1. Irisaĝrig documents recovered from lootings and the question of localisation
In 2003, the US invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein was carried out, and lootings began throughout Iraq, as had happened in the late 1990s. Irisaĝrig[geogr=Irisaĝrig] must have been particularly affected, because, on the antiquities market and amongst confiscated objects, numerous clay tablets turned up, which, according to indications in the texts, came from the ancient city of Irisaĝrig. Most documents from Irisaĝrig date to the time of the Third Dynasty of Ur (21st century BCE); these form the archive dealt with here. Currently 2665 pieces are known (as of 06/06/2020). Other clay tablets date to the successive decades of Early Old Babylonian rulers (Ozaki et al. 2021).
Since the clay tablets originate from looting and the location of the illegal excavations remains unknown, the identification of Irisaĝrig is uncertain. Indications in texts allow a determination of the location of the looked-for site east of Nippur and near Tulūl al-Baqarāt, most likely ancient Keš (Lippolis/Viano 2016; Viano 2016); a location on the Tigris is probable (Steinkeller 2021).
Irisaĝrig was the capital of a province in the kingdom of the kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur. As in other provinces (e.g. Umma, Ĝirsu), Irisaĝrig used a local calendar with its own twelve month names (Ozaki 2016 ).
2. Irisaĝrig as a royal city and its governors
Irisaĝrig had long been known from other sources as an important provincial capital in the empire of the Kings of Ur. The first known governor was Nannazišaĝal in the year Amar-Suena 2, who also served as the highest religious dignitary (title zabar-dab5); subsequently he became governor of the large and powerful province of Girsu. Then Urmes[individual=Urmes] became the governor of Irisaĝrig; he was married to Waqartum, the sister of the later king Šu-Suen (Owen 2013: 49-50). He is textually attested from II/Amar-Suena 3 to 30/VI/Amar-Suena 7, then again from I/Amar-Suena 9 to XII/Ibbi-Suen 4. During the hiatus of Urmes‘ governance, two individuals appear side by side, and rarely, as governors (Ilallum and Dadani, Owen 2013: 48); apparently the province was, at that time, directly under the control of the Crown.
A remarkable group of seven documents from Irisaĝrig dates to 30/II/Amar-Suena 9, the very month when King Šu-Suen was crowned, after his predecessor Amar-Suena had died earlier in the month (Sallaberger 1999a: 167). These documents are inspections of the transfer of persons, fields, goods, and also a merchant’s account (cf. Dossier A.1.1.12). They were written in the name of a scribe named Šarakam[individual=Šarakam] and a general called Ur-Engaldudu[individual=Ur-Engaldudu]. Obviously, the goods were checked by two officials before they were again transferred to Urmes. I would argue that in the meantime, when the two persons Ilallum and Dadani had taken over the governorship, the province had been directly subordinate to the crown, perhaps administered by the military. King Šu-Suen then installed his brother-in-law Urmes as governor again.
3. The archives of the governor of Irisaĝrig
The organisation whose documents the looters unearthed maintained close ties with the royal house and the top echelons of society. Moreover, the documents are characterised by their very strong connections in terms of content, which is why one may assume that they all originate from a single organisation. This can only have been the palace of the governor of the province, Urmes and his predecessors (see § 2 above).
An important group is formed by the so-called messenger texts which comprise about a quarter of the texts. It concerns the documentation of prepared meals that were given to guests who were travelling on an official mission. They were given a meal according to their rank, with most being provided with bread and beer as well as some kind of soup or paste and fish, often meat; only the highest-ranking guests were also served sweets and other special foods. While many were passing through, there were also those guests who carried out tasks over a longer period of time, such as the specialists who reported on the cultivation of sesame seeds, or the military officers who hired personnel for agricultural work and guarded the products. Via Irisaĝrig, one reached the city of Dēr, an important north-eastern outpost of the Mesopotamian alluvial plain. Dēr was likewise constantly subordinate to a royal prince; accordingly, it was often royal messengers who stopped in at the governor’s, a brother-in-law of the reigning king Šu-Suen.
The kitchen and bakery of the governor of Irisaĝrig catered to hundreds of people in two sections, in addition to the aforementioned guests and their own staff. The latter included (estimated at over one hundred) women working in various production jobs, making textiles and pressing sesame oil, as well as in the bakery and brewery. A group also worked for the animal fattener. The women employed in the palace received a variety of meals and beer in the palace (cf. dossier A.1.1.12); in addition, like all service providers, they were paid by allocations of barley and wool, and additionally oil. The approximately 50 or 60 men received only soup and bread; they were probably mostly men in captivity.
The archive covers an inner-city production of food and commodities. Particularly well documented are the transactions of the fattener Bayaga, to whom the shepherds delivered small livestock; in this way they probably fulfilled their duties. Added value was probably gained mainly from textiles and sesame oil. In addition, there was a group of craftsmen whose products were used in various ways, including the maintenance of the sanctuaries.
The administration documented by the tablets from Irisaĝrig thus focuses on the economy of the governor’s palace. The governor also kept order on the city streets, and people who had fallen out of the social net were assigned to specific organisations, such as returnees from the state prison in Esaĝdana-Nibru (Nisaba 15/2 0528; Nisaba 15/2 0643; Nisaba 15/2 0958) or the otherwise under-supplied children of prostitutes. In addition, there are provisions for the cult in the province, including especially at the shrine of the Mother Goddess in Keš; some texts on trade; and levies to the state.
Primary production in agriculture and animal husbandry, on the other hand, was never the aim of the administrative documents; they appear only as suppliers of goods. This is a striking difference with the archives from the old Sumerian cities of Umma, Ĝirsu, Ur or Nippur, where the management of agriculture played a central role.