Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Kozuh, Michael

Title The sacrificial economy : assessors, contractors, and thieves in the management of sacrificial sheep at the Eanna Temple of Uruk (ca. 625-520 B.C.) / by Michael Kozuh
Published Winona Lake, Indiana : Eisenbrauns, 2014
©2014

Copies

Description 1 online resource
Series Explorations in ancient Near Eastern civilizations ; 2
Explorations in ancient Near Eastern civilizations ; 2.
Contents Introduction -- Sources, methodology, prior literature, and terminology -- The herdsmen and their formal relationship with the Eanna -- Balances -- Balances, incentives, and restrictions -- Managing the herdsmen -- Entrepreneurial debt and systemic stress -- The internal livestock management of the Eanna of Uruk -- The system at work
Summary "In the mid-first millennium B.C., the Eanna temple at Uruk sacrificed a minimum of nine lambs every day in its basic routine of offerings to its gods; in addition to these, special occasions and festivals demanded the sacrifice of as many as 90 lambs in a single day. All told, the Eanna sacrificed about 4,300 lambs per year. There were more than 120 herdsmen connected to the Eanna at any given time, and the temple expected there to be tens of thousands of sheep and goats under their responsibility. These herdsmen delivered male lambs to the Eanna for sacrifice, and the temple had an internal infrastructure for the care, maintenance, and ritual expenditure of these lambs; they also delivered wool, which the Eanna sold mostly in bulk quantities. This book aims to analyze the economic organization of this entire system of sheep and goat maintenance and utilization, to explore the economic and social relationships between the Eanna and its herdsmen, and to integrate the study of the Eanna's animal economy into the developing picture of the Neo-Babylonian temple economy as a whole"--Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Temples -- Iraq -- Erech (Extinct city)
Animal sacrifice -- Economic aspects -- Iraq -- Erech (Extinct city)
Animal culture -- Iraq -- Erech (Extinct city)
Sheep -- Iraq -- Erech (Extinct city)
Goats -- Iraq -- Erech (Extinct city)
Herders -- Iraq -- Erech (Extinct city)
HISTORY -- Civilization.
Animal culture
Buildings
Economic history
Goats
Herders
Sheep
Temples
SUBJECT Erech (Extinct city) -- Economic conditions
Erech (Extinct city) -- Religious life and customs
Erech (Extinct city) -- Buildings, structures, etc
Subject Iraq -- Erech (Extinct city)
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781575068923
1575068923