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This First-Year Semianr offers an introduction to the changing paradigms of diplomacy and conflict in the pre-modern Middle East (ca. 3100-323 BC). From Hammurabi of Babylon (and earlier!) to Alexander the Great, students will be introduced to the history and culture of the pre-modern Middle East and will study in translation primary sources such as royal inscriptions, law collections, treaties, and diplomatic correspondence. We will consider issues such as how diplomacy and conflict both reflect and constrain political structures; what aspects of diplomatic life are found throughout the early Middle East and what are particular to various cultures; similarly, what aspects of diplomatic life change over the millennia and what aspects endure; and even how we can talk about international relations in a pre-modern world without “nations.”