Skip to content
Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter June 12, 2020

Coerced Human Mobility and Elite Social Networks in Early Dynastic Iraq and Iran

  • Vitali Bartash EMAIL logo

Abstract

The article provides a historical analysis of cuneiform records concerning the circulation of unfree humans among the political-cultic elite in southern Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf during the Early Dynastic IIIb period, ca. 2475–2300 BCE. The analysis of the written data from the Adab city-state demonstrates that the royal house used the unfree as gifts to maintain a sociopolitical network on three spatial levels – the internal, local, and (inter)regional. The gift-givers and gift-receivers were mostly male adult members of the local and foreign elite, whereas the dislocated unfree humans were heterogeneous in terms of age, gender, and the ways they lost their freedom. The author relates the social profiles of both groups to the logistics of human traffic to reveal the link between social status and forms and nature of spatial mobility in the politically and socially unstable Early Dynastic Near East.

Funding statement: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Funder Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659, Grant Number: 280905572).

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their insightful corrections and remarks.

References

Alster, Bendt. 2005. Wisdom of Ancient Sumer. Bethesda, MD: CDL Press.Search in Google Scholar

Archi, Alfonso. 2015. Ebla and Its Archives. Texts, History, and Society. SANER 7. Boston/Berlin: De Gryuter.10.1515/9781614517887Search in Google Scholar

Baadsgaard, Aubrey, and Richard L. Zettler. 2014. Royal Funerals and Ruling Elites at Early Dynastic Ur. Pp. 105–21 in Contextualizing Grave Inventories in the Ancient Near East, ed. Peter Pfälzner et al. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.Search in Google Scholar

Balke, Thomas E. 2017. Das altsumerische Onomastikon. Namengebung und Prosopografie nach den Quellen aus Lagas. Münster: Zaphon.Search in Google Scholar

Bartash, Vitali. 2017. Sumerian Administrative and Legal Documents Ca. 2900-2200 BC in the Schøyen Collection. CUSAS 35. Bethesda, MD: CDL Press.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2018a. Age, Gender and Labor: Strategies to Classify Humans in Early Cuneiform Records Ca. 3350-2500 BC. Pp. 45–80 in What’s in a Name? Terminology Related to the Work Force and Job Categories in the Ancient near East (AOAT 440), ed. Agnès Garcia-Ventura. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2018b. Going for the Subarean Brand: The Import of Labor in Early Babylonia. JNES 77: 263–78.10.1086/699483Search in Google Scholar

———. 2018c. Sumerian ‘Child’. JCS 70: 3–25.10.5615/jcunestud.70.2018.0003Search in Google Scholar

———. 2019. Review of B. R. Foster, Sargonic Texts from Telloh in the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, Part 2 (2018). BSOAS 82: 524–25.10.1017/S0041977X19000739Search in Google Scholar

———. 2020. Early Dynastic Near East. in press in The Oxford History of the Ancient near East, Vol. 1: The Early Bronze Age near East, eds. Nadine Moeller, Daniel T. Potts, and Karen Radner. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780190687854.003.0001Search in Google Scholar

———. forthcoming. Animalized Children: The Patronage and Servitude of Minors in Third Millennium BCE Southern Mesopotamia.Search in Google Scholar

Bauer, Josef. 1998. Der Vorsargonische Abschnitt der mesopotamischen Geschichte. Pp. 431–585 in Mesopotamien. Späturuk-Zeit und Frühdynastische Zeit (OBO 160(1)), eds. Josef Bauer, Robert K. Englund, and Manfred Krebernik. Freiburg Schweiz/Göttingen: Universitätsverlag/Vanderhoeck & Ruprecht.Search in Google Scholar

Biggs, Robert D. 1974. Inscriptions from Tell Abū Şalābīkh. OIP 99. Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar

Charpin, Dominique. 2019. Tu es de mon sang! Les alliances dans le Proche-Orient ancien. Paris: Collège de France.10.4000/books.lesbelleslettres.258Search in Google Scholar

Cooper, Jerrold. 2010. Blind Workmen, Weaving Women and Prostitutes in Third Millennium Mesopotamia. CDLN 2010: 005.Search in Google Scholar

Cripps, Eric L. 2007. Land Tenure and Social Stratification in Ancient Mesopotamia. Third Millennium Sumer before the Ur III Dynasty. BAR International Series 1676. Oxford: Archaeopress.10.30861/9781407301136Search in Google Scholar

