the Erisinni, of the son of U’alli, King of the Mannai in Ashurbânipal’s
time. Still, neither can be said to be non-Semitic with certainty, when we
recall the many names ending in _enni_ or _inni_ formed from verbs and
compare the names formed from _erêšu_, _erêsu_. Names containing the name
of the god Teshup were known long ago, as Ḥu-Teshup, Kali-Teshup,
Kili-Teshup, where the other element of the name does not seem to be
Semitic. Egyptian records give us other compounds of the name of this god,
who was the sky-god among the pre-Semitic peoples of Mesopotamia
Here we have Aḫli-Teshup, Gil-Teshup, and Durar-Teshup. With the former,
Professor Hommel compares Aḫlib-shar. With the next compare the Mitanni
name Gilîa, also Gilûa. Aḫli-Babu is a closer parallel.
Of the other names, Shellu, Kushshu, Ḥuluḳḳu, and Zinu seem to be Semitic;
at any rate they occur frequently, or in cognate forms, well known among
the Assyrians and Babylonians. The others are all very unfamiliar. We are
as yet so imperfectly acquainted with the onomastics of the nations
surrounding the Semites that it is hazardous to attempt to locate these
people. Supposing them to be all of one race, they may belong to a colony
settled near Sippara, but the whole style of the language is so unlike the
Sippara documents that we can hardly suppose that to be the case.
XXVII. The Laws Of Trade
(M682) The oldest form of business in Asiatic life is _commenda_: the
commendatist gives a fixed sum of money to the agent with which he does
his business. The former takes a fixed share of the profit, say half, in
addition to the original sum invested. The agent usually secures
guarantees for the capital. This method of carrying on business is
customary in the early times. The Code regulates the relations between
principal and agent. The former is called _tamkaru_, usually rendered
“merchant,” and the latter is _šamallû_, often rendered “apprentice.” The
merchant is, however, a trader in many ways, and in the Code he is usually
named, where we expect lender or creditor. Hence there is little doubt
that his name is derived from _magâru_, or _makâru_, with a meaning “to
traffic” (?). He seems to have been a monied man, who was ready to make to
cultivators advances on their crops—a practice always liable to great
abuses, which the Code aims to check.
(M683) The merchant principal also furnished goods, among which are
mentioned corn, sesame, oil, wool, wine, and manufactured articles. The
agent did the trading, and regularly rendered his accounts to his
principal. He travelled from place to place to find a market for his
goods, or to make purchases, which could be profitably sold at home. The
principal paid no salary, but received again his capital, or the value of
his goods, and an interest or share of the profit. It is clear that the
merchant also moved from place to place, and there is evidence that many
of them were foreigners. The travelling agents with their goods formed the
caravan.
(M684) This kind of trading was regulated by the Code.(729) Unfortunately,
the opening sections of the part dealing with the relations of principal
and agent are lost; but from what is left we see that it insisted on exact
accounts being taken, on both sides, of the amounts of money or value of
goods thus invested. If the merchant intrusted money to his agent, he was
to take a receipt for it. If the agent received goods, he was to enter
their money value and obtain his principal’s acknowledgment of the amount
of his debt. If he suffered loss of goods from his caravan by bandits, or
in an enemy’s land, he could swear to his loss, and be exempt from
repayment to his principal. But if he did not prosper in his business, or
sold at a loss, he had to make good the capital, at least, to his
principal. The Code leaves nothing to chance. If the agent is foolish
enough not to obtain a sealed memorandum of the amounts received, or a
receipt for what he pays to his principal, it is enacted that money not
sealed for cannot be put in the accounts. Much was clearly left to the
good faith of the agent. The principal was tolerably secure of receiving
back his money and had hope of profit. Against that he had to set possible
loss by robbery of the caravan. But he was not bound again to employ the
same agent. An agent detected defrauding his principal had to pay
threefold. But it speaks well for the Code as protector of the weak that
it made the capitalist who defrauded the agent repay sixfold.
