longer documented under Babylonian rule, and certainly came to a halt when the
southern Mesopotamian cities were depopulated. Alternative, but also more expensive,
sources for the same vital commodity were the markets of Yamhad, where Cypriot
copper and ‘mountain copper’, possibly from Anatolia, could be bought. The fabled
‘tin route’ also underwent restructuring: the Old Assyrian traders in the nineteenth
century BChad obtained their tin from Larsa and ultimately Elam, but Eshnunna
did not partake in this trade, presumably because it experienced a decline in power
at that time (Dercksen 2004 : 25 – 31 ). Tin has become much more scarce when the
Old Assyrian sources resume again in the eighteenth century BC, no doubt because
the once more powerful state of Eshnunna again controlled the flow of this commodity
(Dercksen 2001 : 64 f.). Very little information is yet available about later tin trade,
but the Babylonian cities still maintained commercial ties with Elam, and the main
westward route of tin may now have followed the Euphrates; this must have harmed
the Old Assyrian trade and presumably contributed to the decline of Assur that is
revealed by the fact that its trade with Anatolia was not resumed again when ka ̄ rum
Kanesh had been destroyed for a second time (ca. 1725 BC), but explicit texts to
prove this are still lacking.
POPULATION AND ARMED FORCESAccording to the conventional text of the redress decree of the kings of Babylon,
whose best-preserved copy was issued by Ammisaduqa, certain rulings applied to
— Society and economy in the later Old Babylonian period —Figure 14. 1 Map showing changes in the main inter-regional trade routes
of the early second millennium BC.