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and from other wealth that they exploited. Together they controlled
most of the agricultural land, the principal source of the empire’s
wealth. From the reign of Shulgi, they came under the control of
the state, being directly under the ensiks’ authority.^35
A chief administrator (sanga) headed the productive sector of each
estate. Alongside him or, sometimes, instead of him, there could be
one or two foremen (“abra or ugula-é), often more specifically in
charge of the agricultural land and the specialized teams responsi-
ble for work on the irrigated fields. The texts from Tello/Girsu and
Jokha/Umma provide information on organization and administra-
tive hierarchy within these estates.^36
External trade was in the hands of specialized commercial agents
(dam-gàr), whose status vis-à-vis the administration is still not very
clear, notwithstanding recent research which tends to stress their
independence and the private nature of their commercial activities,^37
revealing the existence of veritable associations of private entrepre-
neurs.^38 For this trade barley as well as silver was used as a “money”
standard, on the understanding that the provincial administration
functioned more or less as a bank.^392.4.2.5 The bala System
Shulgi established an important institution that ensured remission to
the central authority of the contributions, taxes, and production sur-
pluses of the core provinces of the empire. This was the bala sys-
tem, a fixed annual rota of monthly payments within the framework
of which each ensik had to provide “in turn” (the etymological mean-
ing of the word “bala”) a certain quantity of contributions and pay-
ments.^40 They were administered from a large center situated near
Nippur: Esagdana-Nibru (on the site of modern Drehem), which was
expanded and renamed Puzri“-Dagan after an official re-foundation
in year 38 of Shulgi’s reign.^41(^35) It has been called the “nationalization of the temples by Shulgi” (Postgate,
Early Mesopotamia, 300).
(^36) Gelb, “Household.. .”; Lafont, “L’avènement.. .”; Englund, Fischerei.. ., 58–63;
Maekawa, “Temples...”
(^37) Powell, “Sumerian Merchants.. .”; Neumann, “Ur-dumuzida.. .”; Snell,
Ledgers...
(^38) Van de Mieroop, “Tûram-Ilî......”
(^39) Powell, “Monies...”
(^40) Hallo, “Amphictyony.. .”; Steinkeller, “Administrative.. .”; Maeda, “Bal-
ensi.. .,” and “”à-bal-a...”
(^41) Steinkeller, “Administrative.. .,”and “New Light.. .,” 65; Sigrist, Drehem, 14–20.
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