Anatolia And The Assyrian Colonial Period

4,000 Years Ago Assyrian Merchants Built a Vast Trading Empire

Feb 10, 2009

The accounts of these merchants provide a written record of Bronze Age commerce as well as insight into the development of society in Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia.

One of the great surprises in Ancient Near Eastern History is the extent of commerce that existed during Early Bronze Age (c. 1880-1780 BCE.). Perhaps the best documented period of such commerce is during the Assyrian Colonial Period, when a network of trade routes connected Assyria and Babylonia to the resources of Asia Minor. That so much is known about this ancient trade is due to the diligent record keeping of the Assyrians. By studying these accounts it is possible to analyze the very foundations of commerce in the ancient world.

Karum

During this period, Assyrian merchant families would traditionally send one of their members to set up a household near an Anatolian town as a type of trading outpost. Collectively these households would set up enclaves known as Karums. These communities were actually located outside of the nearby city walls and the few that have been found have provided an abundance of archeological, as well as textual, resources.

From these uncovered records it has been determined that there were twelve Karums established in Anatolia. There was also a number of Wabaratum which were guard posts set up to protect the merchants and perhaps to offer a place for a nights rest. To date, only three of the twenty-one Karum sites attested to in the texts have been physically identified and excavated.

Tin, Linens, Gold, Silver

From their own accounts it can be determined that, for several generations, the merchants were using donkeys to transport linens and a metal called annukum, believed to be tin, northward. These merchants were based at Ashur, the Assyrian capital. From here the merchant families brought in the tin from Iran and the linens from Babylonia to be sent to Anatolia for gold and silver.

As tin was used in the production of bronze and Anatolia has no native source for the metal this is a natural import, but the linen trade is different. If the Bronze Age people of Anatolia were providing the Assyrians with a market for linens then they must have enjoyed a certain level of prosperity and security, for the Assyrian merchants would not due business in risky areas.

Kanesh

Located in Central Anatolia was the crossroads town of Kanesh/Nesa. During the Assyrian Colonial period this town grew into the dominate power in the region likely do to the seniority of the trading karum located there. All other karums in Anatolia coordinated there business through the central hub of Kanesh.

This centrality benefited the town for a time but eventually led to rising resentment by its neighbors who allied against it. For a time trade was disrupted but as Kanesh recovered so did trade and for a few more decades the Assyrian merchants continued to ply there wares northward. A second war eliminated Kanesh as a political power which brought an end to the colonial trade network.

Mercantile Law

When, after a few centuries, the Hittite Empire became the dominate power in Anatolia it took advantage of the old trade networks to trade silver for tin which was an essential component of empire building. The Hittites also preserved many of the ancient customs regarding trade which placed a responsibility on a king to guarantee safe passage in his land. There are many accounts in ancient documents, such as the Amarna Letters that shows this type of mercantile law, dating from the Assyrian Colonial period, was widely accepted throughout the Near East.

During the second millennium B.C.E. the Bronze Age Kingdoms of the Near East flourished and built mighty empires that were all reliant on integrated trade. Many of the same trade routes used by Assyrians stayed in use throughout this period and indeed many endured far beyond. For students of ancient history it is the records of those Assyrian merchants that offer a foundational understanding of how commerce began in Southeast Asia.

Bryce, Trevor, Life and Society in the Hittite World. (Oxford Oxford University Press, 2002.)

Bryce, Trevor. The Kingdom of the Hittites. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2005.

Larsen, Mogens. The Old Assyrian City-State and its Colonies. (Copenhagen,Akademisk Forlag, 1976)

Roaf, Micheal. Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East. (Oxford, Andromeda

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