Baptiste Fiette | Collège de France (original) (raw)

Books by Baptiste Fiette

ARCHIBAB 4. Nouvelles recherches sur les archives d'Ur d'époque paléo-babylonienne, Mémoires de NABU 22, 2020

D. Charpin, M. Béranger, B. Fiette & A. Jacquet, avec la collaboration de N. Ait Said-Ghanem & V.... more D. Charpin, M. Béranger, B. Fiette & A. Jacquet, avec la collaboration
de N. Ait Said-Ghanem & V. Chalendar, ARCHIBAB 4. Nouvelles recherches
sur les archives d'Ur d'époque paléo-babylonienne, Mémoires de NABU
22, Paris, 2020 (556 p.).

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ARCHIBAB 3. Le Palais, la terre et les hommes. La gestion du domaine royal de Larsa d’après les archives de Šamaš-hazir, 2018

B. Fiette, ARCHIBAB 3. Le Palais, la terre et les hommes. La gestion du domaine royal de Larsa d’... more B. Fiette, ARCHIBAB 3. Le Palais, la terre et les hommes. La gestion du domaine royal de Larsa d’après les archives de Šamaš-hazir, Mémoires de N.A.B.U. 20, Paris : édition de la Société pour l’Étude du Proche-Orient Ancien, Paris 2018
[446 pages, couverture rigide, 16 nouveaux textes édités, 1 nouvelle carte réalisée].

Résumé

Les archives de Šamaš-hazir sont une illustration de la domination babylonienne sur le Sud mésopotamien, depuis la victoire de Hammu-rabi de Babylone sur l’ancien roi de Larsa Rim-Sin en 1763 av. J.-C. jusqu’à sa mort en 1750. Elles permettent de traiter la question du Palais, de la terre et des hommes autour de ces trois axes :
– la province de Larsa, en tant que territoire conquis et administré par les Babyloniens,
– le domaine royal, composé des terres de service et de la réserve du Palais de Babylone,
– le domaine d’un Babylonien autour de Larsa, à travers les possessions de Šamaš-hazir.

Les textes composant ces archives ont été exhumés par des fouilleurs clandestins, qui pillèrent le site de Tell Senkereh au début du XXe siècle. Cela eut pour conséquence d’arracher ces tablettes à leur contexte archéologique d’origine et, après leur passage sur le marché des antiquités, de les disperser dans plusieurs collections. Celles-ci sont désormais conservées en grande majorité à l’Ashmolean Museum d’Oxford et au Musée du Louvre. On compte également plusieurs lots en Amérique du Nord : dans la Babylonian Collection de l’Université de Yale (dont 5 tablettes publiées en annexe), les collections des Universités de Berkeley et du Michigan, de la Free Library de Philadelphie, du Smith College (Massachusetts), et dans les réserves du Royal Ontario Museum de Toronto (10 tablettes publiées en annexe) ; en Europe : au Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de Genève, au British Museum (1 tablette publiée en annexe) ; enfin, à l'Iraq Muséum de Bagdad.

La reconstitution des archives de Šamaš-hazir a représenté un enjeu capital, qui est passé notamment par leur édition électronique dans la base de données ARCHIBAB. Le site web www.archibab.fr donnera bientôt librement accès aux transcriptions, traductions et analyses des 337 documents d’archives de Šamaš-hazir : 199 lettres, 133 documents administratifs, juridiques ou comptables et 5 scellements d’argile.
Il faut souligner que nous avons affaire aux archives mortes de ce personnage : celles-ci ne comportent aucun document à valeur juridique permanente, comme par exemple des contrats d’achats. Šamaš-hazir et sa famille ont visiblement quitté Larsa quelque temps après le décès de Hammu-rabi en 1750.

