A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

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so pledging, the dedicatee was obligated to pay a monthly fee. In many

of these self-dedications, the father of the dedicant is “anonymous,” giv-

ing rise to speculation that what underlines these transactions is tem-

ple prostitution or abandoned children. In Early Demotic, self-sale to

be a slave or to be the “son” of the buyer may be a kind of adoption

or an attempt to get around the ban by Amasis on debt slavery.^139

7.3 The sale document was utilized for transactions other than real

sales. Property could be pledged in exchange for a loan. In these

cases, a “writing for silver” was handed over to a trustee or mort-

gagor. In the case of default upon an agreement, the mortgagee was

obliged to write a “writing of being far” in order to cede title to

the pledged property. The transfer of property in advance of death

could also be effected by the writing of a sale document (s§[n] ≈b3

̇≈). Such “sales” have been termed a “sale propter mortem” and are

exceptional in Demotic law.^140

7.4 Hire

7.4.1 Animals

If livestock was commonly leased out for agricultural work, the

Demotic evidence for such activity is exceedingly rare.^141 Some of

the early Demotic leases were probably transacted between two

groups, those who held land and those who owned draught ani-

mals.^142 Most of our evidence comes from the public sphere, where

royal farmers were provided with public (or commandeered) animals

for plowing (oxen) and hauling (donkeys or camels).^143

7.4.2 Real Property

7.4.2.1 Fields and Orchards^144

The first written Egyptian leases in Demotic appear in Early Demotic

(Saite period). These are simpler in format and in the number of

(^139) Seidl, Ägyptische Rechtsgechichte, 45–48. For Hierodule texts, see Thissen, Griechische

.. ., 80–87; Donker van Heel, Abnormal Hieratic.. ., 177–82.

(^140) Pestman, “Appearance and Reality.. .,” 80–81.
(^141) P. dem. Reinach 4 (108 B.C.E., Hermopolis).
(^142) See the remarks by Donker van Heel, Abnormal Hieratic.. ., 36.
(^143) Taubenschlag, Law.. ., 368–70.
(^144) For the Ptolemaic period, see Felber, Demotische Ackerpachtverträge... Importantly,
the earliest known Ptolemaic lease dates to 190 B.C.E. from the Fayyum, and 178
B.C.E. for Upper Egypt. Much leasing of land in this period would have been done
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