A Sumerian Legal Case (ditila): Claim of Property and a Slave (ITT 3/2, pl. 21, 5279; Volk #38)
Introduction
The following text is a Sumerian legal case, called a ditila, which recounts the litigant’s claim over property and a slave as well as the liberation of the daughters of this slave. According to CDLI (P11162), the administrative tablet was excavated in Girsu (mod. Tello) and dates to the Ur III period (21st cent. BCE); it is now kept in the Arkeoloji Müzeleri (Istanbul Archaeological Museum).
This post is part of a series of my translations of Sumerian texts which I translated in my Sumerian class at Hopkins this semester. In preparation for my upcoming Sumerian final on May 9th, I plan to review all the texts which we read this semester. In what follows, I present the inscription’s line drawing followed by a transliteration of the cuneiform, translation, and brief philological commentary.
Summary
The text is a completed court case to assure the property rights of Innasaga after the death of her husband Dudu. Dudu’s heirs, presumably from a previous marriage, litigated the case against Innasaga, Dudu’s spouse, sometime after his death. On the basis of the testimony of the witnesses brought forward, Innasaga won the case and retained the rights to the 21/2 sar-measure gum.dúr-estate, which she had purchased with her own money, as well as the servant Ninana whom Dudu had freely given to her. Apparently, the slave Ninana had children while in the employ of Innasaga. According to Wilcke, “Innasaga’s final act of manumission seems to be a logical consequence of her litigation with her sons. She does not want them to inherit the contested slave girl and her offspring after her own death, and, probably, she wants to secure for herself their service and their good will. We may assume therefore – because Dudu’s heirs theoretically could later revoke the manumission – that the manumission would only become effective with her death” (p. 51).
Line Drawing
Transliteration
I:1-12 (obverse):
di-til-la | 2.5[1] sar e2 gum.dúr | in-na-sa6-ga | dam du-du dumu ti-ti-ka-ke4 | ku3 šu-na-ta bar igi-g̃al2-ni in-sa10[2] | du-du a-ba-ti-la:da[3] | e2-bi ur-e2-ninnu dumu du-du-ke4 in-gid2 | mu in-na-sa6-ga in-sa10-a-še3 | dub e2 sa10-a-bi | ki in-na-sa6-ga-ta ba-an-sar | e2 ku3 šu-na-ta-am3 in-sa10-a | nig̃2-g̃ur11 du-du la-ba-ši-la2-a |
II:13-25 (obverse):
in-na-sa6-ga | nam-erim2[4]-am3 | Inin-a-na dumu ni-za ku3-dim2 | du-du in-na-sa6-ga dam-ni-ir | in-na-ba | murgu2[5] du-du-ta | šu arad2[6] dnanna[7] sukkal-maḫ ensi2[8]-ka | i3-bi2-la du-du im-ma-a-gi4-eš | in-na-sa6-ga | arad2[9] du-du in-na-ba-a | igi di-ku5-ne-še3 | ur-gu-la dumu sag̃a-dnin-šubur | nam-maḫ gu-za-la2 gi-zi
III:26-39 (reverse):
a2-lu5-lu5 | nam-lu2-inim-ma-bi-še3 im-ta-e3-eš[10] | u3 i3-bi2-la du-du-ke4-ne | du11-ga-ne-ne-a ba-ni-gi-ne2-eš | mu ka i3-bi2-la-ne-ka ba-an-gi-na-še3 | lu2 inim-ma nam-erim2[11]-e la-ba-sum | nin-a-na dumu ni-za | u3 e2 gum.dúr-ra | in-na-sa6-ga dam du-du-ra | ba-na-gi-in | Igéme-ti-ra-aš2 | Ima-gi-na | Isag̃-dba-u2-tuku | dumu-munus[12] nin-a-na dumu ni-za-ka-me |
IV:40-52 (reverse):
in-na-sa6-ga dam du-du-ke4 | igi di-ku5-ne-še3 | ama-ar-gi8-bi in-g̃ar2–ar | u3 i3-bi2-la du-du-ke4-ne | inim ama-ne-ne | nu-u3-ub-kur2-ne-a | mu lugal-bi in-pa3-de2-eš | ur-ba-ga dumu ur-dnunuz.kad3mušen maškim | lu2–dšara2 | lu2-dig̃ir-ra | ur-dištaran[13] | di-ku5-bi-me | mu us2-sa si-ma-num2ki ba-ḫul
————
[1] Wilcke reads 21/2 whereas CDLI has 25/6.
[2] Wilcke: NÍNDAxŠE = sax
[3] wr. -da-la, apparently a scribal mistake
[4] NE.RU = érim
[5] Or read egir5 (so CDLI)
[6] ARADxKUR = arad2. Alt., geme3, ir11, urdu2, etc.
[7] ŠEŠ.KI = nanna
[8] PA.TE.SI = énsi
[9] ARADxKUR = arad2. Alt., geme3, ir11, urdu2, etc.
