[JNES 71 no. 2 (2012)] © 2012 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 022–2968–2012/7102–005 $10.00. 275 The Grammar of the Neo-Babylonian Assertory Oath BRUCE WELLS (Saint Joseph’s University), CORNELIA WUNSCH (University of London), and F. RACHEL MAGDALENE (Universität Leipzig) Introduction The purpose of this article is to review grammatical constructions that can function as assertory oaths. 1 Previously, scholars have observed that oaths con- structed with a verb in the preterite tense functioned as negative assertory oaths (oaths of denial). 2 The article will argue that evidence exists to question whether negative assertory oaths made use of verbs only in 1 Research for this article has been funded in large measure by the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities and its award of a Collaborative Research Grant for the authors’ project, “Neo- Babylonian Trial Procedure.” Any views, indings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the au- thors alone and do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The abbreviations herein follow those of the most recent volume (U/W) of the Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD; Chicago, 2010). All translations of ancient texts, unless otherwise noted, are those of the authors. We thank Małgorzata Sandowicz and our peer reviewers for their insights on an earlier draft of this article. Of course, all remaining errors are the authors’ alone. 2 It is beyond the scope of this article to enter the debate be- tween “tense” and “aspect” for describing categories such as pres- ent, preterite, and perfect. We follow Michael Streck’s view that “das spB Verbalsystem grundlegend ein relatives Tempussystem mit enger Ainität zu einem Apektsystem [sic] darstellt” (Zahl und Zeit: Grammatik der Numeralia und des Verbalsystems im Spätbaby- lonischen [Groningen, 1995], 245). the preterite form. At least two Neo-Babylonian legal and administrative texts suggest that scribes used the perfect tense on occasion. Verb Tense in the Oath It is well known that assertory oaths in Neo-Babylo- nian legal texts are formulated as conditional state- ments in which an apodosis is left unstated. 3 For instance, a person might swear, “If I stole the donkey, . . . . ” The unstated apodosis would be understood by the oath-taker and bystanders as well to be “may I be cursed,” “may the gods punish me,” or the like. 4 3 See, e.g., GAG, §185a, j–k; and Johannes Hackl, Der subordi- nierte Satz in den spätbabylonischen Briefen, Alter Orient und Altes Testament 41 (Münster, 2007), 72–73. 4 Assertory oaths in earlier periods also typically had unstated apodoses; see, in general, Sophie Lafont, “La procédure par ser- ment au Proche-Orient ancien,” in Jurer et maudire: pratiques poli- tiques et usages juridiques du serment dans le Proche-Orient ancien, ed. Sophie Lafont (Paris, 1997). There are only a few oaths that include them. See, e.g., EA 209, lines 13–16: “If I have not pro- tected your cities, may the gods who are with you strike my head” (Blaine Conklin, Oath Formulas in Biblical Hebrew [Winona Lake, IN, 2011], 87); and the prayer in UET 6 402, which contains an assertory oath that includes the curses of leprosy, poverty, and child- lessness. The assertory oath was just one of a few procedures that appealed to the gods for resolution of the legal dispute at issue. For