4.4.4 Treatment
4.4.4.1 Slaves could acquire and hold property, but as a peculium
from the owner. The slave could make transactions regarding it, and
it could be called his property (NG 132; cf. Steinkeller 52), but ulti-
mately it could be reclaimed by his owner (NG 199:III 3'–15'). In
UET 3 51, a slave redeems herself, presumably with assets acquired
for her peculium. Where a slave married a free woman, who would
thus have some claim to a share in after-acquired assets, LU 5 ruled
that half of his estate (“house”) passed to his owner (on his death).4.4.4.2 The only means attested to restrain runaway slaves was to
impose upon them a promissory oath not to run away again, pre-
sumably as an alternative to more imminent punishment (BE 3/1
1; NRVN 1). LU 17 orders the owner of a runaway slave to pay a
reward of two shekels to one who returns him from beyond the city
limits.4.4.5 Termination
UET 3 51 is the sole example of redemption: a slave woman “pur-
chases herself ” from her owner for twenty shekels and a cow as her
full price. She must, however, continue to serve her owner and his
wife for the rest of their lives (i.e., paramone); only after their death
may she “go where she pleases.” The other method of termination—
manumission (ama-ar-gi 4 )—is far more frequently attested (e.g., NG
30, 78). Paramonewould have been a condition of manumission in
many cases.^68 On one occasion, a childless owner also adopts his
manumitted slave (possibly his natural son) as his heir (NATN 920).
Manumission made the ex-slave a full citizen (see 4.1 above).- F
5.1 Marriage^69
5.1.1 Conditions
5.1.1.1 Although there is mention of a “junior wife” (dam-banda)
in mythological texts,^70 monogamy is the sole form of marriage found(^68) Wilcke, “Care of the Elderly.. .,” 51–53.
(^69) Falkenstein, GerichtsurkundenI.. ., 98–109.
(^70) Neumann, “Ehe.. .,” 135–36.
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