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military corvée, should perhaps be reconsidered in light of the evi-
dence provided by many registers that list groups of people belong-
ing to the four Arraphean social classes. In them, the qualification
“aqa“tiis opposed to “a ana bìtàti“unu mu““uru(lit., “sent back to their
houses”). Whatever the professional activities of the “a qa“ti might
originally have been, it seems reasonable to infer that the people “of
the bow” were in actual temporary service, whereas the people “sent
back to their houses” had completed their civil or military corvée,
at the end of which they were allowed to return home.4.2.4 Notwithstanding many uncertainties, the basic features of the
four social classes at Nuzi are the following:- “Chariot drivers” (ràkib narkabti = mariannuin contemporary Syrian
and Hittite documentation). Title holders to real estate, their orig-
inal membership of the military élite, concerned with the highly
sophisticated techniques of horse training and chariot driving, seems
to have been partially lost.^53 In fact, we observe that “chariot dri-
vers”—regardless of their wealth—appear to be professionally active
in various not strictly military activities, either on a private basis
or by way of temporary compulsory service for the palace. - “Subject of corvée” (àlik ilki). They are the most frequently attested
group of “free” persons at Nuzi, subject to regular tributary oblig-
ations. Scholarly opinion diverges widely on the institutional and
legal basis of ilkuservice, as well as its content, frequency, and dura-
tion. Nevertheless, it is beyond doubt that “subjects of corvée” (or
“taxpayers,” as Maidman styles them) were owners of real estate
(primarily fields) and were recruited seasonally or occasionally for
civil and military services required by the central authority. At the
same time, as I have argued, they could also be former real-estate
owners who had ceded portions of their land to third parties but
remained in residence working as tenants for their absentee land-
lords.^54
3.nakku““u. On the basis of possible Hurro-Hittite etymological con-
nections,^55 it has been suggested that the term designates “substi-
tutes, reservists,” of different professional qualifications, who were
(^53) Commutation of military obligations to regular payments in silver is well attested
at Ugarit: cf. Zaccagnini, “Prehistory.. .”, 206–7. For a possible parallel develop-
ment, cf. the term “a qa“ti(lit., “of the bow”) applied to adult males in temporary
service who were not necessarily archers.
(^54) Cf. Zaccagnini, “Land Tenure.. .,” 90–92; Zaccagnini, “Proprietà fondiaria.. .,”
714–23.
(^55) Cf. CHD 377a; see however, La Civiltà dei Hurriti (= La parola del passato 55
[2000]), 400–401, s.v. nakk-.
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