1.3 The archives from Ebla contain three types of texts relevant
to our subject: administrative texts recording expenses and gifts for
treaty ceremonies (nam-ku 5 or kittum) between rulers, officials and
other elites of Syrian city-states;^6 the text of an actual treaty between
Ebla and “Abarsal”^7 with over forty provisions and perhaps an excerpt
from a treaty with Armi on a school tablet;^8 and a letter and a
dossier from rulers referring to international claims and obligations.^91.4 The Sargonic period furnishes a treaty between Naramsin of
Akkade (ca. 2250) and an Elamite ruler, preserved in an Elamite
version from Susa.^101.5 Despite scores of thousands of documents from the Third
Dynasty of Ur, none bears directly on our subject.- T I S
2.1 Seal impressions and lexical lists from Uruk, Jemdet Nasr and
Ur ca. 3100–2800 point to what could be either a centrally con-
trolled state encompassing the major cities of southern and central
Babylonia or a loose confederation of relatively independent cities
and smaller states.^112.2 From perhaps just before 2600, inscriptions of Mesalim (Mesilim),
king of the north Babylonian center Kish, attest to his hegemony
over the southern cities of Adab and Girsu. Later use of the title(^6) Catagnoti, “Les serments.. .” and “Lessico dei giuramenti...”
(^7) For the reading of the toponym “Abarsal,” see, most recently, Tonietti, “Le
cas de Mekum.. .,” 232f., with previous literature. For the treaty, see Edzard, “Der
Vertrag.. .”; Pettinato, Ebla, 229–37. The assertion by Kienast, “Der Vertrag...,”
235, that the text cannot be a valid treaty but rather a draft, because it is not
sealed, is very unlikely; seals were not used on tablets at all at Ebla or elsewhere
in the mid-third millennium. A new edition by Fronzaroli is forthcoming.
(^8) Fronzaroli, “Il culto.. .,” 18ff.
(^9) Michalowski, Letters, no. 2; Pettinato, Ebla, 241ff.
(^10) Hinz, “Elams Vertrag.. .”; cf. Kammenhuber, “Historisch-geographische Nach-
richten.. .,” 172ff., and Westenholz in Sallaberger and Westenholz, Mesopotamien...,
92.
(^11) Matthews, Cities... The fact that the writing and bookkeeping system at Jemdet
Nasr in the north of Babylonia is virtually identical to that at Uruk in the south
ca. 3000 suggests that there could well be some kind of central control.
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