Power and Identity at the Margins of the Ancient Near East

Sara Mohr, Shane M. Thompson, Sara Mohr, Shane M. Thompson

• Publisher: University Press of Colorado
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781646423576
• eBook ISBN: 9781646423583
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

Power and Identity at the Margins of the Ancient Near East rethinks the dichotomy between antiquated terms such as "core" and "periphery," explores lived realities in the margins of central authority, and centers those margins as places of resistance and power in their own right.
 
The borderlands of hegemonic entities within the Near East and Egypt pressed against each other, creating cities and societies with influence from several competing polities. The peoples, cities, and cultures that resulted present a unique lens by which to examine how states controlled and influenced the lives, political systems, and social hierarchies of these subjects (and vice versa). This volume addresses the distinct traditions and experiences of areas beyond the core; terminology used when discussing empire, core, periphery, borderlands, and frontiers; conceptualization of space; practices and consequences of warfare, captive-taking, and slavery; identity- and secondary state–formation; economy and society; ritual; diplomacy; and the negotiation of claims to power.
 
It is imperative that historians and social scientists understand the ways in which these cultures developed, spread, and interacted with others along frontier edges. Using an intersectional approach across disciplines, Power and Identity at the Margins of the Ancient Near East brings together professionals from archaeology, religious studies, history, sociology, and anthropology to make new contributions to the study of the frontier.
 
Contributors: Alexander Ahrens, Peter Dubovský, Avraham Faust, Daniel E. Fleming, Mahri Leonard-Fleckman, Alvise Matessi, Ellen Morris, Valeria Turriziani, Eric M. Trinka
 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• 1. Notes in the Margins
• 2. An Imperial Encounter: The Egyptian Empire in Canaan, Highland Ethnogenesis, and the Transformation of History
• 3. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea? Northern Levantine Elites at the Margins of the Bronze Age Empires
• 4. Betwixt and Between: The Elusiveness of Israel’s Iron Age Timnah
• 5. On the Far Side of the River: Shifting Territorialities and Reorienting Political Discourses in Hittite Anatolia
• 6. Beyond Politics: Religion and Symbolism at the Borders of Egypt
• 7. Studies in Culture and Language of the Kingdom of Suḫu
• 8. Emar, Carchemish, and the Hittites: The Exercise of Power without Administration
• 9. On the Fringe Benefits of Life in the Shatter Zones of Egypt’s Empire
• 10. Reflections from the Margins
• Primary Text Index
• Modern Author Index
• Subject Index
• About the Authors