The 4,000-Year History of International Law

How old is international law, and does it actually work? This episode traces the origins of binding agreements between states from a carved stone boundary treaty in Mesopotamia (2100 BCE) to the Egyptian-Hittite Peace Treaty with its divine enforcement clauses. We explore the Roman concept of *jus gentium*, early Islamic humanitarian law, and Hugo Grotius’s foundational arguments. Finally, we confront the central paradox: a system with courts but no global police force, where the most powerful states remain effectively immune from enforcement. Episode #605315 — open it directly at myweirdprompts.com/605315