Around the middle of the nineteenth century B.C., according to a calculated guess, as much as 2,000 inhabitants of the City of Assur were in some way involved in OA Trade. Roughly one-third of this number lived in or regularly travelled to and in Anatolia. This involvement of so many people must have had a serious impact on Assyrian society. In this paper an attempt is made to point out some of its social effects. “Social” is taken in a broad sense, including some more economic aspects; social and economic facts of ancient Assyria cannot and should not be treated separately.
The treatment of this subject is hampered by some serious limitations. Diachronic comparisons, correlating social changes with the development of the trade, are almost impossible, because we know hardly anything about OA society before the period under review. We are also largely ignorant about the effects of the disruption of the trade at the end of Kültepe II. Changes and differences revealing themselves in the period Kültepe Ib are not necessarily “natural” developments, but may be due to the influence of the new king Šamši-Adad I, and to inner Anatolian developments.