A Companion to Assyria

by Eckart Frahm

Michel, C. 2003. Old Assyrian Bibliography of Cuneiform Texts, Bullae, Seals and the Results of the Excavations at Aššur, Kültepe/Kaniš, Acemhöyük, Alişar and Boğazköy, Old Assyrian Archives Studies 1, PIHANS 97, Leiden: NINO.

  Michel, C. 2003a. “Les femmes et les dettes: problèmes de responsabilité dans la Mésopotamie du IIe millénaire avant J.‐C.,” Méditerranées 34–5, 13–36.

  Michel, C. 2004. “Deux incantations paléo‐assyriennes. Une nouvelle incantation pour faciliter la naissance,” in: J.G. Dercksen (ed.), Assyria and Beyond: Studies Presented to Mogens Trolle Larsen, PIHANS 100, Leiden: NINO, 395–420.

  Michel, C. 2005. “Le commerce privé des Assyriens en Anatolie modèle du commerce archaïque selon K. Polanyi,” in: P. Clancier (ed.), Autour de Polanyi, vocabulaires, théories et modalités des échanges, Paris: De Boccard, 121–33.

  Michel, C. 2006a. “Calculer chez les marchands assyriens du début du IIe millénaire av. J.‐C.,” Website CultureMaths http://culturemath.ens.fr/histoire des maths/htm/Michel06/Michel06.pdf.

  Michel, C. 2006b. “Bigamie chez les Assyriens du début du IIe millénaire,” Revue Historique de Droit Français et Etranger 84, 155–76.

  Michel, C. 2006c. “Les suidés dans la documentation de Kaniš au début du IIe millénaire avant J.‐C.,” in: B. Lion and C. Michel (eds.), De la domestication au tabou: le cas des suidés au Proche‐Orient ancien, Actes du colloque international, Nanterre, 1–3 décembre 2005, Paris: De Boccard, 169–80.

  Michel, C. 2006d. “Femmes et production textile à Aššur au début du IIe millénaire avant J.‐C.,” Techniques & culture 46, 281–97.

  Michel, C. 2008a. “Écrire et compter chez les marchands assyriens du début du IIe millénaire av. J.‐C.,” in: T. Tarhan et al. (eds.), Muhibbe Darga Armağanı, Istanbul: Sadbek Hanim Muzesi, 345–64.

  Michel, C. 2008b. “‘Tu aimes trop l’argent et méprises ta vie.’ Le commerce lucratif des Assyriens en Anatolie centrale,” in: La richessa nel Vicino Oriente Antico, Atti del Convegno internazionale Milano 20 gennaio 2007, Centro Studi del Vicino Oriente, Milan: Ares, 37–62.

  Michel, C. 2008c. “Les Assyriens et leurs femmes anatoliennes,” in: J.G. Dercksen (ed.), Anatolia and the Jazira during the Old Assyrian Period, Old Assyrian Archives Studies 3, PIHANS 111, Leiden: NINO, 209–29.

  Michel, C. 2008d. “La correspondance des marchands assyriens du XIXe s. av. J.‐C.: de l’archivage des lettres commerciales et privées,” in: L. Pantalacci (ed.), La lettre d’archive. Communication administrative et personnelle dans l’Antiquité proche‐orientale et égyptienne, Topoi Suppl. 9, Cairo: Institut français d'archeologie orientale, 117–40.

  Michel, C. 2008e. “The Alāhum and Aššur‐taklāku archives found in 1993 at Kültepe Kaniš,” in: G. Kryszat (ed.), Festschrift für Karl Hecker zum 75. Geburtstag am 25. Juli 2008, AoF 35, 53–67.

  Michel, C. 2008f. “Les Assyriens et les esprits de leurs morts,” in: C. Michel (ed.), Old Assyrian Studies in Memory of Paul Garelli, Old Assyrian Archives Studies 4, PIHANS 112, Leiden: NINO, 181–97.

  Michel, C. 2009a. “‘Dis‐moi ce que tu bois … ’: Boissons et buveurs en haute Mésopotamie et Anatolie au début du IIe millénaire av. J.‐C.,” in: X. Faivre et al. (eds.), Et il y eut un esprit dans l’Homme. Jean Bottéro et la Mésopotamie, Paris: De Boccard, 197–220.

