One of the earliest and most informative resources regarding our knowledge on Near East diplomacy is the Mari cuneiform archives, which consist of more than 20 thousand letters, legal documents, diplomatic correspondences, and treaties written on clay tablets.

Diplomacy as a means of foreign relations was intensified particularly under the rule of Babylon’s sixth and most known King Hammurabi.

After the conquest of Sumer by the Akkadian, the Akkadian language supplanted Sumerian as the language of diplomacy in conformity with the political situation. 

The concept of brotherhood included in this letter served as the central argument on which all superseding diplomatic relationship would be centered. The expression of brotherhood is at the same time a sign that indicate the equal relationship between the kings.

The system was mainly based on that of the Sumerians in the south, Babylonian and Akadian in the center and Assyrians in the north.