ABSTRACT
The ancient Mesopotamian written sources refer to a succession of peoples from outside the urban sphere who pose a military threat to that sphere and periodically assume political power within the urban context themselves. In the later third millennium B.C., the Gutians are credited with the destruction of the Sargonic state and the establishment of a ruling dynasty in Mesopotamia, and the Amorites are viewed as similarly dangerous intruders in the succeeding Ur III period. Sutians, Ahlamu, and others are cited in the mid-to-late second millennium, and by the twelfth century the Aramaeans appear in the cuneiform record, eventually emerging as rulers of states throughout Syria and north Mesopotamia. Although these groups are conceptualized as outsiders by the urban scribes, a closer examination of the evidence often reveals a complex symbiotic relationship between the urban states and the ‘alien’ groups; thus, the Amorites are regarded as an external military threat, yet Amorite individuals simultaneously occupy diverse positions within Ur III society.
