These rights negotiable
The right to receive these was a valuable and negotiable asset. Thus we read of a right to five days per year in the temple of Nannar, sixteen days per year in the temple of Bêlit, and eight days in the shrine of Gula as being the namḫar of Sin-imgurâni and Sin-uzili.[550] This was confirmed to them by a legal decision in the time of Rîm-Sin. We read also of a right to act as šatammu, for six days per month, in the temple of Shamash.[551] In later times the mandidûtu, or surveyorship, to the temple of Anu, Ib, and Bêlit-êkalli, exercised in the temple, storehouse, and field, was sold, shared, and pledged.[552] Another such right was given on condition that it was not sold for money, granted to another, pledged, nor diminished in any way, and should pass to the possessor's daughter on his death.[553] The porter's post at Bâb Salimu was given as a pledge. Shares in these incomes were regularly traded in, sold, and pledged.
Other endowments of office
The position of a priest, or other official, carried with it an endowment. On this point the Code is very explicit for the cases of the ridû ṣâbê and the bâ'iru, officials charged with the collection of local quotas for the army and public works. They were recruiting sergeants, press-gang officers, and post-office officials. The office was endowed by royal grant. They were liable to be called on in the discharge of their duties to make lengthy journeys and be absent from home for a length of time, even years. In their absence, [pg 216] their duties could be delegated to a son, if old enough, otherwise a substitute was put in. They could claim reinstatement within a certain time. But their endowment was inalienable from the office and could not be treated as private property.
Also the great offices at court
Quite similarly the great state officials in Assyria had endowments which were not personal, but went with the office. Thus we learn from the Ḥarran census that certain lands paid rent or crops to certain offices.
These rights maintained by inheritance
In later times the rights to income are very prominent, perhaps solely in virtue of the class of documents which has reached us. Occasionally we are able to learn exactly what they were. For example, the surveyor for the temple of Anu had a right to two GUR of corn, two GUR of dates, fifty ḲA of wheat, six ḲA of sesame, on every eighteen ḲA of land. When the corn and dates were harvested, on one GUR, six ḲA were levied.
The relation to the state
It is not clear that a temple had any direct duties to the state. Peiser thinks that they collected dues for the state. Certainly they had attached to them the king's storehouses. Certain amounts were paid in for certain state officials. In the Code of Ḥammurabi we see that a temple might be called upon to ransom a member of the town who had been taken captive.