Archaeological and documentary evidence is used to investigate two major
institutions of the Old Assyrian city-state: the City Hall in Assur, and
the Office of the Colony in Kultepe/Kanish. Part One deals with the City
Hall: its role in the economy of the city-state and its functionaries.
Its activities involved the sale to merchants of commodities to be
exported to Anatolia. But the Hall, managed by the Year-Eponym, was
equally important for the local economy by verifying weights and
measures as well as the quality of metals used as a means of exchange.
Moreover, it levied taxes and appears to have controlled the city's main
granary. A complex mechanism at the heart of the colonial system in
Kultepe/Kanish is addressed in Part Two. An interpretation is offered
there of the related mechanisms of the payment of the datum-contribution
by registered merchants, communal fund-raising, taxation and the
accounting of the colony.