A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

745

INTERNATIONAL LAW

INTERNATIONAL LAW IN THE SECOND MILLENNIUM:

MIDDLE BRONZE AGE

Jesper Eidem

1. S IL

Material for the early second millennium is particularly rich. Abundant

evidence for international relations is provided by archives of diplo-

matic correspondence and some international treaties, excavated par-

ticularly in northern Syria and Iraq (at Mari, Rimah, and Leilan).^1

Earlier evidence of a similar kind is much sparser but seems likely

to parallel later patterns.^2

2. TIS

2.1 The international horizon for early second millennium Mesopo-

tamia included Palestine,^3 Syria, Iraq, central and eastern Anatolia,

western Iran, and areas bordering the Arabo-Persian Gulf.^4 Official

contacts with areas outside this horizon, most prominently Egypt,

are not attested.

2.2 The political landscape within this region was characterized by

complex interrelations between different levels of organization, which

may be summarized as traditional, geographical, and contempora-

neous variables. The political inheritance from earlier periods was a

strong regionalism with individual city states as basic entities but

with episodes of territorial and imperial formations, providing ready

inspiration for ambitious kings. In the mountainous periphery, urban

(^1) For Mari, see the series Archives Royales de Mari (ARM); for Rimah, see
Dalley et al., Tell al Rimah.. .; for Leilan, see the publications of Eidem below.
(^2) Biga, “Rapporti diplomatici...”
(^3) See Bonechi, “Relations...”
(^4) Eidem and Højlund, “Assyria and Dilmun...”
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