a seal impression) on administrative documents.^23 There was a marked
tendency to record in writing all transactions and administrative oper-
ations and to file them in archives, with a system of multiple checks.
These officials operated exclusively under the delegated authority of
the king, referring to themselves as his servants (arad), in particular
in their seal inscriptions.2.4.1.4 Ur III is often characterized as a period of administrative
centralization, but the situation was not that simple. It is true that
there existed in the central authority a strong desire for social and
economic control, which led to the installation of an enormous
bureaucracy, but at the same time there is evidence of decentralized
control, with each province jealously guarding its own local prac-
tices. It can be seen, for example, in the fact that these provinces
each kept their own calendar (without coordinating among them-
selves the setting of intercalary months) and their own administra-
tive procedures.2.4.2 The Core Provinces
2.4.2.1 The heartland of the empire was divided into some twenty
provinces, mostly corresponding to the old Sumerian city-states and
central provinces of the former Akkadian empire. Politically, the most
important of these provinces were Ur (the political capital), Uruk
(cradle of the dynasty) and Nippur (religious capital and main seat
of government).2.4.2.2 At the head of most provinces was a civil governor (ensik).
Although directly appointed by the king, in practice he was often
chosen from among the leading local families and in the course of
the empire his office tended to become hereditary.
The role of the ensik consisted mainly in overseeing and coordi-
nating the activities of the great institutional estates of his province,
which were the prime source of local wealth: public works, assessment
and oversight of productive capacity, management of raw materials,
organization of labor, collection of taxes and their remission to the
central government; administration of the temples and organization(^23) Steinkeller, “Seal Practice...,” 1977.
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