Keilschrifttafel in Form eines Beines

It is a right lower leg with a foot and ankle, covered all around with pencil signs. On the leg is judged the adoption of a tortoiseshell dragged out of the water with the talking name Naru-Eriba (’ the river has replaced me’). The text states that the servant of a palace lady, wife of a man named Assur-idin, found a child who was suspended and drifted on a river. She raised the child and accepted it as a son. Of note is the proximity to the biblical Moses narrative. The text is based on a contract document: The prohibition to sue against the certified trial follows a conventional penalty, date and list of witnesses. During regular adoption, the adopter takes the child’s foot, to which witnesses confirm the process by means of a seal and thus make it legally valid. In this case, four gods act as witnesses. A lawsuit is rendered meaningless by the threatened punishment - the issuance of six sons and the claimed child. Apparently the woman who had found the child was not sure of her claim and now tried to protect her with the help of this document. The design of the document in the form of a foot points to the content: The prescription of adoption.