Law and legal life in Upper Mesopotamia from the ^18th century BC.

As part of the PCEHM program (" Power and written culture in Upper Mesopotamia in the ^18th century BC "), funded by the ANR under aapg 2022, this year's lecture will focus on law and legal life. While historians of Mesopotamian law have traditionally relied on Palaeo-Babylonian documentation from Iraq, the study of contemporary texts from eastern Syria will rebalance the approach and highlight the specific features of Upper Mesopotamia. The written sources available come from sites such as Terqa and Šubat-Enlil, but above all from Mari, where very rich archives were discovered in the palace from 1934 onwards. We will be using some of the hundred or so contracts currently being studied by the professor, in addition to those published by G. Boyer in 1958, whose edition is also included. In addition, we will not only consider the legal documents : numerous letters provide a vivid insight into the way marriages were concluded or dissolved, inheritances shared, disputes resolved, alliances forged, and so on.