As this tablet was written two years and three months after the house at Borsippa was bought, it is clear that the money had been advanced, but the indebtedness of Abil-Addu-nathānu had not been placed, until the date of the second tablet, on a legal footing. Probably he intended to pay the money, but had not the wherewithal, and this being the case, the lender agreed to allow the debt to remain unpaid, stipulating only that the interest should be paid at the usual rate of one mana upon every mana monthly. As will be seen from the other documents, the principal was not paid for many years after this. There is no record whether any payment of interest had been made in the meanwhile, but, in any case, the rate is far beyond what at the present time is considered fair.
A First Payment Made After The Death Of Abil-Addu-Nathānu.
This is a small tablet similar in shape to the last, and is now preserved in the Museum of Art at New York.
“8 shekels of silver Iddina-Marduk, son of Ikîšā, descendant of Nûr-Sin, has received from the hands of Bunanitu, with the first payment, which (has been made) since the death of Ablada-nathanu, her husband, from the interest of his money. In the presence of Tabnêa, son of Nabū-âḫê-iddina, descendant of the [pg 462] priest of ...; Nabû-kain-âbli, son of Marduk-šum-ibnî, descendant of Dannu-Nabû. Barsip (Borsippa), month Adar, day 18th, year 8th, Nabû-na'id, king of Babylon.
“There is to be no abatement (?).”
As the loan was contracted in the second year of Nabonidus, it cannot be said that Iddina-Marduk had been by any means pressing in the matter. The numerous documents which exist show that the Babylonians were good at making contracts, but they were probably not so strict in keeping them, and certainly not so merciless (to judge from the history here unfolded) as the people of the modern West in enforcing them.
The phonetic spelling of the name of the husband, Ablada-nathānu, is interesting, as it shows the Babylonian pronunciation. Ben-Addu-nathan, however, was a possible form, and may have been even a fairly common one.
The Legal Action After The Death Of Abil-Addu-Nathānu.
“Bunanitu, daughter of Ḫariṣâa, said thus to the judges of Nabû-na'id, king of Babylon—
“ ‘Abil-Addu-nathān, son of Nikmadu’, had me to wife, and he took 3-½ mana of silver as my dowry, and one daughter I bore to him. I and Abil-Addu-nathān, my husband, traded with the silver of my dowry, and we bought 8 canes, a built house, the territory of a large property,[143] which was within Barsip, for 9-2/3 of a mana of silver, with 2-½ mana of silver which was from Iddina-Marduk, son of Ikîšā, descendant of Nûr-Sin, as balance, and we fixed (it) as the price of that house, and we paid and received it together. In the 4th year of Nabû-na'id, king of Babylon, I made an agreement [pg 463] with Abil-Addu-nathān, my husband, concerning my dowry, and Abil-Addu-nathān, in the kindness of his heart, sealed the 8 canes, (and) that house which is within Barsip, and bequeathed it to me for future days, and on my tablet made it known thus: ‘2-½ mana of silver, which Abil-Addu-nathān and Bunanitu took from Iddina-Marduk, and paid as the price of that house, they received together.’ He sealed that tablet, and wrote thereon the curse of the great gods. In the 5th year of Nabû-na'id, king of Babylon, I and Abil-Addu-nathān, my husband, took Abil-Addu-amara as our son, and wrote the tablet of his sonship, and made known 2 mana 10 shekels of silver and the furniture of a house as the dowry of Nûbtâ, my daughter. Fate took my husband, and now Aqabi-îlu, the son of my father-in-law, has laid claim upon the house and everything which had been sealed and bequeathed to me, and upon Nabû-nûr-îli, (the slave) whom we had acquired by the hands of Nabû-âḫê-iddina for silver. I have brought it before you, make a decision.