Imported Textiles and dyes in first millennium Babylonia and the emergence of new consumptions needs

Résumé En

Numerous clay tablets from ancient Mesopotamia record the economic activities of some of its inhabitants. Thanks to those archives, Mesopotamia is a good example for historians willing to use theoretical frameworks to explain ancient economic systems. Nevertheless, assyriologists do not commonly refer to new institutional economy. This article investigates to which extent the Neo-institutional economy can help to study ancient mesopotamian economy. We will deal, as an example, with the case of long-distance trade as it is known in the middle of the first millenium BC. As it has always been the case during its long history, Mesopotamia needs to import several goods, sometimes coming from far away. But paradoxically, the numerous archives do not mention the merchants in charge of this trade. Local exchanges or other economic activities are well-evidenced, as we know of the activities of the so-called entrepreneurs. But none of them is dealing with long-distance trade. We will see in which way neo-institutional economy offers possible explanations to shed a light on this paradox.