The Convenience of the Temple

Mario Liverani stresses the roles of temples throughout his work Uruk. In Chapter 3, The Administration of a Complex Economy, he goes into detail about how temples were intrinsic to the concept of creating a societal surplus of barley and other goods. Liverani explains that the temples owned the farm land of a community, and that all yield on that land went to the respective temple, with deductions separated out for hired agricultural laborers. The temples only hired agricultural workers during points of the year when high agricultural activity was needed. This way the temples ensured a surplus, without having to compensate workers year-round. The temples acquired these laborers through the argument that the temple’s lands were lands of the god, and that it would be a service to the god to work in them for part of the year. While there are many reasons why barley was the crop of choice in Uruk, from the temple’s point of view, barley was easy to store, and could yield great surplus if farmed and irrigated correctly.

Liverani goes on to discuss how the temple stored wool and textiles. I thought the argument he presented in this chapter regarding the dependence of communities on barley and temples was well presented. Unlike some other arguments he presents earlier, I could follow his examples clearly. This chapter induced me to think about how the society of Uruk differs from our modern day one. Besides obvious differences in technology, I automatically notice the reliance on faith and the temple. I am looking forward to discussing how the civilizations we study utilize faith to facilitate cooperation from its members.