Babylonians and Assyrians : $b Life and customsSayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
History
Babylonians and Assyrians : $b Life and customs
Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
Assyria -- Social life and customs; Babylonia -- Social life and customs
On the other hand, sheep cost a good deal to feed when the grazing season
was over, and they had to be fed “in the stall.” A document dated in the
seventh year of Cyrus states that 32 sheep required each day 1 _pi_ 28
_qas_ (or about 95 quarts) of grain, while 160 full-grown animals consumed
daily 4 _pi_ 16 _qas_, or more than 240 quarts. In the reign of Cambyses 1
_pi_ 4 _qas_ of fodder were needed daily for 20 old sheep, 100 _qas_ for
100 younger sheep, and the same amount also for 200 lambs. At this time 2
_pi_ of grain cost 6½ shekels; consequently the cost of keeping the 20 old
sheep alone was about 10s 6d. a day. To this had to be added the wages of
the shepherds, who were free Bedâwin. Hence, it is not wonderful that the
owner demanded 7 shekels, or 21s., for the sheep he had to sell.
In the _Edin_ or “field,” however, their keep came to but little. The
pasturage was common property, and it was only the wages of the Aramean
shepherds who looked after the flock which involved an outlay. The five
shepherds who, in the tenth year of Nabonidos, were paid for their
services by the overseer of the royal flocks in the town of Ruzabu
received 30 shekels of silver and a _gur_ of grain. The _gur_ contained
180 _qas_, and since in the first year of Cyrus two men received 2 _pi_ 30
_qas_, or 102 _qas_, of grain for their support during a month of thirty
days, we may, perhaps, infer that the wages were intended to cover the
third part of a month. In this case each man would have been paid at the
rate of 9 shekels, or 37s., a month. It is, however, possible that the
wages were really intended for the full month. The ancient Greeks
considered a quart of wheat a sufficient daily allowance for a grown man,
and 180 _qas_ would mean about 1⅗ of a quart a day for each man.
We may gather from a contract dated the 5th of Sivan in the eighteenth
year of Darius that it was not customary to pay for any sheep that were
sold until they had been driven into the city, the cost of doing so being
included in the price. The contract is as follows: “One hundred sheep of
the house of Akhabtum, the mother of Sa-Bel-iddin, the servant of
Bel-sunu, that have been sold to La-Bel, the son of Khabdiya, on the 10th
day of the month Ab in the eighteenth year of Darius the king: The sheep,
200 in number, must be brought into Babylon and delivered to Supêsu, the
servant of Sa-Bel-iddin. If 15 manehs of silver are not paid for the sheep
on the 10th of Ab, they must be paid on 20th of the month. If the money,
amounting to 15 manehs, is not paid, then interest shall be paid according
to this agreement at the rate of one shekel for each maneh per month.”
Then come the names of eight witnesses and a priest, the date, and the
place of registration, which was a town called Tsikhu.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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