Title:	Sailing safely along rivers and canals in the Amorite period
Authors:	Chambon, Grégory
Citation:	CHARVÁT, Petr, PECHA, Lukáš a ŠAŠKOVÁ, Kateřina. Le château de mon père – My home my castle: Sécurité de vie, de propriété et de l’état en Mésopotamie ancienne – Safety of life, property and the state in ancient Mesopotamia. Deuxième colloque franco-tchèque. 1. vyd. Plzeň: University of West Bohemia, 2023, s. 29-40.
Issue Date:	2023
Document type:	kapitola v knize bookPart
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/11025/55028
ISBN:	978-80-261-1167-2
Keywords:	Mezopotámie;Amoritská éra;Eufrat;Tigris;řeky;přeprava zboží a osob;bezpečnost
Keywords in different language:	Mesopotamia;Amorite era;Euphrate;Tigre;rivers;transportation of goods and people;security
Abstract in different language:	The issue of safety in Ancient Near Eastern societies affects many aspects of daily life: the safety of individuals, of groups of persons, of commodities, of properties or at a larger scale, of states. As I have been running the ELEPPU-project on ships and shipbuilding in Mesopotamia with Ariel Bagg (EHESS / University of Heidelberg) for several years, I thought it would be interesting to address the issue of safety in relation to navigation on the rivers.1 Rivers in Mesopotamia were actually not only landscape elements that structured territories and served as political borders. They also constituted dynamic and oriented spaces (upstream to downstream) for the circulation of goods and people.2 Although the Mesopotamian authorities have always sought to control rivers for agricultural purposes, rivers are the place of many activities (fishing, hunting, transport...) which are often beyond any control.3 This paper aims to present some case studies from the Amorite period, especially in the Old Babylonian documentation of Mari (19th–18th centuries BC.) on the Middle Euphrates, about risks and dangers in these “uncontrolled areas”, in order to highlight the complex relationships between rivers and the authorities, which are economic, political as well as ideological. We will seek to answer three main questions: What were the risks and dangers? Who takes care of safety? Did the kings control and secure the rivers (and how)?
Rights:	© Authors, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen
Appears in Collections:	Le château de mon père – My home my castle: Sécurité de vie, de propriété et de l’état en Mésopotamie ancienne – Safety of life, property and the state in ancient Mesopotamia. Deuxième colloque franco-tchèque Le château de mon père – My home my castle: Sécurité de vie, de propriété et de l’état en Mésopotamie ancienne – Safety of life, property and the state in ancient Mesopotamia. Deuxième colloque franco-tchèque

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