DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18281278
title: Half-time (½c) and Full-time (AŠc) Conscription Rates of Citizen and UN-il2 Men according to Occupation in Ur III Umma Texts

description: Half-time (½c) and Full-time (AŠc) Conscription Rates of Citizen and UN-il2 Men according to Occupation in Ur III Umma Texts

Author: Andrew PottorfDate of Release: January 19, 2026License: CC BY 4.0

 

Recommended Citation

APA Format:

Pottorf, A. (2026). Half-time (½c) and Full-time (AŠc) Conscription Rates of Citizen and UN-il2 Men according to Occupation in Ur III Umma Texts [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18281279

Chicago Format:

Pottorf, Andrew. “Half-time (½c) and Full-time (AŠc) Conscription Rates of Citizen and UN-il2 Men according to Occupation in Ur III Umma Texts.” Zenodo, January 19, 2026. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18281279.

If you use or refer to this dataset, please cite it as above and, when appropriate, also cite Pottorf 2022, 340–51.

 

Abstract / Description

This dataset compiles quantitative and contextual data on conscripted citizen and UN-il2 men in Ur III administrative texts. The data were assembled from all relevant Umma texts accessible in BDTNS up to 2023. Each entry includes references to text editions, transliterations, and citations following BDTNS conventions, with occasional simplification for clarity. Entries record the half-time (½c) and full-time (AŠc) conscription rates of conscripted citizen and UN-il2 men. These data permit the reconstruction of conscription and occupational patterns for these individuals during the Third Dynasty of Ur.

 

 Scope and Methodology

●      Corpus Coverage: All known Ur III Umma texts with clearly identifiable citizen and UN-il2 men with half-time (½c) and full-time (AŠc) conscription rates and occupations searchable in BDTNS up to 2023.

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

●      Assumptions: Male citizens can be identified by juxtaposition to male UN-il2.

●      Limitations: Some occupational terms do not refer to a single occupation, and some occupations are grouped so they cannot be linked with specific individuals. 

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

Future versions will include more proveniences.

 

Data Format

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

●      Primary Fields: Text, BDTNS, CDLI, Line, Order, Occupation (Sumerian), Occupation (English), Occupational Category, Conscription Rate, Number, 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. I am grateful to the British Museum for permission to study and collate the texts cited below.

 

 Introduction

This table includes data regarding the half-time (½c) and full-time (AŠc) conscription rates of conscripted citizen and UN-il2 men in Ur III Umma texts searched up to 2023. All citations, proveniences, and transliterations follow BDTNS (citations are sometimes simplified), unless otherwise stated, and all Sumerian is underlined. Abbreviations follow CDLI. Men considered here are identified by their social statuses, also called orders, including citizens and UN-il2 (Pottorf 2025). When they were conscripted, they were notated with either ½c to indicate a half-time rate or AŠc to indicate a full-time rate (for conscription notations in general, see Pottorf 2022, 179–86, but note that some updates are offered in Pottorf forthcoming a). Comments or questions can be sent to apottorf21@gmail.com.

All occupations are grouped according to four occupational categories (introduced in Pottorf 2022, 162–69 and updated in Pottorf forthcoming b). For this study, there are several guidelines regarding how occupations are counted. Terms like nu-giškiri6 (“gardener” [Greco 2015, 44]) and sag-apin (“plowman”), which can refer to a variety of occupations collectively, are not counted. Some phrases including giri3-se3-ga (“personnel”) provide information similar to occupations, such as giri3-se3-ga e2 amar-ra-ka (“personnel of the house of calves” [CUSAS 39 129 rev. vii 9']), though many do not. These phrases are not included, however. The occupation eren2 diri (“extra troops” [Pottorf 2022, 88]) is barely attested in these contexts and is not counted due to difficulties in grouping it according to a single occupational category. Occupations modified with -še3 and -ta are not counted (Pottorf 2022, 161–62, 341). In instances where an individual could have one of two occupations (for example, ASJ 11, 182 obv. vi 4, rev. iii 18), neither is counted. Note that only the line including the notation is cited, even though the corresponding occupation or order may be given on different lines. Where possible, lines in totals sections are cited rather than the various lines to which they refer.

