One of the very earliest—the earliest as far as I have found—recorded contract concerning fishing occurs in the second year of Darius II., 422 b.c. It runs thus[912]:—
“Ribat son of Bel-Eriba the slave of Enlil-nadin-shumi spoke of his own free will to Enlil-nadin-shumi son of Murashu in the following manner: ‘The fishpond between the village Ahshanu and the farm of Bel-abu-uzur in the field of the master of the merchants and the fishpond in the field of the Prefect and the fishpond by the village of Bit-Natun-El, give me for yearly payment. Each year I will give one half talent of pure silver, and from the day on which the fishponds are given to me for fishing, daily will I supply fish for thy table.’ And then Enlil-nadin-shumi heard him, and he gave him fishponds for a yearly tribute of half a talent of silver.
Signed in the presence of two judges, before six witnesses, and a scribe.”
The Tablet is impressed with five seals.[913]
The next recorded fishing contract deals with netting in Babylonian waters. It is dated the 25th day of Elul in the fifth year of Darius II., or 419 b.c. B. Meissner’s translation of the document may be rendered as follows[914]:—
“Makimni-anni the son of Bel-ab-usur, Bi’-iliya the son of ... & Ishiya, Natin the son of Tabshalam, and Zadabyama the son of Khinni-Bel, of their own free will spoke as follows to Ribat, the son of Bel-eriba, the servant of Rimut-Ninurta: ‘Give five nets and we will deliver to you five hundred fish of good quality (tuḳḳunu) by the 15th day of the month Tishri in the 5th year!’ Then Ribat hearkened unto them and gave them five nets.[915] On the 15th of Tisri they shall deliver the five hundred fish of good quality. If they do not deliver the five hundred fish of good quality on the appointed day for their delivery, then on the 20th day of Tishri shall they deliver a thousand fish. Each one goes bail for the other in respect of making up the 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 the rich Babylonian banker Rimut-Ninurta, and five Aramaic fishermen. In consideration of Ribat’s furnishing five nets, they bind themselves to deliver by the 15th of Tishri (about September), i.e. within twenty days from the making of the contract, five hundred fish. On failure to do so, the time is extended by five days, but the number of the fish is then increased to one thousand. Each of the five fishermen “goes bail” for delivery of five hundred, or if need be, of a thousand fish, but an outsider, Bel-ibni, son of Apla, cautiously limits his bail or guarantee to the first figure.
These documents possess many points of interest.
(A) They are not only the very earliest, but I suggest the only extant fishing contracts (proper) prior to the third century a.d. In Egypt, during the Ptolemaic period, fishermen, it is true, had to pay to the Government a quarter of the value of their catch (τεττάρτη ἁλιέων), but this seems to have been a regular tax. Later on we find fishermen paying to the priests of Lake Moeris a φόρος (not to be confounded with ἰχθυηρὰ δρυμῶν, or state tax) which presumably included the purchase of the right to fish, as well as the hire of boats. But this was in the nature of a royalty or rent, was a continuous obligation, and proportioned to the catch, whereas in our second document the time is limited, and the payment fixed, not proportioned.[916]
(B) The second contract demonstrates that the custom of additional guarantors is no mere modern institution.
(C) It also tends to show that the system, previously known as employed by Babylonian landlords, of letting their farms to tenants for a fixed proportion of the crops, extended occasionally to their waters as well.