Editing Debt bondage (section)

==== The ancient Near East ====
Severe personal debt was widespread in the [[ancient Near East]]. Debtors who did not pay up could become their creditors' chattel, as could other members of their families.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Westbrook |first=Raymond |date=1995|title=Slave and Master in Ancient Near Eastern Law |url=https://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3004&context=cklawreview&httpsredir=1&referer=|journal=Chicago-Kent Law Review|volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=1631–1676}}, p. 1635.</ref> The problem of debt bondage, in conjunction with the state's ability to levy [[serf]]s for labour, led many to flee their homes.<ref name="Hudson">{{cite magazine |last=Hudson |first=Michael |date=15 November 2018 |title=How Bronze Age Rulers Simply Canceled Debts |url=https://evonomics.com/how-bronze-age-rulers-simply-canceled-debts/ |magazine=evonomics |access-date=2021-02-02}}</ref><ref name="van de Mieroop 2011">{{cite book |last=van de Mieroop|first=Mark|date=2011|title=A History of the Ancient Near East: Ca. 3000-323 BC |edition=2nd |location=Oxford|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-1-444-32709-0}}</ref> Some of these fugitives formed bands of roving warriors called '''[[habiru]]''-men', especially in the Levant of the late second millennium.<ref name="van de Mieroop 2011" /> (Although not himself a fugitive from debt bondage, the story of [[Idrimi]] suggests that these groups could be a considerable threat.) The consequences of widespread debt bondage caused many kings to [[History of debt relief|annul debts]] on ascending to the throne.<ref name="Hudson"/><ref name="van de Mieroop 2011"/>