A Primer on Ugaritic: Language, Culture, and Literature - enenuru

100
Legal Texts
obligations in case of default, particularly by giving a guarantee.
Recall, for example, the story in Genesis 44 of Judah pledging
himself to assure Benjamin’s safe return to his father’s house from
Egypt.
3. /bi.mtn.bini.Ayah˙i/ for Mtn, son of Ayah˙i
The preposition precedes the name and patronymic of the
person. This line ends the first section of the text.
4. /bi.h˙abaœtihu.huwwati.tattihu/ when he flees to another country
This line begins the second section, which, despite interpretive
challenges, describes the potential for the deal to go bad and for
the guarantors to be left responsible for the debt.
At this juncture of our study, it is beneficial to read an Akkadian
surety text from Ugarit. This procedure will assist in several
interpretive decisions regarding the next few lines in alphabetic
cuneiform. The tablet in question is RS 15.81 and is shown in
Figure 5.1. It records two separate guarantee documents, though,
for our purposes, we will cite only the first.
1. m Kilianu maœr m Agiana [ ] 1. m PN1 son of m PN2
2. u m Karranu maœr m Tesûamana 2. and m PN3 son of m 3. awˆäluœ
PN4,
al Qamanuzi 3. men of the city of Qamanuzi
4. qaœtatti issabat sûa m Burqana qadu 4. vouch for
maœrˆäsûu
m Burqana together with
his children.
5. sûumma urram sûeram 5. Should in the future
6. m Burqanu ana maœti sûanˆäti 6. m Burqanu to another country
7. innabbit 5 me}at kaspˆäm 7. flee, 500 [shekels] of silver
8. umal[luœnim] ina qaœti sûarri 8. they shall pay in full to the hand of
the king.
Figure 5.1 RS 15.81 Surety Text
The first word of l. 4, /bi-h˙abaœtihu/, appears to be a combination
of the preposition b-, abound infinitive, and the 3ms suffix.
Though the precise meaning of the verb is uncertain, this phrase
stands in the position of sûumma ... innabbit in the Akkadian surety
text. Both sûumma and b- indicate the hypothetical, yet real