698
on that very subject matter. AT 8 attests to the conveyance of a
document of forbearance (kanìk la ragàmim) from the defendant to the
plaintiffonce the final verdict was decided.3.3 The only reference to an oath in a litigation document comes
from AT 8. Here, the payment of a considerable sum of silver is
under dispute. The defendant, Ammitaqum, again the ruler of Alalakh,
declares that he has already paid and that, as definite proof, he can
swear an oath. Interestingly, the female plaintiff seems to dismiss
such a solemn solution as irrelevant and replies: “Why should my
lord take an oath? My lord should give back all (the money) that
was entrusted (to him), and only then shall I pay heed.”4.Personal Status
4.1 The individuals involved in the available corpus of legal trans-
actions in all likelihood belonged to the category of free citizens.
Women were active participants in the legal life of Alalakh: not only
are they found engaging in business transactions but they even had
the capacity to sue their own lord. They do not, however, seem to
have had the capacity to act as witnesses to transactions or litigation.4.2 Slavery^12
Two kinds of slaves can be distinguished: prisoners of war (lú.me“
asìrù), who are listed among the palace’s ration recipients (e.g., AT
243:2, 247:18, 253:4), and freeborn native debtors who failed to pay
their debts. Indeed, the ultimate solution for defaulting debtors was
to sell themselves and their family into the creditor’s servitude. This
practice is explicitly attested in AT 65, in which the female debtor
sold is to serve the female creditor “as a menial” (ana kinattùtim).
Antichretic services are regularly attested in loan documents. In one
(AT 23), the word for “hostage” (lì†u) is used instead of the more
common term for personal pledge (mazzazànu). In two other records
(AT 32 and AT 38), the debtor-pledges are expressly designated as
“slaves (ìr) of Yarim-Lim,” the ruler of Alalakh and creditor in both
cases. Note that in AT 38, it is the debtor with his family (qadum
ni“ì“u) who are placed in servitude.(^12) See Mendelsohn, “On Slavery in Alalakh”; Klengel, “Zur Sklaverei in Alalah.”
WESTBROOK_f17–692-717 8/27/03 12:29 PM Page 698