Environ trois quarts de ce corpus ont trait aux activités professionnelles de Šamaš-hazir en tant que gestionnaire (šassukkum) du domaine royal de Hammu-rabi de Babylone dans la province de Larsa. On y trouve sa correspondance passive avec le roi ou le ministre Lu-Ninurta, ainsi que des registres de récoltes, des rapports d’activités d’exploitants agricoles, ou encore des documents circulant en interne au sein du service de Šamaš-hazir (notes d’activités, mémorandums, listes de champs). Ces documents permettent de traiter différentes questions se rattachant toutes à la problématique de la mainmise babylonienne sur les terres du Sud mésopotamien.
Le premier chapitre porte ainsi sur l’exercice du pouvoir babylonien dans le Sud mésopotamien conquis. Les archives de Šamaš-hazir, recoupées avec les archives épistolaires de Sin-iddinam, le gouverneur du Yamutbalum, nous informent sur l’administration provinciale et sur ses dignitaires, qui sont notamment en charge de faire régner l’ordre et la justice babyloniennes et d’exploiter les ressources naturelles pour le compte du Palais de Babylone.

Le deuxième chapitre porte plus spécifiquement sur la politique et la gestion de la terre dans le domaine royal de Larsa. À travers les archives du šassukkum, on peut examiner l’organisation du domaine royal avec une grande précision. D’une part, le roi distribue des champs alimentaires pour rémunérer ses serviteurs – qu’ils soient militaires, membres du clergé ou professionnels de tout métier – et d’autre part, il fait exploiter des champs pour le compte du Palais. De plus, Šamaš-hazir est chargé de résoudre les problèmes d’irrigation et les litiges entre les titulaires et les exploitants de ces terres.

Le dernier quart des archives de Šamaš-hazir a trait à son domaine privé, qui constitue l’objet du troisième et dernier chapitre. Ses possessions étaient composées de champs, de palmeraies, de vergers, de troupeaux ovins et caprins. 14 lettres issues de sa correspondance familiale, ou adressées par les dépendants et les partenaires de son domaine, à lui-même ou à son épouse Zinu qui est très impliquée dans la gestion de la maison et du domaine, ainsi que 74 documents juridiques (contrats d’exploitation de champs et de palmeraies, contrats de pacage, prêts de denrées diverses) ou comptables (reçus de denrées diverses, récapitulatifs de comptes annuels, une liste de distribution de rations) témoignent directement de la vie économique de son domaine. Bien que relevant des activités privées de Šamaš-hazir, l’étude de ces documents se rattache également à la question de la manifestation du pouvoir babylonien dans le Sud, eu égard au fait que Šamaš-hazir est un ressortissant babylonien qui s’est bâti un vaste domaine aux alentours de Larsa, sans doute en faisant fructifier des biens de fonctions reçus en possession de la part du Palais de Babylone.

Papers by Baptiste Fiette

Where did Mesopotamian kings come from? In the second third of the 19th century BCE, the kingdom ... more Where did Mesopotamian kings come from? In the second third of the 19th century BCE, the kingdom of Larsa in southern Mesopotamia went through a politically tumultuous phase. During this period, a complex individual emerges: Kudur-Mabuk, a man of Elamite origin, whose political career can be traced back to the reign of Sin-iddinam (1849-1843 BCE). But only a decade later, he would witness his sons Warad-Sin (1834-1823 BCE) and later Rim-Sin (1822-1763 BCE) becoming kings. Who was Kudur-Mabuk and what is the evidence for his career? How did an Elamite establish a political career in southern Mesopotamia and set the stage for his sons to become kings? During the time of the last kings of the Nur-Adad dynasty, Kudur-Mabuk was a high official of the kingdom of Larsa, as it is shown by three administrative documents related to the royal court. They mention Kudur-Mabuk with female and male musicians, "the house of women," or Ṣilli-Adad, probably the future king of Larsa in 1835 BCE. In one, dated to the last year of king Sin-iddinam (1843 BCE), Kudur-Mabuk appears alongside female mourners probably related to the funeral ceremony of Sin-iddinam. Thus Kudur-Mabuk was already a prominent figure of the kingdom, even before the accession of his son Warad-Sin in 1834 BCE. During this time, Kudur-Mabuk seems to have exercised some functions at Maškanšapir, the capital of the land of Emutbal in the northern part of the kingdom. An important element of Kudur-Mabuk's identity is his Elamite origins. Kudur-Mabuk bore an Elamite name, which means "(The god) Mabuk is a protector." Since the names of his father Šimti-šilhak and his daughter Manzi-wartaš are also Elamite, it is probable that Kudur-Mabuk's family hailed from Elam. The earlier history of this family remains unknown. However, it is interesting to observe that a foreigner was able to become a high dignitary of a Mesopotamian kingdom, and even to integrate its royal court.

