Mari - the mysteries of the king's chancellery in relation to the history of Mesopotamia 18th century BC

elective courses
general courses

Classroom

The focus of the classes will be to get to know and accurately reconstruct political history of Mesopotamia 18th century BC. This will be done on the basis of the king's archives in Mari - diplomatic and administrative correspondence, documents from the king's palace chancellery.

The classes will be dedicated to reading the political history of Mesopotamia in the middle of the18th century B.C. and to an attempt to precisely re-construct that history. In particular, they will focus on all that can be called international and inter-state relations, as well as the diplomatic protocol at the times of Amorite kingdoms’ domination. The source material will include texts from the royal Mari Archives—diplomatic and administrative correspondence, and other administrative documents from the palace chancellery. Royal inscriptions and the kings’ date lists will be used as additional source material.

M. Birot, Correspondance des gouverneurs de Qaţţunân, ARM 27, Paris 1993

D. Charpin – F. Joannès – S. Lackenbacher – B. Lafont, Archives épistolaires de Mari, I/2, ARM 26/2, Paris 1988

D. Charpin, Mari et le proche-Orient à l'époque amorrite: essai d'histoire politique, Florilegium Marianum 5, Paris 2003

J.-M. Durand, Archives épistolaires de Mari. I/1, ARM 26/1, Paris 1988

W.W. Heimpel, Letters to the King of Mari: A New Translation, with Historical Introduction, Notes, and Commentary. Mesopotamian Civilizations, vol. 12. Winona Lake 2003.

H. Klengel, Das Hammurapi Reich, Berlin 1978

D. Lacambre, La bataille de Hiritum, M.A.R.I. 8, Paris 1997, p. 431-453

B. Lafont, Messagers et ambassadeurs dans les archives de Mari, La circulation des biens et des idées dans le Proche-Orient ancien, 38 RAI, Paris 1992, p. 167-183

J.M. Sasson, From the Mari Archives: An Anthology of Old Babylonian Letters, 2015

G. Roux, Mezopotamia, Warszawa 1998

Having completed the classes, students should acquire basic knowledge of:

- political history of the Old Babylonian period

- international relationships in Ancient Mesopotamia of the Hammu-rabi epoch

- political geography of Ancient Mesopotamia

- the collection of texts called 'letters from Mari'

1. Regular attendance (3 missed classes at the most) is obligatory to complete the course.

2. Active participation in the course of the classes, individual remarks and responses will serve as the basis of the grade.

3. Students in danger of not completing the course have the right to cover the whole material during 'exam session' in oral or written form.