A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

806 

important bill of sale or receipt for a set of shawabtis, dated to the

Twenty-second Dynasty.^253 The seller confirms receipt of the money

before several witnesses. It has been suggested that this text repre-

sents an ancestor of the standard Demotic document type, the s“ ≈b3

̇≈, “deed for silver” (Geldbezahlungsurkunde).^254 To my knowledge, the

two commonly associated Demotic document types, “deed for silver,”

or “writing concerning silver” (s“≈b3 ̇≈) and the “writing of being

far” (s“n wy), that is, the sale and cession documents, both necessary

to complete a transfer of ownership in the Late period, are not par-

alleled in the Third Intermediate period.^255

7.1.1.2 The typical Demotic s“≈b3 ̇≈begins, “You have caused

my heart to be satisfied with the money of X.” The abnormal hier-

atic documents do not contain this phrase, although the expression

“in contentment of heart,” appears also in the abnormal hieratic

legal documents.^256

7.1.2 Numerous apparent sales of slaves are attested from the Third

Intermediate period.^257 After the usual dating formula, one such sale

of a slave (P. Leiden F 1942/5.15) begins with the statement of the

seller, who affirms that he has received a certain amount of silver

from the buyer, this document being the receipt. The statement is

followed by an oath, again a common feature of legal documents in

this period. The witnesses to the slave-sale transaction of P. Leiden

F 1942/5.15 confirm that the seller received the money, and that

this money was to serve as payment for the slave.^258

7.1.2.1 P. Louvre E 3228e is another sale of a slave, dating to 707.^259

The seller speaks, declaring that she has given the slave to the pur-

chaser and received a specific amount of money from him. The seller

swears an oath that she has no relative who can contest the sale.

She further affirms that the person who will in fact dispute the sale

(^253) Edwards, “Bill of Sale.. .” On the sale of shawabtis, see Warburton, “Sale.. .”;
Seidl and Wildung, “Uschebtikauf...”
(^254) Warburton, “Sale.. .,” 345, 351.
(^255) See Allam, “Abstandsurkunde.. .,” 49.
(^256) Edwards, “Bill of Sale.. .,” 123.
(^257) E.g., P. Leiden F1942/5.15, from the time of Piye (ca. 720); see Vleeming,
“Sale of a Slave.. .” Contra, Menu, “Cessions de services.. .,” 74.
(^258) Vleeming, “Sale of a Slave.. .,” 8.
(^259) Malinine, Choix.. ., 35.
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