NMC449H1

Mesopotamian Society and Economy

This course presents a thematic overview of Mesopotamian society and economy from the third millennium to the 1st millennium BC. The emphasis is on critical evaluation of the primary sources (in translation), such as everyday legal contracts and the so-called “Laws”. It also explores different approaches to the study of ancient social structures and economies. Topics include: freedom, slavery, and social class; ethnicity; women, children, and the elderly; marriage, family, and household; crime and punishment, and the judicial system; the priesthood; palace and temple, private and state; merchants and trade; money, markets, and prices, and the question of whether there was a market economy; labour and wages; land ownership and tenure, and wealth and social inequality.