Sobre gnomos y gigantes: Los tratados grecorromanos y la igualdad soberana de los estados como ficción histórico-jurídica

Abstract

The present paper begins with a study of the treaties comprising the Peace
of Westphalia and their true correlation with the development of the modern notion of
sovereign equality of the States. It is from this initial critical analysis that the paper
moves on to the study of relationships amongst states in the Greek and Roman world,
focusing mainly on those conventions celebrated before the Christian era and in the
need of these civilizations to turn to said instruments to fix predictable rules of conduct.
The hypotheses for this paper, in accordance to a vast analysis of the conditions pertaining to the ancient world, suggests that whenever States established relations in conditions of disproportion of power they needed to resort to a written –conventional– veil
of equality before the law to mask the real inequality of power.