Abstract A survey of Mesopotamian slavery provides an opportunity to evaluate how foundational or institutional the practice was in its earliest known forms. The entry to and exit from slavery were relatively asystematic, the status often ended up being temporary, and the functions and status of slaves are difficult to distinguish from those of other persons (e.g., servants and dependents) who also performed labor under coercion. This chapter considers these aspects as well as developments and changes in Mesopotamian slavery in the Old Babylonian period (ca. 2000–1600 BCE), focusing on this specific historical period as a model to comment on slavery in cuneiform culture as a whole (which lasted from ca. 3300 to 300 BCE).
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