A History of Sumer and Akkad / An account of the early races of Babylonia from prehistoric times to the foundation of the Babylonian monarchy

by L. W. King

The conquests achieved by Lagash during the epoch of the great patesis had undoubtedly added considerably to the wealth of the city, and had given her, at least for a time, the hegemony in Southern Babylonia. But with the growth of her power as a state, she lost many of the qualities by virtue of which her earlier successes were achieved. The simplicity, which characterized the patesi's household at a time when he was little more than a chief among his fellows, was gradually exchanged for the elaborate organization of a powerful court. When the army returned laden with booty from distant regions, and the tribute of conquered cities kept the granaries of Ningirsu filled, it was but natural that the rulers of Lagash should surround themselves with greater luxury, and should enrich their city by the erection of palaces for themselves and sumptuous temples for the gods. The long lists of temples and other buildings, which occupy the greater part of the inscriptions left us by Ur-Ninâ and his descendants, testify to their activity in this direction. It will be obvious that the beautification of the capital, begun in an era of conquest, could not be continued in less fortunate times without putting a considerable strain upon the resources of the state. In such circumstances the agricultural section of the population were forced to contribute the means for gratifying the ambition of their rulers. New taxes were levied, and, to ensure their collection, a host of inspectors and other officials were appointed whose numbers would constantly tend to increase. "Within the limits of the territory of Ningirsu," says Urukagina, "there were inspectors down to the sea."[40]

The palace of the patesi thus began to usurp the place in the national life which had formerly been held by the temple of the city-god, and, while the people found that the tithes due to the latter were not diminished, they were faced with additional taxation on all sides. Tax-gatherers and inspectors were appointed in every district and for every class of the population. The cultivators of the soil, the owners of flocks and herds, the fishermen, and the boatmen plying on the rivers and canals, were never free from the rapacity of these officials, who, in addition to levying their dues, appear to have billeted themselves on their unfortunate victims. That corruption should have existed in the ranks of his officials was but natural, when the patesi himself set them an example in the matter; for Urukagina records that his predecessors on the throne had appropriated the property of the temples for their own use. The oxen of the gods, he tells us, were employed for the irrigation of the lands given to the patesi; the good fields of the gods formed the patesi's holding and his place of joy.[41] The priests themselves grew rich at the expense of the temples, and plundered the people with impunity. The asses and fine oxen which were temple-property they carried off, they exacted additional tithes and offerings, and throughout the country they entered the gardens of the poor and cut down the trees or carried off the fruits. But while so doing they kept on good terms with the palace officials; for Urukagina records that the priests divided the temple-corn with the people of the patesi, and brought them tribute in garments, cloth, thread, vessels and objects of copper, birds, kids, and the like.

The misappropriation of temple-property, and particularly that of the city-god, afforded Urukagina the pretext for inaugurating his reforms. He stood forth as Ningirsu's champion, and by restoring the sacred lands which had been seized by the palace, he proved his own disinterestedness, and afforded his subjects an example which he could insist upon their following. He states that in the house of the patesi and in the field of the patesi he installed Ningirsu, their master; that in the house of the harîm and in the field of the harîm he installed the goddess Bau, their mistress; and that in the house of the children and in the field of the children he installed Dunshagga, their master.[42] In these three phrases Urukagina not only records the restoration of all the property, which had formerly belonged to the temples dedicated to Ningirsu and his family, but also reaffirms the old relation of the patesi to the city-god. In the character of his representative the patesi only received his throne as a trust to be administered in the interest of the god; his fields, and goods, and all that he possessed were not his own property but Ningirsu's.[43]

After carrying out these reforms, Urukagina proceeded to attack the abuses which existed among the secular officials and the priests. He cut down the numbers of the former, and abolished the unnecessary posts and offices which pressed too hardly on the people. The granary-inspectors, the fishery-inspectors, the boat-inspectors, the inspectors of flocks and herds, and, in fact, the army of officials who farmed the revenue and made a good profit out of it themselves, were all deprived of office. Abuses which had sprung up and had obtained the recognition accorded to long-established custom, were put down with a strong hand. All those who had taken money in place of the appointed tribute were removed from their posts, as were those officials of the palace who had accepted bribes from the priests. The priests themselves were deprived of many of their privileges, and their scale of fees was revised. Burial fees in particular were singled out for revision, for they had become extortionate; they were now cut down by more than half. In the case of an ordinary burial, when a corpse was laid in the grave, it had been the custom for the presiding priest to demand as a fee for himself seven urns of wine or strong drink, four hundred and twenty loaves of bread, one hundred and twenty measures of corn, a garment, a kid, a bed, and a seat. This formidable list of perquisites was now reduced to three urns of wine, eighty loaves of bread, a bed, and a kid, while the fee of his assistant was cut down from sixty to thirty measures of corn. Similar reductions were made in other fees demanded by the priesthood, and allowances of wine, loaves, and grain, which were paid to various privileged classes and officials in Lagash, were revised and regulated.

