society, institutions, law, and economy 45
1.6 Rural Society1.6.1 Farmers, Day Laborers, and Slaves
the majority of ordinary people did not play an important role in royal
inscriptions (but cf. remarks on Kulamuwa in Kai 24). therefore, we can
only presume that, like in other cultures and kingdoms, a large part of the
population in the aramaean kingdoms was engaged in agriculture and
raising livestock to guarantee the sustenance of the rest.54 apart from the
urban residence of the king and some important fortifications, there were
only small villages. So an appropriately organized agricultural hinterland
of the city for the economic supply of the state can be assumed. the social
and economic status of farmers in the independent aramaean states is
unknown. we have no information on the proportion of independent
farmers with real estate or of ordinary agricultural workers and day labor-
ers before the assyrian annexation.55 it is only after the assyrian annexa-
tion that contracts appear confirming the sale of real estate.56
From King Kulamuwa we hear about slaves captured in battles. Kula-
muwa quotes the values of one sheep for a young female captive and one
garment for a male captive (Kai 24: 8). the great number of slaves after
the defeat of the danunians with the help of the assyrians may have led
to a drop in the usual rates for slaves.57
numerous clay tablets from the 7th century B.c., after the assyrian
annexation, bearing aramaic contracts for the transfer of slaves testify
to a vigorous slave trade.58 the wording of these tablets is comparable
to that found on neo-assyrian tablets.59 although the aramaic tablets
principally address the situation under assyrian domination, they are
nevertheless a valuable source attesting to the centuries-old existence of
the slave trade.60
54 See infra chapter 4 on the economy.
55 See the cautious and vague suggestions of dion 1997: 287–289.
56 cf. infra.
57 tropper 1993: 38.
58 For the ownership transfer of slaves Fales 1986: 3 lists the inscriptions nos. 2, 4, 5, 14,
17, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 31, 34, and 41; Lemaire 2001b: nos. 1, 3, 4, and 6a(?). For the inscrip-
tion Lemaire no. 1, see also Lipiński 2000a: 575–577 and Lemaire 2010b, 210–216.
59 they are also comparable with the contracts among the elephantine papyri and with
the contracts of slave ownership transfer among the papyri of wadi ed-daliyeh. For the
formal aspects of the contracts, see Fales 1986: 1–4; Lemaire 2001b: 58–62; id. 2010b: 215;
dušek 2007. For an overview on aramaic texts on neo-assyrian clay tablets that were
found in Syria, see Fales 2000: 104–114; see infra 3.
60 See niehr forthcoming b for ugarit and emar.