[10] UD.DU = è
[11] NE.RU = érim
[12] Or: dumu-mí
[13] KA.DI = ištaran
Translation
I:1-12 (obverse):
A completed court case. 21/2 sar-measures of a gum.dúr-estate: Innasaga, wife of Dudu son of Titi, paid silver from her own hand on her own initiative.[1] While Dudu was still alive, Ur-Eninu son of Dudu measured this house; because Innasaga bought it, the tablet about this purchased house was written on behalf of Innasaga;[2] the house (that) was bought from the silver of her own hand, nothing of Dudu’s was paid toward it.[3]
II:13-25 (obverse):
Innasaga swore this oath. (Moreover,) Dudu freely gave (lit. ‘donated’) Ninana child of Niza, the silversmith, to Innasaga his wife. After Dudu (i.e., after his death), the heirs of Dudu took up the case before Urdu-nanna, the sukkal-maḫ-official and énsi-ruler.
“To Innasaga, the servant of Dudu was given (=donated)!” Urgula son of Sag̃a-Nin.šubur, Nammaḫ the throne-bearer, Gizi,[4]
III:26-39 (reverse):
(and) Alulu, went forth for the sake of witnessing; and the heirs of Dudu admitted (lit. confirmed) that which they said.[5] Because the word was confirmed, the witnesses were not given to (=required to take) the nam-érim-oath. Ninana child of Niza and the gum.dúr-estate were returned to (or: confirmed for) Innasaga wife of Dudu.
Géme-Tiraš, Magina, (and) Sag̃-Bau-tuku are the daughters of Ninana child of Niza.
IV:40-52 (reverse):
Innasaga wife of Dudu, before the judges, she placed their freedom (or: manumitted them); and the heirs of Dudu swore on the name of the king not to alter the words of their mother.
Ur-Bagara child of Ur-nunuz-kad was bailiff. Lú-Šara, Lú-Dig̃ir.ak, (and) Ur-ištaran were the judges. The year after (Šu-Sin the king of Ur) destroyed Šimānum.
————
[1] The pharse bar igi-g̃ál-ni is “difficult to define” (Volk, p. 92). According to Volk, igi-(x-)g̃ál is a phrase used to express fractions (ibid.), but Wilcke translates “on her own initiative” (Wilcke, p. 50).
[2] Lit., ‘from the place/side of Innasaga’
[3] Lit., ‘something of Dudu has not been paid toward it’
[4] wr. gu-za-lá gizi could be (1) the gizi-chair-carrier, referring to Nammaḫ (so Wilcke), or (2) with Gizi has a separate PN (as translated here).
[5] Alternatively, ln. 29–du11-ga-ne-ne-a ba-ni-gi-ne2-eš–could be passive ‘they were confirmed in their speech’
Philological Commentary
- ln. 5: in-sa10 = ì.n.sa10.∅ ‘she paid’ = ḫamṭu transitive 3rd sg. √sa10 ‘to pay for, buy’
- ln. 7: in-gid2 = ì.n.gíd.∅ ‘he measured’ = ḫamṭu transitive 3rd sg. √gíd ‘to be long; to tighten; to survey, measure (a field)’
- ln. 10: ba-an-sar = b.n.sar.∅ ‘he wrote it’ (or ‘it was written’) = ḫamṭu transitive 3rd sg. √sar ‘to write’
- ln. 11: in-sa10-a = ì.n.sa10.a ‘(the house) that was bought’. The final /.a/ serves a nominalizing and subordinating function.
- ln. 17: nam-érim-àm, lit. ‘it being an assertory-oath’, is a classic oath formula in Sumerian literature. The sworn statement refers to the claim immediately preceding and could, alternatively, be translated “Innasaga swore that…” Cp. Wilcke’s “Innasaga testified under oath that…”
- ln. 24-26: As evidenced by the meaning of the PNs and their offices, these witnesses were important people of significant social influence. Urugula is described as the son of Sag̃a-dnin.šubur, whose name means ‘temple administrator of (the goddess) Nin-Šubur’. Likewise, Nammaḫ is a throne-bearer.
- ln. 29 marks the turning point of the trial: the heirs of Dudu, who litigated the case against Innasaga, admitted/confirmed the words of the witnesses, thereby sacrificing any claim to the property and servants.
Bibliography
Falkenstein, A. Die neusumerischen Gerichtsurkunden. München 1956-1957.
Thureau-Dangin, F., and Henri de Genouillac. Inventaire des Tablettes de Tello Conservées au Musée Impérial Ottoman. Paris, 1910-1921.
Wilcke, Claus. “Care of the Elderly in Mesopotamia in the Third Millennium B.C.,” in The Care of the Elderly in the Ancient Near East. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 1998.
Volk, Konrad. A Sumerian Chrestomathy. Subsidia et Instrumenta Linguarum Orientis 5. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2012.
About The Author
Gilgameš and Agga (Lines 1-17) 
Law Code of Lipit-Ištar (Laws 8-18; CBS8284) 
Gudea Cylinder A xviii 1-28 (E3/1.1.7.CylA) 
Gudea Cylinder A iii 1-29 (E3/1.1.7.CylA) 
Gudea Cylinder A ii 1-29 (E3/1.1.7.CylA) 
Gudea Cylinder A i 1-29 (RIME E3/1.1.7.CylA)