608
7.3.4 Whereas the documents never state the commencement date
of the loan, in the great majority of cases, the repayment date is
explicitly recorded: loans must be settled “after the harvest” (ina arki
ebùri). At times, the month is also specified: most frequent are the
month of kurillu(= mid-May–mid-June) and “e¢ali“aTe““up(= mid-
June–mid-July). These terms precisely correspond to the period fol-
lowing the Nuzi harvest season, which normally took place sometime
between late April and late May. The above wording of the con-
tracts strongly suggests that the Nuzi 50 percent rate of interest was
an annual rate, although it could apply to loans of lesser duration.7.3.5 A few tablets explicitly record the payment of debts.^141 Otherwise,
the expected procedure would be simply for the tablet recording the
debt to be destroyed. The survival of so many tablets in the credi-
tors’ archives is something of a mystery (shared with other Mesopota-
mian sites), if one is not to assume that they were all bad debts.7.4 Suretyship
7.4.1 Individual or multiple loans, with or without interest, could
be secured by one or more persons standing surety for discharge of
the debtor’s obligation.^142 Land and movable property are not attested
as security in ¢ubullucontracts; they occur in another kind of Nuzi
contract (the tidennùtucontract: see 7.5 below).7.4.2 One who stands surety for a debtor in a ¢ubulluloan is called
mà¢iß pùti (lit.: “striker of the front”). With very few exceptions,
sureties only occur in multiple loans, where each individual debtor
is surety for his co-debtors. The standard clause of suretyship runs
as follows: “One man is guarantee for another man (awìlu ana awìli
mà¢iß pùti). Whichever of them is present will pay x (= the total
amount of the debt) in full” (mannummê (“a) ina libbi“unu a“bux umalla).
In addition to this clause, many loan contracts add a further sure-
tyship clause, whereby one or two co-debtors stand surety (mà¢ißpùti;
variant writing: MA.U) for the fulfillment of the obligation. Considering(^141) See, e.g., EN 9/2 326, 348; EN 9/1 373; EN 9/3 465.
(^142) See Zaccagnini, “Nuzi,” with previous literature. Note that Nuzi documents
attest to some sporadic occurrences of suretyship outside the sphere of loan con-
tracts; cf., e.g., JEN 263 (exchange of fields) and 155 (lawsuit).
WESTBROOK_f14–564-617 8/27/03 12:28 PM Page 608