Weaving the social fabric: women and commercial networks in ancient Mesopotamia

• Grant number: 20/07395-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: July 01, 2021
• End date: June 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Aparecido Rede
• Grantee: Anita Fattori
• Supervisor: Cecile Elizabeth Marie Michel
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité (ArScAn), France
• Associated to the scholarship: 19/12945-6 - Women and commercial networks in the Assyria of the 20th and 19th centuries BCE, BP.DR

Abstract

During the Old Assyrian period, more precisely at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, the Assyrians performed a prominent role in long-distance trade. Assyrians merchants, organized into family businesses to trade cloth and tin in exchange for gold and silver, lefted Aaaur for their main destination Kanea, in Anatolia, where they settled for lengthy periods. In this project, I will undertake a detailed case study on the social agency of Assyrian women in this commercial network, beginning with 70 letters intended for or sent by these women. The aim of this study is to conduct a thoroughly historical research based on the analysis of the discursive context of the Old Assyrian period. In doing so, I will draw together the various threads of this social fabric, developing the concept of gender regimes in order to explore the social aspects of these women. (AU)