Šamaš, der Richter von Himmel und Erde, wird ein fremdes Recht in seinem Land aufrichten̕. Zur Berücksichtigung des Fremden in der Rechtsüberlieferung des Alten Vorderasien

With the terms aḫûm and nakārum, the Ancient Near Eastern legal tradition knows two relevant terms for the 'foreigner', which, however, do not really extend beyond a purely descriptive function, at least do not generate their own legal categorization. However, the question of whether the law serves inclusion or exclusion can easily be answered in view of the examined sources by the fact that the law enables exclusion and inclusion in equal measure. In this respect, we encounter a legal culture that – in relation to classical antiquity – perhaps represents a 'pre-modern' antiquity, which shows an astonishing spectrum of a phenomenology of the foreign and at the same time a considerable potential to solve the problems of inclusion and exclusion.