Lease of temple land by a temple-serf from the crown prince, on a fixed-rent basis. Dialogue document.

A, a temple-serf (širku) of the Lady-of-Uruk, beseeches the crown-prince B that he gives him (nadānu, Prec.) 625 kor of the cultivated land of Eanna in the Sumandar region, as well as 100 ploughmen (ikkaru), 100 oxen (alpu), and 50 cows (littu).* A will deliver yearly 5000 kor of barley to the Eanna temple using the royal measurement (mašīhu). B agrees (šemû, lit. listens) to A’s offer. In addition to the 5000 kor of barley, A will also deliver 3000 bundles of straw to the storehouse (maškattu).

And regarding the 2081 kor of cultivated and fallow land of the Lady-of-Uruk, the rent-farm (sūtu) that is already at his disposal, A will have to relinquish back to the temple’s domain (nakkandu) land equivalent to the one he is leasing now (i.e. = 625 of the 2081 kor). The excess land, i.e. that which exceeds the temple’s resources provided to A, will be tilled by the sharecroppers (errēšu). The measurers of Eanna will measure the land and give Eanna its share.

The contract does not allow for any death among A’s farmers, oxen, and cows; “they are made of iron” (wr. [šá an-ba]r šú-nu), i.e A he should keep the resources provided to him by the temple undiminished. A will present the newborn animals to C, the courtier (ša rēš šarri), and to the scribes of Eanna. These animals will be branded with the temple mark and delivered back to the temple. A is also responsible for the maintenance of the ploughs.

The temple will deliver to A the 625 kor of seed, 5 talent and 20 mina of iron, and 120 kor of barley, salaries for 30 men, for the first year.

0;1. ½ kor of barley per kor will be the salaries of the scribes, measurers, and gatekeepers?.

Names of 7 witnesses and the scribe. The witness list is quite fragmentary, but it is clear that some of the witnesses were high local and state officials.

* The numbers add up to 8 ploughing teams, each will cultivate 25 kor.

A= Ibni-Ištar/Balāṭu, a temple-serf (širku) of the Lady-of-Uruk; B= Belshazzar, royal prince (mār šarri); C= Nabû-šarru-uṣur, courtier (ša rēš šarri)