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The Amarna Letters provide additional clues about redress for
homicide. In EA 8,^159 the Babylonian king Burnaburiash writes to
Pharoah that some persons “killed my merchants and took away
[th]eir money...Put to death the men who put my servants [to]
death, and so avenge (lit., “return”) their blood.” Burnaburiash implies
that blood vengeance was the appropriate response to murder in his
country.8.2 Injury
A reference to personal injury occurs in a Nippur text listing pris-
oners and their offenses.^160 According to the text, a man was jailed
“because he struck his big brother” (a““um a¢“u rabâ im¢aßu).8.3 Sexual Offenses
In an unparalleled case concerning sexual infidelity, a man brings
a woman to court for having caused his brother to leave his wife^161
(see 5.1.3.1, above). When questioned, the woman responds that the
man will not enter her bed again, and the judge prohibits him from
entering the woman’s house, under penalty of being “arrested, exam-
ined, and questioned in accordance with the order of PN” (kî rikilti
PN ippad issaniq u i““âl). Because the woman is not censured in any
way, we can conclude that she was not married and that her actions
did not constitute the crime of adultery. Neither is the (married) man
charged with a crime or ordered to pay a penalty.8.4 Theft and Related Offenses
8.4.1 Definition
The verb “aràquwas applied to the taking of property. A thief him-
self is known as sarru, with bi-forms sàru and ßarru—words that at
root mean “false” or “fraudulent” and can also designate “criminal”
in general. The concept of theft included the receipt of stolen goods,
as seen in the equation between “received” and “stole” implied by
the statement “this is the total of what PN received and stole and
(what) the administrator (?) took from PN 2 (nap¢aru annû “a PN im¢uru(^159) Knudzton,El-Amarna-Tafeln I; translation by Moran,Amarna Letters, 46.
(^160) PBS 2/2 116.
(^161) UET 7 8.
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