MÖ 2. Binyıl Mezopotamya Devlet ve Toplum Hayatında Tahılın Yeri

Year 2020, Issue: 44, 43 - 62, 01.08.2020

Mehmet Kurt Esra Atcı

Abstract

Fırat Purattu ve Dicle’nin Idiglat sularıyla bereketlenen Mezopotamya Bölgesi sebze ve diğer ürünlerde olduğu gibi tahıl üretiminde de oldukça önemli bir yere sahip olmuştur. Her ne kadar sözü edilen nehirler Mezopotamya için büyük bir önem arz ediyor olsa da bölgenin kuzeyi ve güneyi bu nehirlerden aynı oranda istifade edememiştir. Zira Mezopotamya’nın kuzeyinde inşa edilen kanal sistemi yetersiz kalmış ve kuru tarım yöntemiyle tahıl üretimi yapılmıştır. Bölgenin güneyinde ise sulama kanalları üretim artışında büyük bir avantaj sağlamıştır. Mezopotamya için tahıl tarımının büyük bir önem arz ettiği hem yazılı kaynaklar hem de arkeolojik buluntular vasıtasıyla takip edilebilmektedir. Bu bağlamda MÖ 2. binyılda Lipit-İštar, Ešnunna, Hammurabi ve Orta Asur dönemi kanunları tahıl üretimi ile satışını kontrol ve koruma altına almıştır. Ayrıca gerek önemli Mezopotamya şehirlerinin kendi aralarında ve gerekse Mezopotamya ile diğer bölgeler arasında tahıl ticaretinin ve taşımacılığının yapıldığına dair kayıtlar mevcuttur. Tahıl alım satımında saray kronikleri büyük bir önem arz etmektedir. Mezopotamya’da tahılın üretimi ve ticaretinde olduğu gibi depolaması da önemli bir konu olmuştur. Tahılın depolanmasında Mezopotamya’nın coğrafi koşullarının belirleyici bir rol oynadığı ve başka bölgelere göre farklılıklar arz ettiği de anlaşılmaktadır. Zira toprak zemin üzerine yapılan bir platformun üstüne inşa edilen silindir formdaki depolar tahılı, kemirgen, haşere ve nemden korumada büyük bir avantaj sağlamıştır.Bu çalışmada MÖ 2. binyıl dolaylarında Mezopotamya Bölgesi’nde tahıl üretimi, depolaması ve ticareti ile bunların sosyo-kültürel yapıya etkisi incelenecektir.

Keywords

Mezopotamya, Depolama, Tahıl, Ticaret

The Place of Cereals in Government and Society Life in the Second Millenium Mesopotamia

Abstract

The Mesopotamia region, which is fertile with the waters of Euphrates Purattu and Tigris Idiglat , has a very important position in grain production as well as vegetables and other products. Although the mentioned rivers are of great importance for Mesopotamia, the north and south of the region could not benefit from these rivers at the same rate. Because the canal system was built in the north of Mesopotamia insufficient and grain produced by dry farming method. In the south of the region, irrigation canals provided a great advantage in the increase of production. In fact, water use in agricultural production is among the main factors that directly affect the yield of the product to be obtained from the unit area. In addition, the sown seed is another main factor affecting the increase in harvest. In this context, channel construction is among the most important applications to increase the quality and quantity of the product in Mesopotamia. The importance of cereal cultivation for Mesopotamia can be traced both through written sources and archaeological finds. As a matter of fact, grain produced in the fertile Mesopotamian lands between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and animal husbandry activities carried out in this wide area have been among the main livelihoods of the people of the region for thousands of years. In this context, in the second millennium BC, the laws of Lipid-Ishtar, Eshnunna, Hammurabi and Middle Assyria controlled and protected grain production and sales. There are also records of the trade and transportation of grain between the important cities of Mesopotamia and other regions. Palace chronicles are of great importance in grain purchase and sale. It is understood that the geographical conditions of Mesopotamia play a decisive role in the storage of grain and show differences according to other regions. Apart from this, the storage size is related to environmental factors, as well as the storage time and quantity of the product. Because a platform made on the soil ground which the cylindrical storage built on top have provided a great advantage in protecting grain, rodents, insects and moisture. In this study focused on grain production, storage and trade and its impact on socio-cultural structure in Mesopotamia region around the second millennium BC

