ABSTRACT
The important number of letters, dated mainly to the first half of the nineteenth century Bc and discovered in the merchant harbour of Kaniš, was generated by the long distance—more that a thousand kilometres—between Aššur and Kaniš, main stations of the Old Assyrian international trade route, as well as by the geographical break-up of families. Letters were the only medium to send news; they have been kept by the merchants because of the many data they contained about current trading operations, mixing sometimes commercial and private affairs. Some letters belonging to the correspondence between Assyrians and their wives and families tackle many aspects of daily life. 1