  Michel, C. 2009b. “Femmes et ancêtres: le cas des femmes des marchands d’Aššur,” in: F. Briquel‐Chatonnet, S. Fares, B. Lion, and C. Michel (eds.), Femmes, cultures et sociétés dans les civilisations méditerranéennes et proches‐orientales de l’Antiquité, Topoi Suppl. 10, Cairo: Institut français d’archeologie orientale, 27–39.

  Michel, C. 2009c. “Les filles de marchands consacrées,” in: F. Briquel‐Chatonnet et al. (eds.), Femmes, cultures et sociétés dans les civilisations méditerranéennes et proches‐orientales de l’Antiquité, Topoi Suppl. 10, Cairo: Institut français d'archeologie orientale, 145–63.

  Michel, C. 2009d. “Les femmes et l’écrit dans les archives paléo‐assyriennes (XIXe s. av. J.‐C.),” in: F. Briquel‐Chatonnet et al. (eds.), Femmes, cultures et sociétés dans les civilisations méditerranéennes et proches‐orientales de l’Antiquité, Topoi Suppl. 10, Le Caire: Institut français d’archeologie orientale, 253–72.

  Michel, C. 2010. “Les comptoirs de commerce assyriens en Anatolie: emprunts réciproques et acculturation,” in: P. Rouillard (ed.), Portraits de migrants, portraits de colons II, Paris: De Boccard, 1–12.

  Michel, C. 2011a. “The Kārum Period on the Plateau,” in: S.R. Steadman and G. McMahon (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia (10,000–323 BCE), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 313–36.

  Michel, C. 2011b. “The Private Archives from Kaniš Belonging to Anatolians,” Altorientalische Forschungen 38, 94–115.

  Michel, C. 2013a. “Old Assyrian Kaniš (Akkadian Texts: Women in Letters),” in: M.W. Chavalas (ed.), Women in the Ancient Near East, London and New York: Routledge, 205–12.

  Michel, C. 2013b. “Economic and Social Aspects of the Old Assyrian Loan Contract,” in: F. D’Agostino (ed.), L’economia dell’antica Mesopotamia (III‐I millennio a.C.): Per un dialogo interdisciplinare, La Sapienza Orientale 9, Rome: Nuova Cultura, 41–56.

  Michel, C. 2014a. “Central Anatolia in the Nineteenth and Eighteenth Centuries BC,” in: N. Brisch et al. (eds.), Constituent, Confederate, and Conquered Space: The Emergence of the Mittani State, TOPOI, Berlin Studies of the Ancient World 17, 113–38.

  Michel, C. 2014b. “Considerations on the Assyrian Settlement at Kaneš,” Journal of Cuneiform Studies Suppl. Series 4, 69–84.

  Michel, C. 2014c. “Wool Trade in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria According to Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian Texts,” in: C. Breniquet and C. Michel (eds.), Wool Economy in the Ancient Near East and the Aegean: From the Beginnings of Sheep Husbandry to Institutional Textile Industry, Ancient Textiles Series 17, Oxford: Oxbow Books, 232–54.

  Michel, C. 2014d. “Se restaurer en route en haute Mésopotamie et Anatolie au début du IIe millénaire avant J.‐C.,” in : L. Milano (ed.), Paleonutrition and Food Practices in the Ancient Near East: Towards a Multidisciplinary Approach, Padua: SARGON, 309–26.

  Michel, C. 2015a. “Les lettres des rois d’Aššur découvertes à Kaniš (xixe siècle av. J.‐C.), in: S. Procházka, L. Reinfandt, and S. Tost (eds.), Official Epistolography and the Language(s) of Power. Proceedings of the First International Conference of the Research Network Imperium & Officium, Comparative Studies in Ancient Bureaucracy and Officialdom. University of Vienna, 10–12 November 2010, Papyrologica Vindobonensia 8, Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 43–60.

  Michel, C. 2015b. “Were There Only Merchants at Aššur and Kaneš? Overview of Professions Attested in the Old Assyrian Sources,” in: İ. Albayrak et al. (eds.), Cahit Günbattı Armağan: Studies in Honour of Cahit Günbattı, Ankara: Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih Coğrafya Fakültesi, 171–84.

  Michel, C. 2015c. “Women in the Family of Ali‐ahum Son of Iddin‐Suen (1993 Kültepe Archive),” in: F. Kulakoğlu and C. Michel (eds.), Proceedings of the 1st Kültepe International Meeting, Kültepe, 19–23 September, 2013, Subartu 35, Turnhout: Brepols, 85–93.