(M685) From the contemporary documents we learn that the name for the
business was _girru_. That this was also the name for an “expedition,”
warlike as well as peaceable, points to its connection with the caravan
trade. The sign for _girru_, also used for _ḫarrânu_, a “journey,” came in
later times to be used for all kinds of business transactions. That the
relations noted in the Code actually were carried out in practice, many
tablets show. Thus we read:
One shekel of silver, price of one hundred and eighty _ŠE_, and
three shekels of silver which Zuzana lent Aplâ son of Edishu, for
five _years_, to enter on his _girru_. He shall pay one hundred
and eighty _ŠE_ and three shekels of silver to take back his
sealed receipt.(730)
Here the capital intrusted was a quantity of corn worth a shekel, and
three shekels in money. This was in order to enter on a business journey.
The agent Aplâ had to return the capital in full, as the Code enacts, to
take back his bond. There is no agreement as to profits, which might be
wanting; that was left to be understood. As a rule, the time was shorter,
generally “one year.” The agent appears to have often borne the name of
_muttalliku_, “one who wanders about,” “a hawker.” The same may be denoted
by _AḪ-ME-ZU-AB_, a group of signs whose reading is not yet clear, but may
be a variant of the ideogram for _šamallû_.
(M686) Business was also done, as the Code shows, as speculation in
futures. Thus(731) we read:
Sibbat-asê-iddina hired as “business” the produce of a field from
three men. The produce of the business was to be three and
seven-fifteenths _GUR_ of corn, according to the standard measure
of Shamash paid in Kar-Sippar, and one shekel was to be profit.
This was what he had to pay, and evidently, if the crop yielded more, that
was his profit; if less, he had to stand the loss. Similarly, other crops
were let on the terms that at harvest, or at the end of the “business,” a
specified amount should be paid.
(M687) We learn from many hints, that caravan trade was always active. The
name of Ḥarran in Mesopotamia is supposed to be derived from the numerous
caravan routes that crossed there. The Tell el Amarna tablets tell us of
the complaints made by the kings of Babylonia of the robbery of caravans
in districts nominally under the control of Egypt.
(M688) In the more private documents of the later Babylonian times, there
is again plentiful evidence that this form of trade was common. The money
was loaned out “to buy and sell.” It was given _ana ḫarrânu_, “for hawking
trade.” Then whatever profit was made upon the money, the agent “will
give” to the principal. The agent binds himself to undertake no other
agency. He gives a guarantee for the money. The principal had no further
responsibility for the business, and would not meet any further call. It
is obvious that in a sense the principal and agent were partners, and many
transactions in later times are difficult to distinguish from cases of
partnership in the ordinary sense.
(M689) It has long been recognized that the canals controlled the
prosperity of the country, but it is only lately that their importance as
waterways has been fully realized. In the early period we read of flour
sent by ship to Nippur for certain officials.(732)
(M690) The Code has much to say about ships. Temples owned them, as well
as private persons. It was a crime, punishable with death, to steal a
ship.(733) We read of fees for building or navigating various ships.(734)
The responsibilities and damages in collisions and wrecks are
apportioned.(735) A shipowner might hire a captain to navigate a ship for
him, or might hire the captain and ship together. The usual freight
included corn, wool, oil, and dates, but many other things were also
carried. The wages of a captain was six _GUR_ of corn yearly. There are
frequent references to ships in the contemporary letters.(736) They were
named according to their carrying capacity, which was five or more _GUR_.
A ship of seventy-five _GUR_ is named. They carried wood, for King
Ḥammurabi ordered seven thousand two hundred pieces of _abba_ wood to be
brought to Babylon, three hundred pieces in a ship. A number of boat
captains or perhaps shipping agents were ordered to proceed from Larsa to
Babylon and arrive with their ships in Adar. He gave orders for the
furnishing of the crews. We further have a correspondence concerning the
invasion of certain fishing rights by boats from another district. In the
contemporary contracts we meet with several long lists of ships divided
into little groups, of five, six, or seven, each with its captain named,
each group under a head captain, all set down as at anchor at the port of
Shamash, or the like.(737) There is a case of the hire of a boat of six
_GUR_ freight by two persons for two months.(738)
(M691) In Assyria, canals served chiefly for water-supply. Except when the
Assyrian kings went outside their own lands to Babylonia or Mesopotamia,
we hardly read of ships. Sennacherib’s ships were built abroad and served
abroad. There is no hint of their ever coming up to the walls of Nineveh.
The contracts only once mention a ship(739) in which booty was brought
from somewhere.
