This article traces corporal and collective punishment in relation to the labour control of slaves and other dependent persons during the Ur III period (c.2100–2000 BCE). Slaves and other dependent persons often worked in related contexts with some overlap in treatment. Persons of different statuses could be detained and forced to work. Persons of various statuses also received rations and other benefits, but the evidence suggests that the most extreme forms of corporal punishment were reserved for slaves. This article, however, contextualizes these threats of mutilation and the death penalty, demonstrating that such punishments should be considered the exception and not the norm.

本文追溯了乌尔三世时期（公元前 2100 年至 2000 年）与奴隶和其他受抚养人的劳动控制相关的体罚和集体惩罚。奴隶和其他受抚养人经常在相关的环境中工作，在待遇上有一些重叠。不同身份的人可能会被拘留并被迫工作。不同地位的人也能得到口粮和其他好处，但有证据表明，最极端的体罚形式是为奴隶保留的。然而，这篇文章将这些肢解和死刑的威胁结合起来，表明此类惩罚应被视为例外而不是常态。