Article in special issue

The King’s Household, the Temple’s Household, and the City: Some Issues Concerning Economic Activities According to the Old Babylonian Documentation of Mari

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Abstract

The royal archives of Old Babylonian Mari provide a uniquely palace-centred perspective on the economic and administrative relationships between the king’s household and the city’s temples in the eighteenth century BCE. Although no temple archives have been recovered, the documents reveal how temple wealth, personnel, and activities were integrated into the broader managerial framework of the bītum, a politico-domestic structure shaped by Amorite social organisation. Through the case of the priestess Inib-šina, the chapter highlights the complex entanglement of royal kinship, property management, and elite households. The examination of the šangûm-priests shows them to have held not only cultic responsibilities but also key administrative roles, managing consecrated goods (asakkum), overseeing the fabrication of cultic objects, and supervising accounting procedures conducted before the gods. Loan contracts involving deities, priests, and private individuals further illuminate the circulation of silver, the certification of refined metal (“weight of Mari”), and the intertwining of temple and urban economic spheres. Despite royal oversight—particularly in appointments and access to temple treasure—the evidence suggests that temples retained certain independent revenue streams, notably through lending and agricultural resources. The chapter thus reframes the temple–palace relationship in Mari as one of interdependence rather than strict subordination.

Keywords: Mari, Old Babylonian period, temple economy, šangûm-priests, Inib-šina

How to Cite:

Chambon, G., (2025) “The King’s Household, the Temple’s Household, and the City: Some Issues Concerning Economic Activities According to the Old Babylonian Documentation of Mari”, Akkadica 146(2), 141-152. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/akkadica.100532