A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

MESOPOTAMIA

OLD ASSYRIAN PERIOD

Klaas R. Veenhof

1. S L

Nearly all sources of the Old Assyrian period stem from the com-

mercial quarter (kàrum) of the ancient Anatolian city of Kanish, the

administrative center of a network of Assyrian trading colonies in

Anatolia, dating to ca. 1950–1840 (middle chronology; archaeologi-

cally kàrumlevel II).^1 Of the approximately 20,000 cuneiform texts

found thus far in the houses of the traders living there many qual-

ify as sources of law. The city of Assur itself has thus far yielded

almost no written sources of this period, although many of the texts

found in Kanish originate from Assur. In addition there are approx-

imaly 250 records from a slightly later period of commercial activ-

ity in Anatolia (roughly the first half of the eighteenth century)

discovered both in kàrumKanish (level Ib) and in commercial set-

tlements in Hattu“and Alißar Hüyük. Among the tablets from Kàrum

Kanish there are also a few hundred private legal documents written

in Old Assyrian but originating from the native Anatolian popula-

tion. Though influenced by Old Assyrian legal and scribal tradition,

their substance cannot simply be equated with Assyrian law. Because

the sources stem from archives of traders, most bear on commercial

matters, but there are also a limited number of records dealing with

family law and non-commercial conveyance.

1.1 Law Codes

No law code has been found, but from some quotes and references

in letters and verdicts, which refer to “words written on the stela,”

we know that laws existed and had been published.^2

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(^1) For general information, see Veenhof, “Kani“, kàrum.. .,” and “Kanesh...”
(with bibliography).
(^2) For the texts and their analysis, see Veenhof, “Legislation...”
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