1. Philological and Palaeographical Commentary

• Obverse, lines 1-2: It is understood from this text that the našpakum-vessel was a storage jar, as Sallaberger noticed („Speicher-Gefäß“ […] aB übliches Speichergefäß besonders für Öl; 1996: 115), precisely in this text fine quality oil. Hence this vessel could have had a capacity of 10 qa (10 litres), according to these lines. Sallaberger noticed that a našpakum-vessel could have a capacity of 40-150 litres, according to the text TCL 10 116. This vessel is well attested in the royal archives of Mari, where it appears above all as a precious vessel because it is part of the king’s luxury tableware (Guichard 2005: 252-253).
• Obverse, line 5; Reverse, lines 9 & 13: The masḫartum vessel occurs several times in this text: in lines 5, 7 (obverse) and 21, no measurements are explicitly given; hence the masḫartum-vessel served here as a mean of capacity measurement. According to Sallaberger (1996: 114), this vessel was used to transport and distribute the oil („Wander-Gefäß“ […] Nur in aB Briefen als Behälter von Öl, daher eher Bezeichnung der Funktion). According to Guichard, the masḫartum-vessel was an open, deep vessel of small capacity; in the royal archives of Mari, it is a luxury vessel: indeed, it is sometimes attested in silver (ARM 31 034 and ARM 31 166, but it contains masḫatum, a fault for masḫartum?), sometimes in bronze (ARM 31 037, ARM 31 264); see Guichard 2005: 230-231.
• Obverse, line 10: According to Harris, aš-la-ak-na° is for the fuller (ašlākum); see Harris 1975: 272, n. 16.
• Obverse, line 11: According to the ePSD2, the ^dugšen.dilim2 (šandaltum in the text) is a container. In the text, the šandaltum-vessels were made of bronze (zabar). Sallaberger noticed that the dilim2 is a kind of ladle („Löffel“, aus Holz oder Metall; see Sallaberger 1996: 99. Note also ^dugdilim2.gal, which is a kind of bowl (for eating) (,,(Eß)schale„; see also Sallaberger 1996: 99).
• Reverse, lines 5 & 10: The two first signs of pa.pa.a on Pinches’s copy have to be read ugula.gidri (wākil ḫaṭṭim) „colonel“ (Pinches 1899). The sign after ugula.gidri could be erin2^! as it is well attested in Sippar-Yaḫrūrum (see Charpin 2015: 166). It would be necessary to collate the text to resolve the issue.

2. Historical Commentary

2.1. A Family of Oil Millers in Sippar in the Late Old Babylonian Period

Warad-ilīšu, designated as an oil miller in the text, is also known from the text CT 08 08e from Sippar, where three of his sons (Aḫi-wēdum, Atanaḫ-ilī and Sîn-ibnī) have to measure the oil milled from 9 kur (2,700 litres) of sesame seeds; it can be understood from this document that his three sons took over the function of oil miller from their father (Harris 1975: 283, n. 111). CT 08 08e dates to the year Ammiditāna 35 (1649 BCE); thus CT 08 38a most probably predates CT 08 08e and therefore stems from the reign of the same king.

2.2. Study of Sesame Oil Deliveries

In this text, the situation is similar to CT 08 08e: the oil miller is paid in kind for his work. Indeed, in CT 08 08e, the oil miller receives a third of the production as wage for this work. Harris 1975: 283 indicated that the oil miller was paid in sesame, but he is clearly paid in sesame oil.

2.3. Capacity Measurements and Measuring Methods with Vessels

In this text, the oil is distributed either according to capacity measures (quantities between 0.5 and 20 litres) or vessels: mali masḫartim “as much as it is (in) a masḫartum-vessel”. From this text, we understand that the capacity of the masḫartum-vessel was standardised.

The šandaltum-ladle, mentioned in line 11, may be used as a tool for measuring. Unfortunately, we do not know the capacity of the ladle nor the commodity intended to be measured.

For more information about oil production during the Old Babylonian period, see Dossier A.1.1.22.