The House of Prisoners: Slavery and State in Uruk during the Revolt against Samsu-iluna (Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Records (SANER) Book 2)

This book deals with the house of prisoners (bit asiri ) at the city of Uruk during the revolt against king Samsu-iluna of Babylon, Hammurabi’s son. The political history of this brief period (ca. 1741–1739 BC) is not widely known and until now there has been no comprehensive treatment of the bit asiri. This book includes autograph copies, transliterations, and translations of 42 unpublished cuneiform tablets from various collections, collations, and detailed tables and catalogues. The analysis comprises some 410 documents dated or attributable to king Rim-Anum, one of the insurgents who attained relative independence as the ruler of Uruk. The study of this corpus reveals details about diplomatic dealings between the central power and rebel rulers, about the functioning of the house of prisoners of war, and about the individuals who participated in different echelons of the local administration. This monograph investigates what kind of organization “the house of prisoners” was, how it worked, how it interacted with other institutions, the composition of its labor force, and state management of captive and enslaved individuals. The House of Prisoners: Slavery and State in Uruk during the Revolt against Samsu-iluna......Page 6 Contents......Page 10 List of tables......Page 17 Plans and maps......Page 18 List of abbreviations......Page 19 I “Why and How?”......Page 22 II Prisoners of war and the bīt asīrī in previous scholarship......Page 28 III Interpretations of the role of the bīt asīrī......Page 31 IV About this book......Page 36 V Cuneiform texts, conventions, principles of transliteration, and related matters......Page 38 I Documents dated to Rīm-Anum and the archive of the house of prisoners......Page 41 II Uruk during the Old Babylonian period......Page 47 III The revolts against Samsu-iluna and Rīm-Anum’s reign......Page 48 IV Year names, chronology and political history......Page 50 V Administrative records and political history......Page 57 V.2 Rīm-Anum’s second year......Page 63 VI Military activities......Page 65 VII The rebels according to the bīt asīrī sources......Page 68 VII.1 Daganma-ilum......Page 69 VII.2 Ilūni......Page 70 VIII Conclusion......Page 72 I General remarks......Page 76 III Flour allocation of the ana ĝešbun type......Page 78 III.1 Sealings......Page 79 III.2 Recipients of the allocation......Page 84 IV.1 šuku e2 asīrī......Page 89 IV.2 ana šuku e2 u aḫiātim......Page 90 IV.4 ana šuku (erin2) mu-wa-ar-ba-tim......Page 91 IV.5 ana šuku lu2 GN u aḫiātim......Page 92 V.1 Sealings......Page 93 V.2 Recipients of the ana si-la2 allocations......Page 94 VII Other allocations......Page 96 VIII Comparative analysis of the various flour allocations......Page 99 IX Conclusion......Page 103 II Prisoners of war and slaves......Page 131 III Geographic provenance of prisoners and slaves......Page 133 IV Ties of personal dependency of prisoners and slaves......Page 141 V Status of prisoners and slaves......Page 148 VI Allocation of prisoners and slaves......Page 152 VII Conclusion......Page 159 I Concepts and sources......Page 163 II.1 The bīt asīrī......Page 167 II.2 The e2-aĝrig......Page 170 II.4 The e2-(munus-)uš-bar......Page 175 II.5 The e2-mušen-hi-a......Page 179 II.6 The e2-bur-saĝ......Page 180 II.7 Other houses......Page 183 III.1 The e2-gal......Page 185 III.2 The (e2-)ĝi6-par3......Page 186 III.3 The en-nu e2-gal......Page 187 IV Conclusion......Page 188 I General remarks......Page 192 II.2 aĝrig (abarakkum)......Page 193 II.4 gu-za- la2 (guzalûm)......Page 194 II.5 sukkal (šukkallum)......Page 195 II.6 ša3-tam (šatammum)......Page 196 II.7 šabra (šabrûm)......Page 197 II.8 ugula asīrī......Page 198 II.9 ugula e2 and ugula e2-meš......Page 201 II.10 ugula e2-mušen-hi-a......Page 202 II.11 ugula (e2-)munus-uš-bar......Page 203 III.1 Personnel of the e2-aĝrig......Page 204 III.2 Personnel of the e2-uš-bar......Page 205 IV.1 