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Oblates were marked with a brand or tattoo, for example, the star
of Ishtar for oblates of the Eanna temple at Uruk.4.2.1.3 Oblates generally served as craftsmen or farm laborers and
received rations. They could act as minor temple functionaries and
even rise to positions of economic importance within the temple
administration, for example, “tenant-in-chief ” (rab “irkàti), but had
no access to prebendary offices, which were reserved for certain old-
established families of màr banê. They were able to acquire property,
which they could dispose of freely by will or inter vivos. Unlike slaves,
they were able to marry without permission of the temple authori-
ties.^62 A spectacular case of fraud and corruption involved a high-
ranking “irku.^634.2.1.4 Slaves might be manumitted and dedicated to a temple as
“irku. This was in one respect a charitable donation to the temple
but often was to take place only on the donor’s death, so that the
donor retained the slave’s services during his lifetime. In such cases,
the temple served as an asylum for the former slave.^64 In times of
famine, free persons might also dedicate their children to the tem-
ple in order to keep them alive (YOS 6 154).4.2.2 “u“ànù^65
A clause in slave sales also guarantees that the slave purchased does
not have “u“ànùtustatus. As it is named alongside free person, royal
slave and oblate, this must refer to a dependent status. The “u“ànù
owned no land and appear in the service of the palace and of tem-
ples, where they could rise in the administrative hierarchy. They
could be foreigners as well as natives, and the status was undoubt-
edly inheritable.4.2.3 mu“kènu^66
This much-discussed term from the Old Babylonian period is attested,
albeit rarely. In Achaemenid royal inscriptions, it stands for the “weak,”
as opposed to the “mighty,” but no longer represents a distinct class.(^62) There is one attested contract to date, between a “irkuand the daughter of a
“irku, with a dowry of 10 shekels: BM 42470, to be published in Wunsch, Urkunden...
(^63) San Nicolo, “Gimillu...”
(^64) Van Driel, “Care.. .,” 165, 174–83.
(^65) Dandamaev, Slavery.. ., 626–42.
(^66) Dandamaev, Slavery.. ., 643–46.
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