A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

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8. C D^180

Our knowledge of the criminal law is imperfect and indirect. Since

there does not exist any codified Demotic law, our information about

crime derives from records of disputes, mainly from oaths written

on ostraca on which is recorded the denial of wrongdoing by a party

before witnesses with an invocation of the names of the local god.

A central issue here is the degree to which the state and state insti-

tutions intervened in private disputes by defining specific areas of

criminal law, including tort law.^181 As far as we know, there was no

legislation in this area. On the whole, crime was considered a pri-

vate wrong and was resolved within the village or within a family,

without state intervention; hence there is little documentation. The

mention of murder is relatively rare, even in the Greek papyri.^182

To be sure, violence was an everyday feature of village life, but the

degree to which the state was involved in preventing or in punish-

ing is debatable. In criminal cases, petitions were addressed to a

variety of local police officials.^183 The police force was largely respon-

sible for maintaining order in the countryside as it related to royal

business—the collection of taxes, guarding of dykes, the transporta-

tion of grain, and the like.^184

8.1 Theft

Theft was one of the concerns of the Ptolemaic rural police force,

but we hear about this in the main from Greek papyri and in

Demotic literary texts.

8.1.1 Theft of Animals

The apparent theft of a bull by farmers on a temple estate in the

reign of Amasis was resolved by the son of the owner suing the

farmers. He was paid compensation for the bull.^185

(^180) Taubenschlag, Law.. ., 429–78. Studies based on the Greek material are
Baldwin, “Crime and Criminals.. .,” and Davies, “Investigation...”
(^181) See Eyre, “Adultery.. .,” 92–93.
(^182) Hobson, “Impact.. .,” 205, n. 2. In the Greek papyrus P. Tebt I 14, the vil-
lage scribe was responsible for the investigation of a murder. Murder does, of course,
lurk in the background and is implied in texts such as P. Rylands 9 as a motive
to grab priestly office, or as in the Setne romance from the Ptolemaic period as a
means of getting rid of heirs.
(^183) Taubenschlag,Law.. ., 537.
(^184) Thompson, “Policing...”
(^185) P. dem. Michigan 3523; Cruz-Uribe, Saite and Persian.. ., text 4.
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