distrust in the law does finally open the path to arbitrary actions. Indeed, this may
have contributed to a development where these edicts finally lost their economic and
political significance. To avoid any possible misunderstandings, there always was a
propaganda side of such edicts (Kraus 1984 : 122 ), but later, in the Neo-Assyrian
period, the stipulations degenerated to sheer propaganda statements (Otto 1997 ).
This outline of the role of ‘Power, Economy and the Social Organisation in Babylonia’
is based chiefly on Old Babylonian evidence, in an attempt to understand the concepts
that formed Babylonian society for more than a millennium thereafter. Of course,
there were several and even important changes in these concepts, but the general
framework remained astonishingly stable. Major changes can be observed due to the
imperial strategy of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, but this belongs to a different
chapter of history.
LITERATUREFor the history of the Old Babylonian period, Charpin, Edzard and Stol 2004 survey the state of
research; for later periods this may be supplemented by Jursa’s sketch from 2004.
Breckwoldt, T. ( 1995 ) Economic Mechanisms in Old Babylonian Larsa. Ph.D. diss., Cambridge, UK.
Charpin, D. ( 2004 ) ‘Histoire Politique du Proche-Orient Amorrite ( 2002 – 1595 )’, in Charpin,
Edzard and Stol 2004 : 23 – 403.
––––, Edzard, D.O. and Stol, M. ( 2004 ) Mesopotamien. Die altbabylonische Zeit. Annäherungen 4 (P.
Attinger, W. Sallaberger, M. Wäfler (eds)). Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 160 / 4 , Fribourg and
Göttingen.
Frayne, Douglas R. ( 1990 ) The Royal Inscription of Mesopotamia, Early Periods vol. 4 , Old Babylonian
Period ( 2003 – 1595 BC). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Haring, B. and de Maaijer, R. (eds) ( 1998 ) Landless and Hungry? Access to Land in Early and
Traditional Societies. Leiden: Research School CNWS.
Hudson, M. and Levine, B.A. (eds) ( 1996 ) Privatization in the Ancient Near East and the Classical
World. International Scholars Conference on Ancient Near Eastern Economics, Vol. 1. Cambridge, MA:
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Harvard University.
–––– and Van De Mieroop, M. (eds) ( 2002 ) Debt and Economic Renewal in the Ancient Near East.
International Scholars Conference on Ancient Near Eastern Economics, Vol. 3. Bethesda, MD: CDL
Press.
Jursa, M. ( 2004 ) Die Babylonier. Geschichte – Gesellschaft – Kultur.Munich: C.H. Beck Verlag.
Kraus, F.R. ( 1984 ) Königliche Verfügungen in altbabylonischer Zeit. Studia et Documenta ad iura Orientis
Antiqui pertinentia XI. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Olivier, J.P.J. ( 1997 ) ‘ “Restitution as Economic Redress”. The Fine Print of the Old Babylonian
me ̄sˇarum-Edict of Ammis.aduqa’. Zeitschrift für Altorientalische und Biblische Rechtsgeschichte 2 :
12 – 25.
Otto, E. ( 1997 ) ‘Programme der sozialen Gerechtigkeit. Die neuassyrische (an-)duraru-Institution
sozialen Ausgleichs und das deuteronomische Erlaßjahr in Dtn 15 .Zeitschrift für Altorientalische
und Biblische Rechtsgeschichte 3 : 26 – 63.
Postgate, J.N. ( 1992 ) Early Mesopotamia. Society and economy at the dawn of history.London and New
York: Routledge.
Renger, J. ( 1995 ) ‘Institutional, Communal, and Individual Ownership or Possession of Arable
Land in Ancient Mesopotamia from the End of the Fourth to the End of the First Millennium
BC’.Chicago Kent-Law Review 71 / 1 : 269 – 319.
— Gebhard J. Selz —