Mogens Trolle Larsen
The economy of the Assyrian empire

This article provides a rapid sketch of Assyrian history with a special interest in economic and commercial structures, from the Old Assyrian trading city of the 19th century BCE to the Neo-Assyrian empire of the first millennium BCE. It is claimed that throughout Mesopotamian history the economy was characterized by a closely organised collaboration between the centralized state authorities and a strong, private sector; at the same time, the distinguishing factor in the Assyrian empire in a comparison with western economies was the sharp institutional separation of these sectors, where merchants and entrepreneurs never acquired a stake in political power.