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Home , Der (Sumer), Larsa

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F. R. KRAUS, Staatlicbe Viebbaltung im altbabylonischenLande (Mededelingen Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd. Letterkunde, Nieuwe reeks 29/5), Amsterdam, 1966, 65 pages and 3 tables.

The number of texts from southern concerning livestock, their breeding and their products is enormous, and it is one of the most urgent but also one of the most difficult tasks of Assyriology to study these systematically in order to arrive at a clear survey of what, with agriculture, was the most important basis of Sumerian and Babylonian economy. F. R. Kraus has taken the wise decision to isolate a small group of twelve administrative documents, dating from the time of the Larsa king Rim-Sin (c. 1 800 B.C.), in order to initiate the study of this subject. As Kraus says, the group may be considered to give a representative picture of government livestock-keeping in south Mesopotamia in this period. Later studies will determine in what degree this picture is also true for other periods and other parts of the Mesopotamian area. The rearing of livestock, in conditions similar to these Kraus has described in the region near the capital Larsa, is found in other parts of the kingdom of Rim-Sin, e.g., in the region of (cf. UM VIII/i,3z = HG VI The texts discussed show us the administration of the government herds and their herdsmen. They elucidate all aspects of the shearing of the sheep; but with regard to the cattle, they only deal with the animals themselves, and not with their produce such as milk, butter, cheese (see p. 5 6). That these products were important is shown by a rather large number of texts from , dating from the same period, published in UET V and collected by H. H. Figulla in XV ( 1 9 , 3 ),pp. 88-i22 and 1 7 1 - 1 9z2). The same can be stated for the hides. How important these were for the manufacture of leather objects is shown by a large number of texts from the kingdom of , published in BIN IX and MCS V (1 9 , , ),pp. It is known that both woollen cloth and leather articles were exported and in that they served the Babylonian economy and its need for articles which the plains did not yield 3). The government (that is to say the king) played a great role in the economy of the later Larsa kingdom, especially in the reign of Rim-Sin. There are some indications that the government's part in economic life increased even further in this period, for example in the overseas trade, and it has become clear from recently published texts that the government was also concerned in trade-relations with the country of 4). The texts analysed by Kraus show how deeply the government was interested in livestock breeding. On the other hand, there is more evidence of private property in this period than before. A man like Balmunamhe, who disposed of large means, seems to have acted on his own account 5). There seems to have been a

1) For texts from north see, e.g., A. Goetze, JCS II (1948), pp. 73-84. 2) Cf., e.g., also AJSL 33, z3i (HG VI 1785). 3) See W. F. Leemans, Foreign Trade, p. 128. 4) See JESHO XI (1967), pp. 198 f. 5) He also had flocks of sheep (cf. YBT VIII 193; the wool produce was on a low level in that case: ca. i mina 3 3 1shekels; cf. Kraus' table on p. 3 0). 342 development under Rim-Sin by which the position of the government and private persons in the economy was strengthened, probably at the cost of the temples, the third group partaking in the economic life of the times. In the time of Hammurapi there is still less evidence of the temples playing a significant part in the economy; it may be supposed that, notwithstanding the conquest of the south by the king of , there was no break in this development but rather an acceleration of it. A remarkable example of a wealthy individual in the north is the princess Iltani, who owned large herds of cattle and sheep and employed several herdsmen (JCS II, 1948, p. Io, , no. 9 : 240 cattle; TCL 1 1 77 : i o8 sheep). The principal merits of Kraus' study are that he has established and analysed the terminology, especially of sheep and their breeding and that he has calculated the produce and the profitability of sheep in ancient Mesopotamia. He has illustrated his exposition by tables in which the data of the nine texts concerning sheep and the three texts concerning cattle are analysed. The booklet is divided into four chapters: I the documents, II the sheep-lists, III the cattle-texts, IV an Old Babylonian "govern- ment" livestock farm. The animals were entrusted to chief-herdsmen, who were responsible for the herds and for the delivery of a fixed amount of produce. They probably also kept animals themselves, from which they had personal profit and which they could use to replace lost animals for which they were responsible. It can be concluded from the number of people employed in the shearing of the sheep, that the herds must have been large and numerous. Flocks of sheep amounted to 8oo-iooo animals. The chief-herdsmen may have employed other herdsmen to guard them; a text from north Babylonia shows that the flocks of the princess Iltani, altogether 108; animals, were herded in units of zoo-z S o animals (TCL I 177 = HG V 1 94) and a slightly smaller number (ca. i 80) is found for a big herd in a south Babylonian text (AJSL 33, z22 = HG VI iso3). A herd of cattle might contain up to about zoo animals. Certainly several persons were needed for caring for such a herd. According to AJSL 33, 23 (HG VI 1 8 86), 1 zocattle were entrusted to one man, but this number is too big for the care of one man alone. Kraus (pp. 41-4z) interprets the term paqjdu in cattle lists as "inspect (in the sense of counting)", "control by counting". In support of this interpretation he quotes some passages from letters. This translation gives also reasonable sense in other livestock texts, e.g., YBT VIII 164, which at the same time corroborates what is said on p. 43: [1] 4 ab-mah-hi-a 14 (old) cows, 10 a b § £- among which 10 pregnant animals 2), 5 a b mu 3 5 cows of 3 years, 3 gud mu 3 3 oxen of 3 years, 2 gud m u 2 2 oxen of 2 years, 3 gud mu 1 3 oxen of i year, I ab mu i i heifer, su-nigin 28 ab-mah gud-hi-a together 28 cattle of Rim-Sin-liwwir, s i p a herdsman

i) That for cattle has been discussed by B. Landsberger in MSL VIII/i, pp. 61-78. 2) Cf. B. Landsberger, MSL VIII/i, p. 76.