This book represents yet another Ur III study in the series Biblioteca del Próximo Oriente Antiguo, masterfully edited by Manuel Molina. Like previous volumes in the series (e.g. Paola Paoletti, Der König und Sein Kreis das Staatliche Schatzarchiv der III. Dynasty von Ur [BPOA 10], and Xiaoli Ouyang, Monetary Role of Silver and Its Administration in Mesopotamia during the Ur III Period (c. 2112–2004 bce): A Case Study of the Umma Province [BPOA 11]), the present work is a revision of the author's PhD dissertation.

The main focus is the management framework of date palm garden plots in Ur III Girsu. One suspects that the size and nature of the Girsu corpus referring to gardens made it an ideal data set to explore garden administration in Ur III Mesopotamia. Unfortunately, though, Greco never explicitly discusses why Girsu was selected over, say, the Umma material.

The gardens consisted largely of palm groves, as well as smaller fruit trees and vineyards that benefitted from the shade of the palm fronds. Greco begins by examining the titles and roles of individuals associated with gardens (chapter 1). She argues that garden administration was “a bipartite system operating in two domains”, namely of workers and “middle-level managers” working within the internal hierarchy of a particular garden on the one hand and, on the other, higher level managers who answered to outside sectors such as the central administration (p. 43). While it seems that the Sumerian term nu-^ĝeškiri₆ can be used generically for both skilled and (less frequently) unskilled garden workers, Greco observes that the term was never used to designate higher level garden administrators (Sumerian santana), who were concerned exclusively with management and not labour.

The lower level workers included “water drawers” (a-bala) and “arborists” (du₃-a-ku₅), the latter of which she notes were responsible for the “trimming, grafting, and general maintenance of the trees” (p. 45). Greco argues against interpreting the worker designated SIG₇-a as “blind”, instead suggesting that the term should be interpreted metaphorically. She acknowledges the argument put forward in Jerrold S. Cooper, Blind Workmen, Weaving Women, and Prostitutes in Third Millennium Babylonia (CDLN, 2010) – and, indeed, specifically stated in an inscription of Šu-Suen – that some garden workers were in fact blinded prisoners of war, but does not convincingly articulate why a literal interpretation of the term should not be preferred.

Of particular interest is Greco's discussion of the Sumerian term um-mi-a ^ĝeškiri₆, literally “garden experts”, used for middle level garden administrators (p. 64). She notes that the term “implies a cognitive competence”, and that it is seen in the term's use with brewers, builders and scribes (p. 65). This is distinct from the term used for expert farmers (gašam), and seems to mark certain conceptualizations in the Mesopotamian mind between gardens and fields. These garden experts, according to Greco, often appear to have been water drawers or arborists with administrative obligations, and were thus charged with doling out allotments to other workers. They were also responsible for fulfilling the estimated yields for their plot.

At the top of the administrative hierarchy sat the garden administrators. Greco argues that the nature of this position “appears essentially bureaucratic in nature, so their professional education should not substantially differ from scribes” (p. 89). The documentation shows that these administrators were in charge of large districts that included several gardens. They were responsible for transactions – both incoming and outgoing – between their territory and the province itself.

In her treatment of these various officials, Greco is clear to point out “exceptions to the rule” – that is, garden experts and administrators who take on actions that fall outside of the rough delineations of those particular offices (p. 119). This is refreshing, as too often Ur III administration is imagined in very rigid terms when, in fact, a closer examination of the texts reveals that administrative function and hierarchical arrangement varied not just between provinces, but within the provinces themselves.

Subsequent chapters discuss the gardens in Girsu (chapter 2); gardens that existed alongside other provincial and central administration complexes, such as smaller settlements and way stations (chapter 3); and the Gu-Iniginšedu district (chapter 4). Some of these gardens are named in an expected propagandistic way (e.g. the Šulgai-a-kalama garden), or after deities (e.g. the garden of Šulpa'e), but many appear simply by the name of the garden expert or administrator in charge of it. Trying to identify gardens can be complicated, however, as Greco notes that “the same garden may refer to a personal name in a given period and to another years later” (p. 40).

Greco also explores how timber from fruit trees was used as a raw material to supply production units such as shipyards for boat-making (chapter 5). In chapter 6, she treats reed production as it pertains to Girsu's garden administration. Girsu gardens as they appear in the textual record from other provinces are analysed in chapter 7. Also covered are Girsu gardens that can neither be securely located in a particular provincial district, nor associated with a particular administrator (chapter 8). Her final chapter (chapter 9) concerns Girsu's garden administrators, including some nine clearly identified individuals who held the position between Šulgi 45 through Ibbi-Sin 3. The administrators of other districts within the province are also discussed.

Following her conclusions are glossaries and word indices. The glossaries are particularly valuable, and provide context to a number of terms for fruits, fruit trees and other sources of timber. One might add for the Sumerian ^ĝešha-lu-ub, for which Greco offers only “unidentified type of tree” (p. 313), the discussion in Naomi F. Miller and Alhena Gadotti, “The KHALUB-tree in Mesopotamia: myth or reality?” (in A.S. Fairbairn and E. Weiss (eds), From Foragers to Farmers: Gordon C. Hillman Festschrift (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2009)), where the term is tentatively linked to a type of cherry tree.

Greco's work is a useful addition to the study of Ur provincial III administration. It is hoped that future research into this topic will allow comparisons between other Ur III provincial centres – or even smaller settlements such as Garšana – so we can better understand this important aspect of the late third millennium economy.