Murder in Anatolia

Abstract This study presents an edition of a letter written by an Old Assyrian ruler (waklum) concerning the murder of several Anatolian locals at the hands of Assyrian merchants. The issue of financial compensation is taken up by the king of Assur, who acts on behalf of the City Assembly in Assur in solving the issue between the unnamed state from which the victims came and the accused Assyrian merchants. A case can be made that this letter is considerably younger than most of the waklum-letters, though it cannot be ascribed to any ruler at present.