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creditors seized her and she could not pay them” (ASJ 13:36). A
common practice was for a financier to pay offthe various credi-
tors in return for the debtor becoming his slave (Emar 121, 215).4.3.2.2 A person would either enter into slavery or be sold by a
parent (e.g., Emar 217; ASJ 10:E) or relative. Persons sold their
wives (ASJ 13:18), grandchildren (Emar 7), brother (with his wife and
child—AO 5:11), sister (Ekalte 23), sister-in-law (Emar 118), daughter-
in-law (AO 5:12), nephews (Emar 205), and niece (TBR 52).4.3.2.3 Many of the documents emphasize that the transaction is
voluntary (i“tu ramàni“u). This applies not only to self-sale but also to
those who are the object of sale, although their consent must some-
times have been fictional, as in the case of a nursing infant (Emar 83).4.3.2.4 In Emar 257, the court adjudged the thief of a slave as a
slave to the owner of the stolen slave. The thief forestalled the sen-
tence by giving his sister as a slave in his place. In Emar 19, after
obtaining a judgment for debt, the plaintiffpetitioned the king, who
assigned the judgment debtor to him as a slave.4.3.2.5 In AO 5:11, an express clause in the contact declares as
slaves the future children of a family sold into slavery. It may be
that the houseborn offspring of debt slaves did not automatically
become slaves.4.3.3 Conditions
4.3.3.1 In several cases, the status of children was separated from
that of their slave parents. In ASJ 14:46, a prince of Carchemish
declared the children of his slave free, while retaining the latter. In
Emar 18, the king of Carchemish ruled that the children and father
of a person enslaved for a judgment debt remained free.4.3.3.2 Slaves could marry (RE 25; cf. Ekalte 66).^25 In ASJ 14:46
a slave was adopted by a woman who gave him her daughter in(^25) In Emar 91, it is not clear whether the slave woman’s husband, “the blind
man,” is a slave or free.
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