(M692) In the later Babylonian times there are many references to the hire
of boats and their crews. They appear to be a regular conveyance of
goods:(740)
One shekel and a quarter of silver for the hire of a ship which
brought three oxen and twenty-four sheep from the king’s son
[Belshazzar], for Shamash and the gods of Sippara. Further, fifty
_ḲA_ of dates for the rations of the two boatmen.
Thus the receiver paid carriage and expenses. The daily hire of a boat is
now one shekel, and the wages of the crew amount to half as much.(741) A
boat might be bought for twenty shekels or half a mina.(742) The wages of
the boatmen included corn, dates, salt, and onions. The freight was
exceedingly varied as before. One boat appears to have carried fresh
meat.(743)
(M693) There are less obvious references to roads in the literature; but
that they were in excellent condition has been conjectured from the many
evidences of postal service and ready carriage even in early times.
Convoys travelled from Agade to Lagash as early as the time of Sargon
I.(744) Innumerable labels are found on lumps of clay with the name and
address of the consignee. These were attached to consignments of money and
goods.
(M694) The Code contemplates consignments being sent from a great
distance, even from abroad.(745) It regulates the charges for a wagon,
with oxen and driver,(746) or a wagon alone.(747) There are several cases
in the contracts of the hire of wagons, for varied prices per year,
one-third of a shekel(748) to twelve shekels;(749) but it is not certain
that these were for conveyance from place to place. They may have been for
agricultural purposes only. The usual means of conveyance seems to have
been by asses.
(M695) In Assyrian times we find it part of the duty of a founder of a
city to open up the roads leading to it.(750) The land was intersected
with roads in all directions, so that a field often had two roads as its
boundaries. The whole plain outside Nineveh was cut up by roads, which
here take the place of the canals of Babylonia. In this period we find
horses and camels in use as beasts of burden as well as the asses.
XXVIII. Partnership And Power Of Attorney
(M696) Association, or partnership, makes its appearance very early and in
a highly developed state. Some forms are very simple, as when two or more
men buy or hire a piece of land together. There may, or may not, be any
family relationship between the partners. In some cases we learn nothing
about the terms of partnership. But where we are able to discern them,
they follow the natural course that profits were divided, _pro rata,_
according to the capital contributed. More obscure is the question how far
the personal exertions of each partner were pledged to the benefit of the
firm. There is a suggestion that some partners were content with
furnishing capital, and obtaining a fair return upon it, while the others
were actively engaged in the business of the firm. Prolonged study and
comparison are, however, needed before all these points can be definitely
decided.
(M697) The name for a “partner” is _tappû_, and the sign _TAP_ serves as
ideogram. This sign consists of the two horizontal strokes used to denote
“two,” and may have been used to denote “union,” or partnership, and so
from its name _tap_ have given rise to the name for “partner.” In the new
Babylonian times the ideogram is the sign usually read _ḫarrânu_, also
formed of the two horizontal strokes crossed by two connecting strokes or
bonds. There is little doubt that in early times this was read _girru_,
when denoting “business,” undertaken in association. Later the dualism of
the partnership was marked by the addition of the dual sign to _ḫarrânu_.
That both _ḫarrânu_ and _girru_ are used as words for “way,” “journey,”
“expedition,” may well point to the prominence of the idea of trade
journeys with caravans. But partnerships were made with less ambitious
aims and confined to holding and sharing in common varied sources of
income.
(M698) To make a partnership, _tapputam epêšu_,(751) it seems that each
partner contributed a certain amount of capital, _ummânu_.(752) Yearly
accounts were rendered and the profit then shared. This took place by a
formal dissolution of partnership, when each partner took his share. This
in no way prevented a renewal of partnership. For the satisfaction of the
partners sworn declarations as to the property held in common and the
profit made were deposed before judicial authorities. These often take the
form of a suit by one partner against the other, but it seems that they
might be only formal suits to clear up the points at issue and secure a
legal settlement.
(M699) A considerable number of tablets are drawn up to embody a
settlement on dissolution of partnership. Some do not make any reference
to a law officer as arbitrator; but all contain a careful setting-forth of
each partner’s share and an oath to make no further claim. It is
practically certain that these were drawn up with the cognizance of the
local law-court.
(M700) The Code has nothing to say as to partnership, unless its
regulations on the point were embodied in the lost five columns.
