What pays what? Cashless payments in Ancient Mesopotamia

What pays What? Cashless Payment in Ancient Mesopotamia ( 626-331 BC)
António Ramos dos Santos (University of Lisbon)
IEHC 2006 Helsin ki Session 2
Introduction
This study is based on the analysis of texts coming from several dispersed archives
and collections referring to the activity pursued by private families in Mesopotamia
during the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid Periods1. We chose to classify the
documents according to types, taking for granted that documents referring to «goods» and
“currency» were concerned with the activities referred to in the records themselves.
Nevertheless, some queries arise almost immediately. Right from the start, a
question may be asked about what was understood as “money” in those days?
It cannot be denied that silver played an important role in institutional life in
Mesopotamia. Thousands of tablets belonging to public and private archives register the
metal2 as a means of payment not only of workers and other specialised personnel, but
also of merchandise. Documents also mention loans made on the basis of silver.
If silver acted as “money”, it was not the only form of currency. Indeed, other
goods, particularly barley, dates and wool acted in a certain way, as goods used in
transactions. Until Darius I, Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid silver was never really
accepted as universal currency. Daily essentials such as bread could not be bought with
silver3. It may therefore be assumed, as some authors have done, that the need for silver
in Mesopotamia was fairly limited because most of the population resorted to bartering
with farm produce. Naturally, the question of silver and its availability is highly
debateable as an explanation shedding light on why there was so little need of it. It was
not possible to rely more on using silver on a daily basis because it was worth much more
1
They total seventy-one documentary sources scattered among collections and articles, and concern a total
a two thousand and forty-seven contracts.
2
Regarding the question of silver and paying in cash, see Georges Le Rider, La naissance de la monnaine.
Pratiques monétaires de l’Orient ancien, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 2001, pp. 1-39 and David
A. Warburton, MacroEconomics from the Beginning, Neuchâtel-Paris, Recherches et Publications, 2003,
pp. 69-76.
3
Cf. A.C.V.M. Bongenaar, « Money in the Neo-Babylonian Institutions» in J.G. Dercksen (ed.), Trade and
Finance in Ancient Mesopotamia, (MOS STUDIES 1), Leiden, Nederlands Historisch-Archaelogisch
Instituut Te Istanbul, 1999, p.174.
1
than other merchandise. Small products were thus bought with other kinds of «cheap»
goods. We believe that silver, barley and dates also acted as yard sticks.
Secondly, a question arises about what we mean when we refer to the “private
sector”. During the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid Periods (626-331 B.C.), it would
seem that three sectors were active: the palace economy4, the temple properties, and both
large and small private holdings. The main role belonged to the temple5 and to the private
holdings, although private households reflected a far wider variety of economic dealings.
The most well-known examples are the large entrepreneurial companies such as Egibi,
r-Sîn and Murašû6.
These family documentary collections were composed by gathering together
different archives of a group of people who claimed that they had a common ancestor7,
mentioned in each individual’s genealogy after his father’s name. The fact that large
family groups were constituted as coming from a single ancestor identifiable by his name
or title, was a common occurrence in the Neo-Babylonian period and often meant a
higher social status made up of urban notables. We may understand the term “archives”
as that which the archivist calls “fonds d’archives”, or “archive sources”, meaning the
total number of records collected together throughout time by a person or an institution8.
The flow of payments expressing the kind of wealth accumulated by particular
families and persons, seems to reveal that this was fairly considerable judging from the
archives of those periods. There are cases showing loans made in connection with land
and business to do with their corresponding estates. There are also isolated instances
showing business deals based on consumer-goods speculation. Linked to these activities
were the powerful family entrepreneurs such as the N r-Sîn and Egibi families mentioned
4
See G. van Driel, « Institutional and Non-Institutional Economy in Ancient Mesopotamia» in A.C.M.V.
Bongenaar (ed.) Interdependency of Institutions and Private Entrepreneurs, (MOS 2), Leiden, Nederlands
Historisch-Archaelogisch Instituut Te Istanbul, 2000, pp.5-23.
5
Silver Morris, Economic Structures of the Ancient Near East, Totowa, New Jersey, Barnes& Noble
Books, 1986, pp.23-31.
6
See M. Dandamayev, «An Age of privatization in Ancient Mesopotamia» in Hudson, M.; Levine, Baruch
A., Privatization in the Ancient Near East and Classical World, Cambridge, M.A., Harvard University,
1996, pp.197 e 201-204, and Silver Morris, Economic Structures of Antiquity, Westport, Connecticut,
London, Greenwood Press, 1995, pp.73-79.
