“Its interest is a food offering”: Old Babylonian temple loans with the maš2 mākālum formula

This article intends to examine some aspects of a group of Old Babylonian temple loans, i.e., loan contracts that are worded as if it was the divinity himself granting the loan to a debtor. They contain a particular interest clause, the so-called maš2 mākālum formula. In the Appendix, nine of these temple loans are published for the first time.