in front of witnesses. In this way it would be immediately
clear if someone had gained unauthorized access. Livestock
could be branded in such a way that marked them as temple
property, and even the temple dependents who formed part
of its workforce could be marked to make it diffi cult for them
to escape.
Th us the institutional administration contained inbuilt
deterrents against fraud and theft , but they could not be en-
tirely eliminated. Normally it is diffi cult to extract informa-
tion on these subjects from the cuneiform tablets that made
up the institutional archives. To shed light on them, docu-
ments that tell a story rather than simply recording the trans-
fer of commodities are needed. In records of accounts there
are many cases where the fi gures do not add up, but it is im-
possible to prove that these represent a deliberate attempt to
defraud rather than simply errors on the part of the scribe.
Suitable sources include records of lawsuits and letters
containing anecdotal evidence of corruption. Fortunately,
some of the surviving archives contain material of this kind.
Th e Eanna temple archive from Neo-Babylonian Uruk isone; it contains many documents recording cases brought
before the temple authorities. Most involve relatively minor
episodes of theft and embezzlement. Th ere was one particu-
larly persistent off ender, a man named Gimillu. His career
is documented over a period of around 20 years; at fi rst he
was in charge of the livestock owed to the temple, and later
he was responsible for the income from the temple’s agricul-
tural land. Gimillu misappropriated temple property on a
large scale; even aft er being convicted and fi ned heavily and
then trying to abscond, he continued to work for the temple
in a responsible position. Th ere does seem to have been a
high degree of tolerance toward convicted thieves and fraud-
sters. From the private sphere in the Neo-Babylonian Period
(625–539 b.c.e.) there is a court record concerning attempted
extortion by a man who tried to pass off a forged cuneiform
tablet. When challenged by the intended victim, he snatched
the clay tablet from his victim’s hands and tried to destroy it
by chewing it. Other records reveal that even though he was
found guilty, the villain continued to conduct business. Th e
scribe who wrote the fake tablet was also liable to be punished
when caught.ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
BY KIRK H. BEETZ
Although Confucius (551–479 b.c.e.) believed that China had
an ancient past that featured good and just governments, it
seems that no ancient Chinese government at any time was
free of corruption. Written records for the Shang (1500–1045
b.c.e.) and early Zhou (1045–256 b.c.e.) dynasties are scant,
but those that exist suggest that corruption among military
leaders and government offi cials was constant throughout
the history of ancient China. One corrupt practice involved
the trading of women by powerful men. During the Six Dy-
nasties (220–589 c.e.) women were used as bribes, and if the
bribes persuaded generals to switch sides during a war, the
fates of millions of people changed based on a man’s lust for
women. Many military leaders were not susceptible to being
bribed with women but could be bribed with gift s of horses or
money. Th us, the corruption of some Chinese leaders reduced
women to the level of horses, and for the sake of their bribes
they betrayed their province or country, their lord or king,
and broke their oaths of loyalty. Sometimes tens of thousands
of people died when the man who was supposed to protect
them changed sides for a bribe and killed them.
Many historians consider the era of Confucius to have
been notably corrupt. Most of the people of China were peas-
ants who were forced to work every day in their fi elds. From
the Zhou Dynasty through the end of the ancient era kings
occasionally tried to redistribute land to peasants, but mem-
bers of the nobility would confi scate land or loan peasants
money at interest rates that were impossible to repay. Th ey
would then take the peasants’ lands and force the former
owners to work the lands for the profi t of the nobles, making
the peasants slaves in all but name.Stone panel from the palace of Sennacherib, Nineveh, northern Iraq,
Neo-Assyrian, about 700–695 b.c.e.; this panel shows soldiers of the
royal guard; the king’s death was thought to have been the result of
a plot within the palace to murder him. (© Th e Trustees of the British
Museum)912 scandals and corruption: Asia and the Pacific0895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i912 912 10/10/07 2:30:24 PM