Gilgamesh

• I. Of laws
  • A. Extensive judicial system
    • 1. Mashkim – out–of–court conciliator
    • 2. Dikud – professional judge
      • a. Forbidden to reverse his sentence once written
      • b. Required original documents
  • B. Punishment
    • 1. Fines
    • 2. Confiscation of property
    • 3. “An eye for an eye” (for assault and injury)
    • 4. Mutilation
    • 5. Capital punishment
  • C. Widespread litigation
    • 1. Within reach of all
    • 2. Heavy penalties for false evidence
    • 3. Free right of appeal
    • 4. Not all equal before the law
• II. Of class structure
  • A. Amelu (patricians)
    • 1. Government officials
    • 2. Priests
    • 3. Soldiers of the regular army
  • B. Mushkinu
    • 1. Merchants
    • 2. Shopkeepers
    • 3. Schoolmasters
    • 4. Laborers
    • 5. Farmers
    • 6. Artisans
  • C. Slaves
    • 1. Captured in war
    • 2. Purchased
    • 3. Born into slavery
  • D. Inequality
    • 1. Offense against higher class punished with greater severity
    • 2. Higher class offenders punished with greater severity
    • 3. Amelu subject to “eye-for-an-eye”
    • 4. Mushkinu subject to fines
    • 5. Appears primarily in matters involving the value of the individual (rather than of property)
• III. Of slaves
  • A. Had individual rights
    • 1. Could protest his own sale in court
    • 2. Could give evidence
    • 3. Could own property
    • 4. Could engage in business
    • 5. Could borrow money
    • 6. Could buy freedom
      • a. Documented
      • b. Final
  • B. Subject to a severe life
    • 1. Could be branded and flogged
    • 2. Had little protection from ill treatment
    • 3. Punished severely for attempted escape
  • C. No real stigma attached to the status
    • 1. A man’s misfortune – not his fault
    • 2. A form of punishment
    • 3. Family members sold to settle debts (for a space of three years)
    • 4. Children of mixed marriages inherited freedom from either side
• IV. Of women
  • A. Monogamy
    • 1. Concubinage tolerated
      • a. Status of legitimate wife protected
      • b. Connection with need for children
    • 2. Marriage
      • a. Arranged by family elders
      • b. Groom made money-gift to father-in-law
      • c. Bride brought dowry
      • d. Accomplished by well defined contract
        • 1) Bride assumed betrothal gifts
        • 2) Protected against husband’s prenuptial creditors
        • 3) Required her consent in dealing with joint property
        • 4) Assumed joint responsibility for postnuptial debts
    • 3. Rights
      • a. Keep and dispose of her own slaves
      • b. Engage independently in business (as could unmarried women)
      • c. Witness in a court
      • d. Administered estate in husband’s (or adult son’s) absence
      • e. Heir to equal share of estate with children
    • 4. Disabilities
      • a. Could be sold
      • b. Could be placed in slavery for up to three years
      • c. Could be divorced on slight grounds
      • d. Barrenness deprived her of her exclusive rights
        • 1) If not divorced, shared husband
        • 2) Second wife subservient by contractual specifications
        • 3) Might yield one of her slaves to concubinage with husband
• V. Of children
  • A. Absolutely under parental authority
    • 1. Subject to enslavement or disinheritance
    • 2. Could be diminished by extra-familial benefactions
  • B. No right of primogeniture
  • C. Could claim inheritance during father’s lifetime
  • D. Adoption of unrelated children common
• VI. Of temple prostitution
  • A. Body of women attached to the temple as god’s household
    • 1. Chief woman = god’s bride
    • 2. Concubines
    • 3. Domestics
  • B. Religious profession protected by law
    • 1. Treated as marriage
    • 2. No vow of virginity
  • C. Classes
    • 1. Entu
      • a. Legitimate first wife of the god
      • b. Might actually be a king’s daughter
    • 2. Sal-Me
      • a. Lived in convent of the sisterhood
      • b. Had children by unknown fathers
      • c. Could marry – but could not have children by husband
    • 3. Zikru and kadishtu (temple harlots)
  • D. Real devotion in sacrifice of virginity
• VII. Of the temples
  • A. Centers of education
    • 1. Open to boys and girls
    • 2. Curriculum
      • a. Writing (cuneiform)
      • b. Grammar
      • c. Mathematics
      • d. Astrology
  • B. Libraries of the gods
  • C. Commercial institutions
  • D. Ecclesiastical courts
  • E. Research centers
• VIII. Of the professions
  • A. Architecture
  • B. Medicine
    • 1. Magic
    • 2. Herbalism
    • 3. Surgery
• IX. Of agriculture and commerce
  • A. Agriculture
    • 1. Date – staple food
    • 2. Land ownership
      • a. The gods (through the temples)
      • b. The king or governor
      • c. Communal collectives
      • d. Individuals
    • 3. Failure to cultivate punished
    • 4. Tenant farming and speculation common
    • 5. Poor man’s diet mainly vegetarian
    • 6. Clothing
      • a. Wool
      • b. Flax (for linen)
      • c. Muslin
    • 7. Sumer agriculturally self-sufficient
  • B. Commerce
    • 1. Export food
    • 2. Import raw materials
      • a. Timber
      • b. Precious metals
      • c. Industrial ore
    • 3. Export manufactured goods
    • 4. All by barter
      • a. Barley = measure of value
      • b. Use of silver and gold for portability
    • 5. All business conducted by written contract
    • 6. Use of a credit system
• X. Of religion
  • A. Polytheistic
  • B. Each city-state had its own patron
    • 1. Too great to approach
    • 2. Recourse to other gods as intercessors
  • C. Anthropomorphic
  • D. Rewards and punishments limited to this world
  • E. Daily sacrifices
    • 1. In nature of meals
    • 2. Shared by priests and temple personnel
  • F. Sympathetic magic
  • G. Means of coping with evil spirits
  • H. Books of omens
  • I. Astrology
  • J. Theocracy
    • 1. The god of the city was in reality the king
    • 2. The king or governor was a priest