Administrative personnel......Page 206 IV.2 Other professions and occupations......Page 207 V Personnel affiliated with temples......Page 219 VI.1 Seal inscriptions with the legend “servant of royal name”......Page 220 VI.2 Seal inscriptions with the legend “servant of divine name(s)”......Page 222 VI.3 Partially legible sealings......Page 224 VII Men without seals or titles from tablets from the Sîn-kāšid palace......Page 226 VIII Men without seals or titles presumably acting in an official capacity......Page 228 IX Conclusion......Page 231 I General remarks......Page 235 II ugula MAR.TU......Page 238 III PA.PA......Page 243 IV aga3-us2 (rēdûm)......Page 244 VI Administrative officials in the army......Page 246 VI lu2-kiĝ2-gi4-a......Page 248 VIII Other leadership posts from outside Uruk......Page 249 IX Conclusion......Page 255 I An exercise in fragmentology......Page 258 II Political history......Page 259 III The administration of Uruk under Rīm-Anum......Page 263 IV The bīt asīrī......Page 273 V State and slavery in Uruk during the revolt against Samsuiluna......Page 279 Catalogue of tablets edited in this volume......Page 285 Concordance: Tablets arranged alphabetically after the Museum signature......Page 286 Transliterations and translations......Page 310 Appendix 2: Collations......Page 345 Appendix 3: Chronological catalogue of texts from Uruk dated to Samsuiluna and Rīm-Anum......Page 364 Appendix 4: Catalogue of texts from Uruk dated to Samsu-iluna and Rīm-Anum......Page 392 I List of Sumerian words and logograms and their Akkadian and English renderings......Page 428 II Akkadian words and their Sumerian and logographic renderings......Page 430 Bibliography......Page 432 1. Personal names......Page 448 2. Divine names......Page 452 3. Geographic names......Page 453 4. Akkadian words......Page 454 5. Sumerian words and sumerograms......Page 455 6. Cuneiform texts......Page 457 Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Records (SANER) is a peer-reviewed series devoted to the publication of monographs pertaining to all aspects of the history, culture, literature, religion, art, and archaeology of the Ancient Near East, from the earliest historical periods to Late Antiquity. The aim of this series is to present in-depth studies of the written and material records left by the civilizations and cultures that populated the various areas of the Ancient Near East: Anatolia, Arabia, Egypt, Iran, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Syria. Thus, SANER is open to all sorts of works that have something new to contribute and which are relevant to scholars and students within the continuum of regions, disciplines, and periods that constitute the field of Ancient Near Eastern studies, as well as to those in neighboring disciplines, including Biblical Studies, Classics, and Ancient History in general. This book studies the house of prisoners at the city of Uruk during the revolt against king Samsu-iluna (ca. 1741-1739 BC). The history of this period is not widely known and there is no previous comprehensive treatment of the institution under consideration. The analysis of some 410 documents dated or attributable to R?m-Anum of Uruk, one of the rebel kings, reveals details about diplomatic dealings between the central power and independent rulers and about the functioning of the house of prisoners of war. This monograph explores state management of captive and enslaved labor in times of political upheaval This book studies the house of prisoners at the city of Uruk during the revolt against king Samsu-iluna (ca. 1741-1739 BC). The history of this period is not widely known and there is no previous comprehensive treatment of the institution under consideration. The analysis of some 410 documents dated or attributable to Rim-Anum of Uruk, one of the rebel kings, reveals details about diplomatic dealings between the central power and independent rulers and about the functioning of the house of prisoners of war. This monograph explores state management of captive and enslaved labor in times of poli