Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

GUARANTORS OF FISH CONTRACT 361" Makimni-anni the son of Bel-ab-usur, Bi'-iliya theSON OF ... & ISHIYA, NaTIN THE SON OF TaBSHALAM, ANDZadABYAMA the son of KhINNI-BeL, of their own FREEWILL SPOKE AS FOLLOWS TO RiBAT, THE SON OF BeL-ERIBA,'THE SERVANT OF RiMUT-NlNURTA : GiVE FIVE NETS AND WEWILL DELIVER TO YOU FIVE HUNDRED FISH OF GOOD QUALITY(TUKKUNU) by THE I5TH DAY OF THE MONTH TiSHRI IN THE 5THYEAR ! ' Then Ribat hearkened unto them and gaveTHEM FIVE NETS.l On THE I5TH OF TiSRI THEY SHALL DELIVERTHE FIVE HUNDRED FISH OF GOOD QUALITY. If THEY DO NOTDELIVER THE FIVE HUNDRED FISH OF GOOD QUALITY ON THEAPPOINTED DAY FOR THEIR DELIVERY, THEN ON THE 20THDAY OF TiSHRI SHALL THEY DELIVER A THOUSAND FISH, EACHONE GOES BAIL FOR THE OTHER IN RESPECT OF MAKING UPTHE 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 therich Babylonian banker Rimut-Ninurta, and five Aramaicfishermen. In consideration of Ribat's furnishing five nets,they bind themselves to deliver by the 15 th of Tishri (aboutSeptember), i.e. within twenty days from the making of thecontract, five hundred fish. On failure to do so, the time isextended by five days, but the number of the fish is thenincreased to one thousand. Each of the five fishermen " goesbail " for delivery of five hundred, or if need be, of a thousandfish, but an outsider, Bel-ibni, son of Apia, cautiously limitshis bail or guarantee to the first figure.These documents possess many points of interest.(A) They are not only the very earliest, but I suggestthe only extant fishing contracts (proper) prior to the thirdcentury 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 firstappearance in this contract, employed for net appears to have been saiituor lUu. The word is written sa-li-tum, and the first syllable (5a) may beeither part of the word, or else the determinative riksit, which is written beforethings made of cordage. If the word be read salitu, it may perhaps be derivedfrom the root, salu, to immerse. The rendering of the word as net is not quitecertain, but, as will be seen from the translation of the text, the contextpoints to this meaning. It is clearly some sort of tackle used by fishermen,and the most obvious meaning would be net.