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quently been intended to last a number of years.^218 From time to
time there were interim settlements of accounts; a separate contract
was drafted for dissolution of the partnership.^2197.13 Deposit^220
Deposit documents (paqdu, as in the expressions ana paqdi manê, “to
reckon as a deposit” and ina pànPN paqàdu, “to deposit with a per-
son”) are attested from the Neo-Babylonian kingdom to Hellenistic
times. A large percentage of the documents come from the late
Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods, written in the city of Babylon.
According to a third century document, there were royal regulations
regarding deposits (dàtu “a “arri “a ana mu¢¢i paqdi “a†ri), but their
content is unknown.^221
The deposits recorded are of silver, animals, and agricultural pro-
duce (barley, dates).^222 Silver was often deposited in “a sealed purse,”^223
but there were probably also deposits repayable in the same quantity
and quality. The deposit was repayable on demand to the person
who could produce the document, and receipts are therefore attested.7.14 Contracts ancillary to status, such as marriage, adoption, and
slavery, are discussed under those headings.- C D
8.1 Homicide
There is no clear evidence on how homicide was punished, though
it may be reasonable to assume that it received a treatment similar
to that of earlier periods. The few reports of murder from this period
have mostly to do with political assassinations (Iraq16 203–205;(^218) Lanz, ¢arrànu.. ., 96–97.
(^219) Ibid., 102–11.
(^220) NRVU, p. 549 (“Verwahrungsverträge”); Stolper, Records of Deposit... (text edi-
tion and analysis). There is to date no comprehensive study of the first millennium
Babylonian material.
(^221) Ed. Stolper, Records of Deposit.. ., 28–29, no. 9.
(^222) paqduand paqàduserve as technical administrative terms for the transfer of
responsibility or the cession of certain products, until the Arsacid period: see Spek,
“Cuneiform Documents.. .,” 205–56.
(^223) E.g., TCL 12 120; Jursa, “Neues...”
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