Economics and Administration in the Old Babylonian Period: Reflections on N. Yoffee, the Economic Role of the Crown in the Old Babylonian Period

Abstract

Assyriology, especially the study of the Old Babylonian period, has reached a stage in its development in which we are approaching the ability to answer a number of most important questions concerning the socioeconomic development of ancient society. One such question, concerning the role the state sector played in Old Babylonian society, has thus far been very little studied in Assyriological literature. N. Yoffee's recent monograph, actually a revision of his doctoral dissertation,2 is an important new contribution to this problem. Everyone who has delved into Old Babylonian socio-economic history sooner or later faces the necessity of understanding the structure and internal organization of the state sector, as well as its connections to other socio-economic institutions. This is due to the very character of the material in question. All our investigations are based mainly on the study of written documents. Although in comparison with the preceding Ur III period the subject matter of the textual data of the Old Babylonian period had changed significantly, this change provided the material with a greater depth, rather than widening its nature. In the earlier period the archives cover almost exclusively the activities of the great households (the state and temple estates); so too in the Old Babylonian period they give no direct information about the communal sector. We do learn about the existence of the rural community in both periods, but mostly from indirect references to it in documents of the state sector. In the Old Babylonian period the royal officials seem to have acquired more independence and initiative, since the number of documents which reflects various aspects of their activities increased greatly. These documents have traditionally been referred to as private legal documents; having the appearance of recording private actions. They in fact represent either new methods of carrying out official duties or refer to intermediate private manipulations with official