Cross-Regional Mobility in ca. 700 BCE: The Case of Ass. 8642a/IstM A 1924

Abstract

The Neo-Assyrian administrative and juridical documents feature a striking characteristic: while persons identified as “Egyptians” seem to have been viewed as integral part of society, the scarcity of preserved biographic information defies a micro-historical approach in each case. Nevertheless, the corpus of sources explicitly mentioning “Egyptians” is exceedingly suited for opening up research questions on the perception of ”foreigners,” the practicalities of crossregional mobility, and the academic challenges to research these issues. This will be exemplified by a critical review of a specific case study, which provides an exceptionally high density of indications for cross-regional mobility.