  Michel, C. In press. “Weighing Units and Weights in the Context of Trade from Upper Mesopotamia to Anatolia (Nineteenth and Eighteenth Centuries BCE),” in: K. Chemla, A. Keller, and C. Proust (eds.), Cultures of Quantification and Computation, Why Sciences of the Ancient World Matter 1, Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer Verlag.

  Michel, C. Forthcoming. Women from Aššur and Kaniš, Writings from the Ancient World, Baltimore: SBL.

  Michel, C. and Garelli, P. 1996. “Heurts avec une principauté anatolienne,” in: A.A. Ambros and M. Köhbach (eds.), Festschrift für Hans Hirsch zum 65. Geburtstag gewidmet von seinen Freunden, Kollegen und Schülern, Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 86, 277–90.

  Michel, C. and Veenhof, K.R. 2010. “The Textiles traded by the Assyrians in Anatolia (19th–18t
h Centuries BC),” in: C. Michel and M.‐L. Nosch (eds.), Textile Terminologies in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean from the Third to the First millennia BC, Ancient Textiles Series 8, Oxford: Oxbow, 209–69.

  Özgüç, T. 2003. Kültepe Kaniš/Neša: The Earliest International Trade Center and the Oldest Capital City of the Hittites, Tokyo: Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan.

  Rems, R. 1996. “Eine Kleinigkeit zum altassyrischen Eherecht,” in: A.A. Ambros and M. Köhbach (eds.), Festschrift für Hans Hirsch zum 65. Geburtstag gewidmet von seinen Freunden, Kollegen und Schülern, Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 86, 355–67.

  Sever, H. 1992. “Eine neue Ehescheidungsurkunde,” in: H. Otten et al. (eds.), Hittite and other Anatolian and Near Eastern Studies in Honour of Sedat Alp, Ankara: Anadolu Medeniyetleri Arastirma ve Tanitma Vakfi Yayinlari, 483–6.

  Sturm, T. 2001. “Puzur‐Annā: Ein Schmied des Kārum Kaniš,” in: W.H. van Soldt et al. (eds.), K.R. Veenhof Anniversary Volume, PIHANS 89, Leiden: NINO, 475–501.

  Ulshöfer, A. 2000. “Sprachbarrieren und ihre Überwindung: Translatorisches Handeln im alten Orient,” in: L. Milano (ed.), Landscapes, Territories, Frontiers and Horizons in the Ancient Near East. Papers Presented to the XLIVth Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Venezia, 7–11 July, 1997, History of the Ancient Near East/Monographs III/1–3, Padova: Sargon, 163–9.

  Üstündağ, H. 2014. “Human Remains from Kültepe/Kanesh: Preliminary Results of the Old Assyrian Burials from the 2005–2008 Excavations,” Journal of Cuneiform Studies Suppl. Series 4, 157–73.

  Veenhof, K.R. 1972. Aspects of the Old Assyrian Trade and its Terminology, Studia et Documenta ad Iura Orientis Antiqui Pertinentia 10, Leiden: Brill.

  Veenhof, K.R. 1982a. “The Old Assyrian Merchants and Their Relations with the Native Population of Anatolia,” in: H. Kühne et al. (eds.), Mesopotamien und seine Nachbarn. Politische und kulturelle Wechselbeziehungen im Alten Vorderasien vom 4. bis 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr., Berliner Beiträge zum Vorderen Orient 1, Berlin: Reimer, 147–55.

  Veenhof, K.R. 1982c. “A Deed of Manumission and Adoption from the Later Old Assyrian Period,” in: G.V. Driel et al. (eds.), Zikir šumim. Assyriological Studies Presented to F.R. Kraus on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday, Leiden: Brill, 359–85.

  Veenhof, K.R. 1994. “Miete. C. Altassyrisch,” Reallexikon der Assyriologie 8, 181–4.

  Veenhof, K.R. 1995. “‘In Accordance with the Words of the Stele.’ Evidence for Old Assyrian Legislation,” Chicago‐Kent Law Review 70, 1717–44.

  Veenhof, K.R. 1997a. “‘Modern’ Features in Old Assyrian Trade,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 40, 336–66.

  Veenhof, K.R. 1997b. “Two Marriage Documents from Kültepe,” Archivum Anatolicum 3, 357–81.

