Centre and Periphery—the Role of the ‘Palace of the Rulers’ at Tell Asmar in the History of Ešnunna (2,100 –1,750 BCE)

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an integrated archaeological and textual study of the Palace of the Rulers at Eshnunna. The successive building phases and the distribution of tables and clay sealings are examined from the end of the 3rd millennium until the mid-18th century BCE. The data thus obtained is used to reconstruct the history of the role of the palace complex and its functional and administrative organization from the Ur III into the Old Babylonian period.