http://www.ancientworldcities.com/article-65

Classes of Society

By daniel on Wed 29th September 2004

Section: babylonia > Topic: Life in Babylonia

In Babylonian society there were three seperate classes of citizen:

Wardu

Slaves were mostly prisoners of wars but were sometimes recruited from general society for a number of reasons. Citizens could be reduced to a slave if they were found guilty of a major offence, parents could sell their children into slavery in times of need and men could sell their entire family to creditors for the settlement of an outstanding debt but for no longer than 3 years.

Slaves were the property of their master and could be branded, beaten or flogged. If found to be attempting to escape from their master they could be severly punished. Generaly however, they were well treated and feed as it was advantageous to have strong and healthy slaves as they work better and thus repay good treatment.

Slaves could engage in business and borrow money, they could even buy their own freedom through these activities.

If a slave married and had children with a free person the children were free citizens of the class of the free person married to the slave.

The price of a slave varied with the market and the slaves physical attributes, knowledge and experience. The average for a grown man was about 20 shekels of silver, a sum that could buy 35 bushels (about 8 gallons or 30.28 litres) of barley.

An example of the classes

As an example to illustrate the differences between Babylonian citizens classes, lets take a person that has been injured in eye or limb. Indemnity would be, for a: