Ama-e () was an Ancient Sumerian businesswoman. She is one of the earliest individual businesswomen of which any significant amount of information is known.

Background

She lived in the city of

Umma Umma () in modern Dhi Qar Province in Iraq, was an ancient city in Sumer. There is some scholarly debate about the Sumerian and Akkadian names for this site. Traditionally, Umma was identified with Tell Jokha. More recently it has been sugges ...

during the reign of

Sargon of Akkad Sargon of Akkad (; ; died 2279 BC), also known as Sargon the Great, was the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire, known for his conquests of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th to 23rd centuries BC.The date of the reign of Sargon is highly unc ...

. She was married to Ur-Šara and her business transactions are well documented in the so-called Ur-Sara family archive. While it does not appear to have been uncommon for women to conduct business, as it was regarded as a part of the household duties, no other individual businesswoman and her transactions from this period or before is as well documented as Ama-e.

Business

She rented land from the crown for cultivating, invested in buildings, traded in

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

and metal, and had a network of business agents through which she bought and sold silver, wood, wool, food and perfume. Translator H. J. Marsman wrote:

In early Mesopotamian society, women appear to have acted quite independently ndcould stand surely for someone else s withthe businesswoman Ama-e, who lived in Sargonic Umma. She engaged in trade involving grain, wool, and metals.

Family business records show that she invested some of the profits in real estate and building projects and oversaw a widespread trade network.

Background

Business

See also

References

Further reading