Keywords

Mesopotamia, Storage, Grain, Trade

References

• Adams, R. McC.,Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C.&Williams L. M. (1974).“The Mesopotamian Social Landscape: A View from the Frontier”, Reconstructing Complex Societies: An Archaeological Colloquium,No.20, 1974, pp. 1-20.
• Adamson, P. B. (1985). “Problems over Storing Food in the Ancient Near East”, Die Welt des Orients,16 : 5-15.
• Albayrak, İ., Öz Kiriş, E. &Erol, H. (2019). “Çivi Yazılı Belgeler ve Arkeolojik Verilere Göre Eski Babil Dönemi’nde Nehir Ulaşımı”, Archivum Anatolicum, 13 (1): 9-42.
• Algaze, G.,(2001). “Initial Social Complexity in Southwestern Asia: The Mesopotamian Advantage”, Current Anthropology, 42 (2): 199-203.
• Allen, M.,(1992). “The Mechanisms of Underdevelopment: An Ancient Mesopotamian Example”,Review (Fernand Braudel Center),15 (3): 453-476.
• Altaweel, M. (2008). “Investigating Agricultural Sustainability and Strategies in Northern Mesopotamia: Results Produced Using a Socio-Ecological Modeling Approach”, Journal of Archaeological Science,35: 821-835.
• Barjamovic, Gojko, A Historical Geography of Anatolia in the Old Assyrian Colony Period, Museum Tusculanum Press, Denmark 2011.
• Bertman, Stephan., Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia,New York, 2003.
• Breckwoldt, T., (1995-1996). “Management of Grain Storage in Old Babylonian Larsa”,Archiv für Orientforschung, Bd. 42/43: 64-88.
• Bilgiç, E., (1963). “Eski Mezopotamya Kavimlerinde Kanun Anlayışı ve An'anesi”, Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi, 2 (3/4): 103-119.
• Bottema, S. & Cappers, R. T. J.,(2000). “Palynological and Archaeobotanical Evidence from Bronze Age Northern Mesopotamia”, Rainfall and Agriculture in Northern Mesopotamia, Vol. LXXXVIII, İstanbul: Nederlands Instituut voor hetNabije Oosten, 2000, pp. 37-70.
• Bowe, P.,(2015). “A Deliberation on the Hanging Gardens of Mesopotamia”, Garden History,43 (2): 151-167.
• Bryce, Trevor, The Peoples And Places of Ancıent Western Asia the Near East From the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire, Routledge, London-New York 2009.
• Buccellati, G. & Buccellati, M. K. (1977). “Terqa Preliminary Reports, No. 1: General Introduction and the Stratigraphic Record of the First Two Seasons”, Syro-Mesopotamian Studies, 1: 71-133.
• Chavalas, M. (1996): “Terqa and the Kingdom of Khana”, The Biblical Archaeologist,59 (2): 90-103.
• Clay, Albert Tobias, Documents from the Temple Archives of Nippur Dated in the Reigns of Cassite Rulers, The Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania. Series A: Cuneiform Texts, vol XV, Philadelphia, 1912.
• Cohen, Y. (2016). “The Scribal Traditions of Late Bronz Age Emar”, Cultures and Societies in the Middle Euphrates and Habur Areas in the Second Millennium BC (Ed. Hartmut W. Kühne) Vol. 1, Studia Chaburensia 5, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 119-131.
• Dilke, Oswald Ashton Wentworth, Reading the Past Mathematics and Measurement, University of California Press, 1993.
• Ellison, E. R., “A Study of Diet in Mesopotamia (c.3000 - 600 BC) and Associated Agricultural Techniques and Methods of Food Preparation”, Doctoral thesis, University of London, London 1978.
• Faivre, X. (2015).“Céréales dans l’Orient ancien: accumulation, transformation, consommation (IIIe-IIe millénaires av. J.-C.)”,Les Céréales Dans Le Monde Antique Regards croisés sur les stratégies de gestion des cultures, de leur stockage et de leurs modes de consommation, Université Paris-Sorbonne, pp. 19-47.
• Fincke, J.C. (2000). “Transport of Agricultural Produce in Arrapḫe”, Rainfall and Agriculture in Northern Mesopotamia, İstanbul, Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut, pp. 147-170.
• Finkelstein, J.J. (1962). “Mesopotamia”, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 21 (2): 73-92.
• Garbutt, D. (1984). “The Significance of Ancient Mesopotamia in Accounting History”,The Accounting Historians Journal, 11 (1): 83-101.
• Gasche, H., Armstrong, J. A., Cole, S. W., Gurzadyan , V. G., Dating the Fall of Babylon: A Reappraisal of Second-Millennium Chronology, Gent-Chicago: UGent - Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Vol. 4, 1998.
• Goetze, A. (1951-1952). “The Laws of Eshnunna”, The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 31: 1-197.
• Goetze, A.,(1969). “Collections of Laws from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, The Laws of Eshnunna”, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Ed. James B. Pritchard), Princeton-New Jersey, Princeton University Press, pp. 161-163.
