A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

2.1.1.7 Presargonic kings claimed divine parents^29 but, other than

Naràm-Su"en of Agade, kings were not worshipped as gods.

2.1.2 The Legislature

Kings (Irikagina) and stewards (Enmetena) issued edicts binding the

commoners and officials of their state or city-state.

2.1.3 The Administration

2.1.3.1 Central Administration

2.1.3.1.1 Traces of a central administration can be found in a few

documents from ”uruppak (Fàra period), cited by Jacobsen as evi-

dence for a “Kengir League.”^30 Mention of part of the price for a

field (twenty shekels of silver and six sheep) sent from Isin to the

OS king Ur-zà.g-è at Uruk seems to arise from a private obligation;

no reason is given for a gift sent from Nippur to King Lugal-kisalsi

of Uruk and a prince.^31

2.1.3.1.2 During the Sargonic period huge royal households admin-

istered by a “abra é.k (“manager of the house”)^32 were established

in different parts of the land, especially in the Sumerian south.^33

Such administrators could attend to affairs in different provinces,

e.g., Laga“and Adab.^34 At Umma the local steward (énsi.k) and a

royal scribe measure out together the enormous area of eighty-eight

bùr of land (ca. 5.7 km^2 ) for a person (Yi†ìb-Mèr) high in the royal

hierarchy.^35 All this points to a central administration in the capital

centered around the king and his family and, most probably, not

distinguishing between the king’s private and state affairs.

(^29) Bauer, “Der vorsargonische Abschnitt.. .,” 462; Wilcke, “Familiengründung.. .,”
298–303.
(^30) Jacobsen, “Early Political Development.. .,” 121f.; Steinkeller, “Archaic Seals.. .”
(^31) Wilcke, “Neue Rechtsurkunden.. .,” 48f. (Isin); Westenholz, Early Cuneiform
Texts.. ., no. 140 (Nippur).
(^32) Foster, “Management.. .,” 28f.
(^33) Documented for northern Babylonia by the Man-ishtushu-Obelisk (Gelb et al.,
Earliest Land Tenure.. ., no. 40); for discussion and references, see Steinkeller, “Land
Tenure.. .,” esp. 554 and n. 5.
(^34) Kienast and Volk, Briefe.. ., pp. 53ff.
(^35) Foster, Umma.. ., 88 and pl. 6 no. 18; see Westenholz, Review, 78 and n. 12,
who calls Yi†ìb-Mèr “the powerful Prime Minister under Sharkalisharri.”
     147
WESTBROOK_F4_141-181 8/27/03 1:40 PM Page 147