Some texts and lines that are omitted included: AAICAB 1/1 Ashm. 1911-484; 1/4 Bod. S 565; AnOr 1 276; AOS 32 G07; ASJ 11, 182 rev. ii 8, iii 13; BCT 2 217 obv. 4; BIN 5 300; BPOA 2 2685 obv. 1; 6 151; CDLI P235312; CUSAS 39 135 obv. ii 47, v 9, 13, vii 2, viii 4', rev. ii 15', iii 19; LAOS 1 2 obv. i 15 (edited as: 1 uš2 guruš); L’uomo 62; MCS 8, 84-87; MVN 20 107; Nisaba 6 17 obv. i 6, ii 20, rev. i 4–7; 23 2 obv. iv 16; 86; 24 5; 28; Organisation administrative, Diss., T. 6, Talon-Vanderroost 1, 202-210 rev. viii 5; Princeton 1 556 obv. i 14; Santag 6 384 obv. iv 31'; 7 34; Torino 2 703 rev. iii 10; 704; 705; UTI 6 3790; YOS 4 211; and 15 115. OrSP 47-49 382 lists many of the same individuals in BCT 2 288, but the latter does not include the term tir (“forest”), which is probably lost in the damaged subscript. For translations of agar4-nigin2 (“field watcher”) and kaš-a gub-ba (“assistant brewer”), see Pottorf forthcoming b, for the translation of enku (“fishery inspector”), see Dahl 2020, 415, for the translation of u2-il2 gu2-ne-sag (“grass carrier of (a deity’s) cupboard”), see Steinkeller 2019, 143, and for the translation of um-mi-a (“garden expert”), see Greco 2015, 65–66. Note that the transliteration CDLI P406944 is intended for the publication of my dissertation as a book.

 

Bibliography

Dahl, Jacob L. 2020. Ur III Texts in the Schøyen Collection. Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection: Cuneiform Texts 13. CUSAS 39. University Park: Eisenbrauns.

Greco, Angela. 2015. Garden Administration in the Ĝirsu Province during the Neo-Sumerian Period. BPOA 12. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.

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

———. 2025. “UN-il2 (‘Menials’) as a Serflike Social Stratum during the Ur III Period.” Pages 83–113 in Beyond Slavery and Freedom in Ancient Mesopotamia. Edited by Vitali Bartash and Andrew Pottorf. JANEH 12.1.

———. Forthcoming a. “Caring for the Elderly in Third-Millennium Mesopotamia: Temporary Conscription Exemption during the Ur III Period.” In Aging, Old Age, and Constructions of Old Age in the Ancient Near East. Edited by Alison Acker Gruseke and Carol Meyers. Kasion. Münster: Zaphon.

———. Forthcoming b. “From the Ground Up: The Foundational Role of the Land-Tenure System for Social Stratification in Southern Mesopotamia during the Ur III Period.” In Concepts of Governance and the Study of Ancient Near Eastern Societies. Edited by Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Jörg Klinger, and Aron Dornauer. Melammu Symposia 16. Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Snell, Daniel C. 1989. “The Lager Texts: Transliterations, Translations and Notes.” ASJ 11:155–224.

Steinkeller, Piotr. 2019. “Babylonian Priesthood during the Third Millennium BCE: Between Sacred and Profane.” JNER 19:112–51.

 

Versioning and Future Updates

●      Version 1 (January 19, 2026): Initial public release.

●      Planned Version 2 will include more proveniences.

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

 

Keywords

Mesopotamia • Ur III period • Sumerian • cuneiform • BDTNS • CDLI • conscription rates • occupations

 

Contact

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