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as his son was not yet old enough. That was exactly what he sought
to avoid—by making his wife the heiress, he gave her father (a close
business associate) a chance to intervene on her behalf (and on behalf
of her children) and to run the business until the grandchild was old
enough for division of the inheritance with the brothers.- C
Whereas only a very small number of cuneiform texts is known from
the first quarter of the first millennium, from the second half of the
eighth to the beginning of the first century thousands of administrative
and contractual documents are preserved, many of which are still
unpublished. The texts of legal relevance from the tenth and ninth
centuries (as well as some of later date) are the so-called kudurrus or
“entitlement narûs,” which are found as copies on stone.^129 The best
documented period is between Nebuchadnezzar II (604–562) and
Darius I (521–486).^130 It is generally thought that written contracts
became more important during this period, the drafting and transfer
of the contract establishing a legally binding obligation.^131 There are
many types of contracts, with standard clauses that differ in part
from those of earlier periods. In addition to the traditional objectively
formulated contract (i.e., in the third person), from the late second
millennium onwards we see the appearance of a new form, the so-
called “dialogue document.” This type is used mostly in unusual cir-
cumstances which do not fit the standard formulary for a given legal
transaction.^1327.1 Sale
It is a characteristic of first millennium sale contracts that sales of
immoveable property (houses, fields, orchards, and prebends) differ
in their formulation from sales of movables (slaves, animals, boats,
household utensils, etc.). A major difference is that the former are(^129) Slanski, “Classification...”
(^130) Surveys of published texts (mostly including administrative documents): 1000–700:
Oelsner, “Frühneubabylonische...; 799 –626: Brinkman and Kennedy “Documentary
Evidence.. .”; Beaulieu, “The Fourth Year...”; Nabopolassar to Darius III: Dandamaev,
Slavery.. ., 7–18; Xerxes to Darius III: Oelsner, “Zwischen Xerxes und Alexander...,”
312–14, n. 10; Hellenistic and Arsacid periods: Oelsner, Materialen.. ., chap. 3.
(^131) Koro“ec, Keilschriftrecht, 192.
(^132) Petschow, “Zwiegesprächsurkunde.. .,” and Mittelbabylonische.. ., 38–39.
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