s testamentary dispositions.” The fact that a trader had
died “without having made his testamentary disposition” is noted in
a letter (BIN 6 2).^137 The document was formally opened and read
in the presence of all the heirs (see AKT 3 94:24ff.).6.2.2 Inheritance Rules
EL 287, “Tablette Thierry,” and kt o/k 196c^138 show that the tes-
tator could appoint more heirs than his wife, sons and daughters,
but we do not know how wide he could draw the circle. An unpub-
lished, somewhat later Old Assyrian adoption contract stipulates that
the adoptive son, as oldest heir (aplum), will receive a double share,
a practice also attested for the Anatolian milieu (see 6.2.7 below),
but there is no evidence for this rule in the divisions actually recorded.
The end of “Tablette Thierry” lists three persons (including a
scribe) called bèl “ìmàtia, and in I 705, two heirs “acknowledge the
acquisition of shares of their father’s estate” before the bèl “ìmàtim.
Garelli understands the term to mean “executors”; Wilcke, “witnesses
to the testamentary disposition.”^1396.2.3 Heirs
Both sons and daughters shared in the deceased’s estate, as is clear
from records where his investments in other traders’ capital are
divided equally between all his children.^140 Kt o/k 196 shows the
order in which the heirs receive their shares and the privileged posi-
tion of the eldest son. First the widow, then the eldest son, who will
inherit what his mother “leaves behind” (warkassa), then the (eldest?)(^137) BIN 6 2:4ff.; cf. EL 244.
(^138) See Albayrak, “Altassyrisches Testament.. .,” with Michel, “A propos d’un
testament...”
(^139) Garelli, “Tablettes.. .,” III, 135:53; Wilcke, “Testamente.. .,” 196, n. 1, where
he suggests that the oath was used to contest the validity of the testamentary dis-
position. The unopened envelope of a testament, kt 91/k 396, proves that it was
sealed by the testator and by witnesses.
(^140) There is ample evidence of such divisions between the five children (four sons
and one daughter) of Pu“uken; see AKT 1 11; Kienast ATHE 33; EL 310; CCT
5 11a and 21a; TC 3 274; etc. In AKT 3 94, a daughter and heir appeals to the
City, because she wants to know her father’s last will, perhaps afraid that her broth-
ers will cheat her.
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