Abstract
A hundred tablets studied from 2014 at Cornell University (USA), before their return to Iraq, represent part of a larger set of administrative " archives " from the kingdom of Larsa. Most of these are letters from Sasiya, an important figure in the service of King Sumu-El (1894-1866 B.C. n. è.), addressed to his butler Imlik-Sîn, who was based in the city of Rahabum. Although the king is often mentioned and may have occasionally written to Imlik-Sîn or other agents present in the area, he had little involvement in local management, certainly deferring to Sasiya. The correspondence (in Akkadian) received by Imlik-Sîn or other of his colleagues takes the form of rather dry instructions relating to various areas of local administration : management of personnel, the army, reserves, and to a lesser extent land, agriculture (particularly irrigation) and justice. Although such documentation is virtually devoid of narrative content, it nevertheless reveals many aspects of the palatial organization and society of a provincial city in southern Mesopotamia during the period of the Amorite kingdoms.
