“Don’t let the boats pass!” Elamite Trips and Tricks for Assyrian Grain Procurement
(2021) 67th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale: Eating and Drinking in the Ancient Near East — Location: Turin (12.July.2021)
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- Abstract
- The paper is about Elamite tips and tricks for Assyrian grain procurement and frames in the broader theme of interregional trade between Elam and Assyria in the early to mid-first millennium BC. The textual records from that era document great famines in the Neo-Elamite kingdom during the 7th century BC, which made grain procurement from the neighbouring region essential for feeding the Elamite lowland population. Water transportation played a crucial role in the shipment of grain from the Assyrian territories to Elam. Trade by waterways in the early to mid-1st millennium between Elam and Babylonia was a combined river and maritime venture, as the canal network linking Babylonia to Susa that we know from the Achaemenid period was not operational at the time. Elam used a variety of methods to procure grain in Assyria: going from sailing to Babylonia in order to buy grain and putting Babylonian officials under pressure by using aggressive threats, to violent raids on Southern Mesopotamia. Elamite regional diplomacy with Chaldean and Aramean tribes on the other hand secured a safe passage for the Elamite boats to pass the Southern Mesopotamia marshland.
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Citations
Gorris, E. (2021). “Don’t let the boats pass!” Elamite Trips and Tricks for Assyrian Grain Procurement. 67th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale: Eating and Drinking in the Ancient Near East, Turin. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/269595