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5.2.2 Duty of Maintenance
Children had to support their indigent widowed mother or step-
mother: the principal wife resided with one of her own sons and
was supported by all her husband’s children, including those by
another wife of the deceased. The secondary wife could be obliged
to work for her sons in exchange for lodging (MAL A 46).5.2.3 Paternal Authority
The head of household had sufficient power over his children to be
able to sell them. The principal motive, generally with regard to
daughters, was famine. There is an allusion to it in MAL A 39:34–35:
the rights of a creditor-pledgee give way to those of the benefactor
of a girl whom he has fed in a period of crisis and then married.^78
Documents of practice also attest to this situation. In one, an Assyrian
woman enslaved “to stay alive and be taken” is freed by her future
husband, who provides a Subarean woman in exchange (KAJ 167).5.3 Adoption
5.3.1 MAL mention adoption only in the context of the inheri-
tance rights of adopted children (MAL A 28).^79 The Middle Assyrian
adoption documents do not seem to have a uniform format. All
include a date and list of witnesses; some have the adopter’s seal at
the beginning of the tablet. Some are drafted from the adopter’s
point of view (e.g., KAJ 3:3–4: fPN... ana màrùtu“a ilqi“she took
fPN... in adoption”) and some from that of the natural parents (e.g.,KAJ 1:6: ana màrùti iddin“u“he gave him in adoption”). If the adoptee
is still under his father’s authority, a contract is first drafted whereby
the natural father foregoes his rights in favor of the adopter (KAJ
6:4–7). The same applies to the posthumous son of a remarried
widow: adoption by the stepfather requires the drafting of a tablet
(†uppu “a màrùti“uMAL A 28). On the other hand, when the adoptee
is an independent adult, he can give himself in adoption (ana PN(^78) Cf. Roth, Law Collections.. ., 167; Saporetti, Leggi.. ., 66–67.
(^79) Aynard and Durand, “Documents.. .,” 24, n. 26; see an allusion to adoption
in MAL A 39. If the girl had been rescued from destitution, “pour celui qui l’a
nourrie, elle est une fille adoptive” (a-na mu-ba-li-†a-ni-“a [la-q]í-at). This restitution,
contrary to the usual reading [za]-ku-at, “she is free (of claims),” contradicts the
right of redemption, which is still available to the father in such circumstances and
is incompatible with adoption.
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