A man of both Aššur and Kaneš: the case of the merchant Ḫabdu-mālik

Abstract

• In a letter dating to the reign of Zimri-Lim, the merchant Ḫabdu-mālik writes to the Mariote “Chief of the Merchants” Iddin-Numushda in order to enter a business agreement that he proposes they solidify through the marriage of their children. This letter has previously been discussed in relation to trading partnerships between Mari and Assur, both as evidence for trade in luxury items and for what it can tell us about the dynamics of long-distance trade in the late Old Assyrian period. This contribution, however, focuses on the particular way in which Ḫabdu-mālik describes himself—as a man of great renown in both Assur and Kanesh—to explore how the merchants of Assur understood the sociopolitical and geographical boundaries of their own community. By analyzing the Old Assyrian evidence through the lens of identity as performed across distance, we can understand early second-millennium Assur not as a city-state with satellite populations, or as a diaspora in which members of the society are cut off from one another, but as a cohesive community defined by people rather than place. As a member of a unified community across distance that existed in multiple places, the case of Ḫabdu-mālik demonstrates that Assyrian identity could be tied to both a civic membership and a membership in a profession that was defined by its ability to travel. These are not competing categories, but rather complementary parts of a unified way of life, illustrating the intricacies of identity in complex mercantile societies.