A good example of partnership documents is the following:(753)
Erib-Sin and Nûr-Shamash entered into partnership and came into
the temple of Shamash and made their plan. Silver, merchandise,
man-servant, and maid-servant, abroad or at home, altogether they
shared. Their purpose they realized. Money for money, man-servant
and maid-servant, merchandise abroad or at home, from mouth to
interest, brother with brother will not dispute. By Shamash and
Malkat, by Marduk and Ḥammurabi, they swore. Then follow seventeen
witnesses. The document is not dated.
(M701) The word for plan, _ṭêmu_, means the basis of partnership, that is,
its terms. Here it was “share and share alike.” The phrase _babtum_,
“merchandise,” includes all the material in which they traded, excluding
the living agents. The phrase _ša ḫarrânim_, literally “on the road,” may
well have denoted the merchandise not in warehouse, but in circulation.
Whether _ḫarrânu_ actually referred to a caravan may be doubtful. We often
read of goods _ša suḳi_, “on the street,” in the same sense, “out on the
market.” If the partners dealt in corn, and had a quantity lent out on
interest, that was _ša suḳi_. Whether a distinction between _ša ḫarrânim_
and _ša suḳi_ was kept up is not clear. But if they invested their capital
in merchandise which they sent to a distant market for sale, the former
phrase would be more appropriate, while if they bought wool to manufacture
into cloth or garments and to sell in the bazaars of their own town, _ša
suḳi_ would be more suitable. The gate of the city was a market, and money
or goods _ša bâbi_, “at the gate,” was as we should say “on the market.”
In contrast to these phrases, _ina libbi alim_, “in the midst of the
town,” answers to our “in stock.” While the term _mitḫariš_ literally
means “altogether,” “without reservation,” it implies exact equality of
share. The _amâtu_ was the “word,” literally, but, applied to business,
means the agreement as to their mutual transactions. The completion of
that was reached when they took the profits and divided them. It might
include the mutual reckoning of profit and loss. The phrase “from mouth to
interest” is very idiomatic. The “mouth,” or verbal relationships,
included all they said, the terms they agreed upon. The word “interest”
here replaces the more usual “gold;” both mean the “profit,” or the
balance due to each. Usually we have the words “is complete,” the idea
being that no verbal stipulation has been overlooked, no money or profit
left out of reckoning.
(M702) As will be remarked, such pregnant forms of expression evidently
presuppose a long course of commercial activity. They can only have arisen
as abbreviations of much longer sentences. Clear enough to the users of
them, they do not admit of literal rendering, if they are to be
intelligible to us. But they are eloquent witnesses of an advanced state
of commerce.
(M703) Traces of partnership are difficult to find in the Assyrian tablets
which have reached us. We must not confuse with partnership the holding in
common of property or lands, which may be due to heritage. Two or more
brothers may sell their common property, for greater ease of division, but
they are not exactly partners.
(M704) In the later Babylonian times, as is natural to expect with the
larger number of private documents, there is much evidence regarding the
many forms of association for business. We have such simple forms as the
following:(754)
One mina which A and B have put together for common business. All
that it makes is common property.
Or thus:
Two minas each, A and B, have as _ḫarrânu_. All that it makes, in
town and country, is in common. Rent of the house to be paid from
capital.(755)
(M705) They had a house, as shop and warehouse, the rent of which was a
charge upon the business. Slaves might be partners with free men, even
with their masters. A partner might merely furnish the capital or both
might do so, and commit it to the hands of a slave or a free man with
which to do business. The slave took his living out of such capital, and
the free man received either provisions or a fixed payment. Thus we
read:(756)
Five minas and six hundred and thirty pots of aromatics belong to
A and B as partners. This stock is given to C, a slave, and D,
another slave, with which to do business. Whatever it makes is A
and B’s in common. C and D take food and clothing from the profits
where they go.
It is not unlikely that each slave was to look after his own master’s
interests. For we read:(757)
Six minas belong to A and B and are given to C the slave of B as
capital. A and B share what it makes. A will give another slave D
to help C.
Even women entered into business as agents. We read:(758)
Two-thirds of a mina belonging to A and B are given to a free
woman with which to trade.
