04/15/2026
Today is Tax Day, and we thought we’d share that you aren’t the only one who has to pay up!
During the Old Assyrian period (ca. 1969-1715 BCE), there were a whole slew of taxes levied on many entrepreneurial families. During this period, many Assyrians began to engage in a business venture whereby they would transport tin, textiles, and other goods from Assur to the city of Kanesh, in modern Türkiye. Essentially, they could buy the goods cheaply in Assur,
load them up on a donkey, and send them on their way to Kanesh, where they would sell the
materials for a large profit.
But they didn’t just get off scot-free; they were taxed at almost every stage of the journey. On the way out of Assur, a caravan was liable to pay the wāṣītum, literally an export tax. This amounted to approximately 1/120 of the value of a shipment. On a full donkey, this amounted to about 5 shekels of silver (depending on the make-up of its load). This may not sound like much, but 5 shekels of silver could buy enough wheat to feed a man for a month.
As the caravan made its way to Kanesh, it crossed through multiple independent territories, each charging a tax to travel through their land. A conservative estimate would put this fee around 25 shekels of silver! Another tax paid along the journey was the dātum. This fee is somewhat mysterious, but one full donkey-load would be charged around 88 shekels of silver for this fee, and we haven’t even made it to Kanesh! If this tax had been levied in Assur, it would have amounted to more than 10% of the load’s value. The final tax levied on the road is the qaqqadātum. This was literally a “head-tax” levied in an amount corresponding to each individual person who accompanied the caravan. At a minimum for one donkey-load, this would have cost another 2-3 shekels of silver.
Having finally made it to Kanesh, there are yet more taxes to be levied! The first is the nishātum. This was an import tax of 5% on textiles and 3% on tin. The total amount for one donkey-load would be about 36 shekels of silver. The final tax is the ešrātum, a tithe on textiles for the palace in Kanesh. This would cost about 16.5 shekels of silver for one donkey-load.
How much a merchant could expect to make from this trip is variable; however, it must have
been a lucrative opportunity, as many families put up with these taxes to conduct their business!
(YBC 13092, YPM BC 026580)
📸 Photograph by Klaus Wagensonner
