Amat-Mamu (daughter of Sin-ilum)

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Not to be confused with the nadītu scribe Amat-Mamu.

Amat-Mamu was a Babylonian nadītu priestess from the 18th century BC. She is known for her legal proceedings involving the inheritance of property, which were preserved on a tablet. The tablet describes the inheritance agreement, her legal defense of the claim against the cousins of the original owner, and the process of replacing the contracts after they were lost.

Early life and family[edit]

Amat-Mamu was a nadītu, a priestess to the god Shamash.[1] She was the daughter of Sin-ilum (also transcribed as Sîn-ilum or Sin-ili). Sin-ilum was the son of Sin-tajjār, who in turn was the son of Akšāja.[2] Amat-Mamu had a cousin, an aunt, and a great aunt who were all nadītus as well.[3]

Inheritance[edit]

Nadītus were sometimes allowed to choose their own heirs, including potential heirs outside of their own families.[4] Such an option was allowed to the nadītu Belessunu, daughter of Mannium, as part of the terms of her own adoption as the heir of her aunt Naramtum.[5][6] Belessunu adopted Amat-Mamu as her heir in 1736 BCE.[1] Per the terms of the agreement, Amat-Mamu was required to pay Belessunu's debts and to provide her with barley, wool, and oil while she lived. Upon Belessunu's death, Amat-Mamu inherited a house, two empty lots, two copper pots, three slaves, and four fields with a total area of 43 arpents.[2][5] Amat-Mamu was given the deeds, or "mother tablets", entitling her to Belessunu's property.[7]

Two years after the agreement was made, two of Belessunu's cousins and fellow nadītus—Amat-Šamaš and Nīši-īnīšu—laid claim to the inheritance of the fields.[6] The mayor of Sippar, Zimri-Erah, ruled that the inheritance was rightfully Amat Mamu's. The cousins were penalized for making a false claim over property, and they were forced to give Amat-Mamu a tablet that relinquished their claims.[8] Professor Rivkah Harris speculated that Belessunu passed over her cousins in favor of Amat-Mamu because Amat-Mamu was a member of a wealthy family and therefore better able to support her during her life.[9]

Reconstitution[edit]

The tablets were stored in the home of Amat-Mamu's uncle, Ikun-pī-Sîn.[7][10] They were kept separate from the family archive so as not to suggest that the inheritance was part of the family estate.[11] It is unknown why they were kept in her uncle's house, though such storage arrangements with family members were not uncommon.[12]

When they were lost, her father Sîn-ilî had a deposition taken from the uncle admitting to their loss.[8] Amat-Mamu was forced to go to the court so the judges could authorize the creation of new tablets.[7] The tablets that Belessunu received as a girl during her own adoption were not reconstituted, for she and her witnesses to that contract had already died.[1] The court also ruled that should the previous tablets be found, they were still the sole property of Amat-Mamu.[12]

The sequence of events describing both the legal dispute and the tablets' loss was documented on the reconstituted tablet. The tablet has been preserved and is designated by archeologists as CT 47 63.[6] The tablet is used in the modern era as a reference to understand Babylonian property and inheritance law.[7][13]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Charpin 2010, p. 63.
  2. ^ a b Harris 1969, p. 138.
  3. ^ Harris 1969, p. 137.
  4. ^ Nakata 2016, pp. 280–282.
  5. ^ a b Charpin 2010, p. 64.
  6. ^ a b c Nakata 2016, p. 281.
  7. ^ a b c d Jacquet 2013, p. 77.
  8. ^ a b Charpin 2010, pp. 64–65.
  9. ^ Harris 1976, pp. 131–132.
  10. ^ Nakata 2016, pp. 281–282.
  11. ^ Nakata 2016, p. 282.
  12. ^ a b Nakata 2016, pp. 282–283.
  13. ^ Charpin 2010, pp. 63–65.

References[edit]

  • Charpin, Dominique (2010). Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-10159-0.
  • Jacquet, Antoine (2013). "Family Archives in Mesopotamia during the Old Babylonian Period". In Faraguna, Michele (ed.). Archives and archival documents in ancient societies: Legal Documents in Ancient Societies IV: Trieste 30 September-1 October 2011. Edizioni Università di Trieste. pp. 63–85. ISBN 978-88-8303-460-2.
  • Harris, Rivkah (1969). "Notes on the Babylonian Cloister and Hearth: A Review Article". Orientalia. 38 (1): 133–145. ISSN 0030-5367.
  • Harris, Rivkah (1976). "On Kinship and Inheritance in Old Babylonian Sippar". Iraq. 38 (2): 129–132. doi:10.2307/4200036. ISSN 0021-0889.
  • Nakata, Ichiro (2016). "Economic Activities of naditum-Women of Šamaš Reflected in the Field Sale Contracts (MHET II/1–6)". In Lion, Brigitte; Michel, Cécile (eds.). The Role of Women in Work and Society in the Ancient Near East. De Gruyter. pp. 255–269. ISBN 978-1-61451-908-9.
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