2000 – 1700 BCE

Old Assyrian

Aššur the merchant city — the great trade with Anatolia.

Featured tablet

While Hammurabi unifies Babylonia in the south, the city of Aššur on the upper Tigris becomes a node in a long-distance trade network reaching deep into Anatolia. The Old Assyrian merchants establish kārum settlements at Kaneš (modern Kültepe) and elsewhere; their family archives — preserved by the thousand at Kaneš — record loans of tin and textiles in Akkadian dialect.

Primary sources

Tablets from this period

1541 tablets dated to Old Assyrian — showing 24 below; browse all 1541.

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianOur engine

Erišum I 03

Documents Erišum I's temple construction at Aššur and its ritual furnishings — bronze duck weights and beer vats — giving the earliest detailed record of cultic equipment in an Assyrian royal building inscription.

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianOur engine

Erišum I 06

Attests Erišum I's construction of Aššur's temple in the god's own city, anchoring the earliest stratum of Assyrian royal piety and the vice-regent (iššiak Aššur) titulature that defined Old Assyrian kingship.

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianOur engine

Erišum I 10

Erišum I consecrates the Aššur temple 'Wild Bull' by mixing ghee and honey into the mortar — one of the earliest Assyrian royal building inscriptions, and evidence that the ritual deposit of clay cones as dynastic markers was already standard practice c. 1900 BCE.

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Aminu 2001

(1) Rībam-ilī, scribe, servant of Aminu.

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Aminu 2002

(1) Muqaddimum, servant of Aminu.

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Azuzu 2001 / Man-ištušu 2002

(1) Man-ištūšu, the king of the world. Azuzu, his servant, dedicated (this spear) to the god Beʾal-SI.SI.

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Erišum I 01

(1) [...] ... Erišum (I), overseer of (the god) Aššur, [son of Ilu-šūma], overseer of (the god) Aššur; Ilu-šūma (was) the son of Šalim-aḫum, [overseer of (the god) Aššur]; (and) Šalim-aḫum (was) the son of Puzur-Aššur (I), [overseer of (the god) Aššur]. (4) Erišum (I), vice-regent of Aššur: I [built] the holy [Step] Gate, (and) the chapel [for] my lord. I built a [high] throne (and) adorned the front of it with a precious stone (ḫušāru). I installed (its) doors. (8b) With (the god) Aššur, my lord, standing by me, I reserved land for (the god) Aššur, my lord, from the Sheep Gate to the…

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Erišum I 02

(1) Eriš[um (I)], vice-regent of the god Aššur, son of Ilu-šūma, vice-regent of the god Aššur. (7) He built the temple (and) all of the temple area for the god Aššur, his lord, for his life, and the life of his city. (15) When I started the work, (when) my city was under my command, I made silver, gold, copper, tin, barley, and wool, as well as the payment of bran and straw, exempt from taxes. (26) I mixed ghee and honey into (the mortar of) every wall and (then) laid one layer of bricks. With the god Aššur, my lord, standing by me, I cleared houses from the Sheep Gate to the People’s Gate.…

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Erišum I 04

(1) Erišum (I), vice-regent of the god Aššur, son of Ilu-šūma, vice-regent of the god Aššur. (7) For the god Aššur, his lord, for his life, and the life of his city, he built the entire temple area of the temple of the god Aššur and the holy Step Gate, (as well as) the chapel of (the god) Aššur.

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Erišum I 05

(1) Erišum (I), vice-regent of the god Aššur, son of Ilu-šūma, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur. (7) For his life and the life of his city, he built all of the temple area for (the god) Aššur, his lord. He installed (its) doors.

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Erišum I 07

(1) Erišum (I), vice-regent of (the god) Aššur, son of Ilu-šūma, vice-regent of the god Aššur. (7) For (the god) Aššur, his lord, for his life, and the life of his city, he built the temple area of (the god) Aššur.

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Erišum I 08

(1) Erišum (I), vice-regent of (the god) Aššur, son of Ilu-šūma, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur. (7) It was Erišum (I), vice-regent of the god Aššur, who built [(...)] for [his] life.

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Erišum I 09

(1) Erišum (I), vice-regent of the god A[ššur], son of Ilu-[šūma], vice-regent of the god Aššur. (7) For his life, he built all of the temple area for the god Aššur, his lord.

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Erišum I 1001

(1') (No translation warranted.)

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Erišum I 11

(i 1') (No translation possible) (ii 1') I cleared houses [from] the Sheep [Gate] to the People’s Gate. I fashioned two beer vats for the god Aššur, my lord. [I placed two] bronze duck figures, [each (weighing)] one talent, [at their] ba[se(s)]. (iii 1') (No translation possible) (iii 1'') (No translation possible)

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Erišum I 12

(1) [Eri]šu[m (I), vice]-regent [of the god] Aššur, son of Ilu-šūma, built a temple for (the god) Aššur, his lord. (7) (No translation possible)

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Erišum I 13

(1) Eriš[um (I)], vice-regent of the god Aššur, built the temple of the god Aššur. Moreover, he fashioned the two beer vats.

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Erišum I 14

(1) Erišum (I), vice-regent of (the god) Aššur, son of Ilu-šūma, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur; Ilu-šūma (was) the son of Šalim-aḫum, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur; (and) Šalim-aḫum (was) the son of Puzur-Aššur (I), vice-regent of (the god) Aššur. (14) Erišum, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur: With the god Adad standing by me and for the god Adad, my lord, for my life, and the life of my city, I built the temple and its temple area. Moreover, I installed (its) doors. (27) (As for) the one who would remove th(is) tablet, may the gods Aššur, Adad, [and] Bēl, my god, destroy his [seed].

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Erišum I 15

(1) Erišum (I), vice-regent of the god Aššur, son of Ilu-šūma, vice-regent of the god Aššur. (7) For his life and the life of his city, he built the temple of the god Adad, (in) its entirety. Moreover, he installed (its) doors.

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Erišum I 16

(1') [For] the god Adad: Erišum (I) made (this).

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Erišum I 17

(1) Eri[šum (I)], vice-regent of the god Aššur, son of [Ilu-š]ūma, vice-regent of the god A[ššur].

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Ikunum 1

(1) Ikūnum, vice-regent of the god Aššur, son of Erišum (I), vice-regent of the god Aššur. (7) Erišum (I) built the temple of the god Adad and made [his] work firm. Ikū[num], his son, finished and ... the temple of the god [Adad]. Moreover, ... (19) (No translation possible)

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Ikunum 2

(1) Ikūnum, vice-regent of the god Aššur, dedicated (this) stone chest to the god Aššur, his lord, the god who is his helper, and Aššur-imittī, his son, took it in(to Aššur’s temple) for his life.

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

~1900 BCE·Old AssyrianRIAo

Ikunum 3

(1) [Ikūnum, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur, son of] E[rišum (I), vice-regent of (the god) Aššur]. Er[išum (was) the son of Ilu-šūma], vice-regent of [(the god) Aššur], [Ilu-šūma (was) the son of Š]alim-a[ḫum, vice-regent of (the god) Aššur], (and) Šalim-a[ḫum (was) the son of Puzur-Aššu]r, vice-regent [of (the god) Aššur]. (8) [Ikūnum, vice]-regent of (the god) Ašš[ur, for his life] and the life [of his city] (11) (No translation possible)

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

See all 1541 tablets in Old Assyrian