Uruk 3-5

In the introduction and the first two chapters of his book, Liverani establishes the fact that the city of Uruk was built by farmers, and that its economy was driven by the surplus of barley that the produced. In the third chapter, Liverani jumps from talking exclusively about the temple into talking about the “administration” and the “central agency.” The Administration was responsible for such things as setting how much the farmers themselves had to give of their surplus, how much wool a shepherd had to give from their flock, the dairy products made from these flocks, the size of the flocks themselves, etc. The administration had a great amount of responsibility (and “power”) but he never mentions how the people making up this body were chosen. Also, the textile mills seemed to be very organized with women and children working in large buildings. Liverani does not explain in detail how Uruk went from farmers giving their surplus to the temple to the creation of a seemingly well organized administration. Also, Liverani explains how the farmers gave their surplus to the temple out of some sort of religious conviction, however in this chapter he talks about how the amounts that were to be given were set by the temple and administration. How did the people of Uruk go from giving their surplus out of their own free will to being told that there were specific amounts that had to be given? Was this met with any sort of resistance?

Liverani also talks about how merchants were responsible for obtaining outside goods for the temple and therefore for the rest of the city. The way that this was done was that the merchant was given a quota for what he had to return with; he had to come back with goods of a value that equaled the value of the goods that were given to him to trade with. Liverani explains that through this system, merchants could “disappear” and return in 6 months or a year with the goods; as long as the quotas were met. However, how did the temple and palace maintain the necessary amounts of these items in the city if merchants could take that long to return? Were there enough merchants returning with goods to the city so that necessary items would not run out? This system seems pretty unreliable.