Make money doing the work you believe in
So The Academic Archaeologist posted this excellent note today entitled: "Mesopotamian Women Owned More Property Than Many Modern Women, Legally Speaking"
and linked to another article by tannerthehumanist Religion & History | Tanner A. entitled: "What Archeaology says about the Bible"
Both are well written; however, I had several questions initially after reading both articles. Then I found a 38 page Free PDF cited below from: Journal for Semitics 24/1 (2015) 109-145
My Initial Questions Included:
1. How do we have a translation of the Code of Hammurabi [ See Millard, Alan (2004) [1993]. "Hammurapi"]on these caste of scribes (plural of nadītu is nadiātu or nadâtu)permitted to lend money at compound interest rates, and reference to documented cases, but no translations of those cases?
2. Are there written cuneiform records of foreclosures on those loans to nadītu, the interest (compound or simple) rates imposed by them, security given for these loans (ie., land, livestock, agricultural produce, and/or family members as slave chattels?). "... Vast numbers of contract tablets, dated to the reigns of Hammurabi and his successors, have been discovered, as well as 55 of his own letters. [22] These letters give a glimpse into the daily trials of ruling a kingdom, from dealing with floods and mandating changes to a flawed calendar, to taking care of Babylon's massive herds of livestock. [fn 23 Breasted, James Henry (2003). Ancient Time or a History of the Early World, Part 1. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7661-4946-5. OCLC 69651827]
3. Are there written cuneiform records of dissent, complaints, and/or rebellions of the general population burdened by their debts, and are their written records of release of debts for taxes, principal and interest owed to this private naditu scribe caste?
4. If cuneiform was just recently decyphered, then who did these translations of the Code of Hammarubi?
So I researched and read this 38 page article from: Journal for Semitics 24/1 (2015) 109-145
THE CONCEALED CRIME OF THE NADĪTU PRIESTESS IN §110 OF THE LAWS OF HAMMURABI 1 by Susandra J. van Wyk North-West University (Vaal Triangle Campus) Faculty of Humanities, School of Basic Sciences P. O. Box 1174 Vanderbijlpark 1900 South Africa E-mail: susandra@telkomsa.net (Received 30/01/2015; Accepted 20/05/2015)
I highlighted this article, which can be read and reviewed here. There are many key takeaways regarding the Code of Hammurabi (including its proposed dates of use and extent of the Empire land mass where it was imposed); the incredible complexity of its secular economy culture, its polytheistic nature, statutory terms of loan agreements including 20-33 percent compound interest rates, as well as imposition of royal (government) taxes on some revenues and tax exemptions on certain castes of people:
SOURCE DESCRIPTION: The article is a revised version of a paper to be presented at the Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Conference in Genève and Bern, Switzerland (Text and Image), 22–26 June 2015. In the article the Sumerian terms are in bold font. The Akkadian terms and any other foreign language terms are in italicised font. Abbreviations given in this article are: OB (Old Babylonia/Babylonian), ANE (Ancient Near East/Eastern), LH (Laws of/Law Collection of/Lax Code of Hammurabi), LL (Laws of/ Law Collection of/Law Code of Lipit-Ištar), LE (Laws of Ešhnunna). I follow the transcription of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary: in CAD N Part 1, the plural for nadītu is nadiātu or nadâtu (Reiner 1980a:63). In CAD S, the plural for the male sābû is also sābû. The plural for the female sābītu is sābiātu (Reiner 1984:5). In CAD U and W (Roth 2010:33) the plural for ugbabtu is ugbabātu. RESOURCE FOR READERS: The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, initiated in 1921 by James Henry Breasted, has compiled a comprehensive dictionary of the various dialects of Akkadian, the earliest known Semitic language…
