Bibliography
| Title: International Law in Antiquity Pages: 322 Type: Book Year: 2001 Abstract: This work is an ambitious attempt to bring together the academic disciplines of political science and classical studies in a study of 'the intellectual origins of international law' ( p. 1). The main thesis is that international law is not a modern construct, but was functioning in the ancient Mediterranean societies, although in forms that are different than the modern constructs. In order to make this argument in a successful and meaningful manner, Bederman must first outline an extensive framework of methodological concerns. He examines in detail the difficulties facing studies of this type, particularly around questions of the appropriateness of comparisons between modern political structures and ancient ones, and of the limitations on our ability to judge past political structures based on the minimal amount of evidence remaining.
Bederman follows this examination through three different areas of international relations: diplomacy, treaty making, and declaration of war. In each of these areas he starts out by discussing the relevant general concepts of political thought and the general suppositions about ancient processes. He sticks close with the textual evidence, taking space in every chapter to examine what we have. Each section progresses on a timeline through the rise and fall of three of the great empires in the Mediterranean; the ancient Near East, the Greek city-states, and Rome.
Bederman's main argument is that these ancient societies had a concept of a rule of law within the international circle. The ancient societies understood their relations as comprising beliefs held in common based on reason, not faith and superstition. This differs from our own concept of international law only in that theirs did not exist in structured processes or doctrines. Thus, ancient international law in the Mediterranean was not the 'primitive' system it has been labeled by modern legal scholars. |