Ancient Sumerians found themselves in a unique situation with respect to their community and its economy. They were "a complex urban society without coined money" (Burns 18). Moreover, they had no other established means of making commercial exchanges, either, leaving them dependent upon written records to accomplish the many tasks associated with land ownership and rentals, such as the measurement and allotment of land, the allocation of the correct amounts of seed grain, the assessment of taxes and rents in proportion to their yield, the maintenance of property and inventory records, and the distribution of rations (Burns 18). All of these written records naturally had to be written by someone literate, but unfortunately, Sumerians at large were an illiterate people. The only literate people in most of ancient Sumerian society were the priests of the temples. Therefore, the task of documenting the many financial transactions of the community fell to "a large specialized professional clerical establishment" (Burns 18). This exigency led to the formation of temple communities.
Sumerians had another reason for forming temple communities, as well. They were a highly religious people that believed their lives were meant to be dedicated to serving their gods (Peltenburg 28). In the Babylonian Epic of Creation, a document that explains how Sumerians thought, it is stated that man "shall be charged with the service of the gods" (Peltenburg 28). Edgar Peltenburg, who manages the Burrell Collection of the Glasgow Museums, asserts that the abundance of religious objects such as amulets in the collection's Sumerian portion demonstrates the pervasiveness of the supernatural's influence throughout Sumerian society (28). Richard L.A. Sterba, Associate Professor at the University of Texas, explains that while the term "temple community" is reminiscent of an "ecclesiastical body," the Sumerian temple communities(although ...