destroying or impinging upon the states described in 2.3.2 above.^19
But this hegemony was disrupted by repeated rebellion in Babylonia,
and control in surrounding territories was only sporadic.2.5 The Third Dynasty of Ur (Ur III; ca. 2100–2000) dominated
Babylonia, Elam and more northerly parts of western Iran, and the
Tigris valley and its tributaries as far north as Assyria, but Mari and
the rest of the Northwest, including the newly emergent ›urrian
centers of the ›abur triangle, remained outside imperial authority,
as did the Amorite tribes whose movement to the south and east
would eventually be one of the main forces leading to the empire’s
decline and fall.^20- T
Treaties are attested directly in surviving treaty texts and indirectly
in royal inscriptions and archival texts.3.1 Parity treaties are concluded between sovereigns dealing as
equals. Vassal treaties are concluded between unequal parties, with
the bulk of the treaty stipulations obligating the lesser party to the
advantage of the greater.3.1.1 No parity treaty survives from the third millennium, but evi-
dence for parity treaties can be adduced from the Ebla oath cere-
monies (see below) and from a roughly contemporary inscription of
Enmetena of Lagash (ca. 2425) which reports that “Enmetena, ruler
of Lagash, and Lugalkiginedudu, ruler of Uruk, established brother-
hood.”^21 The Akkadian term a¢u“brother” is known from the sec-
ond millennium as the term used by one ruler to refer to another
of equal stature, and a¢¢ùtu, “brotherhood,” the exact equivalent of
the Sumerian nam-“e“used by Enmetena, describes a relationship of(^19) The royal inscriptions are in AAK and RIM E2. For the period in general,
see Westenholz in Sallaberger and Westenholz, Mesopotamien...
(^20) See the extensive presentation by Sallaberger in Sallaberger and Westenholz,
Mesopotamien...
(^21) SARI La 5.3; ABW Ent. 45–73; RIM E1.9.5.3. For the historical context, see
Cooper, Reconstructing History.. ., 31f., and Frayne, RIM E1 173.
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