https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1fElb17f6kK4x3 Anyone clicking on this link before August 02, 2... more https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1fElb17f6kK4x3

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hm.2020.06.005

Šamaš-hazir was the manager of the royal domain of Hammu-rabi, king of Babylon (1792-1750 BC), in southern Mesopotamia. Harvest registers and yield tables found in his archives take the form of tabular accounts in which an estimated yield rate is expressed by a number called šukunnûm. Although the šukunnûm-number is used to keep accounts of barley yield rates, it is never associated with a specific unit of measurement. In order to define the elaboration and the nature of the šukunnûm-number, this article will analyse its relation to surface and capacity units and its function in crop measurements.

Résumé
Šamaš-hazir était le responsable du domaine royal de Hammu-rabi de Babylone (1792-1750 av. J.-C.), en Mésopotamie méri-dionale. Les registres de récoltes et les tableaux de rendement découverts dans ses archives prennent la forme de comptes tabulaires dans lesquels un taux de rendement agricole estimé est exprimé par un nombre appelé šukunnûm. Bien que ce nombre šukunnûm soit utilisé pour chiffrer les rendements des champs d'orge, il n'est jamais associé à une unité de mesure spécifique. Afin de définir la nature du nombre šukunnûm et la façon dont il a été élaboré, cet article analysera sa relation avec les unités de surface et de capacité et sa fonction dans le calcul des récoltes.

Die Welt des Orients 50/2, 2020

(Please contact me if you require an offprint of this paper.) In the second third of the 19th ... more (Please contact me if you require an offprint of this paper.)

In the second third of the 19th century BC, the kingdom of Larsa in southern Mesopotamia went through a politically tumultuous phase. During this period, an individual with a complex identity emerges: Kudur-Mabuk, a man of Elamite origin, whose political career can be traced back to the reign of Sin-iddinam (1849-1843 BC), when he was stationed at Maškan-šapir in Emutbal. Only a decade later, he would witness his sons Warad-Sin (1834-1823 BC) and later Rim-Sin (1822-1763 BC) becoming kings. Kudur-Mabuk appears as a powerful figure in the kingdom of Larsa, without having been king himself. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the political identity of this ruler without a crown.

https://www.cairn.info/revue-d-assyriologie-2019-1-page-89.htm Please contact me if you require a... more https://www.cairn.info/revue-d-assyriologie-2019-1-page-89.htm
Please contact me if you require an offprint of the article.

Among the Old Babylonian tablets in the Schøyen collection published by A. R. George in CUSAS 36 in 2018, four letters concern royal land administration in the Larsa region, and mention Sin-iddinam and Šamaš-hazir. Upon closer investigation, it appears that these letters reveal three types of correspondence that have not yet been attested: the active correspondence of Šamaš-hazir, the šassukkum of the royal domain of Hammu-rabi of Babylon, the passive correspondence of some of his surveyors, and the active correspondence of Sin-iddinam, who was probably a šassukkum at the time of Rim-Sin, and resided in Ur. He is to be distinguished from Sin-iddinam, the governor of the province of Yamutbalum at the time of Hammu-rabi, who may himself be mentioned in a fifth letter.

Please contact me if you require an offprint of the article.

The archives of Apil-Kittim, a cattle herd manager from Ur in the middle of the reign of Rim-Sin,... more The archives of Apil-Kittim, a cattle herd manager from Ur in the middle of the reign of Rim-Sin, king of Larsa, contain a rich vocabulary relating to cows, including some obscure terms. Thanks to their etymology and the analysis of the accounting documents in which they appear, it is possible to refine their meaning, as it is particularly the case for the epithet ubâtum, which refers to cows about to calve. Their behaviour echoes the cow of the Moon-god Sin, as described in recited incantations to help women in childbirth difficulties.

