A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

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that these loans were already secured by the guarantee given by each

and every co-debtor, it may be surmised that these additional guar-

antees served as individual augmentation of the common guarantee.^143

7.5 Pledge

7.5.1 Loans contracted by single individuals, for a fixed or indefinite

term, could be secured by pledge of a person or of a field that were

put at the creditor’s disposal. The mechanism of these arrangements

resembles that of classical antichresis: in lieu of interest, the credi-

tor would enjoy the labor of the person or the yield of the field

pledged. In the terminology of the Nuzi documents these contracts

are labeled tidennùtu—a word of uncertain origin, possibly Hurrian—

and the item pledged is called tidennu.^144

7.5.2 The commodities lent in tidennùtucontracts correspond by and

large to those of ¢ubullu loans, with some minor but significant

differences.^145 Personal security consisted either of the debtor him-

self or of one of his sons. Exceptionally, the person pledged was

some other relative or a slave of the debtor. Fields given as secu-

rity were of various dimensions; in most cases, however, their sur-

face area ranged from ca. one to four hectares.

7.5.3 The contracts were of indefinite or fixed duration. In the for-

mer case the documents state that whenever the debtor repays the

amount of the loan, he will take back the person or field pledged.

In the latter case, the documents explicitly state that repayment will

take place after expiry of the term; in other words, the debtor can-

not extinguish his debt before the due date.^146

7.5.4 Typical of personal tidennùtucontracts is the delinquency clause,

which imposes a pecuniary penalty on the creditor if the person

pledged fails to work. The standard penalty is set at one mina of

copper or one sùtu (ca. 6.7 liters) of barley for each day’s absence

(^143) For an analysis of the few occurrences of suretyship appended to individual
loans (e.g., HSS 9 68, 17; HSS 16 238) see Zaccagnini, “Nuzi,” 226–27.
(^144) Cf. Eichler, Indenture...; Zaccagnini, “Osservazioni.. .”; Jordan, “Usury...”;
Zaccagnini, “Nuzi.”
(^145) For a general overview, see Zaccagnini, “Transfers.. .,” 148–51.
(^146) Cf. Eichler, Indenture.. ., 20–21; Zaccagnini, “Osservazioni.. .,” 193–97.
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