Historical Overview

• Originated as a merchant city-state around the sacred city Aššur.
• Focus was on long-distance trade, not large-scale conquest.
• Trade routes connected Mesopotamia to Anatolia and the Levant.

Army

• Not yet a major military power.
• Armies were small, usually citizen militias called only during threats.
• Soldiers used bronze weapons, simple spears, shields, and bows.
• Military goal was defense of trade routes and caravan protection.

People & Society

• Highly urban, centered around merchant families.
• Assyrian merchants in Anatolia created karum (trade colonies).
• Society included merchants, artisans, priests, and slaves (small number).
• Women in trade families sometimes managed finances and correspondence.

Economy

• Based mainly on international trade: textiles, tin, copper, silver.
• Well-organized accounting system: tablets recorded loans, contracts, taxes.
• The city of Aššur had a powerful merchant elite influencing politics.

Religion

• Worship centered on Aššur, originally a deified city → later a war god.
• Temples played a major role in trade administration.
• Other early gods: Ishtar, Adad, Shamash.

Culture

• Used Old Assyrian cuneiform, adapted from Akkadian.
• Letters and trade tablets found in Kaneš give detailed insight into daily life.
• Architecture: simple temples and merchant houses; no grand palaces yet.

Key Rulers

• Puzur-Aššur I – laid foundations of Assyrian state.
• Šamši-Adad I – first to build a larger territorial kingdom and create administrative reforms.

Army

• Mostly citizen-soldiers, not yet a professional army.
• Weapons: bronze spears, axes, daggers, simple bows.
• Soldiers were often farmers who served during conflict.
• Warfare was mostly city-state battles over land, canals, and trade routes.
• Chariots existed but were primitive (two-wheeled, donkey-drawn).

People & Society

• Population: farmers, shepherds, craftsmen, merchants.
• Sumerian influence was strong: architecture, writing, and administration.
• Society was divided into:
  • awīlum – free citizens
  • mushkenum – dependent people
  • wardum – slaves
• Women had legal rights: property, inheritance, business involvement.

Religion

• Polytheistic with strong Sumerian roots:
  • Enlil, Enki, Sin, Shamash, Ishtar
• Babylon’s patron god was not yet Marduk (that came later).
• Temples (Ekur, Eanna) were political and economic centers.
• Priests kept agricultural/astronomical calendars.

Economy

• Agricultural: barley, wheat, dates, sheep, goats.
• Early canal-based irrigation.
• Trade with Sumer, Akkad, Elam.
• Clay tablet contracts appear for the first time.

Culture

• Writing: early Akkadian cuneiform.
• Sumerian literature still dominant.
• Mathematics: beginnings of base-60 system.