2019 : IAA prize for the best first article: Runner up Abstract : Šamaš-hazir’s archives are o... more 2019 : IAA prize for the best first article: Runner up

Abstract : Šamaš-hazir’s archives are one of the main contributions of the cuneiform documentation to the agrarian history of Mesopotamia at the Amorite time (2000-1600 BC).
This dignitary was the manager of the royal domain of Hammurabi, king of Babylon (1792-1750 BC), in the province of Larsa conquered in 1763 BC. About two hundred documents including letters written to Šamaš-hazir by the king or his ministers, lists of fields, harvest registers, and activity reports drawn up by land surveyors and farmers illustrate the agricultural policy of the Babylonian king. This study will focus, on the one hand, on the concession of land tenures to the servants of the Crown, and on the other hand on the cultivation of barley fields and the collecting of crops sent to Babylon. Furthermore, it will endeavour to highlight the actors of the palatial and provincial administration as well as the writing and circulation of the various documents relating to the management of the royal domain.

Keywords : Mesopotamia, Hammurabi, cuneiform documentation, agriculture, royal domain, land tenure, grain harvest

Chapters by Baptiste Fiette

D. Charpin, M. Béranger, B. Fiette & A. Jacquet, avec la collaboration de N. Ait Said-Ghanem & V. Chalendar, ARCHIBAB 4. Nouvelles recherches sur les archives d'Ur d'époque paléo-babylonienne, Mémoires de NABU 22, Paris, 2020 (556 p.)., 2020

After the conquest of Larsa by Hammu-rabi in 1763 B.C., the former kingdom of Rim-Sin was transfo... more After the conquest of Larsa by Hammu-rabi in 1763 B.C., the former kingdom of Rim-Sin was transformed into a province named Yamutbalum, and Ur was attached to the kingdom of Babylon. Yet, less than twenty texts dated to the reign of Hammu-rabi coming from the site of Tell al-Muqayyar have reached us (see Appendix 1). However, the archives of Sin-iddinam, the governor of the Yamutbalum province, and of Šamaš-hazir, the šassukkum-manager of the royal domain in the lower lîtum-district, both discovered in Tell Senkereh by illegal diggers in the first third of the 20th century, constitute an important source of our knowledge about Ur and its inhabitants at the time of Hammu-rabi.

First, these archives allow the study of the administration of Ur and its surrounding territory, through the identification of its šâpirum-governors Zimru-Akšak and Ud-balana-namhe, and the analysis of their duties and activities. They shared the district of Ur and cultivated its fields, whose harvests were sent in the form of biltum-tax to Babylon. They were also tasked with the maintaining of the hydraulic network of the Ur area.

Moreover, the archives of Sin-iddinam and Šamaš-hazir, supplemented by other documents from the Larsa area, make it possible to reconstruct the activities of the overseers of the merchants of Ur. From among them emerges Sin-muštal, who seems to be the equal of Šep-Sin, the overseer of the merchants of Larsa. Following Z. Földi's study in 2011, new additions enabled the re-examination of the texts relating to Sin-muštal, including the edition of BRM 4 53, a list of taxes in silver, sheep and flour collected by
merchants among whom Sin-muštal for the Lagaš-Girsu-Nina and Rahabum-Umma areas (Appendix 2). Two other texts in Z. Földi’s edition also mention Sin-muštal: NBC 6764 and NBCT 1812 (Appendix 3).

Secondly, the archives of Sin-iddinam and, above all, those of Šamaš-hazir, complete our knowledge of the temple of Nanna and its clergy at the time of Hammu-rabi.

Although temple fields were in principle independent of the royal domain, harvest records show that both fields of the Palace and of the temple of Nanna could jointly be exploited by their respective agents. In addition, it appears that members of the clergy of Ur were beneficiaries of fields granted by the Palace, meaning that they performed an ilkum-service on behalf of the crown.

