Representations of Political Power: Case Histories from Times of Change and Dissolving Order in the Ancient Near East

226 Pages·2007·29.905 MB·English

by  Marlies Heinz, Marian H. Feldman

Representations of Political Power

Representations of Political Power
Case Histories from
Times of Change and Dissolving Order
in the Ancient Near East
Edited by
Marlies Heinz Marian H. Feldman
and
Winona Lake, Indiana
Eisenbrauns
2007
ç Copyright 2007 by Eisenbrauns.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
www.eisenbrauns.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Representations of political power : case histories from times of change and
dissolving order in the ancient Near East / edited by Marlies Heinz and Marian
H. Feldman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-57506-135-1 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Middle East—History—To 622. 2. Middle East—Politics and government.
3. Middle East—Social conditions. I. Heinz, Marlies. II. Feldman, Marian H.
DS62.23.R47 2007
939u.4—dc22
2007015133
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.†‰
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
List of Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Introduction: Representation–Tradition–Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Marlies Heinz and Marian H. Feldman
Part 1
Reestablishment of Order after
Major Disruption
Emar and the Transition from Hurrian to Hittite Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Regine Pruzsinszky
Frescoes, Exotica, and the Reinvention of the Northern Levantine Kingdoms
during the Second Millennium b.c.e. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Marian H. Feldman
Sargon of Akkad: Rebel and Usurper in Kish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Marlies Heinz
Part 2
Changing Order from Within
The Royal Cemetery of Ur:
Ritual, Tradition, and the Creation of Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Susan Pollock
The Divine Image of the King: Religious Representation of Political Power
in the Hittite Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Dominik Bonatz
Nabonidus the Mad King:
A Reconsideration of His Steles from Harran and Babylon . . . . . . . . . . 137
Paul-Alain Beaulieu
Part 3
Perceptions of a New Order
Cyrus the Great of Persia: Images and Realities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Amélie Kuhrt
The Migration and Sedentarization of the Amorites
from the Point of View of the Settled Babylonian Population . . . . . . . . . 193
Brit Jahn
Index of Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
v

Preface
Change is the only constant in history. Proceeding from this thought and inspired
by the many political changes that are occurring today, especially in Europe and Asia,
the present volume emerged. Former great powers have collapsed, so-called “Third
World” countries are ascending to become economic superpowers, familiar world or-
ders are displaced by new locations and shifts in centers and peripheries. In numer-
ous discussions, the effects of globalization are being debated. Many feel that change
and the substitution of the traditional known world order with a new world organiza-
tion are affecting their lives. Change is being experienced either as a threat to a famil-
iar way of living or as a chance to reject traditions and develop new concepts of life.
Many of the discussions concerning the effects of globalization and change focus on
the sphere of influence and the meaning of traditions and the customs that express
these traditions, on who benefits from maintaining traditions, who is disenfranchised,
and who controls the processes of change. The coherence of communities and the
stabilization of communal identities are preserved not only by traditions but also by
religion. Religion especially has been and still is used frequently by politicians and re-
ligious spokesmen to forge community and communal identity, particularly in the
context of globalization and the world-wide merging of political and economic inter-
ests. Continuity and change, tradition and innovation have far-reaching consequences
for communal life and for the consolidation of the ruling order. Controlling these re-
sources is thus one of the most important facets for any politician and must be tackled
on a local, regional, and global level.
If then, as stated initially, change is the only constant in history, archaeologists in-
terested in the historical, social, economic, religious, and political development of the
Near East (and not only there) are obliged to study the makeup and implications of
the metamorphoses that characterized the history and development of ancient Near
Eastern societies. Who initiated change in which areas and how? Are certain aspects
of society more exposed to change, or does the archaeological record simply preserve
some aspects better than others? Which domains of social cooperation clung more te-
naciously to the established traditions, and in which did innovation succeed more
rapidly? Who was affected by change and how? And how did the politicians and the
religious leaders of 5,000 years ago confront and control change and continuity? Fur-
ther questions that arise query the significance attached to different traditions by a
range of people and who profited or lost in each case. What were the social, political,
economic, and cultural conditions under which change or continuity took place? In
addition, the role that religion played in these processes is of central importance for
investigations of this sort.
Continuity and change are thus the main focus of our interests in the present
study—they influence our way of living as they did 5,000 years ago.
vii
viii Preface
In keeping with the theme of change, modern innovation in the area of transpor-
tation and communication made this book possible. The editors, from Freiburg and
Berkeley, met at an international conference in Berlin and established the initial com-
munication from which the plan for a coedited volume developed. The rapid commu-
nication of e-mail brought together an international group of scholars to participate
in writing the book together. But, in the end, the traditional forms of communica-
tion—one-to-one conversation, the personal acquaintance of our colleagues, and the
knowledge of their scholarly work—have produced a book in the traditional manner.
The editors would like to thank heartily all the authors for their constructive co-
operation, for the time they invested to make the project succeed, for their patience
in fulfilling all the editors’ requests, and for the intellectual stimulation they have pro-
vided in their contributions.
The editors sincerely thank Beverly McCoy, who has worked tirelessly on the
manuscript and has accompanied us up to the moment of the book’s appearance.
And our concluding sincere thanks go in particular to Jim Eisenbraun, who, with
his ready acceptance to publish the study, provided an ideal venue in which our com-
mon work could come to fruition.
Marlies Heinz and Marian Feldman
Freiburg and Berkeley
March 2007
Abbreviations
General
A. Louvre Museum siglum
AO tablets in the collection of the Musée du Louvre
BM tablets in the collections of the British Museum
CBS tablets in the collections of the University Museum of the University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
DB Behistun inscription of Darius
DSk inscription of Darius I on a brick from Susa
E siglum for texts from Emar
M. registration number of texts from Mari
Msk. registration number of tablets from Meskene/Emar
NBC tablets in the Babylonian Collection, Yale University Library
PFS registration number of an inscribed Persepolis Fortification Cylinder Seal
RE texts in the collection of Jonathan Rosen
RS field numbers of tablets excavated at Ras Shamra
Sm. tablets in the collections of the British Museum
Reference Works
ARM Archives royales de Mari
AuOr Aula Orientalis
CM Cuneiform Monographs
ETCSL The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literarture
FM Florilegium Marianum
KBo Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi
KUB Keilschrifturkunden aus Boghazköi
MSL Materialien zum sumerischen Lexikon
MVN Materiali per il vocabolario neo-sumerico
RlA Reallexikon der Assyriologie
TCL Textes Cunéiformes du Louvre
UET Ur Excavations, Texts
VS Vorderasiatische Schriftdenkmäler der Königlichen (staatlichen) Museen zu
Berlin (Leipzig)
ZA Zeitschrift für Assyriologie
ix