In ancient days great importance was attached to their preservation. The kings taxed their powers of cursing in order to terrify men from removing their neighbor's landmark. The dangers to the stone contemplated were its removal to another place, its being thrown into the water, or into the fire, its being built into a wall,[470] being buried in the dust, placed where it cannot be seen, put in a house of darkness,[471] erased and overwritten with other records.[472] Akin to the crime of encroaching upon old landmarks was that of building upon or otherwise encroaching on the highway. To do this might subject the builder to the danger of being [pg 192] hanged, as a warning on a gallows erected above his own house.[473]
The king's power over land
That the land was sold subject to certain territorial obligations, we can glean from many hints. One of the most important is that, when a favorite, or well-deserving official, had acquired a large estate, the king by charter granted him an immunity from these obligations. These charters were often inscribed on large blocks of stone or water-worn pebbles of great size, and seem to have been set up as boundary-stones. Some were reproduced from tablets written on clay.[474] They are very numerous and in some periods of the history are the only monuments that have reached us. A glance through any history of Babylonia will show the reader how much depends on them. But here our only concern is with the light they throw on land tenure and its conditions. One of the points which at once becomes clear is that, although the king was representative of the god and titular head of all the tribes, he could not appropriate land just where he chose. Manistusu, King of Kish, when he was seeking to acquire a fine estate to present to his son, Mesilim, had to buy land at what seems to have been an average price. He paid for the land in corn at three and one-third GUR of corn per GAN, the GUR being worth one shekel of silver. This was the price. But, as was usual later in private purchases, a present to the former owner was given. The list of these presents is most interesting,—silver and copper vessels and rich vestments being the chief items. Of great importance is the reference to the leading men of each hamlet as sellers. The king's own land was a definite area, so definite as to be cited as a boundary.[475]
Recognition of private rights of possession
A celebrated passage in Sargon's cylinder[476] says, “according to the interpretation of my name, Sharru-kînu, righteous [pg 193] king, which bade me observe right and justice, repel the impious, not oppress the weak; as the great gods had bidden me, I gave money for the pieces of land, of each city; according to written contracts, in silver and bronze, to their owners, in order to do no injustice; and to those who would not take money,[477] a field for a field, where they preferred, I gave.” That this was no idle boast is proved from the tablet which records how Sargon, in the year b.c. 713, having taken possession of some lands in Maganuba to form part of his new city of Dûr-Sargon, found that he was displacing an old endowment given by Adadi-nirâri to the god Ashur. It was held by a family descended from the original recipients. Sargon increased their holding and charged it with an increased monthly offering to the temple.[478] He gave “field for field,” but also added largely to the endowments. He acted much the same in Babylonia, where the Suti had encroached upon the lands of the people. He drove out the invaders, restored the lands, but laid them under obligations, kidinûtu, making them render a monthly due to the temples, as before.
Royal grants to temples and favorites
On the other hand, we find that the kings granted large grants of land to temples and private persons. From what source these grants were made does not appear. Probably from his own personal property. The property so presented was free of imposts. But we may not assume that the king was always the poorer. The beneficiary may have bought the land and presented it to the king, to be received back free of imposts in perpetuity.
Thus, Nazimaruttash[479] presents a large estate to Merodach, and another to Kashakti-Shugab, his servant. Kurigalzu[480] granted an estate to Eṭir-Marduk for his conduct in a war against Assyria, and Bitiliashu confirmed it. A coppersmith [pg 194] who fled from the land of Ḥanigalbat made a fine specimen of his work for Bitiliashu, and the king rewarded him with a grant of land.[481] Adadi-shum-uṣur made another grant of land to an unknown servant of his.[482] Melishiḫu made a grant of land to his son, Merodach-baladan I.,[483] and granted it exemption from all imposts. Another grant he made to a servant of his.[484] So when Shamû and Shamûa, his son, two priests of Eria in Elam, fled from their own king and took refuge with Nebuchadrezzar I., he espoused their cause, plundered Elam, brought back their god, Eria, to Babylon, and they having taken the hands of Bêl, the king granted them an estate in Babylonia and freed it from imposts.[485] Nabû-aplu-iddina granted an estate to a namesake of his, which, however, seems to have been claimed as ancestral property.[486] Melishiḫu granted lands to Ḥasardu, a servant of his.[487] Merodach-baladan I. granted lands to Marduk-zâkir-shumi.[488] Marduk-nâdin-aḫi granted Adadi-zêr-iḳisha, for his services against Assyria, lands in the district of Bît-Ada, which seem to have been ancestral domains of one Ada.[489] Some fragments of clay copies of similar grants by Adadi-nirari,[490] Tiglath-pileser III.,[491] Ashurbânipal,[492] and Ashur-eṭil-ilâni[493] are preserved in the British Museum's Collections from Nineveh. They all appear to record grants to favorite officials, who had deserved well of the king.
Restoration of ancestral estates
The king also appears as not only confirming grants made by predecessors, but as restoring ancestral property, or temple endowments, which had come into other hands, on suit of the legal descendants of the original owners. Thus, certain land which had come into the possession of Târim-ana-ilishu and Ur-bêlit-muballiṭat-mîtûti, was claimed by [pg 195] Marduk-kudur-uṣur in the reigns of Adadi-shum-iddina and Adadi-nâdin-aḫi, and finally granted him in perpetuity by Melishiḫu.[494] The land which Gulkishar, King of the Sea Land, gave to a goddess had remained in her possession 696 years, until, in the time of Nebuchadrezzar I., the Governor of Bît Sin-mâgir had secularized it. Bêl-nâdin-apli restored it.[495]