Moreover, many members of the clergy of Nanna or of Enki-of-Eridu who appear in the archives of Sin-iddinam and Šamaš-hazir are also known from texts discovered in Ur - texts commented on by D. Charpin in Le Clergé d’Ur (1986; see also D. Charpin’s ‘The temple of Enki-of-Eridu: a new approach to the clergy of Ur, in chapter 6 of the present volume) - and even appear on tablets discovered during the 2015-2019 excavation campaigns of Ur.

It thus appears that Ur was one of the major cities of the new Babylonian province called Yamutbalum, under the reign of Hammu-rabi. More than the documentation found at Tell al-Muqayyar, the texts found at Tell Senkereh shed light on the political and economic status of Ur under Babylonian domination. In addition, the example of the agriculture illustrates the interdependent relationship between high Babylonian dignitaries and the clergy of Ur. Finally, this raises the question of whether the Ekišnugal was an important medium for the consolidation of Babylonian power in the city of Ur and its area.

The Ea-naṣir archives were discovered in the house of No. 1 Old Street, in the AH quarter of Ur (... more The Ea-naṣir archives were discovered in the house of No. 1 Old Street, in the AH quarter of Ur (see the texts catalogue in the appendix). Dated from the first third of the reign of Rim-Sin, king of Larsa (late 19th century BC), they constitute a major source of our knowledge about the trade relations between Mesopotamia and the land of Dilmun in the Old Babylonian period.

After the publication of their copies in UET 5 in 1953, several studies revealed the importance of the Ea-naṣir archives (Oppenheim 1954, Leemans 1960, Butz 1979, Diakonoff 1990, Van De Mieroop 1992), and presented the editions of a number of tablets but in total, the whole corpus was not covered and editions are subject to revision. R. de Boer thus produced the electronic edition of the 12 letters belonging to the correspondence of Ea-naṣir, followed by B. Fiette 2020 who edited the remainder of the corpus: 12 economic and accounting documents relating to Ea-naṣir’s activities as a merchant, two contracts for the purchase of real estate (not included in this study), with readings that benefitted from a collation mission at the British Museum in January 2020. The time is therefore opportune to write a new synthesis on the archives of Ea-naṣir in the context of the commercial relations between Ur and Dilmun.

In cuneiform sources, the land of Dilmun is reputed to be a commercial hub in the Persian Gulf, for diorite and copper from the land of Magan, gold, ivory and carnelian from the country of Meluhha. Dilmun and Mesopotamia had maintained commercial relations since the 3rd millennium BC. At the beginning of the 2nd millennium, Dilmun was an independent kingdom that seems to correspond to the archipelago of Bahrain and Failaka island, the latter having obviously served as a point of contact for Dilmunite and Mesopotamian merchants, such as Ea-naṣir.

In a letter, Ea-naṣir is referred to as a merchant ‘going to Dilmun’ (UET 5 81:26 : a-li-ik te-el-muun). He travelled to Dilmun by ship to export locally produced goods such as clothes, oil, grain and various vegetable commodities. In return, he brought back to Ur copper ingots, presumably from the land of Magan, which he then redistributed to investors in his commercial enterprises. These investors were mainly private individuals, but one can also see that Ea-naṣir has commercial relations with the Palace of Larsa, the temple of Šamaš in Larsa and the temple of Nanna in Ur.

The commercial archives of Ea-naṣir are studied along three axes. First, 6 lists record objects invested by commercial partners with âlik Dilmun merchants in the framework of maritime trade on the Persian Gulf. The registered investors are many, and each one contributes with a small number of items: jewelry, boxes, fabrics and a single amount of silver. These lists identify recurring merchants and investors who also appear in the correspondence of Ea-naṣir.

Secondly, the study focuses on 3 tablets that mention the different types of products exported to Dilmun, as listed above, in addition to slaves. It should be noted that silver was also used to pay an entry tax and an escort, according to UET 5 471: 1-2.

The third part of the article deals with copper imports from Dilmun to Ur. Two types of sources are examined. Two accounting documents show that Ea-naṣir's commercial activities involved tons of copper, with one that expresses weights according to Dilmun’s weight system and to Ur’s. Ea-naṣir's correspondence, both active and passive, mainly speaks about delays in copper deliveries to investors, but also about complaints from these same investors about the poor quality of the copper. Finally, the fourth and last part deals with a tablet that records a count of objects called i-mu-tum, the nature of which remains unknown: are they leather objects?

