Abstract
As argued in my study in BSNESJ 53/2, the amīlūtu (LÚ.Ú.LU-) contracts found in the Emar texts are a type of debt contract of silver, in which the debtor himself enters into the household of the creditor as a ‘personal pledge of antichresis’(amīlūtu), while at the same time another security (surety or pledge) for the debt is set. This study deals with two terms, amīltūtu (MÍ.Ú.LU- and qātātu (security), asking what they denote. The term amīltūtu for a female amīlūtu appears in l. 3 of Subartu 17-T, a recently published Emar text. The present writer shows this text should be understood as a renewal with revisions of an amīltūtu contract, i.e., amīlūtu contract involving a woman. The latter term has been regarded as being able to mean either surety or pledge in texts both from Emar (including three amīl(t)ūtu contracts) and from Alalaḫ (MB). However, when the usage is reexamined, although it is reconfirmed that qātātu is used in both meanings in Emar, it becomes clear that no case of ‘surety’ is attested in MB Alalaḫ. In the appendix, the present writer submits revised versions of two contracts related to debts, Emar VI 205 and 209, as sources for comparison with the amīl(t)ūtu contracts.