Edzard, Dietz Otto. 1976-1980. Keš. RlA 5: 571–73.Search in Google Scholar

———. 1980-1983. Larak. RlA 6: 494–95.Search in Google Scholar

Englund, Robert K. 1998. Texts from the Late Uruk Period. Pp. 15–233 in Mesopotamien. Späturuk-Zeit und Frühdynastische Zeit (OBO 160(1)), eds. Josef Bauer, Robert K. Englund, and Manfred Krebernik. Freiburg Schweiz/Göttingen: Universitätsverlag/Vanderhoeck & Ruprecht.Search in Google Scholar

Foster, Benjamin R. 2016. The Age of Agade: Inventing Empire in Ancient Mesopotamia. Oxon/New York: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2019. Review of Steinkeller 2017. OLZ 114/3: 209–10.10.1515/olzg-2019-0068Search in Google Scholar

Foxvog, Daniel. 1980. Funerary Furnishings in an Early Sumerian Text from Adab. Pp. 67–75 in Death in Mesopotamia. Papers Read at the XXVIe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale (Mesopotamia 8), ed. Bendt Alster. Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag.Search in Google Scholar

Frayne, Douglas R. 2007. The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia. Early Periods/Volume 1: Presargonic Period (2700-2350). Toronto/Buffalo/London: University of Toronto Press.Search in Google Scholar

Garcia-Ventura, Agnès. 2014. Ur III Biopolitics. Reflections on the Relationship between War and Work Force Management. Pp. 7–23 in The Other Face of the Battle. The Impact of War on Civilians in the Ancient Near East, eds. Davide Nadali, and Jordi Vidal. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.Search in Google Scholar

Gelb, Ignace J. 1972. The Arua Institution. RA 66: 1–32.Search in Google Scholar

———. 1979. Household and Family in Early Mesopotamia. Pp. 1–97 in State and Temple Economy in the Ancient near East, ed. E. Lipiński. Leuven: Departement Oriëntalistiek.Search in Google Scholar

———. 1982. Terms for Slaves in Ancient Mesopotamia. Pp. 81–98 in Societies and Languages of the Ancient near East. Studies in Honour of I. M. Diakonoff, ed. J. Nicholas Postgate. Warminster: Aris & Phillips.Search in Google Scholar

Godelier, Maurice. 1999. The Enigma of the Gift. Cambridge: Polity Press. [First published in French as L’Énigme du don. Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1996].10.7146/ta.v0i41.107519Search in Google Scholar

Heimpel, Wolfgang. 2000. Ninhursaga A. RlA 9: 378–81.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2009. Blind Workers in Ur III Texts. KASKAL 6: 43–48.Search in Google Scholar

Hussein, Ayad Mohammad et al. 2010. Tell Abu Sheeja/Ancient Pašime. Report on the First Season of Excavations, 2007. Akkadica 131: 47–103.Search in Google Scholar

Jacobsen, Thorkild. 1957. Early Political Development in Mesopotamia. ZA 52: 91–140.10.1515/zava.1957.52.1.91Search in Google Scholar

Kleber, Kristin. 2011. Neither Slave nor Truly Free: The Status of the Dependents of Babylonian Temple Households. Pp. 101–11 in Slaves and Households in the Near East, ed. Laura Culbertson. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar

Marchesi, Gianni. 2004. Who Was Buried in the Royal Tombs of Ur? the Epigraphic and Textual Data. OrNS 73: 153–97.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2011. Goods from the Queen of Dilmun. Pp. 189–99 in Akkade Is King! A Collection of Papers by Friends and Colleagues Presented to Aage Westenholz on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday (PIHANS 118), eds. Gojko Barjamovic, Jacob L. Dahl, Ulla S. Koch, Walter Sommerfeld, and Joan Goodnick Westenholz. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2015. Toward a Chronology of Early Dynastic Rulers in Mesopotamia. Pp. 139–56 in Associated Regional Chronologies for the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean 3. History & Philology, eds. Walther Sallaberger, and Ingo Schrakamp. Turnhout: Brepols.Search in Google Scholar

Marchesi, Gianni, and Nicolò Marchetti. 2011. Royal Statuary of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia. MC 14. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.10.1515/9781575066516Search in Google Scholar

Matthews, Roger. 1993. Cities, Seals and Writing: Archaic Seal Impressions from Jemdet Nasr and Ur. (MSVO 2). Berlin: Gebr. Mann.Search in Google Scholar