Ea-naṣir and his fellow merchants traded tons of copper from Dilmun to Ur. The low price of this metal compared to silver was to contribute to their own enrichment and to that of the Ur market. In addition, this metal was, along with tin, indispensable for the bronze industry. Trade with the Persian Gulf was thus a major economic stake for the port of Ur and the kingdom of Larsa.

The Dumuzi-gamil archives consist of 41 tablets, dated from the years 27 to 36 of Rim-Sin, the ki... more The Dumuzi-gamil archives consist of 41 tablets, dated from the years 27 to 36 of Rim-Sin, the king of Larsa (1822-1793 BC), which corresponds to the beginning of the 18th century BC. The location of their discovery is problematic because Sir Leonard Woolley referred to the house of No. 1 Niche Lane in his preliminary report of 1931, before writing in his final report of 1976 that they had been discovered in the nearby house of No. 3 Niche Lane. Moreover, these tablets were apparently recorded in two lots. The first lot contains 35 tablets - 30 of which were published in UET 5 - with excavation numbers between U.16592 and U.16597, and the second is of 11 tablets, supposedly discovered in ‘A.H. Loose’. While this latter lot is certainly part of the Dumuzi-gamil archives, some could be part of the missing tablets from the lot U.16592-U.16597, and others from the lot of 9 untraceable tablets that bear the excavation numbers U.16832a-i.

Dumuzi-gamil has hardly attracted the attention of assyriologists: only W. F. Leemans in 1955 and M. Van De Mieroop in 1992 gave an overview of his activities. In the absence of a title, W. F. Leemans considered Dumuzi-gamil to be a banker, and M. Van De Mieroop a businessman and a financier, and the analyses of both authors agree that Dumuzi-gamil exercised his functions in both religious and private spheres.

This chapter proposes to reappraise the functions of Dumuzi-gamil, based on the edition of the 41 tablets of his archives, cited in parts in this chapter and available in full on Archibab (see the texts index in the appendix), with the benefit of collations made at the British Museum in January 2020. The purpose of this new examination is to determine whether Dumuzi-gamil was an independent private businessman, or an agent of the temple of Nanna.

Given that previous researchers were focused on the large number of silver-related tablets in the Dumuzi-gamil archives (14 loan contracts, 9 receipts, 7 miscellaneous documents, i.e. three quarters of the corpus), the relationship between Dumuzi-gamil and the temple of Nanna will first be presented, with a study of his activities in connection with the management of goods and offerings to deities, then with his involvement in religious ceremonies linked to the kingship of Larsa, such as the cult dedicated to statues of Sin-iqišam, a former king of Larsa (1840-1835 BC), or Rim-Sin’s journeys to Ur during which food rations were distributed for the king and for the processional boat makittum. Apart from the importance of the second dossier in demonstrating the strong ties between the kingship of Larsa and the temple of Nanna at Ur, these first two parts will show that Dumuzi-gamil was in contact with members of the Ekišnugal's clergy.

The third and last part is devoted to the economic activities of Dumuzi-gamil, first through the documents related to silver. These texts reveal two essential pieces of information. First, the constitution of the Dumuzi-gamil archives was carried out as a result of the mîšarum-edict’s promulgation in the year 35 of Rim-Sin, the effects of which are clearly visible in the corpus of loans and receipts of silver. Secondly, Dumuzi-gamil acted within a stable circle of relationships, which includes individuals who were certainly
members of the clergy of Ur: priests, prebend holders, or craftsmen and cooks. The same observation can be made from texts relating to animal husbandry and textile production, and also to preparation and distribution of food offerings. However, these individuals do not always appear with their titles in these texts. They infrequently mention the temple of Nanna, or some of the deities worshipped there.

