Family Business, Legal Documents, and Sustainability: Egyptian Households in the Neo Assyrian Empire

This paper examines the economic activities and sustainability strategies of Egyptian households living in the city of Assur during the seventh century BCE, within the broader context of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. By focusing on private legal documents preserved in the so-called “Egyptian archive” in the city of Assur, the study explores how diaspora families operated as economic actors and how they ensured the long- term continuity of their livelihoods under imperial rule. Neo-Assyrian Empire was the first ancient polity to achieve a truly multiethnic and multinational character, integrating diverse populations through administration, law, and economic exchange. Among these populations were Egyptians who arrived in the city od Assur through military campaigns, deportation policies, and other forms of mobility. While previous research has identified Egyptians in Neo-Assyrian Empire sources through onomastic and administrative evidence, their economic life has rarely been analyzed from the perspective of family enterprise and sustainability. This paper addresses that gap by combining philological analysis of cuneiform legal texts with socio-economic interpretation and comparative insights from family business studies. The primary sources consist of Neo-Assyrian private legal documents, including marriage contracts, property transactions, credit agreements, and litigation records. Through close reading and prosopographic analysis, the study reconstructs kinship networks, household strategies, and patterns of legal engagement among Egyptian families in Assur. Case studies such as StAT 2 164, 170, 197, and 207 reveal how Egyptians employed kin- based governance, intergenerational planning, and risk management mechanisms such as collateral, anti-litigation clauses, and community witnessing. The paper argues that Egyptian households achieved economic sustainability through legal adaptability and resilient hybridity. While fully adopting Neo-Assyrian legal forms and invoking imperial gods as juridical guarantors, they maintained distinct communal identities through naming practices and kinship ties. Viewed through the lens of modern family business theory, Egyptian households in the city of Assur emerge as early examples of sustainable family enterprises, demonstrating how diaspora communities could transform imperial legal frameworks into resources for long-term economic stability