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4.3 Gender and Age
4.3.1 In ration lists, persons are listed under the male head of
household. This organization supports the conclusion that the arche-
typal “person” under the law was the male head of household.
Nonetheless, there is evidence for women having a measure of inde-
pendent legal status.4.3.2 Women appear in legal contexts most frequently as sellers of
their children, but in these transactions they are almost always accom-
panied by men.4.3.3 Daughters of the king may have had a special status; there
is evidence that they held large estates.^72 In a Kassite narû, the daugh-
ter of the king receives extensive agricultural land and settlements
from him. In addition to setting up the monument for her—com-
memorating his gift and protecting her interest—the king gave her
the sealed tablets regarding the land that he had purchased so that
she might not incur any lawsuits in the future.^734.3.4 In an extraordinary text, only partially published, a woman
writes to the owner of her sister after the king has declared the (free-
born) women of Nippur to be free. She writes in the letter on behalf
of her sister’s legal rights.^74 Three women appear as the principals
in a contract probably from Nippur.^75 One borrows personal items
(a lamp, two different garments) from a second woman and then
gives them to a third. If the items are not returned, the first woman
is to reimburse the owner of the items.4.3.5 Finally, women appear on their own behalf, unaccompanied
by men in a few court decisions. In one record, a man and woman
appear together before the mayor of Nippur for a decision con-
cerning an Elamite, presumably a slave, who had disappeared.^76
When the mayor sends them both to the river ordeal (see 3.3.4(^72) Noted by Balkan,Babylonian Feudalism, 10.
(^73) MDP 2 99.
(^74) Kraus, “Rechtsterminus.. .” 38, and Brinkman, Review of Symbolae.. ., 259
and n. 6.
(^75) CBS 7241 (= Brinkman MSKH 7).
(^76) TuM 5 64 (= Petschow MB Rechtsurkunden 8).
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