consigned to individuals or gods (Sumerian níg-ba). Of the two, gift exchanges are
more relevant to the problem of trade in EBA Anatolia.
Gold and silver jewellry and inlaid weaponry, gold and silver vessels, volumes of
silver, garments, textiles, oil and livestock were given and received as gifts in several
guises across the region. The Ebla royal archives record the following gift-giving
activities: dowries and other consignments to commemorate a royal wedding (e.g.
given from the king of Kisˇ to the Eblaite royal family: see Viganò 1996 : 57 – 58 ); funerary
gifts (e.g. given from the Eblaite court for the funeral of a king from Mari: Archi and
Biga 2003 : 2 – 3 ); consignments to commemorate the birth of a royal son or daughter
(e.g. given from the kingdoms of Kakmium, Ibubu, and Garmu to the Eblaite “queen
who gave birth”: Viganò 1996 : 60 ). But the most frequent occasion to deliver and
receive gifts between cities was probably in diplomatic correspondence. Messengers
between courts of equal status continually criss-crossed the region, delivering news,
entreaties, demands, and personal messages. Every diplomatic visit included the
exchange of a gift; the more important the visit the larger the gift. The delivery of news
regularly warranted a gift of 1 minaof silver to the messenger (Archi and Biga 2003 :
11 , 32 ). A peace delegation from Mari received 11 minasof silver from the Eblaite court
(Archi and Biga 2003 : 10 – 11 ).
The contents of the gifts that were exchanged varied according to the context of the
communication and the intended recipient. Normally in diplomatic correspondence
precious metal (silver) was the only commodity that was exchanged, and the accounts
of these exchanges cared little for the kinds of objects that were exchanged. So for
example: “ 1 minaof silver: [gift] (for) Warutum of Mari (who) brought the news (that)
Kisˇ was completely (?) defeated” (from Archi and Biga 2003 : 11 ). On the other hand,
the record of more commemorative gift-giving included a greater diversity of materials
(metal, garments, textiles, oil, livestock), and detailed record-keeping of the kinds of
objects. Both the type of the metal object and its weight warranted an entry. A gift from
the Eblaite king to his minister included: “ 4 garments; 1 plate (of gold) of 2 minas; 1
belt (with) sheath (and) dagger of 90 minas of gold; 1 Amorite (?) dagger of gold; 4 reins
(with decoration in form of ) eagle of gold; 1 chariot, the 2 wheels (decorated with) gold
which the king has acquired (for) Ibbi-zikir, which is (for the ceremony of ) the oil
offering of Mari” (from Archi and Biga 2003 : 20 ).
Thus metal and other valued commodities like textiles were most frequently
exchanged between citadels and kingdoms in personal and political correspondence, as
gift consignments to commemorate events like weddings, deaths, births, as well as
consignments gifted in any diplomatic communiqué. If a little over simplified, the
dynamic of gift exchange and the social/moral/political obligation to reciprocate the
gesture kept the metal flowing in EBA Syria (together with tribute and plunder), and
probably also in adjacent regions like Anatolia where similar kinds of metal objects
were ritually deposited on citadels as “gifts to the gods” (see for Troy and other treasure
deposits in EBA Anatolia, Bachhuber 2009 ); although gift exchanges as such can only
be inferred from the textual evidence of contemporary Ebla. Certainly these gifts
circulated as commodities, whose value could be measured with a metrological system.
Every gift of metal in the Ebla archives was recorded with a weight; similarly both
weights and ingots were offered in the votive deposits of contemporary Troy (for
weights, see Bobokyan 2007 ). These seem also to evoke a commodity value in a context
of gift giving (to the gods) on the Trojan citadel.
–– Christoph Bachhuber ––