• Günbattı, C. (1991).“Eski Babil Devrinde Timar ve Devlet Arazisinin Tahsisi Hakkında Bazı Görüşler”, Belleten, LV (212): 1-12.
• Hole, F. (2007). “Agricultural sustainability in the semi-arid Near East”,Climate of the Past, 3: 193-203.
• Jones, T. B. (1952). “Ancient Mesopotamian Agriculture”, Agricultural History, 26 (2): 46-51.
• Kolinski, R.,“Productivity of the Mesopotamian Agriculture and Animal Husbandry in the Late 3rd and 2nd Millennium B.C.”, The Orient and the Aegean, Papers Presented at the Warsaw Symposium, 2003, pp. 87-101.
• Kramer, S. N. (1969). “Collections of Laws from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, Lipit-Ishtar Lawcode”, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Ed. James B. Pritchard), Princeton-New Jersey, Princeton University Press, pp. 159-180.
• Kriwaczek, Paul,Babylon Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization, New York, St. Martin’s Press, 1997.
• Kurt, M. & Bulut E. (2018). “Prehistorik Devirlerden Bizans Dönemine Kadar Kapadokya Bölgesi'nde Tahıl Üretimi ve Depolanması Konusuna Genel Bir Bakış”, Archivum Anatolicum, 12 (2): 77-112.
• Lafont, B. (2000). “Irrigation agriculture in Mari”, Rainfall and agriculture in Northern Mesopotamia, Cilt LXXXVIII, Leiden, Nederlands Instituutvoor het Nabije Oosten, pp.129-146.
• Laneri, N., Schwartz, M., Ur, J., d’ Agostino, A., Berthon, R., Hald, M. M. & Marsh, A. (2015). “Ritual and Identity in Rural Mesopotamia: Hirbemerdon Tepe and the Upper Tigris River Valley in the Middle Bronze Age”, American Journal of Archaeology, 119 (4): 533-564.
• Larsen, M. T. (2008). “The Middle Bronz Age”, Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C. (Ed. Joan Aruz, Kim Benzel, Jean M. Evans), Yale University Press, New Heaven – London, pp. 13-17.
• Mandacı, Ebru, Eski Mezopotamya’da Ekonomik Hayat, Arkeoloji ve Sanat Yayınları, İstanbul 2019.
• Margueron, J. C., Mari. Métropole de l’Euphrate au IIIe et au début IIe millénaire av. J.-C., Paris 2006.
• McCorriston, J. (1997). “Textile Extensification, Alienation, and Social Stratification in Ancient Mesopotamia”, Current Anthropology, 38 (4): 517-535.
• Mcintosh, Jane R., Ancient Mesopotamia, ABC-CLIO, California 2005.
• Meek, T. J. (1969a).“Collections of Laws from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, The Code of Hammurabi”,Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Ed. James B. Pritchard), Princeton-New Jersey, Princeton University Press, pp.163-180.
• Meek, T. J. (1969b).“Collections of Laws from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, The Middle Assyrian Laws”, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Ed. James B. Pritchard), Princeton-New Jersey, Princeton University Press, pp. 180-188.
• Michel, C. (2008). “The Old Assyrian Trade in the Light of Recent Kültepe Archives”,Cabadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies Journal 3: 71-82.
• Michel, C. (2012). “L’alimentation au Proche-Orient ancien: les sources et leur Exploitation”, Dialogues d'histoire ancienne, Supplément, 7: 17-45.
• Michel, C. (2014). “Wool Trade in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria According to Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian Texts”, Wool Economy in the Ancient Near East and the Aegean: From the Beginnings of Sheep Husbandry to Institutional Textile Industry,pp. 232-254.
• Miller, R. (1980). “Water Use in Syria and Palestine from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age”, World Archaeology,11 (3): 331-341.
• Nardo, Don, Ancient Mezopotamia, New York 2007.
• Özgüç, N.,(1969). “Assyrian Trade Colonies in Anatolia”,Archaeology,22 (4): 250-255.
• Palmisano, A.,“Drawing Pathways from the Past: the Trade Routes of the Old Assyrian Caravans Across Upper Mesopotamia and Central Anatolia”, Subartu Proceedings of the 2nd Kültepe International Meeting, Kültepe, 26-30 July 2015, pp. 29-48.
• Paulette, T.,“Domination and Resilience in Bronze Age Mesopotamia”,Surviving Sudden Environmental Change Answers From Archaeology (Ed. Jago Cooper, Payson Sheets), University Press of Colorado, 2012, pp. 167-196.
• Postgate, J. Nicholas, Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History, Routledge, London-New York, 1992.
• Powell, M. A. (1996). “Money in Mesopotamia”, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 39 (3): 224-242.
• Renger, J. (1994). “On Economic Structures in Ancient Mesopotamia: Part One”, Orientalia, Nova Series, 63 (3): 157-208.
