Elusive Silver

Mesopotamian society and its economy were basically agrarian, exhibitingcyclical long-term developments, as well as an unmistakable growth inpolitical size. The combination contributed to severe strains in urbanMesopotamian society. Increasing political importance both complicatedand concentrated government, which was compelled to change those massivequantities of agricultural bulk products, generated by its ownagricultural activities and received as tax, into the more useful,liquid silver, which, however, was not produced in Mesopotamia itself.<br />The first study presented establishes that already by 2000B.C. silver was to some extent current in Mesopotamia and could beexchanged internally for agricultural produce. The second study, dealingmainly with the remuneration of the Mesopotamian clergy, concludes thatlocal elites, which played an essential role in maintaining the urbancharacter of settled Mesopotamian society, possessed a stable economicbasis, for which neither silver nor the functioning of a market played adecisive role. A third study deals with Neo-Babylonian-Achaemenidtaxation, a topic which cannot be isolated from the exploitation of theland in general. It is evident that Mesopotamia made a considerablecontribution to the Persian monarchy, both in silver and in humanlabour. Agricultural products could be marketed and exchanged withinMesopotamia but how the silver required was earned in the outside world,remains elusive.

• By (author) G. van Driel