DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18166220
title: Donated Male Individuals in Ur III Umma Texts according to Order

description: Donated Male Individuals in Ur III Umma Texts according to Order

Author: Andrew PottorfDate of Release: January 6, 2026License: CC BY 4.0

 

Recommended Citation

APA Format:

Pottorf, A. (2026). Donated Male Individuals in Ur III Umma Texts according to Order [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18166221

Chicago Format:

Pottorf, Andrew. “Donated Male Individuals in Ur III Umma Texts according to Order.” Zenodo, January 6, 2026. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18166221.

If you use or refer to this dataset, please cite it as above and, when appropriate, also cite Pottorf 2022, 323–27.

 

Abstract / Description

This dataset compiles quantitative and contextual data on donated male individuals 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 donation of male individuals and their orders. These data permit the conclusion that most or all donated male individuals were UN-il2 during the Third Dynasty of Ur.

 

 Scope and Methodology

●      Corpus Coverage: All known Ur III Umma texts mentioning donated male individuals searchable in BDTNS up to 2023.

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

●      Assumptions: Male individuals can be identified by their orders in various contexts.

●      Limitations: Some male individuals are difficult to identify across multiple texts, especially with regard to their orders. 

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

Future versions will include more proveniences in addition to other details.

 

Data Format

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

●      Primary Fields: Text (Donation), BDTNS (Donation), CDLI (Donation), Line(s) (Donation), Name, Order, Text(s) (Order), BDTNS (Order), CDLI (Order), Line(s) (Order), Count, 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 donated male individuals Ur III Umma texts searched up to 2023 (for the donation of individuals, see Bartash 2025). All citations and transliterations follow BDTNS (citations are sometimes simplified), unless otherwise stated, and all Sumerian is underlined. Abbreviations follow CDLI. Male individuals considered here are identified by their social statuses, also called orders, including citizens, UN-il2, and enslaved people (Pottorf 2025). Individuals who were donated more than once are only counted for their first attestation. If one or more donated male individuals in a text are known to have been UN-il2, then any other donated male individuals in the same text whose orders are uncertain were possibly UN-il2. Individuals notated with AŠ in typical sealed receipts are considered to have been potentially UN-il2. This is a limited phenomenon, and several such individuals are known to have been UN-il2. See, for example, Lu-Ninura in SNAT 332 obv. 8 and UTI 4 2724 obv. 1 (edited as: AŠ 0.0.4 Lu2-dNin-ur4-ra), Šara-maDU in BDTNS 194959 obv. 4 and Nisaba 6 17 obv. ii 6, Šara-kam in CUSAS 39 129 obv. vi 10 and Princeton 1 377 obv. 1, Ur-Damu (or Ur-Dani) in BDTNS 194959 obv. 1; CST 880 obv. ii 14'; and Organisation administrative, Diss., T. 12, Talon-Vanderroost 5, 230 rev. i 3, and Ur-Enlila in AnOr 7 212 obv. 1–2; CUSAS 39 136 obv. 9; and MVN 10 102 obv. i 6. For the transliteration of CDLI P235514, see CDLI. OrNS 84, 149 and UTI 3 2283 (virtually identical) are omitted because they document the donation of land with dependent individuals. Comments or questions can be sent to apottorf21@gmail.com.

 

 Bibliography

Bartash, Vitali. 2025. “Humans as Donations and the Question of Temple Slavery in Early Mesopotamia.” Pages 49–82 in Beyond Slavery and Freedom in Ancient Mesopotamia. Edited by Vitali Bartash and Andrew Pottorf. JANEH 12.1.

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.

 

 Versioning and Future Updates

●      Version 1 (January 6, 2026): Initial public release.

●      Planned Version 2 will include more proveniences in addition to other details.

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

 

Keywords

Mesopotamia • Ur III period • Sumerian • cuneiform • BDTNS • CDLI • donated individuals

 

Contact

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