• Reculeau, H. (2017). “Farming in Ancient Mesopotamia (And How the Oriental Institute Helped Us Understand It) News and Notes”, The Oriental Institute's Quarterly Newsletter,232: 4-13.
• Richardson, Mervyn E. J., Hammurabi's Laws Text, Translation and Glossary, London - New York, T&T Clark International a Continuum Imprint, 2004.
• Riehl, S. & Bryson, R. (2007). “Variability in Human Adaptation to Changing Environmental Conditions in Upper Mesopotamia during the Early and the Middle Bronze Age”, Institut Francais d’Etudes Anatoliennes Dumézil, Istanbul/Paris, pp. 523-548.
• Riehl, S.,“Climate and agriculture in the ancient Near East: a synthesis of the archaeobotanical and stable carbon isotope evidence”, Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, Supplement: Proceedings of the14th Symposium of the International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany, Vol. 17, 2008, pp.43-51.
• Riehl, S.,(2009). “Archaeobotanical evidence for the interrelationship of agriculturaldecision-making and climate change in the ancient Near East”, Quaternary International, 197: 93-114.
• Riehl, S., Pustovoytov, K., Dornauer, A. &Sallaberger, W., “Mid-to-Late Holocene Agricultural System Transformations in the Northern Fertile Crescent: A Review of the Archaeobotanical, Geoarchaeological, and Philological Evidence”,Climates, Landscapes, and Civilizations, American Geophysical Union 2012, pp. 115-136.
• Riehl, S. (2014). “Agriculture in the Ancient Near East”, Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, pp. 1-15.
• Salvini, B. A. (2008). “Babylon”, Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C. (Ed. Joan Aruz, Kim Benzel, Jean M. Evans), Yale University Press, New Heaven – London, pp. 18-26.
• Sir Gavaz, Ö. (2007). “Hitit İmparatorluğu’nun Suriye ve Yukarı Mezopotamya Ticaret Yolları Üzerindeki Hâkimiyet Politikası”, İCANAS 38 Uluslararası Asya ve Kuzey Afrika Çalışmaları Kongresi, 6 (6), s. 2819-2837.
• Sterba, R. L. A. (1976). “The Organization and Management of the Temple Corporations in Ancient Mesopotamia”, The Academy of Management Review, 1 (3): 16-26.
• Szlechter, É. (1957). “Le Code De Lipit-Ištar (I)”, Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale, 51 (2): 57-82.
• Tamburrino, A.,(2010). “Water Technology in Ancient Mesopotamia”,Ancient Water Technologies,Ed. Larry W. Mays, Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg/London/New York, pp. 29-52.
• Tosun, M. (1963). “Hammurabi'nin Toprak Kanunları”, Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi, 21(3/4): 127-141.
• Tosun, Mebrure &Yalvaç, Kadriye, Sumer, Babil, Assur Kanunları ve Ammi - Şaduqa Fermanı, Türk Tarih Kurumu yayınları, Ankara, 1989.
• Van Driel, (2007). “The Mesopotamian North: Land Use, An Attempt”, R. M. Jas ed., Rainfall and Agriculture in Northern Mesopotamia, Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut, pp. 265-269.
• Van Koppen, F.(2001). “The Organisation of Institutional Agriculture in Mari”, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient,44 (4): 451-504.
• Veenhof, Klaas R. & Eidem, Jesper, Mesopotamia: The Old Assyrian Period, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis,160, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Academic Press, Michigan University 2008.
• Veenhof, K. R. (2010). “Ancient Assur: The City, its Traders, and its Commercial Network”, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient,Empires and Emporia: The Orient in World Historical Space and Time, 53 (1/2): 39-82.
• Wasylikowa, K. & Kolinski, R. (2013). “The role of plants in the economy of Tell Arbid, north-east Syria, in the Post-Akkadian Period and Middle Bronze Age”, Acta Palaeobotanica, 53(2): 263-293.
• Wiggermann, F.A.M.,(2000). “Agriculture in the Northern Balikh Valley The Case of Middle Assyrian Tell Sabi Abyad”, Rainfall and agriculture in Northern Mesopotamia, Vol. LXXXVIII, İstanbul: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, pp. 171-232.
• Wilkinson, T.J. (2000). “Regional Approaches to Mesopotamian Archaeology: The Contribution of Archaeological Surveys”, Journal of Archaeological Research, 8 (3): 219-267.
• Viollet, P.- L.,“A short history of ancient canals for agriculture and industry”, Congress on industrial and agricultural canals, Lleida, Semptember 2-5, 2014, pp. 1-12.
• Yıldırım, N. (2018). “Eski Mezopotamya’da Kadınların Diplomasideki Rolü Bağlamında Mari Kraliçesi Šibtu’nun Yazışmalarından Örnekler”,Archivum Anatolicum, 12 (2): 201-217.
• Yoffee, N. (1995). “Political Economy in Early Mesopotamian States”, Annual Review of Anthropology, 24: 281-311.