Accounting documents for a fattening center (bīt marî) in the Larsa region

Abstract

Numerous Paleobabylonian administrative texts, discovered since the late 80s in the Larsa region, record foodstuffs (grain and flour) and animals (sheep, cattle and pigs) intended for meals (naptanum). D. Charpin and A. Jacquet had reviewed this documentation in 2013 as part of the ARCHIBAB project (NABU 2013/4), and noted in particular the regular mention of a fattening center,É.GU₄.UDU.NIGA.

Ten years later, the work of A. Murad, L. Colonna d'Istria and G. Chambon has identified and brought together 132 archival documents from this center, offering detailed information on its organization and administrative activities between the^2nd and ^26th year of Rīm-Sîn's reign.

This paper aims, firstly, to present the characteristics of this documentation from the point of view of its external aspects and its content (document diplomacy) and, secondly, to focus on the information provided by the internal analysis and serialization of the texts.