The Ancient Near East: A Very Short Introduction by Amanda H. Podany

Author:Amanda H. Podany [Podany, Amanda H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ancient, History, Middle East
ISBN: 9780195377996
Google: TTeaAAAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00IDA40VY
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2013-11-18T03:00:00+00:00

7. In this cuneiform letter found in Kanesh, the Assyrian merchant Assur-idi writes to his son Assur-nada about their trading operations transporting textiles to Anatolia.

The father and son kept separate accounts, as is clear from Assur-idi’s insistence that Assur-nada not spend what he called “my silver,” but they worked very closely together. The closeness is surprising, though, given that each of these letters would have taken about six weeks to arrive at its destination and the answer would not have come back for at least three months.

Assur-nada’s other two brothers also worked in the family business. A younger brother did a great deal of the traveling, including sometimes returning to their father in Assur. Sadly, this brother died young of an illness. Assur-nada’s letters show that, like his brother, he also traveled around to other cities in Anatolia, looking for places to sell his tin and textiles. On occasion he might even have returned to Assur (at least, his father pleaded for him to do so), but mostly he employed other traders to travel back home.

When the family patriarch, Assur-idi, wrote his letter to Assur-nada, he was not only angry about business. He also had a personal crisis on his hands. He continued:

I raised your son, but he said: “You are not my father,” whereupon he left; I also raised your daughters, but they said: “You are not our father.” On the third day they left and departed for you and now I want to know what you have to tell me.

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