Mayerová, Hana. 2015. The Queens of Lagash in the Early Dynastic Period: Especially the Last Three Royal Couples. Pp. 259–65 in It’s a Long Way to a Historiography of the Early Dynastic Period(s), eds. Reinhard Dittmann, and Gebhard J. Selz. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.Search in Google Scholar

Metzler, Irina. 2013. A Social History of Disability in Middle Ages. Cultural Considerations of Physical Impairment. New York/London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203371169Search in Google Scholar

Molina, Manuel. 2013. On the Location of Irisagrig. Pp. 59–87 in From the 21st Century B.C. To the 21st Century A.D. Proceedings of the International Conference on Sumerian Studies Held in Madrid, 22-24 July 2010, eds. Steven Garfinkle, and Manuel Molina. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.10.5325/j.ctv1bxgxr7.9Search in Google Scholar

———. 2019. The Palace in Adab during the Sargonic Period. Pp. 151–200 in Der Palast im antiken und islamischen Orient. 9. Internationales Colloquium der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 30. März – 1. April 2016, Frankfurt am Main, ed. Dirk Wicke. Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz.Search in Google Scholar

Monaco, Salvatore F. 2011. Early Dynastic mu-iti Cereal Texts in the Cornell University Collections. CUSAS 14. Bethesda, MD: CDL Press.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2015. More on Pre-Sargonic Umma. Pp. 161–66 in Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East. Proceedings of the 57th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Rome, 4-8 July 2011. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.10.1515/9781575063584-015Search in Google Scholar

Neumann, Hans. 2011. Slavery in Private Households toward the End of the Third Millennium B.C. Pp. 21–32 in Slaves and Households in the Near East, ed. Laura Culbertson. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar

Notizia, Palmiro, and Giuseppe Visicato. 2016. Early Dynastic and Early Sargonic Administrative Texts Mainly from the Umma Region in the Cornell University Cuneiform Collections. CUSAS 33. Bethesda, MD: CDL Press.Search in Google Scholar

Pettinato, Giovanni. 1981. Testi lessicali monolingui della biblioteca L. 2796. MEE 3. Napoli: Istituto universitario orientale di Napoli.Search in Google Scholar

Pomponio, Francesco. 1987. La prosopografia dei testi presargonici di Fara. Rome: La Sapienza.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2015. The Rulers of Adab. Pp. 191–95 in Associated Regional Chronologies for the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean 3. History & Philology, eds. Walther Sallaberger, and Ingo Schrakamp. Turnhout: Brepols.Search in Google Scholar

Pomponio, Francesco, Marten Stol, and Aage Westenholz. 2006. Le tavolette cuneiformi delle collezioni della Banca d’Italia II. Tavolette cuneiformi di varia provenienza delle collezioni della Banca d’Italia. Rome: Banda d’Italia.Search in Google Scholar

Pomponio, Francesco, and Giuseppe Visicato. 1994. Early Dynastic Administrative Tablets from Šuruppak. Napoli: Istituto universitario orientale di Napoli.Search in Google Scholar

Postgate, J. Nicholas. 1976. Inscriptions from Tell Al-Wilayah. Sumer 32: 77–100.Search in Google Scholar

Rainey, Anson F. 2015. The El-Amarna Correspondance, Vol. 2 . Leiden/Boston: Brill.10.1163/9789004281547Search in Google Scholar

Reid, John Nicholas. 2016. The Birth of the Prison: The Functions of Imprisonment in Early Mesopotamia. JANEH 3: 81–115.10.1515/janeh-2017-0008Search in Google Scholar

Richardson, Seth. 2015. Building Larsa: Labor-Value, Scale and Scope-of-Economy in Ancient Mesopotamia. Pp. 237–328 in Labor in the Ancient World, eds. Piotr Steinkeller, and Michael Hudson. Dresden: ISLET-Verlag.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2019. Walking Capital: The Economic Function and Social Location of Babylonian Servitude. Journal of Global Slavery 4: 1–58.10.1163/2405836X-00402009Search in Google Scholar

Rotman, Youval. 2014. Forms of Slavery. Pp. 263–78 in A Companion to Mediterranean History, eds. Peregrine Horden, and Sharon Kinoshita. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.10.1002/9781118519356.ch17Search in Google Scholar

