Performance of Assyrian women in the inter-regional trade networks of the 2nd millennium BCE: Possibilities of gender approaches in the studies of Ancient Mesopotamia

Abstract

The theoretical perspective of gender has recently been incorporated into assyriological studies, and the results of its use have outlined new approaches to the understanding of the societies of the Ancient Near Eastern. At the beginning of the second millennium BCE, the city of Aššur stands out in this scenario for its central role in an important long-distance commercial network. The Assyrians, organized into Family enterprises, traded textile and tin in exchange for gold and silver. The letters exchanged between the merchants highlighted the active participation of women in Family enterprises. Most of those letters, whose main destination was Anatolia and their families which remained in Aššur, were sent of received by women. Therefore, this correspondence is an important documental source for the study of women in the Mesopotamian context. From the perspective of gender regimes, we intend to present some aspects of Assyrian women’s performance in the context of interregional commerce of the beginning of the second millennium BCE to understand some of the dimensions of their social roles.