AOAT-357

Christopher Mountfort Monroe		AOAT 357

Scales of Fate		ISBN 978-3-86835-015-9
Scales of Fate		xviii + 362 pp.
Trade, Tradition, and Transformation in the Eastern Mediterranean ca. 1350–1175 BCE		74,- EUR
		2009

"The aim is to clarify and problematize the socioeconomic roles of entrepreneurs (including merchants, traders, creditors, and financiers) in Late Bronze Age societies of the Eastern Mediterranean world. The region is bounded by kingdoms of the 14th to early 12th century BCE as represented in archives of clay tablets written in cuneiform and linear scripts. This encompasses an area stretching from the Aegean to Assyria and from Hatti to Egypt at a time of unprecedented sophistication in international relations. I focus on long-distance commerce in particular since it was, where trade is documented, the most lucrative, and arguably most influential socioeconomically, form of exchange. (...) By closely examining the practices and organization of entrepreneurs and their role in social and economic relationships, I empirically and theoretically orient the analysis toward exchange relations. In broadest terms this analysis reveals that professional traders constituted a highly dynamic, even destabilizing, force in society that was checked by more traditional institutions. Even as traditionalism balanced the entrepreneurial elements of society, trade activities brought about material and ideological changes that transformed culture and the lives of those living within it."

LIST OF TABLES	xiii
LIST OF FIGURES	xiv
ABBREVIATIONS	xv

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION	1
Epistemological problems in early trade	2
Disturbed by trade (past and present)	9
Orienting analysis toward exchange	20
CHAPTER 2 THE HISTORICAL SETTING	25
A World Bound by Writing	25
The Aegean and Ahhiyawa	27
The Hittite empire	29
The Egyptian empire in Syria-Palestine	33
Cyprus (Alašiya), copper supplier to empires	35
Economic motivations	36
People in the margine	36
Impressions of the age	37
CHAPTER 3 THE TECHNOLOGY OF LONG-DISTANCE TRADE	39
Weights	39
Seals	55
Storage	65
Labels	69
Transportation: distance, donkeys, and cargoes	69
Transportation: the capacities of ships, boats, and other vessels	82
Other nautical matters in texts	88
Summary	100
CHAPTER 4 FINANCE, CONDUCT, AND LITERACY	103
Finance	103
Exchange conduct	124
Literacy	139
Summary	147
CHAPTER 5 RELATIONS BETWEEN TRADERS AND RULERS	149
Trader-state relations at Ugarit	149
Trader-state relations in Egypt	187
Trader-state relations in Hatti	190
Trader-state relations in the Aegean	194
Trader-state relations in Assyria	197
Trader-state relations–conclusions and impressions	210
CHAPTER 6 FAMILIAL AND ETHNIC RELATIONSHIPS	205
Familial relationships	205
Ethnic relationships	213
CHAPTER 7 PRODUCTION, CLASS, AND THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPHERE	241
Theoretical contributions on production, exchange, and class	241
Textual evidence of producer-trader relationships	250
Conclusions	269
CHAPTER 8 TRADE, TRADITION, AND TRANSFORMATION	275
Synopsis: towards the merchant’s perspective	275
Competing and cooperating ideals	283
Implications and transformations	290

BIBLIOGRAPHY	297
Word index	353
Text index	359
Subject index	359