Cuneiform tablets from Kassite Babylonia record the names of thousands of individuals who interacted at different levels with the institutions that produced these texts. A useful criterion to recognize, among them, those who had an active role in the resource management is looking for personal names that follow the term “hand” (Akk. qatum), which in this context signifies authority and control over goods and individuals. The paper offers a detailed study of the data about Mudammiq-Adad, a scribe whose “hand” played a significant role in the administrative system recorded by the texts from Dur-Enlile. By analyzing his activities and interactions with other individuals, this study sheds light on a network of closely interacting agents, offers new insights into the role of scribes within the administration and highlights the collaborative rather than hierarchical nature of their participation in the operational dynamics of the economic organization they worked for.

From Hand to Hand: Tracking the Workflow of Kassite Officials

elena devecchi
2023-01-01

Abstract

Cuneiform tablets from Kassite Babylonia record the names of thousands of individuals who interacted at different levels with the institutions that produced these texts. A useful criterion to recognize, among them, those who had an active role in the resource management is looking for personal names that follow the term “hand” (Akk. qatum), which in this context signifies authority and control over goods and individuals. The paper offers a detailed study of the data about Mudammiq-Adad, a scribe whose “hand” played a significant role in the administrative system recorded by the texts from Dur-Enlile. By analyzing his activities and interactions with other individuals, this study sheds light on a network of closely interacting agents, offers new insights into the role of scribes within the administration and highlights the collaborative rather than hierarchical nature of their participation in the operational dynamics of the economic organization they worked for.
2023
Inglese
Esperti anonimi
58
103
114
12
Prosopography, scribes, administrative system, Kassite Babylonia, Dūr-Enlilē
no
   Networks of Power: Institutional Hierarchies and State Management in Late Bronze Age Western Asia
   NePO
   MINISTERO DELL'ISTRUZIONE, DELL'UNIVERSITA' E DELLA RICERCA
   2020BYTM23
2 – prodotto con deroga d’ufficio (SOLO se editore non consente/non ha risposto)
262
1
elena devecchi
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
reserved
03-CONTRIBUTO IN RIVISTA::03A-Articolo su Rivista
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1959992
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