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claimant and the son of the priest (by then also deceased) to the
water ordeal.
From this text we learn that where the original owner had died
leaving no male descendants but one female descendant, inheritance
could pass through the latter and the deceased’s brothers, either by
blood or in law through “being brought close for brotherhood.”
Because one’s maternal parentage cannot be in doubt, the problem
of the claimant’s mother not being named (làzukkuràt) must mean
that she was a daughter of PN through a slave and that PN had
not legally recognized her as his child. Her child, then, had no legal
claim to the estate.6.2.1.2 An adoption and inheritance text from ›ana illustrates that
the eldest son, in this case the adopted son, receives two inheritance
shares.^1106.2.2 Female Inheritance
A narûrecords an instance whereby land from the paternal estate
was given to a daughter, and the land was termed mulùgu (dowry).^111
In an adoption and inheritance text from ›ana (see 6.2.1.2 above),
a parcel of property is described as the “share of PN, which she
received from the house of her father” (h—a.la mfPN “a in bìt abì“a
telqâ). This evidence indicates that a daughter could receive a share
of her paternal estate either as a dowry or as inheritance. The same
woman is named earlier in the text as the adoptive mother in the
contract. It would seem that her dowry is described here to pre-
clude it from being claimed as part of her husband’s estate in the
event of his death.- C
Contract texts are written records of verbally executed agreements,
and they record, usually using formulaic Sumerian or Akkadian
expressions, the vital information about the contract: the topic of the(^110) RBC 779 (= Podany et al., “Adoption.. .” For texts from ›ana, see 1.2
above.
(^111) Marduk-nàdin-a¢¢e, the “Caillou Michaux.” A Neo-Babylonian narû, Nabû-
mukìn-apli, BBSt. 9, also documents a gift of mulùgumade to a daughter from her
father’s estate upon her marriage.
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