Description
Book SynopsisJudging from the sheer amount of textual material left to us, the rulers of ancient Ur were above all else concerned with keeping track of their poorest subjects, who made up the majority of the population under their jurisdiction. Year after year, administrators recorded, in frightening detail, the whereabouts of the poorest individuals in monthly and yearly rosters, assigning tiny parcels of land to countless prebend holders and starvation rations to even more numerous estate slaves. The texts published in this volume—dating from the time of the Third Dynasty of Ur (ca. 2100–2000 BC)—attest to the immense investment of the ancient rulers in managing their subjects.
This volume presents editions of two hundred and twenty-four cuneiform tablets selected from the Schøyen Collection, the vast majority of which have not been previously published. The ancient provenience for these texts is primarily Umma, with other core provinces represented in smaller numbers, such as notable contributions from ancient Adab, which is underrepresented in the published record. In order to provide a fuller picture of the administration of the Ur III state, a number of texts from other collections, both published and unpublished, have been integrated into this volume. Accompanied by Jacob L. Dahl’s precise translations, extensive commentary, and exhaustive indexes, this volume presents extensive new data on prosopography, economy, accounting procedures, letters, contracts, technical terminology, and agriculture that adds significantly to our knowledge of society and the economy during the Third Dynasty of Ur.
An important contribution to the study of the Ur III period, in particular for Assyriology, this volume will serve as a useful handbook for scholars and students alike.
Table of ContentsStatement of Provenance, by Martin Schøyen
Series Editor’s Preface, by David I. Owen
Preface
Conventions
Abbreviations
Catalog
Concordances
1. Introduction
2. Archival Documents
Archival Tags (Nos. 1–5)
Sealed Tags with Inscriptions (No. 6)
Other Sealed Tags (Nos. 7–11)
Commodity Tags (Nos. 12–24)
3. Timekeeping (Nos. 25–27)
4. Accounts
Accounts Nos. 28–31
Structure of the Neo-Sumerian Account
“Debits” (sag-nig2-gur11-ra-kam) (Nos. 32–35)
“Credits” (ša3-bi-ta ... zi-ga-am3) (No. 36)
Operating Balance (No. 37)
Colophon
5. Equivalencies (Nos. 38–39)
6. Accountability (Nos. 40–42)
7. Receipts: The Primary Documents
Sealed Receipts (Nos. 43–61)
Receipts Mentioning a Conveyor (giri3) (Nos. 62–63)
Unsealed Receipts (Nos. 64–66)
Sealed Receipts with kišib3 PN (Nos. 67–79)
Receipts with Envelopes (Nos. 80–84)
Unsealed Receipts (Nos. 85–92)
Receipt Copies (Nos. 93–102)
mu-kux(DU) Documents (Nos. 103–9)
ba-zi and zi-ga Documents (Nos. 110–21)
i3-dab5 Documents (Nos. 122–23)
in-la2 Documents (No. 124)
8. Administration of Work
Inventories (Nos. 125–41)
Smaller Inventories (Nos. 142–47)
“Work-Crew Lists”
Receipts (Nos. 148–54)
Accounts (Nos. 155–58)
Miscellaneous Work Texts (Nos. 157-158)
9. Letters (Nos. 159–67)
10. Messenger Texts
Type I Messenger Texts (Nos. 168–89)
Type Isub Messenger Texts (Nos. 190–91)
Type II Messenger Texts (Nos. 192–94)
Type III Messenger Texts
Type IV Messenger Texts
11. Legal Texts
Purchase Documents (Nos. 196–98)
Loan Documents (Nos. 199–201)
Miscellaneous Legal Documents (Nos. 202–8)
12. Miscellaneous Texts
An Inventory of Date Palms (No. 209)
An Inventory of Fallen Cattle (No. 210)
An Inventory of the Treasury of Alim-mah (No. 211)
An Exercise Tablet? (No. 212)
The Volume of Ditches and Canals (No. 213)
A Field Plan without a Drawing (No. 214)
Bundles of Reeds for the Storehouse of the Edana (No. 215)
Two Exercises in Cereal Computations (Nos. 216–17)
A Discarded Exercise Tablet? (No. 218)
Animals for Gods (No. 219)
A Receipt without Context (No. 220)
A Receipt of Three Receipts? (No. 221)
Two Inventories of Unknown Purpose (Nos. 222–23)
Two Fragments Glued Together (No. 224a–b)
Offerings from the Governor (No. 225)
Not a Tag? (No. 226)
Two Notes or Exercise Tablets? (Nos. 227–28)
Receipts or Exercise Tablets? (Nos. 229–32)
A Broken Account of Foodstuffs (No. 233)
Two Broken Accounts (Nos. 234–35)
Two Texts Related to the Messenger Service? (Nos. 236–37)
Two Texts of Uncertain Content (Nos. 238–39)
A Very Broken Text (No. 240)
Not an Account? (No. 241)
Not a Letter? (No. 242)
Not a Regular Legal Text (No. 243)
A Damaged Garšana Text (No. 244)
Appendix. Transliterations of Long Texts from Chapter 8: Worker Inventories (Nos. 126–31, 133, 135, 138, 140) and Work-day Accounts (Nos. 155, 156)
Bibliography
Indexes
Personal Names
Divine Names and Names of Rulers
Cities, Villages, and Districts
Rivers and Canals
Fields
Threshing Floors
Month Names
Year Names
Sumerian and Akkadian Words