It thus appears that defining Dumuzi-gamil as a financier and a private money lender was narrow. Although his title is not known, his activities as revealed in his archives show that Dumuzi-gamil was a businessman at the service of the temple of Nanna. The study of Dumuzi-gamil’s case in the fourth part of this book entitled: ‘Temples, their management, their servants’ is based on this conclusion.

Short Notes by Baptiste Fiette

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ARCHIBAB 4. Nouvelles recherches sur les archives d'Ur d'époque paléo-babylonienne, Mémoires de NABU 22, 2020

ARCHIBAB 3. Le Palais, la terre et les hommes. La gestion du domaine royal de Larsa d’après les archives de Šamaš-hazir, 2018

Résumé

https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1fElb17f6kK4x3 Anyone clicking on this link before August 02, 2... more https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1fElb17f6kK4x3

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hm.2020.06.005

Die Welt des Orients 50/2, 2020

(Please contact me if you require an offprint of this paper.) In the second third of the 19th ... more (Please contact me if you require an offprint of this paper.)

Please contact me if you require an offprint of the article.

2019 : IAA prize for the best first article: Runner up Abstract : Šamaš-hazir’s archives are o... more 2019 : IAA prize for the best first article: Runner up

Keywords : Mesopotamia, Hammurabi, cuneiform documentation, agriculture, royal domain, land tenure, grain harvest

Secondly, the archives of Sin-iddinam and, above all, those of Šamaš-hazir, complete our knowledge of the temple of Nanna and its clergy at the time of Hammu-rabi.

In 1763 B.C.E., the troops of Hammu-rabi, king of Babylon (1792-1750 B.C.E.) conquered the kingdo... more In 1763 B.C.E., the troops of Hammu-rabi, king of Babylon (1792-1750 B.C.E.) conquered the kingdom of Larsa in southern Mesopotamia. A new provincial administration has been established in this land, henceforth called Yamutbal, with Babylonian dignitaries among high officials. The provincial administrative structure is well documented by the letters written by Hammu-rabi and his ministers to Sin-iddinam, the governor of the province, and to Šamaš-hazir, the manager of the crown lands in the Larsa area. These documents demonstrate the total control exercised by the Palace of Babylon with regards to the management of the human and natural resources of the Yamutbal province. Has Babylon's control over Southern Babylonia been abusive? Some examples witness the exercise of power through violence or excessive palatial control which may have been the cause of the revolts that broke out during the reign of Samsu-iluna (1749-1712 B.C.E.). Babylon's domination of Southern Babylonia lasted for 25 years, but it may have been the first historical example of excessive control of this region, from which it did not recover for centuries.

After the fall of the Third Dynasty of Ur in 2002 BC, the ancient land of Sumer was dominated by ... more After the fall of the Third Dynasty of Ur in 2002 BC, the ancient land of Sumer was dominated by the kingdoms of Isin and Larsa, that fought each other for control of this territory for more than two centuries, until the final victory of Rim-Sin in 1792 BC. During this period, Ur was attached to both of these kingdoms.
This paper proposes to study the position of Ur in the royal ideology and political enterprises of that time. To do so, it is necessary to examine the references made to this city in the royal inscriptions, titulatures and year names of the kings of Isin and Larsa. It is also useful to find the evidence of the physical presence of members of the royal family in Ur, in the first place the princesses appointed as priestesses of the god Nanna in his temple, the Ekišnugal. Through these data, we will question the influence of the memory of Ur, as the former royal and imperial capital, on the Amorites kings of Isin and Larsa.

Les archives d'Ea-naṣir ont été découvertes au n° 1 de la rue Old Street, du quartier AH à Ur. El... more Les archives d'Ea-naṣir ont été découvertes au n° 1 de la rue Old Street, du quartier AH à Ur. Elles sont datées des années Rim-Sin 10 à 19 (fin du XIXème s. av. J.-C.).
12 lettres et 12 documents comptables décrivent les activités commerciales d'Ea-naṣir avec Dilmun. En tant qu'âlik Dilmun, il exportait des étoffes, de l'huile et des produits divers et importait du cuivre en grande quantité (par ex. 18333 kg dans UET 5 796). Ce cuivre était bon marché et contribuait à l'enrichissement des marchands d'Ur, qui le revendaient sur les marchés des villes du Sud mésopotamien, ou fournissaient le Palais et les temples de Nanna à Ur et de Šamaš à Larsa.