Sallaberger, Walther. 2003. Nachrichten an den Palast von Ebla. Eine Deutung von níĝ-mul-(an). Pp. 600–25 in Semitic and Assyriological Studies Presented to Pelio Fronzaroli by Pupils and Colleagues, ed. Paolo Marrassini. Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2019. Who Is Elite? Two Exemplary Cases from Early Bronze Age Syro-Mesopotamia. Pp. 893–921 in De l’argile au numérique. Mélanges assyriologiques en l’honneur de Dominique Charpin, eds. Gregory Chambon, Michaël Guichard, and Anne-Isabelle Langlois. Leuven: Peeters.10.2307/j.ctv1q26s9t.47Search in Google Scholar

Sallaberger, Walther, and Ingo Schrakamp (eds.) 2015. Associated Regional Chronologies for the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean 3. History & Philology. Turnhout: Brepols.Search in Google Scholar

Selz, Gebhard J. 1989. Altsumerische Verwaltungestexte aus Lagaš. Teil 1. Die altsumerischen Wirtschaftsurkunden der Eremitage zu Leningrad. (FAOS 15 (1)). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.Search in Google Scholar

———. 1991. “Elam” und “Sumer” – Skizze einer Nachbarschaft nach inschriftlichen Quellen der vorsargonischen Zeit. Pp. 27–43 in Mésopotamie et Elam. Actes de la XXXVIème Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Gand, 10-14 juillet 1989 (MHEO 1), eds. Léon De Meyer, and Hermann Gasche. Ghent: University of Ghent.Search in Google Scholar

———. 1993. Altsumerische Verwaltungestexte aus Lagaš. Teil 2. Altsumerische Wirtschaftsurkunden aus amerikanischen Sammlungen. (FAOS 15 (2)). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.Search in Google Scholar

Selz, Gebhard J. 1998. Über Mesopotamische Herrschaftskonzepte. Zu den Ursprüngen mesopotamischer Herrschaftsideologie im 3. Jahrtausend. Pp. 281–344 in Dubsar anta-men. Studien Zur Altorientalistik (FS Willem H. PH. Römer), eds. Manfried Dietrich, and Oswald Loretz. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2013. Trade Posts and Encampments as Corner Stones of Exchange. Pp. 215–31 in Patterns of Urban Societies (AOAT 390), eds. Thomas Kämmerer, and Sabine Rogge. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2014. Feeding the Travelers: On Early Dynastic Travel, Travel Networks and Travel Provisions in the Frame of Third Millennium Mesopotamia. Pp. 261–79 in Paleonutrition and Food Practices in the Ancient near East (History of the Ancient Near East/Monographs XVI), ed. Lucio Milano. Padova: S.A.R.G.O.N.Search in Google Scholar

Steible, Horst. 2015. The Geographical Horizon of the Texts from Fara/Shuruppag. Pp. 157–61 in Associated Regional Chronologies for the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean 3. History & Philology, eds. Walther Sallaberger, and Ingo Schrakamp. Turnhout: Brepols.Search in Google Scholar

Steinkeller, Piotr. 1987. The Foresters of Umma: Toward a Definition of Ur III Labor. Pp. 73–115 in Labor in the Ancient Near East, ed. Marvin A. Powell. New Haven, CT: American Oriental Society.Search in Google Scholar

———. 1992. Third-Millennium Legal and Administrative Texts in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad. MC 4. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2002a. Archaic City Seals and the Question of Early Babylonian Unity. Pp. 249‒257 in Riches Hidden in Secret Places: Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Memory of Thorkild Jacobsen, ed. Tzvi Abusch. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.10.1515/9781575065335-020Search in Google Scholar

———. 2002b. More on the Archaic City Seals. NABU 2002(2)/30: 29.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2013a. An Archaic “Prisoner Plaque” from Kiš. RA 107: 131–57.10.3917/assy.107.0131Search in Google Scholar

———. 2013b. Corvée Labor in Ur III Times. Pp. 347–424 in From the 21st Century B.C. To the 21st Century A.D. Proceedings of the International Conference on Sumerian Studies Held in Madrid, 22-24 July 2010, eds. Steven Garfinkle, and Manuel Molina. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.10.5325/j.ctv1bxgxr7.24Search in Google Scholar

———. 2013c. Puzur-Inšušinak at Susa: A Pivotal Episode of Early Elamite History Reconsidered. Pp. 293–317 in Susa and Elam. Archaeological, Philological, Historical and Geographical Perspectives. Proceedings of the International Congress Held at Ghent University, December 14-17, 2009 (MDP 58), eds. Katrien De Graef, and Jan Tavernier. Leiden/Boston: Brill.10.1163/9789004207417_017Search in Google Scholar

