During the Old Babylonian period, sesame was also well attested at Qaṭṭarā[geogr=Qaṭṭarā], located southeast of Djebel Sinjar, in Princess Iltani’s archive. This dossier will expose the documentation related to sesame cultivation in the region of Qattarā and the terms contained in this corpus concerning sesame oil.

1. Sesame Cultivation in the Region of Qaṭṭarā

Evidence of actual sesame cultivation in the region of Qattarā is confirmed by a letter, OBTR 280¹Although from Qaṭṭarā, it does not belong to Iltani’s archive..

Other letters document the supply and transport of sesame seeds from Qaṭṭarā: donkeys carried them (see OBTR 022 and OBTR 023).

2. Terminology Concerning Sesame Oil

In the letter OBTR 023, the sender informed Iltani that there was no more “sweet sesame oil” (šamnum matqum) and asked her to send him donkeys carrying “sweet sesame” (šamaššammū matqūtum) to him if there is some available in Qaṭṭarā. Langlois 2017 considered that matqum is actually an ad hoc adjective attached to oil and sesame, not a specific term. One might wonder whether this is not a contextual expression referring to the request of a particularly sweet sesame without it being a real quality of sesame in the strict sense. As long as we know, the expression is unique in the Old Babylonian documentation.