Essay 2: Traders
This collection consists of four letters found at the Assyrian commercial settlement (kārum) in Kaneš. The letters are part of a hoard of thousands of clay tablets dating to a period of about 160 years over the 19th and 18th centuries BCE. They document a highly organized international trading enterprise moving goods between Aššur and Anatolia. In Aššur, trading companies were most often organized as family enterprises headed by patriarchs. Some of these companies were directly involved in trade, while others financed itinerant merchants. A complex financial system that included investors, shares and shareholders, loans, and dividends developed to support this enterprise.
Risks of the trade
Tell Inâ: Ikuppīja, Ellil-bāni, and Aššur-taklāku send the following message:
We have heard here that the palace has put you in fetters, but we did not believe it until we learned of the official announcement. We clo...
Meeting up
Tell Amur-ilī: Addu sends the following message:
From here I will go to the town of Burušhattum, together with the assistants of Ah-šalim, according to your instruction. Ah-šalim himself confirmed this here as follows...
Collection notice
A message from Silla-Labbum and Elani: Tell Puzur-Aššur, Amua, and Aššur-šamšī:
Thirty years ago you left the city of Aššur. You have never made a deposit since, and we have not reco...
Money owed
Tell Aššur-rīsī, Šu-Bēlim, and Aššur-taklāku: Elani sends the following message:
Dear brothers, get hold of Išme-[…] and Aššur-nāda there: make them pay nine shekels of si...