It is hard to imagine a modern public administration working without a set of laws and regulations guiding its daily business. Ancient sources, however, rarely refer explicitly to procedural matters and ‘administrative law.’ Nevertheless, also in Antiquity certain rules must have applied to the numerous acts which are essential to the governing of a large empire. The aim of this conference was to examine these rules on the basis of the cuneiform, epigraphical and papyrological evidence. Within the framework of the research network, this issue was approached by project members covering a time frame from the Late Assyrian to the Early Islamic Empire and a geographical scope encompassing Asia Minor, Mesopotamia and Egypt. Contributions by other specialists whose area of expertise complements our work widened the scope of this interdisciplinary investigation into the juridical framework of administrative procedure.

Veranstaltungsleiter: Prof. Dr. Hans TAEUBER