Ferrying Goods for the Gods: A Family Affair
A Middle Assyrian Boatman’s Family in the Evidence of the Texts from Archive M4
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13136/1120-4699/30/1/001Keywords:
Boatmen, Shipping, Assus M4 Archive, Middle Assyrian, Assyria, 12th-11th Century BCEAbstract
The article investigates the sources dealing with a group of boatmen attested in Archive M4 from Assur in the context of the shipping of the provincial contributions for the tax for regular offerings through waterborne transport along the Tigris River. The reassessment of the ginā’u tax system from the perspective of the specialized conveyor men who materially brought these goods to the port of Assur sheds light on the socioprofessional context in which the boatmen operated and on the networks of contacts they had and kept with the institutional offices of the state administration. Through the reconstruction of the microhistory of these boatmen and of their shipping activity, the paper offers a contribution to a deeper understanding of the organization of river transport, of the record-keeping practices, and of the administrative procedures involved in the management of the ginā’u tax.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Salvatore Gaspa (Autore)
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