7
Cf. F. Joannès, Archives de Borsippa. La Famille Ea-Ilûta-Bâni. Études d’un lot d’archives familiales en
Babylonie du VIIIe au Ve siècle av. J.-C., Genève, Librairie droz, 1989, p.27.
8
Cf. K.L.Veenhof, «Cuneiform Archives. An Introduction» in Cuneiform Archives and Libraries, Leiden,
Nederlands Historisch-Archaelogisch Instituut Te Istanbul, p. 7.
2
above. Although these families’ dealings covered all kinds of socio-economic activity, we
may find what could be called constituted financial activity which was basically drawing
up simple loans and paying taxes, bonds and leases.
Concerning the trading sector, there was not only normal buying and selling going
on, but also trading company activity, or to be more precise, the harrânu entrepreneurial
undertakings9. As for activity involving labour, we may point out manufacturing, labour
and apprenticeship contracts. In agricultural activities, farming and palm-grove tending,
canal building and herding may be mentioned. Judiciary activity was also important
particularly with regard to the protection of property and the family. Finally, in cultural
activities, there were the offerings or donations and stipends not only paid during the
course of worship but also as economic activities of primary importance 10.
1.
Payment according to activities
1.1 Payment of loans
Loans lay at the basis of financial activity. Credit could be obtained in the form of
silver or in natural produce such as dates. Loans were drawn up with the creditor’s close
collaborators and even with members of his own family. At times, in the former group,
there might also be the creditor’s slaves who were engaged in some kind of activity, more
particularly in farming. In this case, loans would be granted to provide backing for
growing crops, such as obtaining credit to buy farm machinery and seeds, and at times, to
pay for the harvest. But loans could also be sought with merely personal consumption in
mind.
The credit system allowed payments to be made by employees, the creditor taking
over any debts existing in these circumstances. As a rule, credit was obtained by resorting
to products such as dates. But other spheres, such as delivering materials, could take the
documentary form of a promissory note. Royal warranties ensuring a loan lay in
9
Hugo Lanz, Die neubabylonischen harrânu - Geschäftsunternehmen, Berlin, J. Schweitzer Verlag, 1976,
pp. 113-119.
10
For general characteristics, see Peter R. Bedford, « The Economy of the Near East in the First Millenium
BC» in Manning, J.G.; Morris, I. (ed.), The Ancient Economy. Evidence and Models, Standford, Standford
University Press, 2005, pp. 58-83.
3
mortgaging the debtor’s own property: his real estate11 or his slaves. A reciprocal
warranty was also established when a debtor or a member of his family acted as guarantor
of a third party; it was the simplest form of a royal warranty12.
Precious metals followed by dates, cereals, farmlands and bulbs figured high up in
promissory notes. Other kinds of products were not significant.
Precious metals were the most commonly documented in receipts, followed in order
of importance, by dates and cereals, namely barley13.
Document
Evetts, Inscriptions, App.5
Product
silver
Quantity
1/2 mina14
AO 20 335
silver
2 minas 10 shekels
Nbk. 216
silver
6 minas
Nbk. 258
silver
2 minas 7, 5 shekels
Nbk. 261
silver
10 shekels
Nbk. 290
onions
(x)
Ev.-M.11
Silver e sesame oil
(x)
BM 30 442
silver
12 shekels
BM 32 921
Nanny goats, adult billy-goats,
30, 5, 20, 5, 60
sheep, lambs, bulls
Liv. 133
Wool, rams e cow
(x) (x) 1
Caption: Investments in harrânu-companies
1.2
Bond payments
We have found many promissory notes related to collectable excise, duties and
taxes to be paid by an entrepreneur either on his own behalf or on behalf of third parties.
Payment of services such as the mandattu15 or urašû16 payments, are included in this
financial area. When vassalage bonds needed honouring, funding was obtained through
loans whether it was to pay soldiers’ salaries, billeting or military equipment, all of which
constituted a feudatory bond with the “Royal House” particularly in the Achaemenid
11
His country and urban houses, his fields or his urban housing estates.
There are not many documents referring to business deals with parties such as the king’s children, with
loans to cities and port authorities connected with private interests and administrative authorities.
13
As an overall reference, variation between the products may be seen in the seven hundred and twenty
documents that mention precious metals, as against three hundred referring to dates and farm produce.
14
A shekel is equivalent to about 8.4 grams, while a mina is equal to 60 shekels, or about 500 grams.
15
See CAD, p.M/I, p. 13-16.
16
See AHw, urašû, III, p. 1428.
12
4
Period. For this reason, documents acting as receipts meant paying debts, taxes and
duties.
