Article · 1967
Essay on Overland Trade in the First Millennium B.C.
A. L. Oppenheim
Journal of Cuneiform Studies 21 236-254
An article on two Neo-Babylonian consignment tablets from Uruk and what they show of imported goods, merchants and overland routes between Babylonia and the west.
Oppenheim examines two Neo-Babylonian consignment tablets from Uruk, YOS 6 168 and TCL 12 84, together with related records, to follow imported goods, the merchants who handled them and the routes linking Babylonia with the west. He compares the tablets with YOS 7 63, temple accounts, letters and royal inscriptions, and groups the listed merchandise as metals, chemicals, foodstuffs, fibers and miscellaneous items. For textiles he adds Assyrian and other Near Eastern texts, ritual records, and passages from Greek and biblical sources.
He argues that the two consignments, which lie one year and two days apart, reflect recurring deliveries of imported goods that local merchants distributed within Babylonia. These distributors may have worked in partnerships or companies, and consignments could pass through a central agency before reaching provincial cities. Oppenheim considers the Euphrates a likely transport route (pp. 239–240).
On the carriers, he considers a Phoenician role, with Tyre acting as an intermediary for goods from Egypt and Asia Minor. The texts mention copper, iron, tin, dyes, foodstuffs and fibers, and for the textile materials he discusses the terms tumānu and tību and offers cotton and wild silk as possible identifications, while stating that the evidence does not settle them (pp. 240–253).
What it records
- The Uruk tablets YOS 6 168 and TCL 12 84, dated 550 and 551 BCE respectively, are so similar in the transactions, objects and persons they record that Oppenheim treats them together.p. 237
- The iron in the two principal consignments comes from Yamana (130 minas) and Lebanon (257 minas).p. 237
- The consignments include 233 minas of alum from Egypt.p. 237
- Oppenheim proposes Carchemish as a possible embarkation point for goods brought by caravan from the West, mainly because of its commercial importance in the Neo-Assyrian period.p. 239
- YOS 7 63 concerns a consignment to be received in Upper Syria, transported to Babylon and delivered to the Eanna temple.p. 240
- The copper (siparru) in the consignments comes, Oppenheim argues, either from Cyprus or from Greek-colonised localities in western Asia Minor.p. 241
- Oppenheim proposes that Phoenicians may have acted as intermediaries, as middlemen, between Babylonia and western suppliers.p. 253
- Nebuchadnezzar II's conquest of Tyre in 574 BCE did not shake the network of sea lanes and trade routes, Oppenheim states.p. 254
Where to read
- The Uruk consignments and proposed merchant systempp. 237–240
- Copper, iron and tin sourcespp. 240–242
- Textile fibers and possible identificationspp. 244–252
Contents
- I. Introduction236
- II. The Texts237
- III. Discussion238
- 1. Metals240
- 2. Chemicals242
- 3. Foodstuffs243
- 4. Fibers244
- IV. Conclusions253
Objects published here
3- Uruk tablet recording a consignment of imported goods, Uruk, YOS 6 168 (p. 237)
- Tablet recording a consignment of Nădin-aḥi, Uruk, TCL 12 84 (p. 238)
- Tablet concerning merchandise to be obtained in Eber-nāri, YOS 7 63 (p. 240)
People, places and institutions
People
- Nādin-aḥimerchant named in the consignments
- Šamaš-zēra-ibniholder of a consignment
Institutions
- Eannatemple involved in procuring imports
Places
- Uruksource of the principal consignment tablets
- Babyloniadestination and distribution region for imports
- Yamanalisted source of copper and iron
- Egyptsource of alum and linen
- Lebanonlisted source of iron
- Babyloncapital and destination in the trade records
- Euphratesproposed transport route
- Carchemishproposed western embarkation point
- Eber-nāriregion for obtaining merchandise
- Tyreproposed Phoenician intermediary in the trade
- Phoeniciaproposed source and intermediary in the trade
Also named: Nebuchadnezzar II, Emar.
Extent pp. 236–254
Defines mēreštu, tumānu, tību, kitinnu