ABSTRACT
Serfs who worked estates near the city might have had urban dwellings. That some of them might have had a house there; the serfs could have played little part in urban life. The land was the centre of their existence. People can infer from the Code that the houses, in which they lived, belonged, as they did themselves, inalienably to the klaroi, and were furnished by the serfs from their own means. The serfs could possess cattle in their own right, apart from those of their master which they also tended. The serf could marry and divorce, and his family had a recognized status, though a very much more restricted one than that of the free citizens, since the law did not take cognizance of his kadestai. His wife could possess her own property, which reverted to her in case of divorce. Upon her marriage, she changed masters; if divorced, she returned to her former master, to his relatives.
