of the city gates or in the city centres, are clearly attested in the sources. Their import-
ance is also apparent from the fact that from the seventh century onwards, data on
prices of the most important agricultural staples were collected in a temple in Babylon.
The primary purpose of these data was astrological – the prices appear together with
astronomical observations – but the fact that they were worthy of such systematic
attention is sufficient proof of their importance in the mind of contemporaries. A
statistical analysis of these price data, a unique source of information, shows regular
seasonal price differences and consistent long-term trends, but also rather volatile
short-term price fluctuations suggesting poor market-integration which allowed local
shortages to have dramatic short-term effects. All this, and in addition the importance
of cash crop agriculture in the urban hinterland, suggests the existence of an urban
‘working class’, a genuine ‘proletariat’ of considerable size, which was embedded in
a monetised economy and subsisted without a firm base in the production of primary
agricultural goods.^20
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONSThe economy of the Neo-Babylonian period can be considered in many ways a
continuation of that of earlier periods of Mesopotamian history. The same economic
agents – state, temples, the private sector – are present; the ecological background
did not change fundamentally; we are still dealing with a basically agrarian society.
But there are also important changes, the most important being the increasing degree
of urbanisation at least in the north of the country, the concomitant intensification
of agricultural production and increasing importance of cash crops, and the gradual
monetisation of the economy. We probably also see a decrease of the overall importance
of the institutional households; in any case, the temples were struggling to maintain
their prominent position in a changing economic environment which offered a large
range of opportunities to private initiative. The role of the state has not yet been
investigated sufficiently. The principal areas in which its activities affected the economy
are the land-for-service sector on the one hand – through land grants, new population
groups could be integrated into Babylonian society – and the circulation of silver on
the other. Silver came into Babylonia as tribute and booty during the time of the
Chaldean monarchy and was brought into circulation by the government, for instance
through the large-scale building projects. On the other hand, the state increasingly
levied taxes in silver, not in kind; this accelerated the existing trend towards
monetisation. The fact that the Persian government’s tax policies did not lead to
widespread deflation is an indirect confirmation of the assumption that Babylonia’s
foreign trade (in textiles, probably) contributed significantly to the increase in the
amount of silver circulating in the country.
NOTES
1 Jursa 2005 a contains a detailed survey of the textual data of economic content from first-
millennium Babylonia, including summary treatments of all the main tablet archives. Statements
on these archives here will generally be documented by reference to this book where further
information can be found. Other surveys of the material and summarising descriptions of first-
millennium economy include Dandamaev 1984 : 6 ff., Jursa 2004 a and the pertinent sections— The Babylonian economy in the first millennium BC—