Old Assyrian Institutions

By (author) J.G. Dercksen

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Extent: 329 pages

Publisher: Peeters Publishers

Subjects: Ancient Near East

Series: PIHANS

Series volume number: 98

Language: English

(Paperback) (Published)

(December 2004)

ISBN: 9789062580996

Price: $55.00

In stock

Archaeological and documentary evidence is used to investigate two major institutions of the Old Assyrian city-state: the City Hall in Assur, and the Office of the Colony in Kultepe/Kanish. Part One deals with the City Hall: its role in the economy of the city-state and its functionaries. Its activities involved the sale to merchants of commodities to be exported to Anatolia. But the Hall, managed by the Year-Eponym, was equally important for the local economy by verifying weights and measures as well as the quality of metals used as a means of exchange. Moreover, it levied taxes and appears to have controlled the city’s main granary. A complex mechanism at the heart of the colonial system in Kultepe/Kanish is addressed in Part Two. An interpretation is offered there of the related mechanisms of the payment of the datum-contribution by registered merchants, communal fund-raising, taxation and the accounting of the colony.

  • By (author) J.G. Dercksen