society, institutions, law, and economy 61
dürfen wir die herkunft der Bronzescheibe in Samʾal oder dessen umkreis
vermuten.”168
From Samʾal comes a brief text implying (Kai 215: 10) that the king
personally appointed charioteers. this might have been true of all higher
military positions.
- Law and Jurisdiction
p.-e. dion stated correctly that “L’organisation judiciaire des états ara-
méens est très mal représentée dans les sources.”169 the king and the
inner circle of the ruling élite probably had judicial authority. this har-
kens to hittite tradition. we do not know anything about juridical bodies
in the villages. dion assumes that, like elsewhere in the ancient near east,
there existed the institution of the elders.170
From the inscription of the hadad statue from Gerçin near Samʾal
(Kai 214) we know that the death penalty was applied for revolt or other
attempts at coup d’états against the house of the king. accusations against
the rebels as well as their declarations of innocence had to be corrobo-
rated by an oath in the presence of the king and other witnesses (Kai
214: 27–30).171 the death sentence was stoning.172 male relatives stoned
men, while women were stoned by their female relatives (Kai 214: 24–31).
political dissenters were jailed instead (Kai 215: 8).
the Sefire treaties can be viewed as legal documents. they are often
compared to the assyrian adê. it should be noted, though, that there is
an ongoing debate on the origin of the Sefire treaties. in recent decades
scholars have emphasized the western origin of their formal structure, or
at least of several elements thereof (for example, curses).173
other aramaic inscriptions such as the inscription on the hadad statue
from Gerçin (Kai 214) or the inscription on the votive statue from tell
Fekheriye (Kai 309) also have legal implications. typical in these inscriptions
168 Krebernik – Seidl 1997: 105.
169 dion 1997: 281. many aramaic legal documents are known from elephantine or
from the dead Sea region. although it is probable that they preserved older legal tradi-
tions, they should be kept in their immediate local context and should not be used to
project legal conditions of the aramaeans in iron-age Syria.
170 dion 1997: 284.
171 For reading and translation, see tropper 1993: 88–93.
172 For other possible executions of the death penalty, see dion 1997: 282.
173 tadmor 1982: 455–458 fits them into an aramaean legal tradition; morrow 2001: 97
thinks that the treaties represent an amalgam of different traditions; millard 2009: 210.