A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

 581

due to linguistic difficulties deriving from the parallel or comple-

mentary usage of Hurrian and Akkadian technical terms.

4.2.1 The evidence provided by census lists of various contents from

the palace archives^50 shows that the basic Nuzi social classes, from

the viewpoint of the central Arraphean bureaucracy, were: (1) ràkib

narkabti (“chariot-driver”), (2) àlik ilki(lit., “subject of corvée”), (3)

nakku““u (possibly “substitute, reservist”), (4) a““àbu (lit., “resident”).

The same division is attested in documents from private archives,

most of which concern the administration of large-scale households,

such as those of Prince ”ilwa-Te““up and the Tehip-tilla families.

4.2.2 Other documents, from palace and private archives, attest to

the presence of “slaves” (Sum. ÌR = Akk. ardu): as will be seen

presently, the term applies to different juridical, institutional, and

socio-economic levels of personal servitude and subordination. The

four social categories mentioned in the census lists (recording the

numbers of adult males and/or “houses” in which these people were

resident) belong to the “free” sector of the Arraphean population,

regardless of whether they were landowners, tenants, or landless.

4.2.3 A basic feature common to all members of the “free” popu-

lation is their “tributary” dependence vis-à-vis the central adminis-

tration. Depending on their class, the permanent, seasonal, or occasional

work obligation included military service (on the basis of long- or

short-term conscription) at various levels of technical training and

capabilities, agricultural and pastoral activities, and a wide range of

professional services.^51

4.2.3.1 In this regard, attention should be drawn to the qualification

“a qa“ti(lit., “of the bow”), which is often attached to various peo-

ple listed in records of the palace administration but occasionally

also in documents belonging to private archives (see, e.g., HSS 9 11,

from the ”ilwa-Te““up archive). The conventional view that the term

designates a social class,^52 comprising those liable to the archers’

(^50) See esp. Gadd 63 and HSS 15 44; cf. Dosch, Zur Struktur.. ., 75–76, and
Zaccagnini, Rural Landscape.. ., 14–24.
(^51) There is no evidence that taxes were levied in currency or in kind.
(^52) Cf. CAD Q , 156a.
WESTBROOK_f14–564-617 8/27/03 12:28 PM Page 581