Crossing Borders… Perilous Journeys for Elamite Diplomats and Messengers

Abstract

Although some reports on foreign policy exist for Ancient Near Eastern states in the first millennium BC, studies illuminating on the diplomatic behaviour between an early Iranian state and the Mesopotamian empires are scarce. Nevertheless, the Elamite texts and Akkadian royal correspondence (8th-6th century BC) does give regular hints on the efforts of the Elamite diplomats and messengers to optimize the international relations between Elam on the one hand and the Babylonian and Assyrian rulers on the other. This paper will therefore explore the role of the Elamite officials in the international diplomatic relations of the Neo-Elamite kings with the neighboring states Assyria and Babylonia