As was but natural, oppression and robbery had not been confined to the priestly and official classes, but were practised with impunity by the more powerful and lawless sections of the population, with the result that no man's property was safe. In the old days if a man purchased a sheep and it was a good one, he ran the risk of having it stolen or confiscated. If he built himself a fish-pond, his fish were taken and he had no redress. If he sunk a well in high ground beyond the area served by the irrigation-canals, he had no security that his labour would be for his own benefit. This state of things Urukagina changed, both by putting an end to the extortions of officials and by imposing drastic penalties for theft. At the same time, he sought to protect by law the humbler classes of his subjects from oppression by their wealthier and more powerful neighbours. Thus he enacted that if a good ass was foaled in the stable of any subject of the king, and his superior should wish to buy it, he should only do so by paying a fair price; and if the owner refused to part with it, his superior must not molest him. Similarly, if the house of a great man lay beside that of a humbler subject of the king and he wished to buy it, he must pay a fair price; and if the owner was unwilling to sell it, he should have perfect liberty to refuse without any risk to himself. The same desire to lessen the hardships of the poorer classes is apparent in other reforms of Urukagina, by which he modified the more barbarous customs of earlier days. One instance of such a reform appears to apply to the corvée, or some kindred institution; when engaged in a form of forced labour, it had not been the custom to supply the workers with water for drinking, nor even to allow them to fetch it for themselves—a practice to which Urukagina put a stop.

The extent to which the common people had been mulcted of their property by the officials of the palace is well illustrated by two of Urukagina's reforms, from which it would appear that the patesi himself and his chief minister, or grand vizir, had enriched themselves by enforcing heavy and unjust fees. One instance concerns the practice of divination by oil, which at this time seems to have been a not uncommon method of foretelling the future. If we may judge from inscriptions of a rather later period, the procedure consisted in pouring out oil upon the surface of water, the different forms taken by the oil on striking the water indicating the course which events would take.[44] To interpret correctly the message of the oil a professional diviner was required, and Urukagina relates that not only did the diviner demand a fee of one shekel for his services, but a similar fee had to be paid to the grand vizir, and no less than five shekels to the patesi himself. That these fees should have been keenly resented is in itself a proof of the extent to which this form of divination was practised. Urukagina tells us that after his accession the patesi, the vizir, and the diviner took money no more; and, since the latter's fee was also abolished, we may probably infer that diviners were a recognized class of the official priesthood, and were not allowed to accept payment except in the form of offerings for the temple to which they were attached.

The other matter in which it had been the custom of the patesi and his vizir to accept fees was one in which the evil effects of the practice are more obvious. Urukagina tells us that under the old regime, if a man put away his wife, the patesi took for himself five shekels of silver and the grand vizir one. It is possible that, upon their first introduction, these fees were defended as being a deterrent to divorce. But in practice they had the contrary effect. Divorce could be obtained on no grounds whatever by the payment of what was practically a bribe to the officials, with the result that the obligations of the marriage tie were not respected. The wives of aforetime, according to Urukagina, were possessed by two men with impunity. While abolishing the official fees for divorce, it is probable that Urukagina drew up regulations to ensure that it was not abused, and that compensation, when merited, should be paid to the woman. On the other hand, we have evidence that he inflicted severe punishment for infidelity on the part of the wife, and we may assume that by this means he attempted to stamp out practices which were already beginning to be a danger to the existence of the community.

It is interesting to note that the laws referred to by Urukagina, in giving an account of the changes he introduced, are precisely similar in form to those we find upon the Code of Hammurabi.[45] This fact furnishes definite proof, not only that Hammurabi codified the legislation of earlier times, but also that this legislation itself was of Sumerian origin.[46] It is probable that Urukagina himself, in introducing his reforms, revived the laws of a still earlier age, which had been allowed to fall into disuse. As Hammurabi ascribed the origin of his laws to the Sun-god, whom he represents upon his stele as reciting them to him, so Urukagina regards his reforms as due to the direct intervention of Ningirsu, his king, whose word it was he caused to dwell in the land;[47] and it was not with his people but with Ningirsu that he drew up the agreement to observe them.[48] Like Hammurabi, too, Urukagina boasts that he is the champion of the weak against the strong; and he tells us that in place of the servitude, which had existed in his kingdom, he established liberty.[49] He spoke, and delivered the children of Lagash from want, from theft, from murder and other ills. In his reign, he says, to the widow and the orphan the strong man did no harm.[50]