Zinû, Wife and Manager in Old Babylonian Larsa In 1763 BC, the troops of Hammu-rabi, king of Baby... more Zinû, Wife and Manager in Old Babylonian Larsa
In 1763 BC, the troops of Hammu-rabi, king of Babylon (1792-1750 BC) conquered the kingdom of Larsa, in southern Mesopotamia. A new provincial administration has been established in this land henceforth called Yamutbal, with Babylonian dignitaries among high officials. One of them was Šamaš-hazir, the manager of the royal lands in the Larsa region. His archives are well known: 337 tablets document his professional as well as private activities.
The archives of Šamaš-hazir concern in particular the economic activities of his own domain and reveal the involvement of his wife Zinû for its management. 13 letters, 2 loan contracts and 8 accounting documents testify to her functions relating to the cultivation of fields and palm groves, stockbreeding, and product storage, as well as her interaction with economic partners of Šamaš-hazir’s domain (farmers, shepherds, high officials) or other members of the family (sons, Zinû’s mother). The case of Zinû thus appears very interesting for a re-examination of the active role played by a woman (with a high status) in the management of an agricultural domain, whereas the cuneiform documentation shows more broadly the involvement of Mesopotamian wives in food and textile production within the domestic sphere.
Through the study of her activities, this paper will investigate Zinû’s degree of autonomy by the examination of her own ability to act as an active economic player when Šamaš-hazir entrusted her with the management of the domain in his absence. To answer this question, we will examine the relationship between Zinû, her husband and their economic partners, and we will compare the case of Zinû with that of other contemporary wives, like the well-known spouses of Old-Assyrian merchants or princess Iltani at Qaṭṭara.

In 1763 BC, the troops of Hammu-rabi, king of Babylon (1792-1750 BC) conquered the kingdom of Lar... more In 1763 BC, the troops of Hammu-rabi, king of Babylon (1792-1750 BC) conquered the kingdom of
Larsa, in southern Mesopotamia. A new provincial administration has been established in this land,
henceforth called Yamutbal, with Babylonian dignitaries among high officials. Although the laws of
Hammu-rabi were applied throughout his kingdom, some governors and officials abused their
dominant position—they enforced people of the new province by violence, who had been recruited
into the army or employed for hard labour at the service of provincial institutions; they also ousted
them from their possessions. All cases of spoliation, forced labour and forced recruitment, and more
broadly of exercise of power by violence are documented by letters written in Akkadian by Hammurabi
to Sin-iddinam, governor of the province of Yamutbal, and Šamaš-hazir, manager of the royal
domain. This paper will investigate first, the Akkadian vocabulary related to acts of violence,
compulsion and intimidation. Secondly it will focus on forms of institutional violence exercised by royal
dignitaries over the population of a conquered land, and reactions of the king as guardian of justice
and order in his kingdom. Thirdly, it will interrogate the distance between royal power (exercised from
the capital Babylon) and local power (exercised by its representatives, physically present in the
province of Yamutbal), as a source of abusive institutional violence.

A presentation of the archives of : – Dumuzi-gamil (Niche Lane 3) – the chapel of Sakkud (Chur... more A presentation of the archives of :
– Dumuzi-gamil (Niche Lane 3)
– the chapel of Sakkud (Church Lane 1)
– Apil-Kittim (Church Lane 2).

Table ronde franco-russe dans le cadre du projet PICS COMPTABAB

Analyse d'un corpus de sept registres de récoltes, appartenant aux archives de Šamaš-hazir (Larsa... more Analyse d'un corpus de sept registres de récoltes, appartenant aux archives de Šamaš-hazir (Larsa, règne de Hammurabi de Babylone, milieu du 18ème siècle av. J.-C.).

Dans le cadre de la table ronde franco-russe “Gestion économique et pratiques archivistiques à l'époque d'Hammu-rabi”, Moscou, 1-2 juillet 2015.