The link between the economic activities of private parties in keeping with the
king’s interests, and more specifically with the “imperial” structure, emerged very clearly
in the Achaemenid Period. Neo-Babylonian contracts refer more to the “civilian” sphere
than the contracts entered into during the Persian Period, which were sometimes closely
bound up with royal service and aimed at satisfying feudal obligations. In the latter
period, minting was clearly connected to the king’s service whether through taxes or
military service.
Where taxes were concerned, the imittu was the most important tax, followed by the
urašû and then by the
tu, pisku, šibšu, miksu17 and the ilku18. In terms of cities that were
taxed the most, Borsippa had the most numerous records about taxes, where most of them
were the imittu, followed by the urašû, šibšu and ilku. Babylon followed with the second
highest number of records mentioning the urašû, followed by the ilku and miksu19 taxes
in second and third place.
Among the reigns that were most often quoted as regards taxation, we may single
out the Nabonidus’ kingdom where the imittu was the majority tax, followed by the urašû
and then by the miksu, šibšu and
tu. Xerxes reign followed but only one record about
imittu has survived this period. Darius' reign has the third largest number of records,
where urašû was the predominant tax, although the šibšu, urašû, imittu and ilku taxes
were likewise referred to. Cyrus’ reign mostly records the urašû despite the fact that there
were also other taxes such as the imittu, s tu and ilku. In Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, the
focus of documentary evidence is on the imittu tax. In the reign of Artaxerxes II, only the
ilku tax is referred to. Finally during the reigns of Neriglissar and Nebuchadnezzar IV,
only the imittu is on record as a tax.
17
See Maria de J. Ellis, Agriculture and the State in Ancient Mesopotamia, Philadelphia, Occasional
Publications of the Babylonian Fund, I, 1976, pp.10-73.
18
See CAD, I/J, p. 73.
19
There are very few records referring to other cities. Uruk has only one record about the tu tax, and
Nippur has a record each about the ilku and pisku, while Šahr nu has a record each about the imittu and
misku taxes.
5
1.3
Commercial payments
Shareholding companies, or rather the harrânu-companies, also handled credit
operations on behalf of their share-holding capitalists as opposed to the rest of the
shareholders20. Data for trading activity indicate mainly home and interregional
commerce. With the exception of iron silicate21, we have failed to find any record of
large-scale caravan trade of a more international nature.
Naturally, if we take into consideration the temple archives, and in particular the
Eanna archives, the records giving information of imported goods coming from outside
sources are more numerous.
Forming associations of entrepreneurs with a view to common trading interests was
the most evident form of organizing trading activity. Different goods were traded: goats,
sheep and cattle, barley, farmlands, houses and even stipends.
Slaves and houses were the most important merchandise purchased. Products
written up in sales bills did not stray from the established buying/selling framework. In
this case, the sale of farmlands and houses was equally favoured while boats also sold
very well.
Document
Nbn. 85
Product
1 house
Payment
11.5 minas of silver
Nbn. 1104
1 house
Remainder of 2 minas and 11
shekels of silver
A 90
1 mule
12 shekels of silver
A 131
1 piece of land
1 shekel and ¾ of silver
BM 54065
1 orchard
3 minas and 1/3 of silver
Caption: Examples of purchasing contracts.
Most of the documents recording trading activity have to do with buying; this is
followed by sales, texts recording trade carried out by harrânu entrepreneurs, exchanges
and deposits. Silver was the most common form of payment according to the registers,
followed by slaves and farmlands. In the harrânu
20
companies, the most frequently
Regarding the specific existence of traders, only two texts published in TEBR mentioned the term
dam.gar; all the others referred to the names of the people in a given family who were directly
concerned. No details were given about what part they played, although it may be deduced that they were
self-employed traders.
21
Cf. GCCI 2,53; CT XXII, 56 e CT XX II, 386. Ver Ira Spar, Studies in Neo-Babylonian Economic and
Legal Texts, (dissert.), Ann Arbor, UMI, 1972, pp.37-77.
6
mentioned commodity was silver, while dates and barley occupied second and third
place respectively.
Purchasing slaves and farmlands lay at the heart of most trade. There are few
records indicating other kinds of merchandise being bought but among them, they list
houses, animals, gold and stipends. The sale of slaves is fairly important, followed by the
sale of boats, houses, stipends, farmlands and animals. The least important sales involved
clothing and farm produce.
