Suchergebnisse

Shulgi-simti is an important example of a woman involved in sponsoring religious activities though having a family life. An Ox of One's Own will be of interest to Assyriologists, particularly those interested in Early Mesopotamia, and scholars working on women in religion. An Ox of One's Own centers on the archive of a woman who died about 2050 B.C., one of King Shulgi's many wives. Her birth name is unknown, but when she married, she became Shulgi-simti, "Suitable for Shulgi." Attested for only about 15 years, she existed among a court filled with other wives, who probably outranked her. A religious foundation was run on her behalf whereby courtiers, male and female, donated livestock for sacrifices to an unusual mix of goddesses and gods.Previous scholarship has declared this a rare example of a queen conducting women's religion, perhaps unusual because they say she came from abroad. The conclusions of this book are quite different.An Ox of One's Own lays out the evidence that another woman was queen at this time in Nippur while Shulgi-simti lived in Ur and was a third-ranking concubine at best, with few economic resources. Shulgi-simti's religious exercises concentrated on a quartet of north Babylonian goddesses.

This volume investigates the relationship between the central government and the provinces during the Ur III period (2112-2004 B.C.). Specifically, the book focuses on one system of taxation known as "bala," or "rotation," so called as provinces' payments rotated month by month throughout the year. This work is the first to take an interarchival approach, discussing Sumerian tablets from Umma, Lagash and Puzriš-Dagan, and is the first major synthesis of what has long been recognized as a fundamental institution. The book contains six chapters and detailed appendices (including charts, the edition of approximately 150 previously unpublished tablets and bibliographical material)