The Importance of the Mediterranean in the Syro-Mesopotamian Kingdom of Mari in the Amorite Period

ABSTRACT Since the dawn of Mesopotamian history, the Mediterranean Sea has been considered a natural frontier, both feared and admired as the Great Sea. With the settlement of the Amorites in Mesopotamia, whose cradle was thought of as the “Land of the Sea,” that is, the Mediterranean shore, the importance of this natural element became notorious. The voyages of the sovereigns of the Amorite Syro-Mesopotamian kingdom of Mari—Yahdun-Lim, Samsi-Addu, and Zimri-Lim—to the Mediterranean coast, which this article analyzes in detail, attest to this importance. These journeys were previously studied by Abraham Malamat, among others. But due to the absence of a monumental record to attest to the displacement of Zimri-Lim, the importance of the latter as well as the connection between them have not been thoroughly examined. This article does so.