This dossier focuses on the Old Babylonian documents found at Tell Bi’a, ancient Tuttul[geogr=Tuttul], mentioning sesame, oil, and people involved in oil pressing. Only a few texts document these subjects. However, they provide information about oil pressers, their workload, and many uses of their product.
1. Texts about Sesame and Oil in Tuttul
Among the 350 Old Babylonian tablets now published, only 11 relate to the theme of this project:
- 2 texts mention “sesame” (še.i₃.giš: KTT 177 and 306)
- 8 texts mention “oil” (i₃.giš: KTT 072, 075, 077, 080, 171, 178, 181, 343)
- one text mentions “oil pressers” (lu₂.meš i₃.sur: KTT 177)
2. Raw Material and Workload
As described above, sesame, as raw material, is mentioned in two texts found in Tuttul, KTT 177 and KTT 306.
KTT 306 recorded the distribution of sesame rations. Unfortunately, the text is poorly preserved, and we can glean little information from it.
In KTT 177, a considerable quantity, “4,500 litres of sesame” (3 a.gar₃ 7 1/2 gur še.i₃.giš), according to the sūtu-measure of the “personnel” (ki-na-te-e), was “removed from storage” (zi.ga na-aš-pa-ki-im). It corresponds to the “workload of 10 oil pressers” (eš₃.gar 10 lu₂.meš i₃.šur). 4,500 litres of sesame were thus given to 10 men in order to produce oil.
Unfortunately, the rest of the text is in poor condition and does not mention the names of these oil pressers, the time allowed for this task (probably 450 litres of sesame per oil presser), or the quantity of oil expected from these 4,500 litres. Documentation from other sites indicates a ratio of 20%,1See Dossier A.1.1.08 and A.1.1.21 so one can assume that 900 litres of oil were expected from the pressing.
Furthermore, the oil pressers mentioned in this text may have had workers employed to perform this task.
Finally, it seems plausible to assume that these oil pressers had their workshop near Tuttul.
3. Uses of Sesame Oil
According to the few documents from Tuttul mentioning oil, they used it for cooking (KTT 072 and 178), lighting (KTT 077 and 080), cart lubrication (KTT 075), and also offerings (KTT 171).
3.1. Oil for Food
In Tuttul, they used oil to cook some cakes named kukkum, the only use documented in this corpus. Unfortunately, we do not know how much cake was produced with this quantity of oil.
Actually, “10 (or 5) litres of oil” (0.0.1 i₃.giš) were intended to be used for the preparation of kukkum-cakes in KTT 072, a broken text. In KTT 178, “3 (or 1.5) litres of oil” (3 sila₃ i₃.giš) were also meant to be used for the preparation of the same cakes for “Yasmaḫ-Addu’s meal” (ni₃.gub ia-as₂-ma-aḫ–diškur).
3.2. Oil for Lighting
In Tuttul, they used oil for lighting, as documented by two texts, KTT 077, broken, unfortunately, and KTT 080, slightly better preserved: oil rations were given to individuals “for the fire of light” (a-na i-ša-at nu-ri)2About this particular expression, see the commentary written by Krebernik, 2001: 63-64; see also Durand 1983: 142 n.9 for the equivalent expression in Mari, ana šāt nūrātim..
Some may regret that the quantity is broken, in both texts, not allowing us to estimate the approximate number of hours of lighting.3Note that we find 15 shekels of oil per lamp in Mari; see Dossier C.5.01.
3.3. Oil for the Care of Carts
In Tuttul, they used oil for technical purposes, for the care of carts, as documented by KTT 075: “10 (or 5) litres of oil” (0.0.1 i₃.giš) “for the anointing of carts” (a-na pa-ša-aš gišmar.gid₂.da.ḫi.a). If the action is explicit (pašāšum, “to anoint” but also “to oil, grease, rub in”), the parts of the vehicle to which the oil is to be applied, however, are open to conjecture. Was it the wood, leather, or metal of the structure, the wheel axle or the cart’s interior that needed to be fed or greased?
One might wonder whether using another verb, kapārum, “to wipe, to polish”, in the text ARM 21 133, in a similar context,4Oil “for wiping the nubālum-vehicle,” a-na ka-pa-ar gišnu-ba-lim; this palanquin consisted of a frame made of wooden bars and an interior, see Arkhipov 2012: 147-149. might help decide the question.
3.4. Oil for King’s Sacrifice
In Tuttul, they used oil for sacrifices, as documented by KTT 171, a tablet sealed by Anāku-iluma, a servant of Yasmaḫ-Addu: “4 (or 2) litres of oil” (4 sila₃ i₃.giš) were recorded for the “king’s sacrifice” (siskur₂.re lugal).
We can note that KTT 181, a text that visibly records a distribution of oil to two people without mentioning any use, also indicates the sum of 4 (or 2) litres given to the first individual (the rest of the text is broken). It could be that 4 (or 2) litres of oil were a standard amount.