CT 07 32 BM 018394 o. 1-7, r. 11-15


LineText originalText translated
o. 13 ab2 maḫ23 adult cows
o. 2 4 gud ĝeš 4 yoke oxen
o. 3 2 gud 1 2 1-year oxen
o. 4 1 ab2 amar ga 1 female calf
o. 5 1 nu gud ĝeš ki ĝeš-i3[glossary=ki ĝeš-i3] 1 non (present) yoke ox for sesame plots[glossary=ki ĝeš-i3]
o. 6 1 anše su-ga engar 1 donkey replaced (by the) ploughman
o. 7 lu2-dnin-dar-a Lu-Nindara
0 (…)
r. 11 gud apin dib-ba conscripted plough oxen
r. 12 e2 dnin-dar-a temple of Nindara
r. 13 ugula ses-kal-la overseer Seskalla
r. 14 ša3 a-ša3 la-za-wi in the Lazawi field
r. 15 mu us2-sa damar-dzuen lugal date (year)
Commentary

The following table summarizes the distribution of yoke oxen assigned to each working group recorded in the text.

Overseer

(nu-banda3 gud “inspector of plough oxen”)

Working Group of PN

(engar “ploughman”)

Adult Cattle Young Cattle Yoke Oxen for Sesame Plots Equids
Lugalme Lu-Nindara 7 3 1 (non-present) 1
Lugaldaban 2 1 2
Nabasa 1 1
Urmes, son of Gugilim 3 1
Ur-Utu 3
Lugalšala Magure, the ploughman 5 2 1 (non-present)
Urmes, son of Urdub 2
Total 25 5 4 / 2 (non present) 3

For the Lazawi field, 7 groups of ploughing animals are documented, five of which could have had 1 yoke ox for sesame plots per each plough team. This lies in the same range as one out of eight oxen herders that were deployed in a sesame plot[glossary=ki ĝeš-i3] according to TMH NF 1-2 292, ŠS.04.00.00).

r. 1 Lugalme was an „inspector of plough oxen“ (nu-banda3 gud) (TUT 095, […].00.00; SNAT 059, Šu.48.09.00) managing a parcel of „domain land“ (gana2-gud) for the Nindara temple (e.g. ASJ 04 114 16, Šu.48.00.00).

r. 10 Lugalšala managed a parcel of „domain land“ (gana2-gud) for the Nindara temple (CT 01 08 94-10-16 2, AS.08.00.00; AnOr 45 378 63, IS.03.00.00).

r. 11 Translation after Studevent-Hickman 2006: 236; see also the translation “plough oxen having passed” by Heimpel 1995: 118.

Bibliography

  • Heimpel 1995 = Heimpel, Wolfgang (1995): Plow Animal Inspection Records from Ur III Girsu and Umma, in: Bulletin on Sumerian Agriculture 8, 71-171.
  • Studevent-Hickman 2006 = Studevent-Hickman, Benjamin (2006): The Organization of Manual Labor in Ur III Babylonia. PhD Diss.. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University.