Scales of fate: Trade, tradition, and transformation in the Eastern Mediterranean ca. 1350--1175 BCE (Greece, Egypt, Turkey)

This study describes the role of entrepreneurs in societies of the Eastern Mediterranean ca.1350--1175 BCE. It borrows several concepts from historiography, sociology, and economic anthropology---including social distance, trader's dilemma, trade ecumene, trust, and a world-systems perspective---and applies them to the growing body of textual and archaeological sources for Late Bronze Age trade. Ancient records from Ugarit, Assyria, Greece, Egypt, and Anatolia are critically reexamined and in some cases translated anew. Recent archaeological evidence, including that found at specialized trading sites, is surveyed to interpret the texts. The analysis focuses on the practices and organization of people who profited from long-distance exchange. These social relations and means of exchange are understood as the substance of the interregional networks that connected powerful states and city-states in what has been called the first great international period.; Eight types of relations are considered: technological, legal, ethnic, familial, political, and those concerning literacy, class, and production. In these relationships there is seen a balancing of traditional and capitalistic ideals that shaped the practices and organization of trade and affected socioeconomic development. Two-sector and patrimonial models concentrating on production, ownership, and authority are critiqued for having de-emphasized the impact of long-distance trade. By focusing on socioeconomic relationships and avoiding dichotomous categorizations (urban-rural, public-private, etc.), this study demonstrates that the entrepreneur seeking profit played a significant role in the functioning and transformation of society.; Social classes are distinguished by modes of accumulation rather than by ownership of the means of production or by administrative titles of rank. Using an approach to profit-seeking behavior more in keeping in Weberian than Marxist theory, merchants are found to have been part of an important sphere of economic activity. It is concluded that entrepreneurs, enabled by favorable geopolitical circumstances, both enriched and destabilized 14th to 12th century BCE Eastern Mediterranean societies in a pivotal manner.