Document
TuM 2/3 ,14
Product
1 piece of land
Quantity
2 qa22
Payment
4 shekels of silver
TuM 2/3, 17
1 piece of land
13 cubits23
12 shekels of silver
TuM 2/3, 21
Bronze mutalliktu vessel
1
1 shekel 1/3 of silver
L 1639
Túg-lam-lam gown
1
12 kurru 2 p nu 4 s tu
of dates24
McEwan, OECT 10, 184
3 year-old donkey
1
1/2 mina of silver
McEwan, OECT 10, 188
2 year-old cow
1
1/3 mina of silver
Caption: Examples of sales contracts.
1.4
Payment of labour
As far as bureaucratic duties were concerned, we need to take into account the
posts held in city administrations, at the palace or in running the sanctuaries, all of which
provided another important source of income. Above all, such duties carried the prestige
and social status so highly esteemed in those types of socio-economic configurations.
Labour contracts mostly had to do with slave labour although they were also drawn
up for freemen’s work. A very interesting occupation is seen in the way a craft or trade
was taught where apprenticeship contracts were divided into two types, manufacturing
and labour. In the labour contracts, stress was laid on renting a house and buying
farmland. Contracts leasing installations such as vessel storage warehouses for things like
barrels, or hiring means of transport such as boats were also important.
22
According to the Babylonian system, the measure for area was the qa, which is equivalent to about 75
square metres.
23
A cubit, or cubitu in Latin, is the ancient form of measuring length and is equivalent to about 66 cm.
24
In the Babylonian system, volume had the following measures: 1 kurru=5 nu=180 litres; 1 nu=6
tu=36 litres; 1 tu= 6 qa = 6 litres; 1qa =10 GAR=1 litre.
7
With regard to different kinds of jobs, most of the contracts were for leasing or
renting, followed by labour contracts and leasing land. House renting contracts were in
the minority.
Document
Cyr. 64
Trade
Weaver
Period
5 years
Payment
1 qa of bread /day
Mandattu/ day
1 s tu of barley.
and clothing
TuM 2/3, 214
Baker
5 years
x shekels of silver
1 s tu.
per month
Cyr. 135
Shoe-maker
[x]
19 shekels of silver
[ x]
per year
Caption: Apprenticeship Contracts
Where contracts drawn up on the basis of hiring labour were concerned, the
majority, 77.78%, had to do with labour contracts stating that a particular job needed
doing. On record are 18.52% apprenticeship contracts and 3.70% manufacturing
contracts. Contracts drawn up over land leases are in the majority, 78.57%, followed by
house renting contracts, 7.14%. Hiring animals represents 14.29% of the contracts on
record.
1.5
Payments from farming activity
Working on farms, in manufacturing building material and also in public works was
a source gaining wealth and as a result, it was an area of business that did not go
unattended by the Mesopotamian entrepreneurs of the period. By studying the records of
a family such as the Murašû, we may also see that managing landed estates and water
resources was another valuable source of income.
Payment for working farmland 25 was effected through dividing the share of the
harvest, for example, five lengths of a
25
nu for each kurru of dates harvested.
The sizes of the fields were very irregular and above all, difficult to calculate. One case stipulated 12.135
ha but in other cases, the numbers were 3.5 ha, 0.5 ha, 165.11 ha or 20.63 ha. Nevertheless, according to
what the authors who studied the Murašû documents have stated, an average property generally measured
26 ha. It is difficult to calculate the size of the landed estates simply because full, reliable data about
them are scarce.
8
At times, and particularly during the Persian period, it is possible to find an
association where a certain number of people got together to form an enterprise, for
instance for the common management of flocks of animals, so that they were able to
move safely between distant pastures. Entrepreneurial undertakings included managing
water resources, canals and reservoirs, so Persian records tell us.
Regarding farming activity, 75% of the records give total harvest estimates. Of the
rest, we may single out “royal service” and the size of the farmlands. Only a very few
contracts mentioned companies formed by shepherds, irrigation work and animal feed
deliveries.
1.6
Cultural payments
As regards the temples, it was not only a question of exercising administrative and
domestic duties, but also ecclesiastical duties. Within this context, offerings and stipends
took on particular importance, an example being the Eanna of Uruk which was dedicated
to the goddess, Ištar. Rendering service to the temples was bound by promissory notes
which were also used as a basis for paying shepherds’ animal feed or the work of abates
or širku26 who worked on the building sites. Ecclesiastic or administrative work in the
temples are not mentioned very often in family archives; rather we find reference to
persons who have held positions or who have performed duties related to the religious
cult.
The cultural records are divided into offerings 27 and stipends. The most usual kind
of offering, so most of the records tell us, was a sheep followed by barley, spelt, linen and
silver. Stipends included products like silver, bread and beer, dates, sesame oil, oxen and
sheep, cakes, meat and barrels.
