| Line | Text original | Text translated |
|---|---|---|
| o. 1 | 3.0.3 2 ⅔ sila3 še-ĝeš-i3[glossary=še-ĝeš-i3] gur | 3 gur 3 ban 2 ⅔ sila (= 932 ⅔ litres) of sesame[glossary=še-ĝeš-i3] |
| o. 2 | si-i3-tum mu ki-maški ba-ḫulu | remainder of the year: Kimaš was destroyed (Šulgi 46); |
| o. 3 | 1.0.0 gur al-ba-ni-du11 | 1 gur (= 300 litres) (from) Albanidu, |
| o. 4 | 1.0.0 gur lu2-giri17-zal | 1 gur (= 300 litres) (from) Lugirizal, |
| o. 5 | 1.0.0 gur ur-niĝarx(ud.kid)ĝar | 1 gur (= 300 litres) (from) Urniĝar, |
| o. 6 | 1.0.0 gur lugal-diĝir-ĝu10 | 1 gur (= 300 litres) (from) Lugaldiĝirĝu, |
| o. 7 | 1.0.0 gur ur-dnun-gal | 1 gur (= 300 litres) (from) Ur-Nungal, |
| o. 8 | 1.0.0 gur za-ba-sa6-ge | 1 gur (= 300 litres) (from) Zabasage, |
| o. 9 | 1.0.0 gur eš3-ki-du10 | 1 gur (= 300 litres) (from) Eškidu, |
| o. 10 | 1.0.0 gur ur-dĝeš-za-mun-na | 1 gur (= 300 litres) (from) Ur-Ĝešzamuna, |
| o. 11 | 1.0.0 gur ur-diškur | 1 gur (= 300 litres) (from) Ur-Iškur, |
| o. 12 | [x.x].3 ĝeš-u2-ga | […]+3 sila (= 3+ litres) (from) Ĝešuga, |
| o. 13 | [x.x.x] nin-unken-ne2 | […] (from) Ninunkene, |
| o. 14 | [x.x.x ur]du2-dšara2 | [… (from) Ur]du-Šara, |
| 0 | (rest lost) | |
| 0 | (… saĝ niĝ2-gur11-ra-kam) | |
| 0 | (ša3-bi-ta …) | |
| 0 | (beginning lost) | |
| r. 1' | […] gur | […] gur |
| r. 2' | […] ⸢x-d⸣sul-pa-e3 | […] ┌x┐-Sulpae |
| r. 3' | 0.⸢4⸣.0 še-ĝeš-i3 a-gu3 ur-e11-e ba-a-ĝar | ⸢4⸣ bariga (= 40 litres) sesame has been set on the account of Uree; |
| r. 4' | kišeb3 ur-dšara2 bešeĝ-dub-ba | sealed receipt of Ur-Šara, bookkeeper. |
| r. 5' | 15 ⅔ giĝ4 ku3 še-ĝeš-i3-be2 3.0.4 gur | 15 ⅔ giĝ (shekels = 130.55 grams) silver: its sesame 3 gur 4 ban (= 940 litres), |
| r. 6' | ku3-be2 a-gu3 da-da-ga ba-a-ĝar a-gu3-a ĝa2-ra-ta | this silver has been set on the account of Dadaga, from a previous liability. |
| r. 7' | 6 ĝuruš iti 13-še3 | 6 men for 13 months: |
| r. 8' | a-gu3 lugal-ku3-zu ba-a-ĝar a-gu3-a ĝa2-ra-/ta | it has been set on the account of Lugalkuzu, from a previous liability. |
| r. 9' | ———— | ———— |
| r. 10' | šu-niĝen2 10.1.4 še-ĝeš-i3 gur | Total: 10 gur 1 bariga 4 ban (= 3,100 litres) sesame; |
| r. 11' | šu-niĝen2 6! engar ĝeš-i3-ka-ta[glossary=ĝeš-i3] gur-ra | Total: 6! ploughmen returned from the sesame plots[glossary= ĝeš-i3]; |
| r. 12' | zi-ga-am3 | It was expended; |
| r. 13' | la2-ni 3.4.0 2 ⅔ sila3 še-ĝeš-i3 gur | Left-over: 3 gur 4 bariga 2 ⅔ sila (= 1,142 2/3 litres) sesame. |
| r. 14' | niĝ2-ka9-aka ur-dba-u [individual=Ur-Bau ] | Balanced account of Ur-Bau [individual=Ur-Bau ]. |
| r. 15' | mu us2-sa ki-maški ba-ḫulu | Date (year) |
UCP 9/2/1 078
by Paola Paoletti 
Commentary
This text registers Ur-Bau [individual=Ur-Bau ]’s balanced account of sesame fields for the year Šulgi 47. The total amount of sesame available to him is not preserved on the tablet, but can be calculated by adding the total expenditures (3,100 litres) to that left over (1,142 ⅔ litres, 26.9 %); this results in 4,242 ⅔ litres of sesame. Subtracting the remainder of the previous year (932.6 litres) gives the amount of sesame provided to Ur-Bau by the sesame cultivators in the year Šulgi 47: 3,310 litres.
