- 957
The lessors in the documents are mostly free persons or, in the
case of temple property, officials representing the temple. Occasionally
slaves are attested and, more rarely, the palace. In many cases the
lessor was not the owner but was letting land that he himself held from
an institution (temple, ruler), often designated as a feudal tenure.^194
This is particularly true for the Achaemenid period and for the
Mura“û archive, in which a great number of the documents are
leases.^195 Lessees evidently had the right to sub-let.^196
The attested lessees are free and slaves, individuals and groups.
In the latter case, the lessees stand surety for each other. Leases
range from a year to sixty years (the long leases mainly in the Persian
and Hellenistic periods) and in one case (Nbk. 115, royal land),
indefinitely (ana ùmi ßâti). The length of term is not always stated.
Various arrangements were possible with regard to the rent, for
example, a fixed sum (in ana sùticontracts) or share-cropping.^197 A
special form of share-cropping in Achaemenid Nippur and Ur was
a “cultivation tenancy and partnership” (ana errè“ùti u “utàpùti), which
evidently involved equal shares.^198 A widespread form of payment of
rent was for it to be fixed before the harvest by a special commis-
sion (mostly for date orchards, but also for arable land). A debt note
was then issued for the amount of estimated yield (imittu).^1997.9.2.2 Prebends
The holders of prebends did not always carry out the associated
duties themselves. They could transfer them to other persons, as
expressed in a variety of formulas. The most important forms are
ana idì(“for rent”: VAS 5 124 = NRVU 593; 138 = 605), ana sùti
(“by way of lease”: VAS 5 107 = NRVU 607), ana rà/èsinùti (“for
carrying out prebend duties”: passim in Uruk, mainly in the Hellenistic
period),^200 or ana èpi“ànùti (“for carrying out work”: VAS 6 104 =
NRVU 586; 169 = NRVU 611; 182 = NRVU 616). Often the
duties are set out in detail, in which case the documents formally
resemble work contracts (7.11 below).(^194) The various types are listed in ibid., 38–43.
(^195) On the archive, see Cardascia, Les Archives.. .; Stolper, Entrepreneurs...
(^196) Ries, Bodenpachtformulare.. ., 47–50.
(^197) Ibid., 78–85.
(^198) Ibid., 85–90.
(^199) Petschow, “imittu”; Ries, Bodenpachtformulare.. ., 90–110 (also with regard to
other rental payments).
(^200) Discussed by Kessler, Uruk, 79–82.
westbrook_f26_911-974 8/27/03 1:36 PM Page 957