CDLN 2011:002
Charles Halton: Weighing Offials at Ur III Umma

During the Ur III period, administrators that weighed garments and metals were naturally very important. The individuals that functioned in this manner are indicated within economic texts with the phrase PN in-la2. Jacob Dahl presents a helpful list of the weighing officials at Umma (2007: 76 n. 279), however, based on a study of the texts within the CDLI database we can add individuals to this list as well as adjust the dates for which these administrators functioned as weighing officials.

Dahl split his list into two parts comprising: 1) officials that weighed garments, and 2) officials that weighed metals. While there is some overlap between these groups, the presentation below will follow Dahl in first listing the officials that weighed garments and then those that weighed metals. Additions and adjustments to Dahl's list are indicated with an asterisk (*).

Garments:
Governor, *Š 40 viii (MMFM 2005, 32, 9) to AS 9 vi
Dadaga and Ikala, Š 47 x to Š 48 vi
Dingira, AS 7 viii to *ŠS 2 vii (BPOA 1, 598)
Gududu, ŠS 9 to *IŠ 1 vii (SAT 3, 1943)
*Ikala (alone), Š 46 x (Nisaba 9, 303) to ŠS 2 iii (UTI 3, 2193)
*Ku-Ninura, ŠS 9 ix (Ontario 2, 487)
Lu-kala (alone), *Š 42 xii (AAICAB 1/2 pl. 87, 1935-520) to *ŠS 5 x (BPOA 7, 2864)
*Lu-kala and Ikala, Š 47 vi (BPOA 1, 989) to Š 47 ix (BPOA 1, 468)
Ur-E'e, *AS 2 vii (BPOA 7, 2393) to *ŠS 5 x (UTI 5, 3373) (AS 9 xi)
*Ur-Nungal, ŠS 2 iv (Princeton 1, 308) to ŠS 5 viii (AAICAB 1/2, pl. 83, 1933-0389d)
*Ur-Šara, Š 48 x (BPOA 7, 2122) to AS 1 ix (BPOA 1, 672)

Metal:
*Archivist (ša13-dub-ba), -- v (SAT 3, 2095)
Governor (ensi2), Š 45 xii to AS 1 v
*Akalla, Š 47 (Princeton 2, 384)
ARAD2(mu), Š 46 vi to AS 1 vii
Dingira, AS 7 v to ŠS 1 vii
Ea-šar, ŠS 7 xii (not vii as listed in Dahl 2007)
*Gududu, IS 3 vi (UTI 5, 3103)
*Lu-banda, Š 44 (BPOA 7, 1667)
*Lugal-Emahe, Š 45 iv (JCS 52, 45 58)
Lu-kala (alone), *AS 7 vi (BPOA 7, 2941) to ŠS 7 i
Lu-kala and Ur-Nungal, AS 5 vi (OrSP 47-49, 339)
Lu-kala and Ur-Šara, *Š 28 iv (BRM 3, 144) to *AS 07 xi (BPOA 7, 2369)
*Ur-E'e, date not preserved (UTI 4, 2767)
*Lu-dLamma, ŠS 7 viii (Nik. 2, 421)
Ur-Nungal, AS 5 vi to *IS 3 xii (CDLN 2011/2 [CMNH 30498-20])
Ur-Šara (alone), *Š 33 ix (MVN 20, 40) to *AS 9 x (SAT 2, 1143)
*Ur-dŠe'e, AS 1 vi (DoCu 222)
*Ur-dNinlil Š 48 v (SAT 624)

The “archivist” in the above list of officials that weighed metals probably refers to Ur-Šara, who had the title ša3-dub-ba, “archivist” (e.g. Princeton 1, 320). However, it may also have referred to Ur-Šara's son Ur-Nungal, who assumed this title in Šu-Suen 5 (UTI 3, 1962).

This list was compiled by examining over 200 texts from Umma within the CDLI database that contain the verb in-la2. In addition to these tablets, a previously unpublished text within the cuneiform collection of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh has extended the date that Ur-Nungal is known to have functioned as a weighing official:

CMNH 30498-20
obverse
 1.1(diš) uruda zi-ir1 copper zir-pot,
 2. ki-la2-bi 6 1/2(diš) ma-na 8(diš) gin2its weight (is) 6 1/2 minas 8 shekels,
 3. ki i3-kal-la-tafrom Ikala
 4. tug2-ba-a bala-a-še3its garments amount for the bala
reverse
 1. ku3-dnin-ur4-raKu-Ninura
 2. in-la2weighed.
 3. iti dli9-si4Month, "Lisi" (9th month),
 4. mu e2-dšara2 ba-du3year: "The Šara temple was built" (ŠS 9).

A complete treatment of this text will appear in Halton Forthcoming as text 60.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dahl, Jacob
2007 The Ruling Family of Ur III Umma: A Prospographical Analysis of an Elite Family on Southern Iraq 4000 Years Ago. Leiden: Netherlands Institute for the Near East
Halton, Charles
Forthcoming “A Study on Tablets in the Collection of the Carnegie Museum.” Ph.D. diss., Hebrew Union College.

February 23, 2011