Among the various individuals (o. 3-12) who provided Ur-Bau with sesame, there are nine (o. 3-11) who brought 300 liters each (in total 2,700 litres). Two of them are attested as “ploughmen of sesame” (engar ĝeš-i3[glossary=engar ĝeš-i3]) eight years later (TCL 5 6038, AS.07.00.00).
Among the expenditures, 940 litres of sesame (ca. 30 % of the total expenditures) are registered according to its silver value and the corresponding silver (130.55 grams) is credited to Dadaga’s account, the governor’s official for collecting silver in Umma in the years Šulgi 44 to Amar-Suena 2 (Ouyang 2013: 96).
o.3-4 Albanidu and Lugirizal were both ploughmen of sesame in Apisal [geogr=Apisal](TCL 5 6038, r. iii 10, 13).
o. 6-7 Lugal-diĝirĝu and Ur-Nungal are attested as fathers of two ploughmen of sesame in Apisal (TCL 5 6038, r. iii 11, 12).
r. 3’ Uree received 360 litres of sesame from Ur-Bau in the year Amar-Suena 4 (BPOA 1 1724). Uree’s activities are attested mostly in connection with the district of Apisal; he was son of Urniĝar, the chief livestock administrator (šuš3), as Akala and Dadaga, two of the four major recipients of silver in Umma (Ouyang 2013: 96).
r. 5′ According to this passage, in this case 60 litres of sesame cost 1 shekel silver (= 8.3 g).
r. 11′ It is difficult to determine whether to read „5“ or „6“. According to the previous passage r. 7′ it should be „6“.
r. 13’ la2-ni “left-over”, translation after D'Agostino/Pomponio 2014: 16.
r. 14’ Ur-Bau [individual=Ur-Bau ] managed the production of sesame and payments in silver related to sesame on behalf of the „ploughmen of sesame“ (engar ĝeš-i3) and the provincial administration in Umma from the end of the reign of Šulgi until at least the beginning of the reign of Šu-Suen. Ur-Bau was also overseer of the „ploughmen of sesame“, scribe and son of Da’aga (Greco 2022; Ouyang 2013: passim).
Bibliography
- D'Agostino/Pomponio 2014 = D’Agostino, Franco; Pomponio, Francesco (2014): A Third Annual Balanced Account of Silver from Neo-Sumerian Umma, in: Studi epigrafici e linguistici sul Vicino Oriente antico 31, 1-26.
- Greco 2022 = Greco, Angela (2022): Some Considerations on Workers and Officials involved in the Circulation of Fish in the Ur III Umma province, in: Coppini, Costanza; Cyrus, Georg; Golestaneh, Hamaseh (eds.), Bridging the Gap: Disciplines, Times, and Spaces in Dialogue. Volume 3: Sessions 4 and 6 from the Conference Broadening Horizons 6 held at the Freie Universität Berlin, 24–28 June 2019. Oxford: Archaeopress, 193-206.
- Ouyang 2013 = Ouyang, Xiaoli (2013): Monetary Role of Silver and Its Administration in Mesopotamia During the Ur III Period (c. 2112-2004 BCE). A Case Study of the Umma Province. Biblioteca del Próximo Oriente Antiguo 11. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.