Title:The Nippur Bankers' Archives during the Ur III Period （Part I）

Author:Wu Yuhong, Professor, Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China; Lu Bing, Graduate Student, Institution for the History of Ancient Civilizations, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China 130024

Abstract:The bankers in the Mesopotamia entitled dam-gàr by the Sumerians were the professional persons who carried out loans and commerce for profits. According to the two published text collections from Ur III Nippur, this article deals with the loans with and without interests, the 33.3% interest rate for barley and the 20% rate for silver, the loans starting in Spring and Summer and returned in autumn, the prices of barley and other goods, and the barley for sliver loans. Furthermore, this study reconstructed the archives of several famous bankers, which will helpful to the understanding of the money dealing system and the functions of merchants of the ancient Mesopotamia.

Key words:Nippur; the Ur III Period; merchants; interest; loan; term; economic texts