DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17822860
title: Data of Enslaved People in Ur III Texts

description: Data of Enslaved People in Ur III Texts

Author: Andrew PottorfDate of Release: December 4, 2025License: CC BY 4.0

 

Recommended Citation

APA Format:

Pottorf, A. (2025). Data of Enslaved People in Ur III Texts [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17822860 

Chicago Format:

Pottorf, Andrew. “Data of Enslaved People in Ur III Texts.” Zenodo, December 4, 2025.  https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17822860.

If you use or refer to this dataset, please cite it as above.

 

Abstract / Description

This dataset compiles quantitative and contextual data on enslaved people in Ur III administrative and legal texts. The data were assembled from all relevant tablets accessible in BDTNS up to early 2025. Each entry includes references to tablet editions, transliterations, and citations following BDTNS conventions, with occasional simplification for clarity.

Entries record silver prices in gin2 (≈ 8.33 g) or alternative prices of enslaved people, organized by the year, provenience, and description of the enslaved person or people. These data permit the reconstruction of the prices of enslaved people, particularly the disparity of prices according to gender, during the Third Dynasty of Ur.

 

Scope and Methodology

●      Corpus Coverage: All known Ur III Umma cuneiform sources mentioning prices of enslaved people searchable in BDTNS up to early 2025.

●      Transliteration Standards: BDTNS, except where otherwise indicated. All Sumerian words are underlined.

●      Chronology and Dating: Dates (years only) formatted per Pottorf 2022, 14–15.

●      Measurement Units: Prices of enslaved people in silver = gin2 (≈ 8.33 g). Prices may include barley = sila3 (≈ 1 L) or wool = ma-na (≈ 0.5 kg).

●      Assumptions: Prices of commodities, such as barley, livestock, and wool, in other texts can be applied to texts with data of enslaved people.

●      Limitations: The ages of enslaved people are difficult to reconstruct based on limited information, but adults appear to have had larger prices than young children. 

●      Uncertainties: Entries marked (?) when interpretation or restoration is uncertain; see dataset comments.

Future versions may include more social data, such as the occupations of the buyers and sellers or the relationships of the buyers and sellers to the enslaved people. A future version will also cite a publication discussing these data.

 

Data Format

●      File Type: CSV (UTF-8, tabular)

●      Primary Fields:  Text, BDTNS, CDLI, Year, Provenience, Line(s), Description (English), Description (Sumerian), Silver Price (in gin2), Alternative Price, Comment(s).

●      Source Metadata: CDLI and BDTNS identifiers provided where available.

 

Acknowledgements

I thank Adam Anderson for guidance on FAIR-compliant data publication and repository best practices.

 

Introduction

This table includes data regarding prices of enslaved people in all relevant Ur III texts searched up to early 2025. For previous compilations of the prices of enslaved people, see Falkenstein 1956, 1:88–90 and Steinkeller 1989, 135–38. All citations, dates, proveniences, and transliterations follow BDTNS (citations are sometimes simplified), unless otherwise stated, and all Sumerian is underlined. Abbreviations follow CDLI. Note that dates (years only) are formatted according to Pottorf 2022, 14–15. Ambiguous dates could be two or more years with the same abbreviated names, whereas dates that may not apply are in texts whose dates may not correspond to the date of sale, which may be the case for any text other than a sale document. Texts with damaged or missing dates are not identified as having possibly irrelevant dates. Texts with uncertain proveniences are according to BDTNS, though CDLI has proveniences for them all. It is beyond the scope of this study to address each discrepancy, however. These data relate to silver prices or alternative prices according to the description of the enslaved person or people—in some instances, further information about the enslaved person or people is provided. For the terminology relating to descriptions, see Pottorf 2022, 107–109. Terminology not discussed there is explained here. If there is no terminology relating to an individual’s enslavement, their description is implied. These individuals may have other terminology relating to their genders, and sometimes their genders are inferred from their names. Silver prices are measured in gin2 (≈ 8.33 g) of silver. Prices may include barley in sila3 (≈ 1 L) or wool in ma-na (≈ 0.5 kg). It is important to state that individuals who were pledged for debts are included since they were regarded as sufficient alternatives to the debt amounts. Only lines including dates as well as descriptions of the enslaved people, their names, and their prices are cited. Texts referring to the same enslaved person or people are included, but only the data of the first attestation are provided. Note that these data will be discussed in a future publication that will be cited in a future version. Comments or questions can be sent to apottorf21@gmail.com.

