Old Babylonian Trade in Textiles at Tell al Rimah

Abstract

The archive of Iltani from Tell al Rimah in northern Iraq consists of 150 letters and fifty economic records. It almost certainly falls within the period of Cappadocian trade known as Kültepe Ib; one līmu name, Ṣabrum, is common to this archive and the texts of Kültepe Ib. This single name cannot be considered a certain link, since it has no patronymic in the records of Iltani; however, the name Kaneš occurs in two of the letters, and this gives support. The letters show that Hammurapi of Babylon was at that time the overlord of Iltani's people; Zimri-Lim's court at Mari is never mentioned, and so a date between Hammurapi's 32nd and 38th years is very probable. This is likely to be within the period of Kültepe Ib according to several scholars.Of the forty letters between Iltani and her husband the ruler Aqba-hammu, ten are concerned with cloth, garments and workers in the local textile industry. A further eleven letters to Iltani from various different people are likewise concerned, and some mentioned textiles in fairly large amounts. Of the economic records, four concern textiles, two of them in large quantities, and the ration lists name groups of textile workers. From the letters alone one may deduce that textiles were important business at Rimah; compare the letters of Šibtu and her female contemporaries at Mari in which cloth and garments are mentioned usually as single items for personal use. Further comparison of the two groups of letters from Mari and Rimah makes it clear that the ruler and his wife were more closely concerned at Rimah than at Mari with making cloth and garments, and distributing them.