摘要
The article examines the role of the seas in Sumerian and Akkadian royal inscriptions and literary texts from the third millennium BC onwards.By tracing the presence of the sea in these texts,it becomes clear that the Upper and Lower Sea—or the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf,though the former could shift geographically—could stand as temiinal points for imperial control;as an obstacle or opponent to tackle;and moreover,as markers of distant,even constructed space.Overall,the sea functioned as both a real and imagined border within the Mesopotamian worldview.
