Lecture
Veenhof Lecture 2025: Of Fields, Granaries, and Power
- Date
- Friday 28 November 2025
- Time
- Location
- Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Rapenburg 28, 2311 TV Leiden
- Room
- Taffeh Hall, and online (via Zoom)
Resource Management in Kassite Babylonia
Agriculture formed the foundation of the Mesopotamian economy, and this was no less true for the Kassite kingdom (c. 1595–1155 BCE), which governed one of the longest-lasting regimes in Mesopotamian history. This is evidenced by the wealth of cuneiform sources from Kassite Babylonia that document sustained efforts to organize the production, administration, and redistribution of agricultural goods through the systematic management of land, labor, and surplus. This lecture explores the mechanisms by which the Kassite state mobilized, stored, and redistributed agricultural products – particularly cereals – across an interdependent landscape of cities, estates, and rural settlements.
While cities like Nippur served as administrative and bureaucratic centers, the economic engine of Kassite Babylonia lay in its countryside. A dense network of villages, agricultural estates, and small settlements supported the production of cereals and other staples. The combined analysis of textual data and results from archaeological surveys reveals a productive and well-organized rural landscape that underpinned the larger system. These settlements were not isolated; rather, they were deeply embedded in a web of relationships that channeled goods upward into institutional economy.
Crucial to this system was the role of bureaucratic oversight, particularly visible in the development of standardized documentation aimed at tracking the production and storage of agricultural products and facilitating the redistribution of surplus across time and space. The lecture highlights the dynamic interplay between centralized administrative control and decentralized, locally grounded production, which enabled the Kassite state to manage resources effectively across a diverse economic landscape.