The Rental Houses in the Neo-Babylonian Period (VI-V Centuries Bc)

Stefan Zawadzkis new book is the first comprehensive study on the rental of houses in the Neo-Babylonian period, owned by private persons as well by the temples. The book is based on the published, but mostly unpublished tablets housed in the British Museum, which result in many important observations made concerning the differences in the time of rent payment in the case of private owners and the temple; delays in payment; changes in contract conditions caused by the political situation; relations between owner and tenants, etc. The new documents enabled the establishment of a list of house rent collectors of the Ebabbar temple in Sippar, their social position (and that the same system was used also in the Esagila temple), the yearly income of the Ebabbar temple from the rental of houses and the social position of the tenants (majority of them were members of the temple personnel) and the annual amount of rent paid by tenants.