——— 2014. A Campaign of Southern City-States against Kiš as Documented in ED IIIa Sources from Šuruppak (Fara). Unpublished paper presented at the 224th Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Phoenix, March 14‒17, 2014.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2015a. Labor in the Early States: An Early Mesopotamian Perspective. Pp. 1–35 in Labor in the Ancient World, eds. Piotr Steinkeller, and Michael Hudson. Dresden: ISLET-Verlag.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2015b. The Employment of Labor on National Building Projects in the Ur III Period. Pp. 137–236 in Labor in the Ancient World, eds. Piotr Steinkeller, and Michael Hudson. Dresden: ISLET-Verlag.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2017a. An Estimate of the Population of the City of Umma in Ur III Times. Pp. 535–66 in At the Dawn of History. Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honour of J. N. Postgate, ed. Y. Heffron et al. Winona Lake: Einsenbrauns.10.1515/9781575064741-038Search in Google Scholar

———. 2017b. History, Texts and Art in Early Babylonia. Three Essays. SANER 15. Boston/Berlin: De Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar

———. 2018. The Birth of Elam in History. Pp. 177–202 in The Elamite World, eds. Javier Álvarez-Mon, Gian Pietro Basello, and Yasmina Wicks. London/New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781315658032-11Search in Google Scholar

Such-Gutiérrez, Marcos. 2004/2005. Untersuchungen zum Pantheon von Adab im 3. Jt. AfO 51: 1–44.Search in Google Scholar

Taylor, Claire, and Kostas Vlassopoulos. 2015. Introduction: An Agenda for the Study of Greek History. Pp. 1–31 in Communities and Networks in the Ancient Greek World, eds. Claire Taylor, and Kostas Vlassopoulos. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198726494.003.0001Search in Google Scholar

Tenney, Jonathan S. 2017. Babylonian Populations, Servility, and Cuneiform Records. JESHO 60: 715–87.10.1163/15685209-12341440Search in Google Scholar

Trigger, Bruce G. 2003. Understanding Early Civilizations. A Comparative Study. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511840630Search in Google Scholar

Van De Mieroop, Marc. 2002. In Search of Prestige: Foreign Contacts and the Rise of an Elite in Early Dynastic Babylonia. Pp. 125–37 in Leaving No Stones Unturned. Essays on the Ancient Near East and Egypt in Honor of Donald P. Hansen, ed. Erica Ehrenberg. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.10.5325/j.ctv1bxh4bc.16Search in Google Scholar

Verderame, Lorenzo. 2018. Slavery in Third-Millennium Mesopotamia. An Overview of Sources and Studies. Journal of Global Slavery 3: 13–40.10.1163/2405836X-00301003Search in Google Scholar

Viano, Maurizio. 2019. On the Location of Irisagrig Once Again. JCS 71: 35–52.10.1086/703852Search in Google Scholar

Visicato, Giuseppe. 1995. The Bureaucracy of Šuruppak. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.Search in Google Scholar

Waetzoldt, Hartmut. 1988. Die Situation der Frauen und Kinder anhand ihrer Einkommensverhältnisse zur Zeit der III. Dynastie von Ur. AoF 15: 30–44.10.1524/aofo.1988.15.12.30Search in Google Scholar

Warf, Barney, and Santa Arias (eds.) 2009. The Spatial Turn. Interdisciplinary Perspectives. London/New York: Routledge.10.4324/9780203891308Search in Google Scholar

Westenholz, Aage. 2014. A Third-Millennium Miscellany of Cuneiform Texts. CUSAS 26. Bethesda, MD: CDL Press.Search in Google Scholar

Wilcke, Claus. 1985. Familiengründung im Alten Babylonien. Pp. 213–317 in Geschlechtsreife und Legitimazion zur Zeugung, ed. Ernst Wilhelm Müller. Freiburg/München: Karl Alber.Search in Google Scholar

———. 1996. Neue Rechtsurkunden der Altsumerischen Zeit. ZA 86: 1–67.10.1515/zava.1996.86.1.1Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2020-06-12
Published in Print: 2020-09-25

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter Inc., Boston/Berlin

Downloaded on 9.6.2024 from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/janeh-2019-0006/html
Scroll to top button