GUARANTORS OF FISH CONTRACT 361 



" Makimni-anni the son of Bel-ab-usur, Bi'-iliya the 



SON OF ... & ISHIYA, NaTIN THE SON OF TaBSHALAM, AND 

 ZadABYAMA the son of KhINNI-BeL, of their own FREE 

 WILL SPOKE AS FOLLOWS TO RiBAT, THE SON OF BeL-ERIBA, 

 THE SERVANT OF RiMUT-NlNURTA : ' GiVE FIVE NETS AND WE 

 WILL DELIVER TO YOU FIVE HUNDRED FISH OF GOOD QUALITY 

 (TUKKUNU) by THE I5TH DAY OF THE MONTH TiSHRI IN THE 5TH 



YEAR ! ' Then Ribat hearkened unto them and gave 



THEM FIVE NETS.l On THE I5TH OF TiSRI THEY SHALL DELIVER 

 THE FIVE HUNDRED FISH OF GOOD QUALITY. If THEY DO NOT 

 DELIVER THE FIVE HUNDRED FISH OF GOOD QUALITY ON THE 

 APPOINTED DAY FOR THEIR DELIVERY, THEN ON THE 20TH 

 DAY OF TiSHRI SHALL THEY DELIVER A THOUSAND FISH, EACH 

 ONE GOES BAIL FOR THE OTHER IN RESPECT OF MAKING UP 

 THE NUMBER OF THE FISH. FOR THE FIVE HUNDRED FISH, 

 BeL-IBNI, THE SON OF APLA, ALSO GOES BAIL." 



The parties to the contract are Ribat, the steward of the 

 rich Babylonian banker Rimut-Ninurta, and five Aramaic 

 fishermen. In consideration of Ribat's furnishing five nets, 

 they bind themselves to deliver by the 15 th of Tishri (about 

 September), i.e. within twenty days from the making of the 

 contract, five hundred fish. On failure to do so, the time is 

 extended by five days, but the number of the fish is then 

 increased to one thousand. Each of the five fishermen " goes 

 bail " for delivery of five hundred, or if need be, of a thousand 

 fish, but an outsider, Bel-ibni, son of Apia, cautiously limits 

 his bail or guarantee to the first figure. 



These documents possess many points of interest. 



(A) They are not only the very earliest, but I suggest 

 the only extant fishing contracts (proper) prior to the third 

 century a.d. In Egypt, during the Ptolemaic period, fishermen, 



for salt used for fish supplied by a grocer, sealed by the ofi&cial controller. 

 Cf. M. Shorr, Urkunden des Altbabylonischen Civil und Processrechts, No. 256. 



^ In the Neo-Babylonian period the word, which makes its first 

 appearance in this contract, employed for net appears to have been saiitu 

 or lUu. The word is written sa-li-tum, and the first syllable (5a) may be 

 either part of the word, or else the determinative riksit, which is written before 

 things made of cordage. If the word be read salitu, it may perhaps be derived 

 from the root, salu, to immerse. The rendering of the word as net is not quite 

 certain, but, as will be seen from the translation of the text, the context 

 points to this meaning. It is clearly some sort of tackle used by fishermen, 

 and the most obvious meaning would be net. 