Document
AO 19 641
Kind of Stipend
Brewer
AO 20 171
Cattle drover
Duration
2 days
4 months and 10 days
Caption: Sale of Stipends.
26
Payment
12 shekels of silver
(x)
The širku were the temple workers. See Paul Garelli, André Lemaire, Le Proche-Orient Asiatique, tome
2. Les empires mésopotamiens. Israël, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 2002, pp. 161-162.
27
55% of the records were about offerings, 45% about stipends.
9
1.7
Payment of legal services
Legal documents found within “private” archives have to do with property, either in
the form of property acquired through marriage in dowries, for example, or in inheritance
rights where an estate was divided up. Endogamous marriages were a way of preserving
heritage and in a few cases, of recovering goods that had previously been shared out.
Documents involved in forensic disputes were usually about slave ownership, or
failing to honour the terms of a building contract, or disagreements over pasturelands. In
other words, they dealt with issues coming under labour and property law. They also
included the registers of landed estates or inventories and referral lists 28 about cattle, for
example.
Silver and farmlands were the most common goods involved in legal cases 29. Silver
was also called in when dividing up property, gifts, dowries and other kinds of
transactions (transfers or quittance). The question of land was ever-present when deciding
about how much rent a widow should pay, or when discussing a dowry or dividing up
property. Slaves and houses were mostly mentioned in dowries and in the division of
property. Other products were not really significant.
Most of the documents, or to be more specific, over two hundred contracts, have to
do with legal cases and exchange agreements. Transfers and offerings account for one
hundred documents30. Silver is most often referred to, followed by slaves, barley, dates
and farmlands.
There are twenty references to silver in the marriage contracts, while sixteen refer to
slaves, ten to landed estates and five to slaves 31. Most of the administrative documents
take the form of letters and lists. They are followed by fragmentary pieces of registers
and texts which fail to show exactly what was recorded. Silver is mentioned the most
often, in seven out of ten documents. Dates, barley, sheep, farmlands and slaves are also
referred to.
Jewellery and precious metals were recorded in five out of the seven activities
mentioned above although they failed to appear in contracts concerning cultural activities
28
The letters themselves mostly came in the form of commercial correspondence.
Silver appears in four out of five kinds of legal cases, while farmlands appear in three legal cases.
30
There are fewer than one hundred contracts among all the other documents.
31
Other products are not significant.
29
10
and farming. Farm produce was referred to in the six activities with the exception of the
cultural activities.
There was a significant concentration of documentation during the reigns of
Nabonidus, Cyrus and Cambyses, marking the end of the Neo-Babylonian Period and the
beginning of the Achaemenid. In the former period, Nebuchadnezzar’s reign may be
singled out, while in the latter, the reigns of Darius I, Artaxerxes I and Xerxes I stand out.
The five main products the documets refer to are: silver, dates, barley, farm produce
and farmlands which were regularly spread throughout all the months of the year.
Conclusion
What pays what is really very difficult to pin down owing to the fact that the system
was so simple. We may say that all excess goods were used to pay for other goods or
services. Payments were also made in lieu of “royal service” itself which entailed all the
respective military obligations. Worshipping the gods brought with it a whole range of
goods connected with daily food. But without a doubt, a large portion of the economic
life of the time was geared around silver, dates and barley.
Documents exemplifying family activity
Doc. 1
Subject: Promissory note about a loan.
Source: Laurence Brian Shiff, The N r-Sîn Archive: Private Entrepreneurship in Babylon (603-507 BC),
dissert., University of Pennsylvania, UMI, Ann Arbor, 1987, pp.379-380.
Nbn. 187 - «1 1/2 minas 8 1/2 shekels of silver, belonging to Iddin-Marduk, son of Iq ša, descendant
of N r-Sîn, are charged against Apil-Addu-nat nu, son of Addija and (against) Bun nitu his spouse. 1
shekel of silver per mina of silver will accrue monthly (as interest) against them. They will pay interest
from the first day os Siman of the fifth year of Nabû-na’id, king of Babylon. The silver (principal amount is
the balance of the silver that has been given (by the debtors) to Ibâ towards the price of a house. They will
pay the (interest on the) silver monthly.
Witnesses.Scribe.Date. »
11
Doc. 2
Subject: Ilku bond payment.
Source:Francis Joannès, Textes Économiques de la Babylonie Récente, Paris, Éditions Recherche sur les
Civilisations, 1982, pp.38-39.
