- Path:
Periodical
- Title:
- Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History
- Publication:
-
Berlin: De Gruyter
- Note:
- Gesehen am 27.02.14
- Scope:
- Online-Ressource
- ISSN:
- 2328-9562
- ZDB-ID:
-
2759401-4
- Keywords:
- Zeitschrift
- Classification:
- Geschichte
- Collection:
- Geschichte
- Copyright:
- Rights reserved
- Accessibility:
- Eingeschränkter Zugang mit Nutzungsbeschränkungen
- Title:
- Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History
- Publication:
-
Berlin: De Gruyter
- Note:
- Gesehen am 27.02.14
- Scope:
- Online-Ressource
- ISSN:
- 2328-9562
- ZDB-ID:
-
2759401-4
- Keywords:
- Zeitschrift
- Classification:
- Geschichte
- Collection:
- Geschichte
- Copyright:
- Rights reserved
- Accessibility:
- Eingeschränkter Zugang mit Nutzungsbeschränkungen
Article
- Title:
- The Hoax of Semi-Freedom in Babylonia
- Publication:
-
Berlin: De Gruyter, 2025
- Language:
- English
- Information:
- Abstract: This article maintains that the term “semi-free” for describing the personal status of individuals and population groups in ancient Mesopotamia is overused and underexplained. As long as this label is attached to any non-slave who happens to be burdened with duties of whatever kind, it remains a hollow cliché. It was the free, non-slave individual who was subjected to taxes and corvée, even if he was of high social standing. Declaring dependent groups, such as non-priestly temple personnel or foreign deportees settled on royal land, to be “semi-free,” despite being qualified to own and bequeath property, live in families, and perform state duties, limits the number of “really free” individuals considerably, basically, to male heads of wealthy households and noble descent only. Even their sons, wives, and daughters experienced diminished freedom of whatever fraction one wishes to choose – even more so their underlings and the dependents of state and temple households. Manumission records are the key to our understanding of personal status, as they spell out the steps necessary for status change and, thereby, the features pertaining to these steps. Relying on the Neo-Babylonian archives, this article distinguishes between several types of manumission, specifically the redemption and oblation type. Based on insights into the mechanics of these procedures, this article argues that the place of an individual within a household and his relation to the head of this household were additional parameters, besides the legal status (slave vs. non-slave), that defined his social standing.
- Scope:
- Online-Ressource
- Note:
- Open Access
- Archivierung/Langzeitarchivierung gewährleistet
- Keywords:
- slavery ; manumission ; oblation ; freedom ; semi-free ; Neo-Babylonian period
- Classification:
- Geschichte
- Sonstiges
- Collection:
- Geschichte
- Sonstiges
- Copyright:
- CC BY
- Accessibility:
- Free Access
- Title:
- The Hoax of Semi-Freedom in Babylonia
- Publication:
-
Berlin: De Gruyter, 2025
- Language:
- English
- Information:
- Abstract: This article maintains that the term “semi-free” for describing the personal status of individuals and population groups in ancient Mesopotamia is overused and underexplained. As long as this label is attached to any non-slave who happens to be burdened with duties of whatever kind, it remains a hollow cliché. It was the free, non-slave individual who was subjected to taxes and corvée, even if he was of high social standing. Declaring dependent groups, such as non-priestly temple personnel or foreign deportees settled on royal land, to be “semi-free,” despite being qualified to own and bequeath property, live in families, and perform state duties, limits the number of “really free” individuals considerably, basically, to male heads of wealthy households and noble descent only. Even their sons, wives, and daughters experienced diminished freedom of whatever fraction one wishes to choose – even more so their underlings and the dependents of state and temple households. Manumission records are the key to our understanding of personal status, as they spell out the steps necessary for status change and, thereby, the features pertaining to these steps. Relying on the Neo-Babylonian archives, this article distinguishes between several types of manumission, specifically the redemption and oblation type. Based on insights into the mechanics of these procedures, this article argues that the place of an individual within a household and his relation to the head of this household were additional parameters, besides the legal status (slave vs. non-slave), that defined his social standing.
- Scope:
- Online-Ressource
- Note:
- Open Access
- Archivierung/Langzeitarchivierung gewährleistet
- Keywords:
- slavery ; manumission ; oblation ; freedom ; semi-free ; Neo-Babylonian period
- Classification:
- Geschichte
- Sonstiges
- Collection:
- Geschichte
- Sonstiges
- Copyright:
- CC BY
- Accessibility:
- Free Access
