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Experiencing power, generating authority : cosmos, politics, and the ideology of kingship in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia / edited by Jane A. Hill, Philip Jones, and Antonio J. Morales.

Contributor(s): Hill, Jane A | Jones, Philip | Morales, Antonio JMaterial type: TextTextLanguage: English Series: Penn Museum international research conferences ; v. 6.Publisher: Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2013Description: 1 online resource (479 p.)Content type: text Media type: computer Carrier type: online resourceISBN: 1934536652Subject(s): Kings and rulers -- Religious aspects -- Congresses | Divine right of kings -- Congresses | Political customs and rites -- Congresses | Power (Social sciences) -- Congresses | Political anthropology -- Congresses | Egypt -- Kings and rulers -- Congresses | Iraq -- Kings and rulers -- Congresses | Ancient Studies | ArchaeologyAdditional physical formats: No title; No titleDDC classification: 303.3 LOC classification: GN492.7 | .E96 2013Issued also in print.
Contents:
Front matter -- Contents -- Figures -- Tables -- Abbreviations -- Glossary -- Contributors -- Acknowledgments -- Penn Museum International Research Conferences. Foreword -- Comparing Kingship in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia -- 1 Propaganda and Performance at the Dawn of the State -- 2. “I Am the Sun of Babylon”: Solar Aspects of Royal Power in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia -- 3. Rising Suns and Falling Stars: Assyrian Kings and the Cosmos -- 4. Texts before Writing -- 5. Images of Tammuz -- 6. Building the Pharaonic state -- 7. The Management of Royal Treasure -- 8. Egyptian Kingship during the Old Kingdom -- 9. All the King’s Men: Authority, Kingship, and the Rise of the Elites in Assyria -- 10. Kingship as Racketeering -- 11. Mesopotamian Kings and the Built Environment -- 12. Expeditions to the Wadi Hammamat: Context and Concept -- 13. “Imaginal” Landscapes in Assyrian Imperial Monuments -- Appendix 1. Chronologies for Ancient Egypt and the Near East (ca. 5000 bc–ad 396) -- Appendix 2. Map of Major Egyptian Sites -- Appendix 3. Map of Major Mesopotamian Sites -- Index
Summary: For almost three thousand years, Egypt and Mesopotamia were each ruled by the single sacred office of kingship. Though geographically near, these ancient civilizations were culturally distinct, and scholars have historically contrasted their respective conceptualizations of the ultimate authority, imagining Egyptian kings as invested with cosmic power and Mesopotamian kings as primarily political leaders. In fact, both kingdoms depended on religious ideals and political resources to legitimate and exercise their authority. Cross-cultural comparison reveals the sophisticated and varied strategies that ancient kings used to unify and govern their growing kingdoms. Experiencing Power, Generating Authority draws on rich material records left behind by both kingdoms, from royal monuments and icons to the written deeds and commissions of kings. Thirteen essays provocatively juxtapose the relationships Egyptian and Mesopotamian kings had with their gods and religious mediators, as well as their subjects and court officials. They also explore the ideological significance of landscape in each kingdom, since the natural and built environment influenced the economy, security, and cosmology of these lands. The interplay of religion, politics, and territory is dramatized by the everyday details of economy, trade, and governance, as well as the social crises of war or the death of a king. Reexamining established notions of cosmic and political rule, Experiencing Power, Generating Authority challenges and deepens scholarly approaches to rulership in the ancient world. Contributors: Mehmet-Ali Ataç, Miroslav Bárta, Dominique Charpin, D. Bruce Dickson, Eckart Frahm, Alan B. Lloyd, Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia, Ludwig D. Morenz, Ellen Morris, Beate Pongratz-Leisten, Michael Roaf, Walther Sallaberger, JoAnn Scurlock. PMIRC, volume 6
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Status Date due Barcode
Books Books The BIAA David H. French Library
Shelf 39 - Main Room 		H1b HILL 30471 Not for loan BOOKS-000000023378

"The work contained in this volume is the result of a four-day workshop entitled 'Experiencing power--Generating Authority : Cosmos, Politics, and the Ideology of Kingship in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia' held in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology November 2007."--Page [xxvii].

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Front matter -- Contents -- Figures -- Tables -- Abbreviations -- Glossary -- Contributors -- Acknowledgments -- Penn Museum International Research Conferences. Foreword -- Comparing Kingship in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia -- 1 Propaganda and Performance at the Dawn of the State -- 2. “I Am the Sun of Babylon”: Solar Aspects of Royal Power in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia -- 3. Rising Suns and Falling Stars: Assyrian Kings and the Cosmos -- 4. Texts before Writing -- 5. Images of Tammuz -- 6. Building the Pharaonic state -- 7. The Management of Royal Treasure -- 8. Egyptian Kingship during the Old Kingdom -- 9. All the King’s Men: Authority, Kingship, and the Rise of the Elites in Assyria -- 10. Kingship as Racketeering -- 11. Mesopotamian Kings and the Built Environment -- 12. Expeditions to the Wadi Hammamat: Context and Concept -- 13. “Imaginal” Landscapes in Assyrian Imperial Monuments -- Appendix 1. Chronologies for Ancient Egypt and the Near East (ca. 5000 bc–ad 396) -- Appendix 2. Map of Major Egyptian Sites -- Appendix 3. Map of Major Mesopotamian Sites -- Index

For almost three thousand years, Egypt and Mesopotamia were each ruled by the single sacred office of kingship. Though geographically near, these ancient civilizations were culturally distinct, and scholars have historically contrasted their respective conceptualizations of the ultimate authority, imagining Egyptian kings as invested with cosmic power and Mesopotamian kings as primarily political leaders. In fact, both kingdoms depended on religious ideals and political resources to legitimate and exercise their authority. Cross-cultural comparison reveals the sophisticated and varied strategies that ancient kings used to unify and govern their growing kingdoms. Experiencing Power, Generating Authority draws on rich material records left behind by both kingdoms, from royal monuments and icons to the written deeds and commissions of kings. Thirteen essays provocatively juxtapose the relationships Egyptian and Mesopotamian kings had with their gods and religious mediators, as well as their subjects and court officials. They also explore the ideological significance of landscape in each kingdom, since the natural and built environment influenced the economy, security, and cosmology of these lands. The interplay of religion, politics, and territory is dramatized by the everyday details of economy, trade, and governance, as well as the social crises of war or the death of a king. Reexamining established notions of cosmic and political rule, Experiencing Power, Generating Authority challenges and deepens scholarly approaches to rulership in the ancient world. Contributors: Mehmet-Ali Ataç, Miroslav Bárta, Dominique Charpin, D. Bruce Dickson, Eckart Frahm, Alan B. Lloyd, Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia, Ludwig D. Morenz, Ellen Morris, Beate Pongratz-Leisten, Michael Roaf, Walther Sallaberger, JoAnn Scurlock. PMIRC, volume 6

Issued also in print.

English

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed December 8, 2013).