SLAVE GIRL CONTRACT

MS 2456/6
MS Short Title SLAVE GIRL CONTRACT
Text CONTRACT CONCERNING A SLAVE GIRL: AHî SOLD A SLAVE FOR ZAKAREL ..., - WITNESSES: NABUALLI, NURSE', EL'ABAD, THOSE ARE FROM THE MERCHANT ELGABAR. WITNESSES FROM TIL-ABARI(?): 'ATAR'IZRî, SHALLEMLEATî, SHAMASHYABI, ISHTARNAZIR, KêNAY, KUSEH. WHO AGAINST WHOM WOULD RETURN A PAIR OF WHITE HORSES HE WILL GIVE TO SAHAR AND HE WILL BE SATISFIED WITH IT. DEED OF SHAMASHQANAH (NAME OF THE SLAVE?). DATE: LIMU DE SHARASH-SHARRU-IBNU THE TURTANU
Description MS in Aramaic on clay, Syria, 613(?) BC, 1 tablet, 8,6x5,4x2,6 cm, 7+10+3 lines in Aramaic cursive documentary script, 3 seal impressions of a crescent moon above a schematic winged sun disc, of Sharash-sharru-ibnu the Turtanu.
Binding
Context A similar tablet recently discovered in Syria, is published in Frederick Maria Fales: "An Aramaic tablet from Tell Shioukh Fawqani, Syria", Semitica, 46(1996), pp. 81-121, plates 9-10.
Provenance
Commentary The Aramaic alphabet developed alongside and in competition with the existing cuneiform script. The present documents are a hybrid of the new and the old, demonstrating written Aramaic script on cuneiform-style tablets.
Published Andrè Lemaire: Nouvelles tablettes aramènnes. Seires Hautes Études orientales - 34, Moyen et proche-orient, 1. Genève, Librairie Droz S.A., 2001.
Exhibited
Mentioned
Boxing
See also
Place of origin Syria
Dates 613(?) BC