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to her ravisher as a wife, at her father’s discretion, and the latter
also receives compensation (“al“ate, “a third”) equal to the “price of
a virgin” (“ìm batulte). If the culprit was already married, his wife is
subject to vicarious talion: she is handed over for violation (MAL
A 55).8.4.2 Active sodomy is subject to talionic punishment (the culprit
is sodomized himself ) and castration (MAL A 20). The nature of
the sanction suggests that the law is above all punishing a rape,
doubtless seen as particularly humiliating. A slanderous accusation
of sodomy in private or public is punished with strokes of the rod,
a fine, a mark of infamy, and a month’s royal corvée (MAL A 19).8.5 Assault and Wounding
8.5.1 Blows inflicted on a man by a woman are punished with a
heavy fine and twenty strokes of the rod (MAL A 7). The severity
of the punishment in proportion to the offense reflects the inferior-
ity of women in Assyrian society. Aggravated violence, consisting for
a woman in wounding one or both testicles of a man, is punished
by cutting offa finger or mutilating the breast(s) (MAL A 8). The
case has a parallel in the Bible (Deut. 25:11–12). A man guilty of
an obscene gesture towards a woman has a finger cut off (MAL
A 9).^1428.5.2 A variation on this theme is presented by miscarriage fol-
lowing blows to a pregnant woman. The conditions suggest that the
perpetrator intended to strike the woman but not to cause a mis-
carriage. If the offense is committed against a màrat a"ìle, a free
woman not under a husband’s authority (4.3.2 above), the punish-
ment is a heavy fine—fifty strokes of the rod and a month’s royal
corvée (MAL A 21). The same offense against a married woman
(a““at a"ìle) gives rise to vicarious talion upon the pregnant wife of
the culprit; it is capable of composition by payment of ransom money.(^142) The nature of the culprit’s gesture is a matter of debate by reason of the
uncertain reading of l. 89: ki i BU ri e-pu-us-si. The man is said to have attacked
the woman “like a rutting bull” (kî bùre èpussi, most recently, Roth, Law Collections...,
157) or to have “treated her as a young child” (kî “irri èpussi), i.e., smacked her
(Driver and Miles, Assyrian Laws.. ., 32), or made an obscene gesture (Cardascia,
“Caractère volontaire.. .,” 198, n. 96).
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