International relations in the ancient Near East: The birth of a complete diplomatic system

Abstract

Over the three millennia of ancient Near Eastern pre‐classical history, the second millennium BC represents a kind of ‘golden age’ as regards international relations. Particularly at the time of the so‐called ‘amorrite kingdoms’ (eighteenth to seventeenth centuries), then during the El Amarna period (fifteenth to fourteenth centuries), a real, rational, methodical and complete diplomatic system developed throughout the Near East, with a whole series of shared institutions, procedures and rituals. This system was rigorously drawn up at the end of the third millennium, then ritualized and improved during more than 1,000 years. Recently, the rich documentation from the cuneiform tablets of Mari (Syria, seventeenth century) has deepened our knowledge on this question. Finally, during the first millennium, this international system disappeared with the advent of empires with a ‘universal’ claim and then with the hellenization of the East and the vanishing of the ‘cuneiform culture’.