economy: The Middle East weights of silver were used to determine the value of goods The corvée still operated, though labor obligations were eased by the presence of slaves, who were either those captured in war or those enslaved when they failed to meet their tax payments The oikoi continued to be the managers of at least local economies THE HITTITES To the north of Mesopotamia were Anatolia and the Hittites, who appeared around 1800 b.c.e and lasted until around 1200 b.c.e Beginning in about 1650 b.c.e the Hittite kingdom expanded from its central Anatolian homeland to conquer all of Anatolia, including Armenia in the west and part of the Levant Unlike the Mesopotamians, the Hittites had few cities, and their domestic economy revolved around small, self-sufficient farming communities that provided most of their own needs and owned all farmland in common Hittite agriculture, however, did not produce surpluses; indeed, the Hittites often had food shortages, which they made up either through tribute collected from those that they had conquered or through trade If the Hittites did not have food to trade, they did have metals Mining of tin, silver, and iron were lucrative Tin was important in the manufacture of bronze, and thus there was always a ready market for it Enough silver was produced that the Hittites used it as a medium of exchange Iron was a novelty item because it was almost as rare as gold, whose only source at this time was Egypt Iron was also more for show than utility Weapons and tools made from it at this period were no stronger than those made from bronze, and thus it was more often used to make jewelry and statutes, both of which were prized trade goods The Hittites acquired copper for manufacturing bronze in the same way that they acquired many of their resources: They conquered those who had it, in this case Isuwa in western Anatolia, Maintaining the army was a major expense for the Hittites, but as with other military states, an army allowed the Hittite kingdom to bring in loot from successful campaigns and to ensure that those conquered paid regular tribute, either in silver or as payment in kind Additionally, the army could protect essential Hittite trade routes from others who might try to charge Hittite merchants a toll for use of these routes Instead, any tolls exacted were collected by the Hittite kingdom URARTU The waning of the Hittites around 1200 b.c.e saw the emergence in Armenia of the kingdom of Urartu, which reached its height during the eighth century b.c.e Like other ancient Near Eastern societies, Urartu had an economy that depended on agricultural production, with part of the harvest from its rich farmlands going to trade Additionally, the mining and export of copper, silver, and iron was an essential part of the Urartu economy Besides unworked metal, Urartu traded metal tools, weapons, and jewelry, which were esteemed for 353 their craftsmanship as far away as northern Italy The kingdom’s economy also benefited from its geographic position, which allowed it to control the trade routes that connected northern Mesopotamia and Elam to the Mediterranean Urartu exacted a toll in payment of kind from the traders who used these routes Urartu may have had a distributive economy, since its administration centers, fortresses located in a mountainous region of the kingdom, held large storage facilities for grain and wine Conversely, rather than being redistributed, these stored goods may have been meant to feed the inhabitants of a fortress during the occasional siege by Urartu enemies The kingdom also probably had a labor tax, since it undertook the construction of aqueducts and other large works projects using workforces, most likely made up of corvée draftees THE ASSYRIANS The most persistent attackers of the Urartu mountain fortresses were the Assyrians, for whom loot and tribute played an extremely important role in the economy From their northern Mesopotamian home the Assyrians conquered the remainder of Mesopotamia and much of the Near East in the 11th century b.c.e For 400 years they would exact tribute from their subject peoples Like previous conquerors, the Assyrians appear to have left much of the economic structure of their conquests in place, demanding an annual tribute, which was paid in silver or in kind and which was sent to the Assyrian capital In some cases the collection of the tribute was in the hands of a native ruling family; the Assyrians then sent expeditions to bring the tribute to Assyria In other instances, perhaps where the original ruling family proved resistant to paying the tribute, the Assyrians placed one of their own in charge This governor then saw to the collection and delivery of the tribute Trade also was important to Assyria and may have dictated some of its expansion More directly, through military control of much of the Near East, Assyria controlled almost all the trade routes and thus the flow of the majority of Near Eastern trade It thus had ready access to copper, silver, wood, and other valuable resources as well as much of the luxury trade enjoyed by the Phoenician cities, which paid Assyria a handsome tribute Proceeds from tribute and trade had to be large in order to make up for the Assyrian policy of exempting from taxation their home cities, such as Nineveh The corvée also did not apply to the Assyrian homeland Instead, conquered cities had to supply laborers when required as well as soldiers for the army THE PHOENICIANS Among the most lucrative tributes collected by the Assyrians was that from the Phoenician city-states, such as Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, and Arvad Of all the ancient Near Eastern economies, that of the Phoenicians was the most dominated by trade The stretch of the Levant coast on which the Phoenicians lived was narrow, mountains rising not far inland Thus