  Veenhof, K.R. 1998. “Old Assyrian and Ancient Anatolian Evidence for the Care of the Elderly,” in: M. Stol and S.P. Vlemings (eds.), The Care of the Elderly in the Ancient Near East, Leiden: Brill, 119–60.

  Veenhof, K.R. 1999a. “Silver and Credit in Old Assyrian Trade,” in: J.G. Dercksen (ed.), Trade and Finance in Ancient Mesopotamia, MOS Studies 1, Leiden: NINO, 55–83.

  Veenhof, K.R. 1999b. “Redemption of Houses in Assur and Sippar,” in: B. Böck et al. (eds.), Munuscula Mesopotamica. Festschrift für Johannes Renger, AOAT 267, Münster: Ugarit‐Verlag, 599–616.

  Veenhof, K.R. 2001. “The Old Assyrian Period,” in: R. Westbrook and R. Jasnow (eds.), Security for Debt in Ancient Near Eastern Law, Leiden: Brill, 93–159.

  Veenhof, K.R. 2003. The Old Assyrian List of Year Eponyms from Karum Kanish and its Chronological Implications, TTKY IV/64, Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu.

  Veenhof, K.R. 2003a. “Archives of Old Assyrian Traders,” in: M. Brosius (ed.), Archives and Archival Tradition. Concepts of Record Keeping in the Ancient World, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 78–123.

  Veenhof, K.R. 2003b. “Old Assyrian Period,” in: R. Westbrook (ed.), A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law, vol. 1, Handbuch der Orientalistik, Section I, vol. 72/1, Leiden: Brill, 431–84.

  Veenhof, K.R. 2003c. “Trade and Politics in Ancient Assur. Balancing of Public, Colonial and Entrepreneurial Interests,” in: C. Zaccagnini (ed.), Mercante e Politica nel Mondo Antico, Saggi di Storia Antica 21, Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider, 69–118.

  Veenhof, K.R. 2007. “Sisterly Advice on an Endangered Marriage in an Old Assyrian Letter,” in: M. Roth et al. (eds.), Studies Presented to Robert D. Biggs, June 4, 2004, From the Workshop of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary II, Chicago: Oriental Institute, 285–304.

  Veenhof, K.R. 2008. “The Old Assyrian Period,” in: M. Wäfler (ed.), Mesopotamia. The Old Assyrian Period, Annäherungen 5, OBO 160/5 Teil 1, Fribourg and Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 13–264.

  Veenhof, K.R. 2008a. “The Death and Burial of Ishtar‐Lamassi in karum Kanish,” in: R.J. van der Spek (ed.), Studies in Ancient Near Eastern World View and Society Presented to Marten Stol on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, 10 November 2005, and His Retirement from the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Bethesda: CDL, 97–119.

  Veenhof, K.R. 2010. “Ancient Assur. The City, its Traders, and its Commercial Network,” JESHO 53, 39–82.

  Veenhof, K.R. 2011a. “Last Wills and Inheritance of Old Assyrian Traders with Four Records from the Archive of Elamma,” in: K. Abraham and J. Fleishman (eds.), Family Cohesion in the Bible and the Ancient Near East: Studies in Honour of Aaron Skaist on the Occasion of his 76th Birthday, Bethesda: CDL, 169–201.

  Veenhof, K.R. 2011b.“Houses in the Ancient City of Assur,” in: B.S. Dünring et al. (eds.), Correlates of Complexity: Essays in Archaeology and Assyriology Dedicated to Diederik J.W. Meijer in Honour of his 65th Birthday, PIHANS 116, Leiden: NINO, 211–31.

  Veenhof, K.R. 2013. “The Archives of Old Assyrian Traders: Their Nature, Functions and Use,” in: M. Faraguna (ed.), Archives and Archival Documents in Ancient Societies: Legal Documents in Ancient Societies 4, Trieste: EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 27–71.

  Veenhof, K.R. 2014a. “Families of Assyrian Traders,” in: L. Marti (ed.), La famille dans le Proche‐Orient ancien: réalités, symbolismes et images, Proceedings of the 55th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Paris, 6–9 July 2009, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 341–71.

  Veenhof, K.R. 2014b. “Silver in Old Assyrian Trade. Its Shapes, Qualities and Purification,” in: Z. Csabai (ed.), Studies in Economic and Social History of the Ancient Near East in Memory of Péter Vargyas, Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean Studies 2, Budapest: L’Harmattan Hungary, 387–416.

