Old Assyrian Institutions / J. G. Dercksen.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [xv]-xxiii) and indexes.

Part 1. The City Hall at Assur -- Chapter 1. The City Hall at Assur -- Chapter 2. The Role of the City Hall in Commerce -- Chapter 3. The Debt Policy of the City Hall -- Chapter 4. The Officials of the City Hall -- Chapter 5. The City Hall as Part of the City-State -- Part 2. The Office of the Colony at Kanish -- Chapter 6. The Office of the Colony at Kanish -- Chapter 7. The Datum-contribution and the Sitapkum-method to Raise Funds -- Chapter 8. The Office of the Colony and Private Enterprises -- Part I. The Declared Value of Goods (awitum) -- Chapter 9. The Office of the Colony and Private Enterprises -- Part II. The 'Caravans' -- Chapter 10. The Office of the Colony and Private Enterprises -- Part III. Communal Trade Through Enterprises -- Chapter 11. The Settlement of Accounts of the Kanish Colony -- Chapter 12. Between Public and Private -- Conclusion.

This study examines two Old Assyrian institutions and their economic importance : the City Hall at Assur and the Office of the Colony at Kanish. The City Hall at Assur had an important role in supplying luxury commodities such as lapis lazuli and iron to traders operating in Anatolia. Issues of credit and debt, officials and the markets and goods themselves are discussed. The Assyrian colony at Kanish likewise dealt with the sale of luxury goods for export and as a creditor for merchants. Derckson examines the possible location of the Office of the Colony, its main functions, the colony's finances, taxation, fund-raising, private enterprise and the value of goods traded, debt and the settlement of accounts. The final chapter looks at different groups within Assyrian society, especially the merchants belonging to the `big men' and those holding public office.

This book deals with two main institutions of the Old Assyrian economy, the City Hall in Assur and the office of the colony at Kanish. Part One is devoted to the role of the City Hall (bet alim, bet limim) within the economy of Assur and concludes with a survey of the significance of the City Hall after the Old Assyrian period. Part Two deals with the office of the colony (bet karim) in Kanish, Assyrian colonial institution par excellence. Emphasis is put on a complex that proved difficult to interpret in the past, the settlement of accounts (nikkassu), the datum-contribution, and the communal fund-raising called sitapkum.