Bunusu in Ugaritian society

In 1928 the accidental discovery of a tomb at the coastal Syrian site of Minet el-Beida prompted the investigation of this site and later of the nearby tell of Ras Shamra. In the next year, the Mission Archeologique Francaise discovered tablets at Ras Shamra written in a previously unknown script and language, later deciphered and termed Ugaritic. This study concentrates specifically on the Ugaritic texts that attest the word bns.;The study of the men who are called bns is a study of social and economic subordination. As shown by the polyglot vocabulary texts from Ras Shamra, the word bns means 'man' (probably vocalized phonemically as /bunusu/ in the singular and /bunusuma/ in the plural), but what is the measure of a man? In the case of the Ugaritian bns, a man is defined by his relationships to his social superiors, by his place in the complex social hierarchy, and by his various vocational and economic activities.;This general statement is not new. Previous researchers have detected the hierarchical relationships preserved in the Ugaritic and Akkadian texts from Ras Shamra. But to say that there is agreement on the definition of the Ugaritian bnsm would be incorrect. The most enduring interpretation, based on a revised Marxist deductive model, is that the bnsm---and more specifically the bns mlk, i.e., the men of the king---represent the subservient personnel of the palace sector in contrast to the free population of the village sector. Other hypotheses have been argued but none as repeatedly as the two-sector model.;My principle of interpretation, which developed during the course of the research behind this study, is to describe the hierarchical relationships observable in the Ugaritian administrative texts as a type of patron-client relationship. In brief, a patron-client relationship may be defined as a vertical asymmetric relationship combining social and economic elements to forge variably durable, flexible, and mutually beneficial exchanges between actors. The terms 'patron' and 'client' have been used to describe the dyadic actors in exchange relationships in many contexts, including ancient Rome, nineteenth century England, and twenty-first century America and may serve as a powerful heuristic model in characterizing the nature of the social hierarchies and dependent relationships observable in the texts from Ras Shamra.;At Ugarit, patronage was a means of granting limited access to resources through dyadic links between persons of unequal power or status. These connections could be mediated through a broker and varied in their durability. If the expression of patronage at Ugarit parallels its expression in other times and places, then perhaps patron-client relationships at Ugarit evolved to meet basic economic needs and to protect against the inherent dangers of the social and economic worlds. A patronage system is joined to other fundamental political-economic traditions or "modes of structuring trust" (Eisenstadt and Roniger 1984, 269) such as dynastic royalty, kinship, quasi-guild occupational groups, socio-religious groups, and stratified social classes. Patronage relationships are diffuse, flexible, and self-regulating. The motives that generate these relationships are anchored in social norms and evolve as a strategy of social solidarity. Because it is multi-tiered, a system of patronage ties includes members of the society from the highest to the lowest ranks.;I propose a model of patronage chains characterized by four tiers in its most plenary form. The patronage chain is essentially a vertical network of patron-client dyads. At the highest level of the patronage chain stands the king or another highly influential person. In the most complex arrangement, the patronage chain includes a patron, a high-level broker, a low-level group organizer, and his clients. One four-tier chain tends to become combined together with other patronage chains to form a complex system of patronage. A bns is found at nearly any subordinate point in this system.;In the end, we cannot conclude that the word bns refers to a client in the same lexically specific sense as Latin cliens. The Ugaritic word almost certainly has a more general semantic field. In my view, the word bns does not refer to a specific social, vocational, or economic category. The word refers to all these things but is not restricted to any one of them. Far from being a completely non-restrictive term including every male in the kingdom, bns refers to a subordinate in any number of asymmetric social or economic relationships. Even though the shallowest meaning of the word is simply 'man'---and the safest approach may be to attempt no further specification---the usage of the word points to a more complex semantic field.;The etymology of bns remains an enigma. The prevailing scholarly opinion is that bns is best compared to the common Semitic word for son (bn) and some form of the common Semitic word for man ('ns or ns ), possibly even resulting from a contraction of these two words. Even as scholars continue to hone the nuances of this hypothesis, the contraction of any of these words to bns remains unparalleled and unproven. In sum, any conclusions regarding the etymology of bns remain tentative, speculative, and unconvincing.;Excepting the polyglot vocabulary texts in which bns is recorded in syllabic script as bu-nu-su, the word bns occurs only in the alphabetic Ugaritic texts. Therefore, this study is based on those alphabetic Ugaritic texts that deal specifically with bnsm. I present all of the bns -texts in transcription and translation with limited commentary. Additionally, I present new collations of the most important of these texts. As part of each new collation I include general and detailed epigraphic descriptions, primarily when my conclusions differ from previous collation or provide additional clarity.;Throughout the study I address the central vexing issues argued in the secondary literature. Does the word bns ever stand for the construct phrase bns mlk, even when the nomen rectum is lacking? Are all the so-called professional vocations performed only by bns mlk? Are the bnsm free or non-free juridically? What is the place of the bnsm and bns mlk in the society and economy of Ugarit? In sum then, the goals of this study are (1) to present the relevant textual data in transcription and translation; (2) to survey and critique the history of interpretation of bns, including the attempts at etymological analysis; (3) to present some of the key aspects that characterize patron-client relationships in various cultural contexts; (4) to identify where patronage existed in the society and economy of Ugarit and what role the bns (mlk) played in the patron-client relationship; and (5) to present limited re-editions of some of the key texts from Ras Shamra for the clarification of the word bns.