(M706) As in earlier times, the dissolution of partnership usually
involved a reference to the law-courts. Thus we have(759) a reckoning
before judges of two brothers and a third who were in a partnership from
the eighth year of Nabopolassar to the eighteenth of Nebuchadrezzar. “The
business is dissolved” (_girru paṭrat_). All the former contracts were
broken and shares are assigned to each. The first two brothers were in
possession of fifty shekels which were to be divided.
(M707) Provisional reckonings were constantly made at frequent intervals,
but did not involve dissolution of partnership, nor need to be referred to
a law-court.(760) Some cases are interesting for additional items of
information. Thus we note:(761)
(M708)
Two partners put in each fifty _GUR_ of dates. Whatever it makes
is to be in common. They take a house in Borsippa for one year at
rent of half a mina. The rent is to be paid out of profits. B
holds the house and apparently carries on the business. At the end
of the year he returns it and all the utensils to A.
It seems likely that he carried on some kind of manufacture. A held the
south house, next door. B also paid the tithes. A similar case where some
manufacture from dates is supposed, is thus stated:(762)
A lends one hundred _GUR_ of dates, fifty _GUR_ of corn, sixty
large pots, to B and C two of his slaves, on a partnership. They
are to take in common whatever it makes, in town and country. The
venture is to last three years. But, in this case, they are to pay
interest two minas _per annum_. At the end of the three years, the
two slaves returned all.
They were given a house for which they paid no rent.
(M709) Closely allied with agency is the power of attorney. In the
Code(763) a son in his father’s house could not contract, buy or sell, or
give on deposit, except by power of attorney empowering him to act for his
father. The same was true of the slave. The contemporary documents contain
many references to business done by agents on the order of their
principals.(764) The Assyrians also make frequent mention of persons
acting as _bêl ḳâtâti_, having the power of another’s hands, being in fact
allowed to act as their attorney or agent. The king was represented in the
law-courts by his agent.(765) Sometimes the agent was called _bêl paḫâti_
of the king’s son.(766) It even seems to be the case that _ḳâtâtu_
acquired the sense of agency, or business, and _bît ḳâtâti_ came to mean a
“shop,” or bazaar. In many cases “agency” was expressed by _ša ḳâtâ_, “by
the hands of.” Aliens had to act through such an agent.(767) When three
men borrow a quantity of straw, one alone sealed the receipt and bond to
repay, and was said to be _bêl ḳâtâti ša tibni_, “agent for the
straw.”(768) A female slave was sued for property said to be due from her
master, in his absence. A free man, perhaps the judge, was _bêl ḳâtâti_
for the woman that her master would take up the case on his return, and
undertook to satisfy the suitor, if she could not do so.(769)
(M710) In later Babylonian times the phrase survived. The commissary acted
“with the hand” of his principal. We may take this to be the hand-sign, or
seal, representing written authority. It involved a reckoning with his
master, and naturally gave rise to a number of delicate questions. If a
man bought a house for another, having been commissioned so to do, his
principal must of course pay the price. But was he bound to accept his
agent’s selection? Could he not demur regarding the price? One of these
points at least was dealt with by the later Code. Law A deals with the man
who has concluded a purchase for another, without having a power of
attorney from him in a sealed deed. If he has had the deed made out in his
own name, he is the possessor. Of course, he can sell again to his
principal, but he could not do so at a profit. Nor is the principal under
any obligation to accept the purchase at the price the agent gave for it.
Actual examples are far from rare: A buys a field, crop, date-palms and
all, for C and D. This purchase was made on condition that all copies of
the transaction be destroyed. The condition was not observed, as we still
possess one of them. Later A received from C, one of his principals, about
half the price he had paid. But it does not appear that D ever paid his
share, and this is why the condition was not carried out. Presumably A and
C remained owners of the field.(770)
(M711) There is no limit to the varieties of agency or representative
action. At all periods we meet with a brother, usually the eldest, acting
for his other brothers. A brother acting with the hand of his brother also
occurs in the time of Evil Merodach.(771)
(M712) The power of attorney was also given to receive money and give a
receipt, under seal.(772) Again: A bought some slaves of B and paid in
full. B gave receipt for the money, but did not undertake to deliver the
slaves at A’s house. A can send a messenger or agent to take the slaves,
and B agrees to deliver them to such. Whatever is born or dies from among
the slaves is credited to A.(773)
XXIX. Accounts And Business Documents