He wishes to thank C. J. Eyre, Benjamin Foster, Edward Lipiński, Donald N. McCloskey, Douglass C. North, Piotr Steinkeller, Norman Yoffee, and especially Marvin A. Powell for their helpful suggestions and comments. This research was facilitated by a grant from a fund created by the will of the late Harry Schwager, a distinguished alumnus of the City College of New York, Class of 1911. Financial support was also received from the Faculty Senate of City College.Google Scholar

In translations the brackets enclose restorations of the text, and the parentheses enclose additions or variations in the English translation.Google Scholar

¹ North, Douglass C., “Markets and Other Allocation Systems in History: The Challenge of Karl Polanyi,” Journal of European Economic History, 6 (Winter 1977), 703–16.Google Scholar

² North, “Markets and Other Allocation Systems,” p. 710.Google Scholar

³ Reliance has been placed on Polanyi's, Karl posthumously published manuscript entitled The Livelihood of Man (New York, 1981). The editor of this volume, Pearson, Harry W., has included material on Polanyi's life and contributed a useful introduction citing Polanyi's major publications and placing his thought in perspective.Google ScholarExtensive references to Polanyi and criticisms of both his theory and evidence are provided in a stimulating new book by North, Douglass C., Structure and Change in Economic History (New York, 1981).Google Scholar

⁴ Polanyi, Livelihood of Man, pp. xli, 146.Google Scholar

⁵ Ibid., pp. 78–79, 94–95.

⁶ This possibility has been suggested by Merrilees, R. S., “Aegean Bronze Age Relations with Egypt,” American Journal of Archaeology, 76 (07 1972), 286–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Sources on treaties and royal commercial correspondence: Georgiou, Hara, “Relations Between Cyprus and the Near East in the Middle and Late Bronze Age,” Levant, 11 (1979), 93, 96–98;CrossRefGoogle ScholarHeltzer, Michael, Goods, Prices, and the Organization of Trade in Ugarit (Wiesbaden, 1978), pp. 139–42;Google ScholarLarsen, Mogens Trolle, “The Old Assyrian Colonies in Anatolia,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, 94 (1974), 474–75;CrossRefGoogle ScholarLiverani, M., “Irrational Elements in the Amarna Trade,” in Three Amarna Essays, intro. and trans. Jaffe, Matthew L. (Malibu, 1979), pp. 21–33;Google ScholarMuhly, James D., “The Bronze Age Setting,” in The Coming of the Age of Iron, ed. Wertime, Theodore A. and Muhly, James D. (New Haven, 1980), p. 39; andGoogle ScholarYoffee, Norman, Explaining Trade in Ancient Western Asia (Malibu, 1981), p. 12.Google Scholar

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¹³ This position is derived from the redistributionist or temple-state hypothesis, which rests on the faulty assumption that most if not all agricultural land was owned by temples. For a recent critique, see Foster, Benjamin R., “A New Look at the Sumerian Temple State,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 24 (10 1981), 225–41. In a paper titled “The Gods as Inputs and Outputs of the Ancient Economy” prepared for presentation at the November 1983 meetings of the Southern Economic Association, I provide a treatment of this theme taking into account the entrepreneurial roles of temple and palace officials as well as the impact of tax exemptions granted to temples by the state.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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²⁵ Sources on Mesopotamian land market: Ahmed, Southern Mesopotamia, pp. 145–47;Google ScholarBottéro, Jean, “The First Semitic Empire,” in The Near East: The Early Civilizations, ed. Bottéro, Jean et al. (New York, 1967), p. 114:Google ScholarClay, Rachel, The Tenure of Land in Babylonia and Assyria (London, 1938);Google ScholarDiakonoff, I. M., “Slaves, Helots, and Serfs in Early Antiquity,” Acta Antiqua, 22 (1974), 47–52;Google ScholarGeIb, I. J., “On the Alleged Temple and State Economies in Ancient Mesopotamia,” Studi in Onore di Eduardo Volterra, 6 (1971), 137–54, andGoogle Scholar“Household and Family in Early Mesopotamia,” in State and Temple Economy in the Ancient Near East, ed. Lipiński, Edward, vol. 2 (Leiden, 1979), pp. 47–52;Google ScholarHarris, Ancient Sippar, pp. 213–14;Google ScholarKramer, Samuel Noah, The Sumerians (Chicago, 1963), p. 75;Google ScholarLeemans, W. F., “The Role of Land Lease in Mesopotamia in the Early Second Millennium,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 18 (06 1975), 137–38;Google ScholarOates, Joan, “Mesopotamian Social Organization,” in The Evolution of Social Systems, ed. Friedman, J. and Rowlands, M. J. (Pittsburgh, 1978), p. 477;Google ScholarRabinowitz, Jacob J., “The Susa Tablets, The Bible, and the Aramaic Papyri,” Vetus Testamentum, 11 (1961), 59–61, 71–73;CrossRefGoogle ScholarStruve, V. V., “The Problem of the Genesis, Development, and Disintegration of the Slave Societies of the Ancient Orient” in Mesopotamia: Social and Economic History, ed. Diakonoff, I. M. (Moscow, 1969), pp. 34, 41; andGoogle ScholarYaron, Reuven, “On Defension Clauses of Some Oriental Deeds of Sale and Lease from Mesopotamia and Egypt,” Bibliotheca Orientalis, 15 (01–03 1958), 15–22. The oldest records of land transactions are undeciphered pictographs from the twenty-eighth century. In the Ur III period there are no clear cases of tield sales but there are two contracts that may refer to private land sales.Google ScholarThere are references to privately owned land, rental contracts, and sales of privately owned orchards (Gelb, “On the Alleged Temple and State Economies,” pp. 148–52, and “Household and Family,” pp. 69–70). In addition, the še-urσ-ra texts show temples farming a “mortgaged field” and (apparently) lending out teams of plowmen and ox- drivers to independent field ownersGoogle Scholar(Jones, Tom B. and Snyder, John W., Sumerian Economic Texts from the Third Ur Dynasty [Minneapolis, 1961], pp. 253, 262, 269–70).Google Scholar