AO 17 641 - « (1) 13 sicles 1/8 d’argent, sur l’ilku de la 37º année (2) de Artaxerxès, roi du pays,
Enlil-tattannu-usur, (3) fils de Ninurta-ab-usur et Nusku-iddin, (4) fils de Enlil-šum-iddin, les percepteurs
(5) du hadru des lú sag uru.a, (6) des mains de Ninurta-ahhê-bullit, (7) fils de Bêl-šunu ont reçu.
(8) sceau de Nergal-uballit, (9) fils de Liblut.
(10) Témoins: Nergal-ubalitt, fils de Liblut; (11) Enlil-ittannu, fils de Arad- Ninurta.
(12) Nusku-iddin, le percepteur, fils de Enlil-šum-iddin a écrit son nom (lui-même).
(13) Enlil-ah-iddin, scribe, fils de Enlil-kâsir. Nippur. (14) le 18 Abu, année 37 d’Artaxerxès, roi des pays.
(15) sceau de Enlil-tattanu-usur, le percepteur, (16) fils de Ninurta-ab-usur; (17) sceau de Enlil-ittanu. (18)
fils de Arad-Ninurta.»
Doc. 3
Subject: Bond payment for services rendered to the king.
Source: Guillaume Cardascia, Les Archives des Murašû. Une famille d’hommes d’affaires babyloniens a
l’époque perse (455-402 av. J.-C.), Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1951, pp.109-110.
BE, X, 6 - « (1) 1 mine d’argent, impôts complets, soldat du roi, farine du roi, bârra (2) et toutes
sortes de redevances pour la maison du roi, ( dus pour la période allant) depuis le mois de nisan (3) de l’an
41 jusqu’à la fin du mois adar de l’année de l’avènement (4) de Darius, pour le fief du? porte-sceptre? Sis
dans la comunne (5) de Bît-Marûda sur la rive du canal Harripiqud (6) et le fief des esclaves du palais, sis
sur la rive du canal de Sin dans la commune de Gadibatu, (7) (fiefs) qui (sont) à la disposition d’Ellil-šumiddin fils de Murašû; l’argent em question, (8) 1 mine, impôts complets grevant ces fiefs, (9) Daiân-iddin
prévôt du domaine des capitaines (10) fils de Nidintu, des mains d’Ellil-šum-iddin fils de Murašû (11) a
reçu, il a été payé.
(12-18) Noms de sept témoins et du scribe Nippur (?), ?-?-0 Darius II.
(Bords) Sceau de l’accipiens; sceau d’un témoin ( l’inscription est mutilée, mais l’empreinte permet
d’identifier le témoin, Ellil-mukîn-apli, cf. BE, X, p.73)»
12
Doc. 4
Subject: Promissory note for the sale of a piece of land.
Source: Francis Joannès, Textes Économiques de la Babylonie Récente, Paris, Éditions Recherche sur les
Civilisations, 1982, p. 68.
TuM 2/3, 103 - « Si, d’ici le terme convenu, Šumaia, descendant de Ilûta-bâni a apporté et remis à
Puhhuru, descendant de Ilûta-bâni, 1 mina 43 siclos d’argent, (Puhhuru) les recevra et donnera à Šumaia la
tablette scellée de 0,1.4 de terra. S’il ne les a pas remis, le champ restera la propriété de Puhhuru.
Témoins, 20-I-Ssu 20 (649 av. J.-C.).»
Note: The measures for volumes and areas are presented in conformity with position : «0,1.3.4» = 0 kur, 1
pi. 3 s tu, 4 qa» = 58qa.
Doc. 5
Subject: Overall estimate of a harvest yield.
Source: Matthew W. Stolper, « A Property in B t Pan ya», Revue d’Assyriologie et d’Achéologie Oriental,
85,1991, p.54.
BM 54672 - « (1-8) Sixteen gur of dates (is) the assessed rent for an orchad that is in the irrigated land
at B t Pan ya, on the Larû (canal?), adjoining (the Property of) B l-ahhê-iddin, son of Nabû-apla-iddin, (the
orchard being part of) the dowry of Amat-Šer a, wife of Nabû-apla-iddin, ( the orchard being part of) the
Dowry of Amat-Šer a, wife of B l-ittannu, son of B l-ahhê.iddin, servant of (the woman) Ammahusa (?),
the subordinate of Iddin-B l the bailiff of Ammahusa (?); it is debited against Ina-silli-Nergal, son of
Nergal-iddin. (9-13) In month VIII, he will pay that sixteen gur of dates at the storage enclosure,
(measuring it by) the regular (?) 1- nu measure, in a (single) instalment, and (he will also pay) expenses
(for transportation) as far as Kutha, and with each gur (of dates he will pay) tuhallu baskets, gipû baskets
(of unripe dates), fevers, and ten dar ku containers. (14) The payment for the orchardman and the fee for
the gugallu official have not been paid.
