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1.2 Typology of Documents
1.2.1 Documents from the Palace Archives
1.2.1.1 No codes or law collections have been recovered at Nuzi,
nor would one expect to find that kind of document in provincial
archives of the period. On the other hand, direct or indirect evi-
dence of royal and/or palace edicts, orders, and proclamations is
fairly abundant, if still largely obscure.1.2.1.2 Aside from a number of royal orders issued in form of let-
ters to palace officials or provincial governors, city mayors, and dis-
trict governors,^3 a few documents from the palace archives refer to
a royal/palace “decree, edict, proclamation” (“ùdùtu, from the verb
idû”(“ùdû) “to let someone know, announce, proclaim”), a term at
times replaced or coupled with †èmu“decision, communication, order”
or qibìtu“order, command.” To judge from the scant evidence at
hand, it seems that these “proclamations,” regardless of whether they
had general legal effect or were limited ad hoc rulings, mainly con-
cerned the protection and the occasional release of people who, for
different reasons, were in a state of servitude.1.2.2 Documents from Private Archives
1.2.2.1 In contrast with the meager evidence provided by the palace
archives, the “ùdùtu proclamations/edicts are frequently mentioned
in a vast number of private legal deeds of various kinds dating to
the late period of Nuzi history. A standard clause at the end of the
document states that “the (present) tablet was written after the “ùdùtu.”
Scholars have long been tempted to compare the Nuzi “ùdùtuwith
the well-known early Mesopotamian debt remission decrees (Akk.
mì“arum= Sum. NÍG.SI.SÁ), especially since two otherwise well-
known terms—Akkadian anduràru (“remission, manumission”) and
Hurrian kirenzi(“manumission”)—are occasionally attested.^4(^3) The sole evidence of a royal order sent to an Arraphean king by the Mittanian
overlord is provided by the letter HSS 9 1, which bears the seal of “Sau“tatar, son
of Parsatatar, King of Mittani.”
(^4) For a survey of the relationship between “ùdùtu, anduràru, and kirenzi, see most
recently Lion, “L’anduràru.. .,” esp. 319–26; Zaccagnini, “Debt.. .,” with a sum-
mary of previous literature.
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