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⁴⁹ Ibid., pp. lii, 141.

⁵⁰ Sources on money: Curtis and Hallo, “Money and Merchants,” p. 165; Foster, “Commercial Activity,” fn. 47, fn. 48, pp. 35–36;Google ScholarHallo, William W., “Lexical Notes on the Neo-Sumerian Metal Industry,” Bibliotheca Orientalis, 20 (05–07 1963), 138–39;Google ScholarJanssen, Two Ancient Egyptian Ship's Logs, p. 103;Google ScholarLambert, Maurice, “l'Usage de l'Argent-Métal à Lagash au Temps de la III^e Dynastie d'Ur,” Revue d'assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale, 57 (1963), 80;Google ScholarLeemans, Foreign Trade, pp. 130–31;Google ScholarMilgrom, Jacob, “The Legal Terms Šlm and Br'šw in the Bible,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 35 (10 1976), pp. 271–73; andCrossRefGoogle ScholarMontet, Everyday Life, pp. 75. 167, 266–67.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Sources on coils and money bags: Dayton, John, “Money in the Near East Before Coinage,” Berytus Archaeological Studies, 22 (1974), p. 41;Google ScholarGarelli, Les Assyriens, pp. 26–27, 265; Hodjash and Berlev, “A Market-Scene,” p. 45; Leemans, “The Rate of Interest,” p. 31;Google ScholarLipiński, Edward, “Les Temples Néo-Assyriens et Les Origines du Monnayage,” in Stare and Temple Economy, vol. 2, fn. 13, p. 567; andGoogle ScholarPowell, Marvin A., “A Contribution to the History of Money in Mesopotamia Prior to the Invention of Coinage,” in Fesrschrift, vol. 2, pp. 211–43.Google Scholar

⁵² Textual references to coinage: Ahmed, Southern Mesopotamia, p. 142;Google ScholarBalmuth, Miriam S., “Remarks on the Appearance of the Earliest Coins,” in Studies Presented to George M. A. Hanfmann, ed. Mitten, David G. et al. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1971), p. 3;Google ScholarCerný, J., “Prices and Wages in Egypt in the Ramesside Period,” Journal of World History, 1 (1954), 910;Google ScholarJanssen, Commodity Prices, p. 105; Lipiński, “Les Temples Néo-Assyriens,” p. 568; Montet, Everyday Life, p. 166; andGoogle ScholarSmith, Sidney, “A Pre-Greek Coinage in the Near East,” Numismatic Chronicle, 2 (1922), 178, 182.Google Scholar

