Line	Text original	Text translated
o. 1	9 gur še.ĝeš.⸢i₃⸣[glossary=šamaššammū]	9 kur (2,700 litres) of sesame[glossary=šamaššammū],
o. 2	a₂.bi! ša-lu-uš-ti i₃.ĝeš[glossary=ellum]	their wage is a third of the sesame oil[glossary=ellum]:
o. 3	ki dutu.šu.mu.un.dib di.ku₅	from Utu-šu-mundab, the judge,
o. 4	dumu diĝir-šu-ib-ni	son of Ilšu-ibnī,
o. 5	Ia-ḫi-we-du-um dumu arad-i₃-li₂-šu[individual=Warad-ilīšu]	Aḫi-wēdum, son of Warad-ilīšu[individual=Warad-ilīšu],
o. 6	Ia-ta-na-aḫ-i₃-li₂	Atanaḫ-ilī
o. 7	u₃ den.zu-ib-ni dumumeš arad-i₃-li₂-šu[individual=Warad-ilīšu]	and Sîn-ibni, sons of Warad-ilīšu[individual=Warad-ilīšu]
lo.e. 1	šu.ba.an.timeš	received it.
lo.e. 2	a-na iti 1.kam	For one month,
r. 1	še.ĝiš.⸢i₃⸣ i-ṣa-ha-tu[glossary=ṣaḫātum]-ma	they will mill[glossary=ṣaḫātum] the sesame (to oil) and
r. 2	i₃.ĝiš i₃.aĝ₂.emeš	they will measure out the sesame oil.
r. 3	igi den.zu-ma-gir dumu den.zu-i-di!-nam	In front of Sîn-māgir, son of Sîn-iddinam;
r. 4	igi be-el-šu-nu dumu den.zu-e-ri-ba-am	in front of Bēlšunu, son of Sîn-erībam;
r. 5	igi a-wi-il-den.zu dub.sar	in front of Awīl-Sîn, scribe.
r. 6	iti ab.e₃ u₄ 2.kam	Month X (January), Day 2,
r. 7	mu am-mi-di-ta-na lugal.[e]	Year Ammiditāna 35.
u.e. 1	bad₃-am-mi-di-ta-na
u.e. 2	gu₂ i₇me.e.den.líl!.la₂.ta
u.e. 3	bi₂.in.du₃.a

1. Philological and Palaeographical Commentary

• Obverse, line 2: The CAD Ṣ (s.v. ṣaḫātu, p. 60) considered the first two signs in the line should be read bara2.ga: “(three brothers) received nine gur of sesame-the ḫilṣu oil (should amount to) one third of the ellu-oil – within one month they will s.-process the sesame and deliver the oil”. The CAD Š/I (s.v. šaluštu A, p. 286), published after CAD S, proposed a similar translation: “nine gur of linseed^sic, the ḫilṣu oil is one third of the oil”. However, two things stand in the way of this interpretation. At first, the term bara2.ga in the context would apply to sesame and not to the oil referred to later in the line; if this were the case, one would expect this qualifier to occur in line 1 and not in line 2. Secondly, the palaeography: according to Pinches’s copy, the first sign is not suitable for bara2, but more for a2 (Walther Sallaberger’s personal communication); in this case, the second sign should not be read ga but bi. Therefore, the two signs should be read a2.bi, and then we understand that the oil millers‘ wages are one-third of his production. For an analysis of the ḫalṣum-sesame, see Dossier A.1.1.21 and Dossier A.1.1.22.

2. Historical Commentary

2.1. Prosopography

Utu-šu-mundab, son of Ilšu-ibni, supervisor of the merchants of Sippar, was a judge who intervened as an administrator in various wool “loans” between the palace and the economy of the town of Sippar. His multiple appearances in the documentation of Sippar and his business activities were collected by Harris 1975: 126-127.

Warad-ilīšu is attested as an oil miller in the undated text CT 08 38a. There is every reason to believe that his sons, Aḫī-wēdum, Atanaḫ-ilī and Sîn-ibni, later took over from their father as oil millers (Harris 1975: 238).

2.2. An Employment Contract

As Harris pointed out, this text is the only “loan” of sesame in Sippar, while the other nearly 200 contracts attest to barley loans (Harris 1975: 212). But, still following Harris: “Though this text is formulated as a loan it is probably a case where oil processors are given the sesame for processing. Within a month they are to deliver the oil” (Harris 1975: 212, n. 13). Indeed, if the diplomatics of this document show that the text is actually written as a loan, this text is clearly an employment contract involving a private individual, here Utu-šu-mundab, and three oil millers who had to measure the oil produced one month later, i.e. the production time.

Thanks to the new interpretation of line 2, it can be assumed that the oil miller was paid in kind: he could keep a third of his production, i.e. the sesame oil.

For more details on this text, its context and the oil milling process described in it, see Dossier A.1.1.22.