Year: 1968
Type: article
Abstract: I shall return it to you all."Perhaps the best parallel is found in the letter of Biridiya of Megiddo (near Taanach) to the Pharaoh: ui zurata laqf-mi kaspe iptersu ina qdtisu / ba-de-u,26 " And Zurata received his ransom (bribe) price in his hand / in his hands."27The failure of the docket to record the exact amount of the payment is surprising.However, the omission is understandable if the payment were in fact a bribe agreed upon by the principals, or if the payment were a predetermined sum, a fine, levy, or even a temple impost. INSTANCES OF MOBILITY AMONG MARI ARTISANS JACK M. SASSONIt should require no more than a hurried glance through the thirteen volumes of the Archives royales de Marin to render it quite evident that Mari society was indeed an active one.As a city strategically located on the Euphrates, Mari played an important role in the distribution of goods among the ancient powers.These included the Cypro-Minoan west, shipper of the elegant pot and the rough copper; the Syro-Anatolian north, exporter of woods, stones, minerals, and some agricultural products; the Mesopotamian south, manufacturer of finished commodities; and the Elamite east, distributer of tin.For this reason, it surprises us little to discover that Mari's community had achieved a significant division of its labor force.This paper will focus on a class of workers possessed of a certain skill which, as a rule, was obtained after a period of apprenticeship.Further, our attention will be directed to that portion of this class which seems to have, willingly or otherwise, shuttled from one city, one region, or even one country to another.The positions held by these ambulating artisans will vary enormously, ranging from those of Salomes, who performed with seven veils (ARMT XIII: 22: 41), to those of diviners.Except for the purpose of presenting what seems to be a curious-but perhaps incidental-phenomenon, there will be no attempt at differentiating between the Samsi-Adad and Zimri-Lim periods.Messengers, army personnel, or merchants whose professions naturally required extensive travelling will not be considered.It is possible to arrange the documents at our disposal in three categories.The first deals with single individuals whose talents were sought involves groups of workers, usually not as skilled as the members of the within the confines of Mari and its immediate dependencies.The second 26 We are to read the gloss /badew/
DOI: 10.2307/1356193
Author: Jack M. Sasson
Language: English
Topic: Ancient Near East History
Subfield: Archeology
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2013754483