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u i“riqù-ma lú.“id(?) ina qàt PN 2 ìkimù“u).^162 In the letters from Amarna,
¢abàtu signifies “taking away,” with the sense of “raiding” or “plun-
dering,” and is used to describe violent crimes against travelers in
Syro-Palestine.8.4.2 Sanctions
8.4.2.1 Only payments are recorded as penalty for theft, and these
are signified with verbs of restitution—apàlu,“ullumu, and turru, lit-
erally, “to pay (back),” “to make whole,” and “to return.” The penalty
was a multiple of the item stolen, ranging from twofold^163 to four-
fold,^164 payable in kind or in value. Thus, failure to return borrowed
items was not considered theft (see 7.2.1 above) and was subject to
restitution only of the value of the items.8.4.2.2 A Middle Babylonian tablet indicates that a man caught in
possession of an escaped slave was obliged to turn over the slave
plus the value of the slave’s rent for the period since his flight, in
other words, simply to make good the owner’s loss without any crim-
inal penalty.^1658.4.3 Burglary
An apparently unique phrase, ¢ibit bìti (“housebreaking”) heads a list
of items that PN and PN 2 had burgled^166 (lit., “broken,” “a PN u
PN 2 i¢pû) and were seized in the hands of the housebreakers.^167 The
verb ma“à"uwas used for theft of barley from the storage piles:
“thieves who cut into the grain piles of GN and stole the barley”
(ßarrùti “a karâ “a GN ikkisù-ma u††ata im“u"ù).^168(^162) Peiser Urkunden 96.
(^163) E.g., UET 7 43.
(^164) E.g., UET 7 10.
(^165) TuM 5 67 (= Petschow MB Rechtsurkunden 10). The text in fact describes
a more complicated situation. A surety had secured the release of the one who had
harbored the slave but was obliged to turn over the slave and his wages if he failed
to produce the harborer by the appointed date.
(^166) For similar lists from Nuzi, see Gurney, Middle Babylonian.. ., 115.
(^167) UET 7 40.
(^168) WZJ 8 Taf. I (= HS 108).
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