(15-19) Witnesses: Liblut, son of Iddinâ; Nergal-ah-iddin, son of Nergal- uballit; Tattanu, son of
Marduk-šum-iddin; B l-uballit. Son of Nabû- tir-napš ti; Išum- iddin, son of L
ši.
(20-23) Nergal-ušallim, scribe, son of B l-uballit. Kutha, month V, day 21, year 16, Xerxes, King of
Persia and Media, King of Babylon and the Lands.,
(Left Edge) He will pay the tuhallu-basket for the god Šamaš.
13
Doc. 6
Subject: Apprenticeship contract.
Source: Francis Joannès, Archives de Borsippa. La Famille Ea-Ilûta-Bâni. Étude d’un lot d’archives
familiales en Babylonie du VIIIe au Ve siècle av. J.-C., Genève, Librairie Droz S.A., 1989, p.141.
TuM 2/3, 214 - « Linûh-libbi-ili, esclave de Zêr-Bâbili, fils de Nabû-šum-iškun, descendant de Ilûtabâni, pour 5 ans chez Nabû-rême-šukun, boulanger, esclave du…bahu, il l’a installé. Il lui enseignera la
boulangerie, son travail manuel, concernant lespains, l’art de moudre, et les règles, comme on le lui a
enseigné à lui. S’il le lui enseigne effectivement, il recevra [x] sicles d’argent de rétribution en salaire; s’il
ne lui a pas enseigné, il devra payer 1 sûtu par jour pour sa mandattu.
Témoins. 19-vi-Nbn [0] (entre 555 et 539 av. J.C.). (Depuis) le 1-vii, Linûh-libbi-ili sera à sa
disposition.»
Doc. 7
Subject: Offering.
Source: Francis Joannès, Textes Économiques de la Babylonie Récente, Paris, Éditions Recherche sur les
Civilisations, 1982, pp. 56.
AO 17659 - « (1) Orge qui (a été distribuée) pour le principal des offrandes régulières (2) de
l’Ekur et de l’ Ešumeša, aux mois Abu et Ulûlu, (3) et pour les sacrifices guqqu du mois Ulûlu (4) de la 40º
année de Artaxerxès le roi du pays.
(5) 0.1.4.4 qa Dummuqâ (6) fils de Bêl-kâsir, pour Abu. (7) 0.2.1.2 qa Nusku-iddin, fils de (8) Nâdin, pour
Abu et Ulûlu (9) 1 pi 4 qa Arad-Gula (10) et Ninurta-iddin, potiers, pour Abu. (11) 1 pi pour les guqqu de
Ulûlu. (12) 11 Ulûlu, année 40.»
Doc. 8
Subject: Legal Document.
Source: Laurence Brian Shiff, The N r-Sîn Archive: Private Entrepreneurship in Babylon (603-507 BC),
dissert., University of Pennsylvania, UMI, Ann Arbor, 1987, pp. 412-413.
Nbn. 356 - « Bun nitu, daughter of Har saja, said the following to the judges of Nabû-n ’id, King
of Babylon – ’ Apil-Addu-nat n(u), son of Nikbadu, had taken me as a wife. He received 3 1/2 minas of
silver as my dowry, and I bore him one daughter. I and Appil-addu-nat n(u), my husband, by means of the
silver of my dowry, engaged in a transaction. Together, we received a house plot of 8 reeds in the district
(called) Ahula-qallu, which is in Borsippa, and gave as the price of the house 9 1/3 minas of silver, together
with (an amount that currently totals) 2 1/2 minas of silver, which we had accepted from Iddin-Marduk, son
of Iq ša, descendant of N r-Sîn ( and has used) as a deposit (for the house). In the fourth year of Nabû-
14
’id, King of Babylon, I raised a (legal) complaint against my husband Appil-Addu-nat n(u) concerning
my dowry. Apil-Addu-nat n(u) voluntarily made a sealed document (concerning) the 8 cane house, which
is in Borsippa, and entrusted it over to me for the future. In my tablet he made known the following: “(an
amount that currently totals) 2 1/2 minas of silver, which Apil-Addu-nat n(u) and Bun nitu accepted (as
credit) from Iddin-Marduk, they gave as part of the price of that house. Together, they will repay (IddinMarduk).” He sealed that tablet, he wrote upon it the curse of the great gods.
