A note on the Sumerian expression SI-ge4-de3/dam

The expression SI-ge4-dam/de3 appears in some of the loan documents of the Ur III period where it was used to establish the interest rate or the loan fee. In addition, it is sometimes preceded by ki-ba 'in its/this place/ground' or, in some cases, ma2 -a 'in the boat'. The regular verb SI.g was closely related, perhaps even synonymous with, the reduplication verb ḡar/ḡa2-ḡa2 'to put' or 'to place'. While it may be concluded that SI-ge4-dam/de3 had nothing to do with the verb si 'to fill' or gi4 'to return', the correct analysis of the expression remains somewhat uncertain. The article proposes that the SI should be read se and understood as a phonetic writing for the regular verb se3.g 'to put', 'to place'. The combination of the verb with the ki-ba may suggest that a more parochial form of keeping products existed side by side with the large centralized granaries and storehouses of the city.La expresión SI-ge4-dam/de3 aparece en algunos contratos de préstamo del período de Ur III, donde se empleaba para determinar el interés de dicho préstamo. Por otra parte, este término se hallaba a veces precedido de ki-ba 'en su/este lugar/suelo', y en algunos casos por ma2 -a 'en la barca'. El verbo regular SI.g está muy relacionado (quizás es incluso sinónimo) con el verbo de la clase de la reduplicación ḡar/ḡa2-ḡa2 'poner' o 'colocar'. Mientras que puede concluirse que SI-ge4-dam/de3 no tiene nada que ver con el verbo si 'llenar', ni con gi4 'regresar, devolver', el análisis correcto de la expresión sigue siendo, de algún modo, incierto. En el artículo se propone que SI puede leerse como se , entendiéndolo como una escritura fonética del verbo regular se3.g 'poner', 'colocar'. La combinación del verbo con ki-ba podría indicar que, junto a los grandes graneros y almacenes centrales de la ciudad, había un modo distinto y más modesto de conservar los productos

The Administration of Storage in Early Babylonia

This article examines the epigraphic sources from the late third millennium BC from the city of Ur in southern Mesopotamia in order to reconstruct the organization of the city’s centrally controlled storehouse e2-kišib3-ba, and to analyze the in- and outflow of products and commodities in this facility. It is argued that a better understanding of the administrative context of this institution as it is reflected in the textual documentation can help us reconstruct in more concrete terms the overall structure of the higher levels of the so called household economy of the third millennium Sumerian city-states

The Sumerian Expression a-ra2 X-kam and the Use of Installments in the Ur III Administration

This short communication investigates the Sumerian expression a-ra2 X-kam, which was used to denote ordinal numbers in the Ur III period, typically to rank in a sequential order deliveries/receipts within the state administration. The literal and the cognitive meanings of a-ra2 X-kam remain unchallenged, and the article will focus on the practical application of the expression within the Ur III state bureaucracy, and its significance for our overall understanding of the administrative and archival procedures of the period. The use of sequentially ordered installments in the Ur III administration supports the hypothesis that many Ur III texts may have been written post factum, and suggests that such texts were produced anywhere from a few days up to several weeks after the economic transactions they document would have occurred

Ilum-asu. A Scribe from Irisagrig

Based on the administrative accounts from the Ur III period (2112–2004 BC according to the Middle Chronology), this article offers an overview of the economic activities of the official Ilum-asu and his family, who worked as scribes in the important administrative center of Irisagrig in southern Mesopotamia. Ilum-asu’s father Bibi provided foodstuffs as rations to the female (sesame) oil pressers (mostly different types of birds and animals), and Ilum-asu and his two brothers (Mašum and Ašgi-ibra) can all be attested as the recipients of provisions for this group of workers in the city, in some cases directly from their father. The activities of Ilum-asu and his family of scribes illustrate the importance of familial affiliations and kinship groupings within the institutional economy of the Ur III state, and demonstrate that administrative roles within the public households would often transcend generations. The article argues that the institutional households of the Ur III state regularly relied on, and even took advantage of, existing hereditary structures and kinship ties within the society as a whole