Reform Edict of Urukagina

Document Text

1

i 1–2) For the god Ningirsu, warrior of the god Enlil,

i 3–5) URU-KA-gina, king of Lagaš,

i 6–7) built the “palace” of [the city of] Tiraš,

i 8–9) built the Antasur [“Northern(?) Boundary”],

i 10– ii 3) built the temple of the goddess Baba and built a pantry[?] for her, her building of regular provisions,

ii 4–6) and built her sheep-plucking shed in the holy precinct for her.

ii 7–13) For the goddess Nanše, he dug the Nimin-DU canal, her beloved canal, and extended its outlet to the sea.

ii 14–iii 1) He built the wall of Girsu for him [the god Ningirsu].

iii 2–3) Now, since time immemorial, since the seed [of life] came forth—

iii 4–6) In those days [before me], the head boatman appropriated boats,

iii 7–8) the livestock official appropriated asses,

iii 9–10) the livestock manager appropriated sheep,

iii 11–13) the fisheries inspector appropriated taxes,

iii 14–17) and the lustration priests measured out grain taxes [as payment] at [the town of] AMBAR.

iii 18–iv 1) The shepherds of wool-bearing sheep paid [a tax] in silver instead of [the correct practice of giving] a white sheep,

iv 2–8) and the surveyor, chief lamentation singer, supervisor, brewer, and foremen paid [a tax] in silver instead of [the correct practice of giving] and offering lamb.

iv 9–18) The oxen of the gods [i.e., of the temples] ploughed the garlic plot of the ruler, and the best fields of the gods [i.e., of the temples] became the garlic and cucumber plots of the ruler.

iv 19–22) Teamed asses and unblemished oxen were yoked for the temple administrators,

v 1–3) and the grain of the temple administrators was divided up by the [work/military] crews of the ruler.

v 4–21) The temple administrators took [the following items as payments] instead of corvée duty: [woolen garments of the type] “Ear of the Mongoose,” U.AŠ, and ŠU.GABA.UR, an outer woolen garment, a … linen draping, naked flax, flax tied in bundles, a bronze helmet, a bronze arrow[?], a bronze throw-stick/bow[?], burnished leather, wing[-feathers] of a yellow raven, shoots [for] … and a goat with its full fleece.

v 22–vi 3) The … temple administrators ripped out the orchards of the poor and tied up [the fruit] in bundles.

vi 4–12) When a corpse was brought to the grave, the undertaker took his seven jugs of beer, his 420 loaves of bread, 2 gur of hazi-grain, one woolen garment, one lead goat, and one bed.

vi 13–14) The wailing women took one ul of barley.

vi 15–16) When a man was brought [for burial] at the “reeds of Enki,”

vi 17–24) the undertaker took his seven jugs of beer, his 420 loaves of bread, 2 ul of barley, one woolen garment, one bed, and one chair.

vi 25–27) The old wailing women took one gur of barley.

vi 28–vii l) The craftsmen [took] the bread for the šuila rite,

vii 2–4) and the two “young men” received the safe passage toll for the “great gate” [to the world beyond].

vii 5–11) The estate and fields of the ruler, the estate and fields of the “Lady” [the “Woman,” i.e., the ruler’s wife] and the estate and fields of the “Organization of the Children” [i.e., the ruler’s children] were consolidated[?].

vii 12–16) Bailiffs [of the court] held jurisdiction from the boundary of the god Ningirsu to the sea.

vii 17–19) When a subordinate to the king would build a well on the narrow edge of his field.

vii 20–21) the blind workers were appropriated [for the work],

vii 22–25) and the blind workers were also appropriated for [work on] the irrigation canals which were in the field.

vii 26–28) These were the proprietary rights of former days.

vii 29–30) When the god Ningirsu, warrior of the god Enlil,

viii 1–4) granted the kingship of Lagaš to URU-KA-gina,

viii 5–6) selecting him from among the myriad people,

viii 7–13) he restored the customs of former times, carrying out the command that the god Ningirsu, his master, had given him.

viii 14–16) He removed the head boatman from [control over] the boats,

viii 17–20) he removed the livestock official from [control over] asses and sheep,

viii 21–23) he removed the fisheries inspector from [control over] taxes,

viii 24–27) he removed the silo supervisor from [control over] the grain taxes of the lustration priests,

viii 28–ix 1) he removed the [court bailiff responsible] for the paying [of duties] in silver instead of white sheep and young lambs,

ix 2–6) and he removed the [responsibility] for the delivery of duties by the temple administrators to the palace.

