about one-tenth of the average value. To
detain, harbour, &c., a slave was punished by death. So was an attempt to
get him to leave the city. A slave bore an identification mark, which could
only be removed by a surgical operation and which later consisted of his
owner's name tattoed or branded on the arm. On the great estates in Assyria
and its subject provinces were many serfs, mostly of subject race, settled
captives, or quondam slaves, tied to the soil they cultivated and sold with
the estate but capable of possessing land and property of their own. There
is little trace of serfs in Babylonia, unless the _muskinu_ be really a
serf.

The god of a city was originally owner of its land, which encircled it with
an inner ring of irrigable arable land and an outer fringe of pasture, and
the citizens were his tenants. The god and his viceregent, the king, had
long ceased to disturb tenancy, and were content with fixed dues in
_naturalia_, stock, [v.03 p.0117] money or service. One of the earliest
monuments records the purchase by a king of a large estate for his son,
paying a fair market price and adding a handsome honorarium to the many
owners in costly garments, plate, and precious articles of furniture. The
Code recognizes complete private ownership in land, but apparently extends
the right to hold land to votaries, merchants (and resident aliens?). But
all land was sold subject to its fixed charges. The king, however, could
free land from these charges by charter, which was a frequent way of
rewarding those who deserved well of the state. It is from these charters
that we learn nearly all we know of the obligations that lay upon land. The
state demanded men for the army and the corvee as well as dues in kind. A
definite area was bound to find a bowman together with his linked pikeman
(who bore the shield for both) and to furnish them with supplies for the
campaign. This area was termed "a bow" as early as the 8th century B.C.,
but the usage was much earlier. Later, a horseman was due from certain
areas. A man was only bound to serve so many (six?) times, but the land had
to find a man annually. The service was usually discharged by slaves and
serfs, but the _amelu_ (and perhaps the _muskinu_) went to war. The "bows"
were grouped in tens and hundreds. The corvee was less regular. The letters
of Khammurabi often deal with claims to exemption. Religious officials and
shepherds in charge of flocks were exempt. Special liabil