CUSAS 40/2 0428


LineText originalText translated
o. 16.4.5 še-ĝeš-i3 gur2,290 sila (= 2,290 litres) of sesame seeds,
o. 2 18 gun2 tuḫ ĝeš-i3[glossary=tuḫ ĝeš-i3] 18 gun/talents (480 kg) of sesame press cake,
o. 3 29 na4ar ĝeš-i3 / šu si3-ga 29 millstones for sesame, equipped with handstones,
o. 4 1 na4ḫar a2-da-bar / šu si3-ga 1 basalt millstone equipped with handstone,
o. 5 6 na4ḫar a2-da-<bar> / šu si3-ga šu-gi4 6 old basalt millstones equipped with handstones,
o. 6 […]+3 ĝešnaĝa4 x+3 wooden mortars,
o. 7 […] ĝeš-gan<(-na)> x wooden pounders,
o. 8 [… n]i? du8 ni ni […]
o. 9 […] gi e […]
r. 1 […] šu-gi4
r. 2 […] 0.0.1 5 sila3-ta [x …-containers] of 15 sila (liters) each:
0 ============
r. 3 e2 šu šum2-ma
r. 4 a-da-lal3 šu ba-ti Adalal received it;
r. 5 ĝiri3 dšara2-kam dub-sar via Šarakam, the scribe,
r. 6 u3 ĝiri3 ur-den-gal-/du.du šagana and via Ur-Engaldudu, the general
r. 7 iti šu-ĝar-gal u4 30-kam / ba-zal
r. 8 mu en dnanna / kar-zi-da ba-/ḫuĝ
Commentary

o.3: na4ḫar[glossary=na4ḫar] (reading uncertain), Akkadian erû[glossary=erû], „millstone“: in Early and Middle Bronze Age Mesopotamia, a „millstone“ was a saddle quern made of stone, in this case equipped with a muller, called „hand(stone)“ in Sumerian.

o.4: a2-da-bar[glossary=a2-da-bar] is a widespread Ur III spelling of ad-bar[glossary=ad-bar], Akkadian atbaru[glossary=atbaru], „basalt“.

o.3-5: At first sight, a differentiation between 29 millstones „for sesame“ and one „of basalt“ might pose some questions: what was the material of the first 29 millstones? Or what was the basalt millstone used for? Most likely, the 29 millstones were in use for crushing the sesame seeds at the time of inspection; as oil millstones, they could not be used for flour any more. One new millstone was still unused, and it was therefore called a „basalt millstone“, and six millstones were out of use.

o.6:ĝešnaĝa4[glossary=ĝešnaĝa4](kum) „wooden mortar“, corresponds to Akkadian esītu, esittu: The wooden mortars, written with the sign kum (naĝa4) or, more often, gaz (naĝa3), form pairs with the „pestles“ (ĝeš-gan-na[glossary=ĝeš-gan-na]). The terms were discussed by Steinkeller 1989: 36-37, who noted that they appear together with millstones, as signs of activity in „The Lamentation over Sumer and Ur“ line 317. His interpretation of esittu as „mortar“ is confirmed by an inscribed MB pottery mortar with inscription (Van Lerberghe 1991, see Sallaberger 1996a: 111 s.v.). ĝešnaĝa4 appears rather frequently as a product in the Presargonic texts from Ĝirsu (cf. Selz 1993b: 557). Although not explicitly attested, wooden mortars could easily be produced from round logs from the trunks of the trees cultivated in Sumer.

o.7: ĝeš-gan(-na) (or ĝešgan?) „pestle, pounder, masher“, corresponds to Akkadian bukānu[glossary=bukānu].

r.2: The capacity measure indicates that the text had listed several containers of 15 liters capacity.

This account was written at the review of the governors household (see Archive Ur III Irisaĝrig and the Dossier A.1.1.12).

 

Bibliography

  • Sallaberger 1996a = Sallaberger, Walther (1996): Der babylonische Töpfer und seine Gefäße nach Urkunden altsumerischer bis altbabylonischer Zeit sowie lexikalischen und literarischen Zeugnissen. Mesopotamian History and Environment, Memoirs 3. Ghent: University of Ghent.
  • Selz 1993b = Selz, Gebhard J. (1993): Altsumerische Wirtschaftsurkunden aus amerikanischen Sammlungen. Freiburger altorientalische Studien 15/2. Stuttgart: Steiner.
  • Steinkeller 1989 = Steinkeller, Piotr (1989): Sale Documents of the Ur-III-Period. Freiburger altorientalische Studien 17. Stuttgart: Steiner.
  • Van Lerberghe 1991 = Van Lerberghe, Karel (1991): Les découvertes épigraphiques de Chantier E3, in: Northern Akkad Project Reports 6, 73-74.