Argumentation tradition of traders in late antiquity

Abstract The institute of legality for traders, including business contracts, business correspondence, and legal proceedings concerning economic cases, appeared in Mesopotamia first since the early dynastic period (ca. 2900–2350 B.C.). This institute became well organized for the period of the third dynasty of Ur (from the 22nd to the 21st century B.C.). This tradition was continued in the Babylonian as well as other Mesopotamian dynasties. As a consequence, Akkadian speaking traders preferred logical tools in their business correspondences, too. Therefore, the business contracts and business correspondence satisfied the main argumentative stages of legal proceedings. In late antiquity since the 2nd century A.D. Greek, Bactrian, and Sogdian were one of the most important languages for traders of Silk Road with very high standards of argumentation as main tools of dispute resolutions taken from the Babylonians. In this paper, I analyze some general features of these standards.