Economic, Social, and

Religious Aspects of Neo

Babylonian isqu Endowments
Chris Kellett

Outline:

What is an isqu?

How did an isqu work?

The case of irku

What is an isqu?

prebend

An income received by various people associated

with a temple

Derived from esqu, to draw/incise

Written with the logogram GE.UB.BA, lot/fate

Hence fixed allotment or assigned portion?

What is an isqu?
Tablet of the division of temple-enterer isq of Marduk-umu-iddin and Iddinnabu, sons of Nabu-ban-zeri, descendant of Nappau, set up together.
Four silas of meal, four silas of good beer, the rams of the shrine before Sin of
the Eginukal, five-sixths of the isqu before Karibi of the shrine of Marduk, and a
vat of beer before Zariqu: this is the share of Marduk-umu-iddin.
Three silas of meal, three silas of good beer before Iara, and one sixth of the
isqu before Karibi of the shrine of Marduk: this is the share of Iddin-nabu.
Of Marduk-umu-iddin and Iddin-nabu, the one of the temple administratorship
shall have disposal over the first part that isqu.
They shall honour the gifts of their father between themselves according to
their divisions.
So that there may be no changes, each a document.
Witnesses:

BM 92792

Economic questions:
What services were provided for the
benefits received?
How was the system funded and integrated
into the wider economic activity of the
temple?
To what extent must non-economic factors
be brought in?

Schematic of an isqu:
Producers

raw goods

utur gin

pappasu /
maaktu /
pantu

manzaltu

sacrificial
goods

teltu

Service
personnel

pappasu /
maaktu /
pantu

BM 29453:
U4.1DIKAM ITI-us-su MU.AN.NA 1U ma-zaar-ri-tu4 DI[-DIGIRAG]-EN--nu A-
DI-du-nu A DI-DIGIRAG-GIN-A ina IGI DIDIGIRAG-GIN-A A- DIKI-DIGIRUTU-TIN A DIpi-DIGIR-ia
The 1st day of each month of the year, ten
bakers baskets of Nabu-belunu, son of
adunu, descendant of Nabu-mukin-apli,
will go to (ina pni) Nabu-mukin-apli, son of
Itti-ama-balau, descendant of api-iliya.

irku:
temple oblates
Following Kleber (2010) and Wunsch &
Magdalene (2014)
Lower class temple workers
Usually previously private slaves

YOS 7, 17:
Nabu-ae-bulli son of Nabu-sum-ukin
descendant of the priest of Ninurta and his
wife Bula daughter of Bel-usallim
descendant of Kuri have voluntarily given
their slave A-iddin to Itar for the
preservation of their lives. As long as Nabuae-bulli and Bula live, A-iddin shall
serve them. When they die, A-iddin is an
oblate (irku) of Itar.
Westbrook, 2004

Temple slaves?:

Most had a uppi mr banti

Fewer restrictions (e.g. ownership rights)

No simple dichotomy

The household model:

legal infancy (Wunsch & Magdalene,

2014)

Manumitted not emancipated

Contractual elements

Implications for isqu:

A share in divine wealth

Eating with the gods

Part of the beneficial system