ABSTRACT
Trade is old in Mesopotamia. The absence of raw materials in the soil of the alluvial plain and the possibilities of trading agricultural surpluses and products of craftsmanship stimulated commercial activity at an early date. Traders already occur in records of the Early Dynastic period, also in lists of professions (šab.gal, ga.eš8, dam.gàr). Textual evidence on their activities during the older periods, however, is rather limited and when it becomes more abundant is almost exclusively of an administrative nature, consisting of lists, records and balanced accounts.1 Only a few letters provide us with bits of descriptive information for the periods before ca. 2000 B.C. which marks the end of the Ur III period. Thus we do know a great variety of articles of trade and are familiar with some accounting terminology, the so-called ledger-headings of the book-keepers. But descriptions of commercial dealings and financial operations, let alone more personal accounts of activities and experiences are missing. Such evidence can only be expected in the correspondence of traders and it is only after the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C. that such sources become available.
