Les pérégrinations des marchands assyriens en haute Mésopotamie et en Asie Mineure

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At the beginning of the IInd millennium BC, inhabitants from the Aššur city-state, on the Tigris river, organized large scale commercial exchange with Anatolia. People from Aššur exported tin and textiles in Central Anatolia and brought back gold and silver. They settled down in forty colonies, far away from their home. Their many travels between Aššur and Kaniš or inside Minor Asia are well-documented by the Assyrian merchants archives, mostly dated from the XIXh century B. C. and discovered at Kaniš, near Kayseri, in Turkey. The data concern preparation of the trips, the rest of men and animals in guest houses, and many problems encountered during the travel. In fact, mention of the death of donkeys on the way let us imagine that, during their journey, the caravans had to face many dangers.

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