ix 7–11) He installed Ningirsu as proprietor over the ruler’s estate and the king’s fields;

ix 12–16) he installed Baba as proprietor of the estate of the women’s organization and the fields of the women’s establishment;

ix 17–21) and he installed Šulšagana as proprietor of the children’s estate.

ix 22–25) From the boundary of the god Ningirsu to the sea bailiffs ceased operations.

ix 26–32) When a corpse is brought for burial, the undertaker takes his 3 jugs of beer, his 80 loaves of bread, one bed, and one “leading goat,”

ix 33–34) and the wailing women takes 3 ban of barley.

ix 35–x 1) When a man is brought for the “reed of Enki,”

x 2–6) then the undertaker takes his 4 jugs of beer, his 420 loaves of bread, and one gur of barley;

x 7–9) the wailing women take 3 ban of barley,

x 10–13) and the ereš-digir-priestess takes one lady’s cloth headdress, and one sila of aromatic oil.

x 14–15) 420 loaves of dry bread are the bread duty,

x 16–17) 40 loaves of hot bread are for the meal,

x 18–19) and 10 loaves of hot bread are for the table bread;

x 20) 5 loaves of bread are for the lu-ziga attendants,

x 21–23) 2 mud vessels and 1 sadug vessel of beer are for the lamentation singers of Girsu;

x 24–27) 490 loaves of bread, 2 mud vessels, and one sadug vessel of beer are for the lamentation singers of Lagaš;

x 28–30) 406 loaves of bread, one mud vessel, and one sadug vessel of beer are for the [other] lamentation singers;

x 31–33) 250 loaves of bread and one mud vessel of beer are for the old wailing women;

x 34–37) 180 loaves of bread and one mud vessel of beer are for the old women of Nigin.

x 38–xi 6) For the blind ones who wait anxiously—one loaf is their evening bread, five loaves are their bread for the middle of the night, one loaf is their bread for dawn, and six loaves are their bread for mid-day.

xi 7–10) 60 loaves, one mud vessel of beer, and 3 bar of barley are for those who perform the role of sagbur.

xi 11–13) He removed the safe passage toll of the great gate for the pair or workers,

xi 14–16) and lifted the [payment] of šuila bread for the craftsmen.

xi 17–19) The administrators no longer plunder the orchards of the poor.

xi 20–24) When a fine ass is born to a šub-lugal, and his foreman says to him, “I want to buy [it] from you”;

xi 25–28) whether he lets him buy it from him and says to him, “Pay me the price I want!”

xi 29–31) or whether he does not let him buy [it] from him, the foreman must not strike at him in anger.

xi 32–34) When the house of a šub-lugal adjoins the house of a šub-lugal,

xi 35–37) and this … says to him, “I want to buy it from you,”

xi 38–xii 6) whether he lets him buy it from him, having said to him, “Pay me the price I want! My house is a large chest—fill it with barley for me!”

xii 7) Whether he does not let him buy it from him,

xii 8–11) that … must not strike the šub-lugal in anger.

xii 12) [These things] he proclaimed.

xii 13–22) As for the citizens of Lagaš—the one living in debt, the one who had set up [a false] gur measure, the one who had [fraudulently] filled up the [legal] gur measure with barley, the thief, the murderer—he swept the prison clear [of them] and established their freedom.

xii 23–28) URU-KA-gina made a binding oral agreement with the god Ningirsu that he would never subjugate the orphan [or] widow to the powerful.

xii 29–38) In that year URU-KA-gina dug for the god Ningirsu the “Little Canal which belongs to &Gilde;irsu,” and restored its former name, calling it “The God Ningirsu Received [His] Authority from Nippur.”

xii 39–44) He extended it to the Nimin-DU, a canal. The canal is pure, its flood is bright—may it [ever] bring flowing water to the goddess Nanše!…

3

… iii 14–19) If a female speaks to a male [in a way] exceeding her rank [or position in society] one covers the mouth of that women with a baked clay “brick”[?], and that baked brick is hung [in display] at the city gate.

iii 20–24) As for women of former times—a man [could] take two of them; but for women of today—indemnity payments [for debts?] have been removed [and the practice has been abolished].

__________

Reprinted from Douglas Frayne, Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Early Periods, vol. 1: Pre-Sargonic Period (to 2334 B.C.). University of Toronto Press, 2004. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.