A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

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1.1.10 Noteworthy is the existence of tariffs for wages and for prices

of cattle, meat, and agricultural products in among a collection of

legal verdicts. It is doubtful that these refer to fixed prices, since

there are considerable variations with regard to the same object. To

date, no documents of practice have been discovered that would

allow a comparison between these prices and reality.

1.1.11 Sophisticated juridical parlance is not to be expected, but

the Laws contain recognizable attempts at definition of terms. The

term “bull” is carefully defined as neither a suckling nor a one-year-

old calf (57). This accords with 176a, which states that a bull “breeds”

(is mature) in the third year. The term “stallion” is defined in the

same way (58). 176b explains what an artisan is by listing several

crafts: potter, smith, carpenter, leather-worker, fuller, weaver, and

breeches-maker (?).

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2.1 The King

2.1.1 In the early part of the so-called “Old Kingdom,” the Hittite

State was conceived of as the “body of the king,” that is, a body

politic^19 with the king as the head and the royal family, the “com-

munity” (panku), as the limbs.

2.1.2 The first king of the Hittite Empire, Hattusili I (ca. 1565–1540),

whose title is Labarna, says in his “Political Testament” with regard

to the order of succession among the royal family: “See, Mursili is

my son, him you must place (on the throne).”^20 It has been argued

from this passage that the monarchy was elective, as in Indo-European

tradition.^21 But the tenor of the order, which involves an adoption

(“M. is now my son”), does not imply a recommendation that Mursili

be elected, rather a directive to the royal family to show allegiance

to his successor. He demands that they support his son in time of

war or insurrection.^22 Hattusili is well aware of his exclusive posi-

(^19) Starke, “Regierung.. .,” 172.
(^20) Sommer and Falkenstein, Bilingue.. ., §7 II 37, 38.
(^21) Gurney, “Anatolia.. .,” 253.
(^22) Sommer and Falkenstein, Bilingue.. ., §7 II 39–41.
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