<研究ノート>京都大学総合博物館所蔵楔形文字粘土板資料(2) : アケメネス朝時代バビロニアにおける売買契約文書

Abstract

This paper presents the transliteration and translation of a cuneiform tablet (Museum number 993-90), one of five unpublished cuneiform tablets housed in the Kyoto University Museum. The tablet is a sale contract concerning ownership of a real estate and a slave, crafted in Babylon under the Achaemenid Empire in the 18th year of Darius I (507 B. C. E.). It is from the archive of the Egibi family : a family famous for its private enterprises in Babylon during the 6th century B. C. E. The contract details are carved on the obverse while the names of the witnesses appear on the reverse. According to the contract, Nabû-ittanu, who was a proxy of the head of the Egibi family, bought ownership of 5 qanû of property and half ownership of a slave from Nergal-ušēzib. The text also specifies that the silver paid for the purpose was of Marduk-naû-apli, the head of the Egibi family in that period, and the tablet itself had been made for him. Since Nergal-ušēzib, the seller, was his brother, the contract was made between brothers of the Egibi family via a proxy. A duplicate of this tablet belongs to the British Museum (BM 30637; Dar. 467).