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Intensified interaction between Mesopotamia and Mediterranean resulted directly from the expansion of the Neo-Assyrian empire from the tenth and ninth centuries onwards under kings who regulated trade through the Levant and Cilicia. With the westward campaign of Tiglath-pileser III in 734, firm trading links were established with the Mediterranean (Postgate 1974: 390ff.). Just as their predecessors had done in Anatolia, Assyrian kings established trading colonies in the mercantile cities of the West (Elat 1991: 21ff). Business letters written in Luwian and records in Aramaic are known from Aššur in Late Assyrian contexts, which implies that merchants in Mesopotamia were multilingual, and that scribes who were also translators were available (Pedersen 1986: 98).
Bibliography
| Dalley and Reyes 1998, 94 | Dalley, S. and A. T. Reyes. “Mesopotamian Contact and Influence in the Greek World.” In: S. Dalley (ed.). The Legacy of Mesopotamia. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1998, 85-124. |
| Elat 1991, 21ff. | Elat, M. “Phoenician Overland Trade within the Mesopotamian Empire.” In: M. Cogan and I. Eph'al (eds.). Ah, Assyria... Studies Presented to Hayim Tadmor. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, Hebrew University 1991, 21-35. |
| Pedersen 1986, 98 | Pedersen, Olaf. Archives and Libraries in the City of Assur. A Survey of the Material from German Excavations. Vol. 2. Studia Semitica Uppsaliensia 8. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell 1986. |
| Postgate 1974, 390ff. | Postgate, N. Taxation and Conscription in the Assyrian Empire. Studia Pohl 3. Rome: Biblical Institute Press 1974. |
Stephanie Dalley
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