  Von Soden, W. 1956. “Eine altassyrische Beschwörung gegen die Dämonin Lamaštum,” Orientalia 25, 141–8.

  Wilhelm, G. 2008. “Hurrians in the Kültepe Texts,” in: J.G. Dercksen (ed.), Anatolia and the Jazira during the Old Assyrian Period, Old Assyrian Archives Studies 3, PIHANS 111, Leiden, 181–94.

  Further Reading

  There is no book entirely dedicated to Old Assyrian society, but many articles concern topics related to this theme. Information on the citizens of Ashur and Kaniš is provided by Barjamovic 2014, Hertel 2013, 2014, Larsen 2015, Veenhof 1995a, and, with regard to slaves, Kienast 1984. Assyrian families are studied by Michel 2001: chapter 6 and Veenhof 2014a; for the family as a commercial network, see Larsen 2007. A sample of one hundred women’s letters is provided in Michel 2001: chapter 7; see also Michel 2013a, 2015c and, for Assyrian and Anatolian women, Michel (forthcoming), which deals with marriage and divorce (see also Michel 2006b), the place of women in the family, maternity, housewives, businesswomen, and the moral and religious values of women; it also gives some three hundred texts in translation. Children are studied in Michel 1997d. For inheritance practices and last wills, see Hecker 2004a, 2004b, Michel 2000b and Veenhof 2011a. Michel 2008f, 2009b, Veenhof 1998, and 2008a deal with death and burials. For agriculture, cattle breeding, and food production, see Atici 2014, Dercksen 2008a, 2008b, Fairbairn 2014, Michel 1997a, 2006c, 2008c, 2009a, 2014d; for houses and their i
nventories Kulakoğlu and Kangal 2010, Michel 1997b and Veenhof 2011b; and for textiles Michel 2006d, Michel and Veenhof 2010. Data about markets, craftsmen, and loan contracts may be found in Dercksen 2004a, Michel 2013b, 2015b, and Veenhof 2008. An overview of Old Assyrian religion is presented in Hirsch 1972; Kryszat 2003, 2006a, 2006b and 2007b are focused on specific gods, while Michel 2009c discusses the role of consecrated girls; see also Michel (forthcoming): chapter 5. Old Assyrian writing, counting, and metrology are analyzed in Barjamovic 2015, Michel 2006a, 2008a, and in press.

  CHAPTER 5

  The Transition Period (17th to 15th Century BCE)

  Shigeo Yamada

  The period from the 17th to the 15th century BCE marks the transition between the Old Assyrian and the Middle Assyrian periods, which are much better documented. In the Old Assyrian period, the state of Ashur consisted only of the small, self‐governing, mercantile city of Ashur. In the Middle Assyrian period, it developed into a large territorial state organized into provinces, spreading over the lands along the Tigris River and in the Jazira. The “transition period” between these two historical phases is one of Mesopotamia’s “dark ages.” The historical developments in and around the city of Ashur are, at best, opaque and often entirely unknown, due to the extreme shortage of sources.

  In the latter part of the Old Assyrian period, during the 18th century BCE, the city of Ashur was largely under the domination of external powers. It was ruled by the Amorite kingdom, which was established over most of upper Mesopotamia by Šamši‐Adad I (or Samsi‐Addu in his native Amorite language) until his death around 1776 BCE. His son Išme‐Dagan I continued to rule the city of Ashur as the religious capital of his shrunken kingdom, alongside his administrative capital, Ekallatum, which was located just a short distance to the north of Ashur.1 The kingdoms of Ekallatum, Ešnunna, and Babylon all controlled Ashur at some point during the obscure period of c. 1775–1720 BCE, although the city seems to have retained some autonomy, its basic institutional fabric as a city‐state, and its mercantile colony in Anatolia. Our knowledge of the city of Ashur in this period is gleaned from documentary evidence mainly from upper Mesopotamia, particularly Mari (Tell Hariri), Qaṭṭara (Tell al‐Rimah), and Šeḫna (Tell Leilan), and from Kaniš (Kültepe) in central Anatolia. Information from all of these sources comes to an end around 1720 BCE, with the end of kārum Kaniš Ib, which marks the beginning of the “dark age” or “transition period” to be dealt with below.