Enslaved people are often purchased with only silver, but other commodities can be included. When other commodities are utilized, their equivalences to silver are as follows:

Barley: 300 sila3 = 1 gin2 (see Cripps 2017).

Three-Year-Old Cow: 1 = 6 gin2 (see MVN 16 714 rev. 2–3).

Mature Cow: 1 = 7.25 gin2 (see BPOA 7 2159 1–2, 4–5; CUSAS 40/2 768 obv. 1–2; MVN 16 714 obv. 1–2, 9–10, rev. 5; Nisaba 33 433 rev. ii 2 [CDLI], 3; RA 10, 63 11 obv. iii′ 4′ [CDLI], 5′; SNAT 136 obv. 1–2).

Unplucked Ewe: 1 = 0.5 gin2 (see HSS 4 1 obv. ii 4, 6).

Yoked Ox: 1 = 7.25 gin2 (see AAICAB 1/4 Bod. S 415 obv. 1–2, 4–5; BPOA 6 1046 obv. 1–2, 4–5, rev. 1–2; JMEOS 15, 41 2 obv. 1, 3; MVN 16 714 obv. 3–4; 20 121 obv. 11, rev. 2; Nisaba 15/2 263 obv. 12–13, 15; 33 433 obv. i 8′–9′, rev. ii 6–7; OrSP 47-49 343 obv. 7; PPAC 5 775 obv. 7; SNAT 136 obv. 3–4; Syracuse 351 obv. 1–2, 4–5, rev. 4–5, 7–8).

Unplucked Sheep: 1 = 0.5 gin2 (see BDTNS 213124 obv. 6–7; BPOA 2 2307 obv. 1–2; SET 130 obv. ii 17, rev. ii 6; SNAT 504 rev. 17).

Wool: 10 ma-na = 1 gin2 (see Cripps 2019).

UET 9 1065 is omitted due to unusually high numbers for three-year-old cows, mature cows, unplucked ewes, and yoked oxen.

The following texts are omitted due to damage or a lack of detail: BPOA 1 736; CDLI P145909, P423472; Fs. Pettinato, 182 2; ITT 2 3470; 3 6514; 6515; 6526; 6529; 6532; 6538; 6577; 6607; 5 6722; 6727; MVN 11 170; NATN, 35 CBS 13735; 607; 610; 713; 761; 884; Nisaba 32 37; NRVN 1 213; RA 117, 27; RTC 290; Sale Documents 9, 117; TJAMC IES 134 pl. 68; TLB 3 170; UET 3 19; 46; 9 130; and ZA 53, 66 8. Texts that are included here may have missing prices due to damage that are not identified here. Studies Jacobsen 2, 153-154 is omitted because it is not certain whether it is from the Ur III or Old Babylonian periods.

 

Bibliography

Cripps, Eric L. 2017. “The Structure of Prices in the Neo-Sumerian Economy (I): Barley:Silver Price Ratios.” CDLJ 2017:2. https://cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/articles/cdlj/2017-2.

———. 2019. “The Structure of Prices in the Neo-Sumerian Economy (II). The Wool:Silver Price Ratio.” RA 113:13–38.

Falkenstein, Adam. 1956–1957. Die neusumerischen Gerichtsurkunden. 3 parts. ABAW 39–40, 44. Munich: Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Molina, Manuel. 2023. “I nomi di anno.” Pages 259–98 in Il regno della Terza Dinastia di Ur. Edited by Francesco Pomponio. StSem 25. Rome: Sapienza Università di Roma.

Pottorf, Andrew Richard. 2022. “Social Stratification in Southern Mesopotamia during the Third Dynasty of Ur (ca. 2100–2000 BCE).” PhD diss., Harvard University.

Steinkeller, Piotr. 1989. Sale Documents of the Ur-III-Period. FAOS 17. Stuttgart: Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden.

 

Versioning and Future Updates

●      Version 1 (December 4, 2025): Initial public release.

●      Planned Version 2 will include social data, such as the occupations of the buyers and sellers or the relationships of the buyers and sellers to the enslaved people. It will also cite a publication discussing these data.

●      The most current version will always be available via the Zenodo DOI landing page.

 

Keywords

Mesopotamia • Ur III period • Sumerian • cuneiform • BDTNS • CDLI • enslaved people • prices

 

Contact

Andrew Pottorf 📧 apottorf21@gmail.com ORCID: 0000-0002-7842-5979