Old Assyrian Letters

During the Old Assyrian period (late 20^th and 19^th centuries BC), Assur was a city-state, and although its political control most probably did not extend beyond the immediate surroundings of the city, Assyrian merchants became a powerful economic force in the region. Most of the Old Assyrian letters and documents were found in private merchant archives of the Anatolian trading outpost, kārū, most prominent of which was Kaniš (Hittite Nesa, modern Kültepe, Turkey). The letters provide us with a detailed account of the workings of major Assyrian trading families, operating extensive networks of trade. Relatively little is known about the internal organisation of the Old Assyrian state, but there is some evidence that that Assur was a merchant republic, led by a prince/doge (waklum or išši’akum). The extent of the prince's power is unknown, as he is only sporadically mentioned in the written sources.

The addressee is introduced by the phrase "speak to PN" ana PN qibīma. More than one addressee can be found, listed in descending order of social status and/or seniority. The sender is introduced by the technical terminology "thus PN" umma PN-ma. If the sender is of superior status to the addressee he is mentioned first (umma PN1 and PN2 qibīma, see for example TCL 14, 02)

The content of the letter follow the addressee and the sender.

A short exhortation can follow the sender or come towards the end of the letter (abī atta, "You are my father!", often together with bēlī atta, "You are my lord!", ahī atta, "You are my brother!" etc.)

The wast majority of all Old Assyrian letters are the private correspondence between family members of business associates (often relatives as well).

Some letters are official communications of either "the City" (a-lum, i.e. Assur) or the ruler of Assur ("the foreman, or steward", wa-ak-lum2), "the Colony" (ka3-ru-um, mostly Kanesh), or a specific collony (ka3-ri-im GN)

A few letters exists that can be described as diplomatic correspondence involving the Assyrian traders and local Anatolian rulers (Example: LAPO 19 62)

CCT 5, 04:

Almost 1000 Old Assyrian texts are classified as letters in the CDLI, making Old Assyrian one of the largest corpora of letters from Ancient Mesopotamia.

Click here for Old Assyrian letters in the CDLI

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The Old Assyrian Text Project