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2.1 Organs of Government
2.1.1 The King
As in earlier periods the Babylonian state was a monarchy. The
Babylonian king had to respect the property rights of his subjects.
By donations of land and tax exemptions he could give such rights
to single persons or groups including towns and temples (at least to
the end of the period of Assyrian supremacy). As supreme judicial
authority he acted on behalf of the gods and was therefore respon-
sible for establishing justice. The title “king of justice” (“ar mì“ari) is
the epithet of Chaldaean kings who also state that they are ones
who “love” (rà"im) or “establish” (mukìn) truth and justice (kitti u
mì“ari).^13 Otherwise it is stated that the king gives “a just sentence”
(dìn mì“ari dânu) and “speaks the truth” (kitta/kinàtu dabàbu).^14 The
same concept can seen in literary compositions like the one entitled
“If a king does not heed justice” (the so-called “Advice to a Prince”)^15
or a text called “Nebuchadnezzar, King of Justice,” where the king
is made responsible for just government, as exemplified by his actions.^16
After the end of political independence, when Babylonia became in
succession part of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, and Arsacid empires,
the concept of kingship retained by those empires became constitu-
tive also for Babylonia. As regards the law, the traditional concept
of ancient Near Eastern kingship embraced by Babylonian kings not
only continued into these later empires but also held true for the
Hellenistic kings.^17 The Seleucid King Antiochus I, acting exactly
like a Babylonian king, prays in an inscription for a “government of
justice” (“arrùt mì“ari, VAB 3 132 s. col. I 28, dated 262).2.1.2 Legislature
2.1.2.1 It is not known how the so-called “Neo-Babylonian law
fragment” came into existence: it is a matter of controversy whether(^13) AfO 17, 1 obv. 12, and Iraq27 (1965) 1ff. col. II 26. See also VAB 3 100
col. I 5s.; 216 col. II 2.
(^14) Seux, “Königtum B,” 164–165, §§80–83.
(^15) See Cole, Nippur 4, 268–74.
(^16) Lambert, “Nebuchadnezzar.. .”; for the date, see Beaulieu, Nabonidus.. ., 4–5.
(^17) Bikerman,...Séleucides, 186.
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