⁵³ Sources on temple-issued coins: Lipiński, “Les Temples Néo-Assyriens,” fn. 21. p. 569, pp. 571–75, 578;Google ScholarLévy, Jean-Phillippe, The Economic Life of the Ancient World (Chicago, 1967), pp. 17–18;Google ScholarOlmstead, A. T., The History of Assyria (Chicago, 1923), pp. 321, 537, andGoogle Scholar“Materials for an Economic History of the Ancient Near East,” Journal of Economic and Business History, 2 (02 1930), 226; andGoogle ScholarWiseman, The Alalakh Tablets, pp. 14, 60.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Sources for archaeological evidence on coinage: Balmuth, “Remarks on the Appearance of the Earliest Coins,” p. 3;Google ScholarBivar, A. D., “A Hoard of Ingot-Currency of the Medians Near Malayir,” Iran, 9 (1971), 102;CrossRefGoogle ScholarSmith, “A Pre-Greek Coinage,” pp. 180–82.Google ScholarA Babylonian word from the seventh to the sixth centuries, nuhhutu, may even hint at the presence of a royally stamped token coinage. Compare the remarks of Powell, “A Contribution,” pp. 223–24 with those of Lipiński, “Les Temples Néo-Assyriens,” pp. 567–68.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Polanyi, Livelihood of Man, pp. liii, 78.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Sources on internal trade: Blackman and Peet, “Papyrus Lansing,” p. 288; Foster, “Commercial Activity,” p. 37; Janssen, Two Ancient Egyptian Ship's Logs, pp. 71, 82–83, 98; Leemans, The Old Babylonian Merchant, p. 3, and Legal and Administrative Documents, pp. 90–92;Google ScholarSaggs, The Greatness, pp. 181, 276; and Snell, Ledgers and Prices, p. 49.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Polanyi, Livelihood of Man, pp. xlii, 87, 138–39.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Ibid., p. 139.

⁵⁹ Sources on merchants: Astour, Michael C., “Ma'hadu, The Harbor of Ugarit,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 13 (04 1970), 116–22;Google ScholarFoster, Benjamin R., “Commercial Activity,” pp. 33–34, 37, andGoogle ScholarUmma in the Sargonic Period (Hamden, 1982), p. 78;Google ScholarGarelli, Les Assyriens, p. 233; Heltzer, Goods, pp. 128–30; Larsen, “The Old Assyrian Colonies,” p. 469;Google ScholarPowell, Marvin A., “Sumerian Merchants and the Problem of Profit,” Iraq, 39 (1977), 24–27;CrossRefGoogle ScholarRainey, A. F., “Business Agents at Ugarit,” Israel Exploration Journal, 13 (1964), 314;Google ScholarSnell, Ledgers and Prices, pp. 48, 56–57; 99–103, 114; Veenhof, Aspects of Old Assyrian Trade, p. 356; and Zaccagnini, “The Merchants,” pp. 173, 175.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ Additional sources on merchants and risk: Dandamajev, Mohammed A., “Die Rolle destamkārum,” in Beitrage Zur Sozialen Strucktur Des Alien Vorderasien, ed. Klengel, Horst (Berlin, 1971), pp. 69–78;Google ScholarLeemans, The Old Babylonian Merchant, p. 113; Mallowan, “The Mechanics of Trade,” p. 6;Google ScholarNakata, Ichiro, “Mesopotamian Merchants and Their Ethics,” Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society, 32 (1971), 101;Google ScholarOppenheim, “The Seafaring Merchants,” pp. 8–11; andGoogle ScholarThomas, D. Winton, Documents From Old Testament Times (London, 1958), pp. 108–9.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Sources on Egyptian merchants: Blackman and Peet, “Papyrus Lansing,” p. 288; Janssen, “Prolegomena,” p. 163, and Two Ancient Egyptian Ship's Logs, pp. 99, 101–4;Google ScholarPflüger, Kurt, “The Edict of King Haremhab,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 5 (10 1946), 261;CrossRefGoogle ScholarWente, E. F. Jr “The Report of Wenamon,” in The Literature of Ancient Egypt, ed. Simpson, William Kelly (New Haven, 1972), pp. 147–48Google Scholar(compare Goedicke, Hans, The Report of Wenamun [Baltimore, 1975], pp. 66–72).Google Scholar

⁶² Polanyi, Livelihood of Man, p. 86.Google Scholar

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⁶⁵ For a trenchant criticism of Finley's views from the vantage point of Pompeii's marketoriented wool industry, see Moeller, Walter O., The Wool Trade of Ancient Pompeii (Leiden, 1976), pp. 56, 72, 105–10.Google Scholar

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⁶⁷ Polanyi, Livelihood of Man, p. 5. Another relevant example is provided by a letter from a big Ugarit merchant to his associate informing him of lucrative trade possibilities in Hittite Anatolia (see, Astour, “Ugarit and the Great Powers,” p. 22).Google Scholar

⁶⁸ Polanyi, Livelihood of Man, pp. 70–71.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ See Silver, Prophets and Markets, chap. 18. There are no data on Nuzi laws but there is evidence of formal courts of law that dealt with economic matters (see, for example,Google ScholarZaccagnini, Carlo, “The Yield of the Fields at Nuzi,” Oriens Antiquus, 14 [1975], 202–5). See also the discussion of proclamations issued by the Nuzi state in Part III of this paper.Google Scholar

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⁷⁸ Polanyi, Livelihood of Man, p. 124.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ Curtis and Hallo, “Money and Merchants,” p. 105.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ Polanyi, Livelihood of Man, p. 146.Google Scholar