In the fifth year of Nabû-n ’id, King of Babylon, I and Apil-Addu-nat n(u), my husband, took Apil-Adduam ra in adoption. We wrote his tablet of adoption. We (also) made known that 2 minas 10 shekels of
silver and the contents of the house are the dowry of N btâ, my daughter.
Fate took my husband. Now, Aqabbi-ilu, the son of my father-in-law, has established a claim against the
house and whatever has been sealed and assigned to me, and (also) against (the slave) Nabû-n r-il ni,
whom we bought from Nabû-ahhê-iddin.
Before you I brought this (matter). Render your decision.’
The judges heard their words; they read the tablets and contracts that Bun nitu brought before them, and
they caused Aqabbi-ilu not to have a claim against the house in Borsippa, which instead of her dowry had
been assigned to Bun nitu. (Nor would he have) a claim against Nabû-n r-il ni, whom she and her husband
had brought. ( Nor would he have) a claim against anything else belonging to Apil-Addu-nat n(u). They
entered this (judgment regarding) Bun nitu and Apil-Addu-am ra into their tablets.
Iddin-Marduk will receive in advance and fully recover his 2 1/2 minas of silver, which had been given (as
part) of the price of that house. Afterwards, Bun nitu will receive her dowry of 3 1/2 minas of silver and
her half share(of the slave). According to the contract of her father, N btâ will receive Nabû-n r-il ni.
By decision of this judgment.
List of judges. Scribes. Date.»
Symbols
A……….Tablets from the Bodleian Library ( Oxford).
AfO…….Archiv für Orientforschung (Graz).
AION......Rivista del Seminario di Studi Asiatici e del Seminario di Studi Africani, ANNALI dell' Istituto
Orientale di Napoli.
AO..........Der Alte Orient.
AOAT….Alter Orient und Altes Testament Veröffentlichungen zur Kultur und Geschichte des Alten Orient
und des Alten Testaments ( Kevelaer, Neukirchen-Vluyn).
ARMT….Archives Royales de Mari (Paris)
ARRIM...ANNUAL Review of the Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia Project (Toronto).
ArOr........Archiv Orientální ( Praga).
AUWE …Ausgraben in Uruk-Warka. Endberichte (Mainz).
Ahw ……von Soden, W., Akkadisches Handwörterbuch (Wiesbaden,1959-1981).
BM……..British Museum.
BaM……Baghdader Mitteilungen ( Berlin).
CAD……The Assyrian Dictionary of the University of Chicago (Chicago & Glückstadt, 1965-).
CT……...Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum. Parts 4, 14, 22, 44, 49, 51, 5557 (London, 1866-1982).
15
Cyr……....Strassmaier, J. N., Inschriften von Cyrus, König von Babylon (Leipzig, 1897).
Ev.- M. II - Evetts, B., - Ev. - M., Ner, Lab….Inscriptions of the reigns of Evil-Merodach (562-559 BC),
Neriglissar (559-555 BC) and Laborosoarchod (555 BC), (Leipzig, 1892).
GCCI……Goucher College Cuneiform Inscriptions; Vol.I: Dougherty, R. P., Archives from Erech, Time of
Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonidus (New Haven, 1923); Vol.II: Dougherty, R. P., Archives from
Erech, Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods ( New Haven, 1933).
JAOS……Journal of the American Oriental Society (Boston).
JCS……...Journal of Cuneiform Studies ( New Haven).
JNES……Journal of Near Eastern Studies ( Chicago).
L – Lagaš.Tabuinhas do Museu do Antigo Oriente de Istambul.
Liv............Strassmaier, J., Liv: Die babylonischen Insshriften im Museum zu Liverpool nebst anderen aus
der Zeit von Nebukadnezzar bis Darius ( Leiden,1885).
McEwan, OECT….Oxford Editions of Cuneiform Texts.
NABU…..Nouvelles assyriologiques brèves et utilitaires (Paris).
Nbk……..Inschriften von Nabuchodnosor, König von Babylon (555-538 v. Chr.). Babylonische Texte,
Hefte I-IV. (Leipzig, 1889).
Nbn……..Strassmaier, J. N., Inschriften von Nabonidus, König von Babylon ( 555-538 v. Chr.), Leipzig,
1891.
OA...........Oriens Antiquus (Roma).
RA...........Revue d’Assyriologie et d’Archéologie Orientale (Paris).
TEBR.......Joannès, F., Textes Économiques de la Babylonie Récente (Paris,1982).
TuM…….Texte und Materialen der Frau Professor Hilprecht Collection im Eigentum der (FriedrichSchiller) Universität Jena.
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20