Bronze Age Bureaucracy: Writing and the Practice of Government in Assyria

ISBN-13: 9781107043756 / Angielski / Twarda / 2014 / 494 str.

Nicholas Postgate; J. N. Postgate

Opis

This book describes ten different government archives of cuneiform tablets from Assyria, using them to analyse the social and economic character of the Middle Assyrian state, as well as the roles and practices of writing. The tablets, many of which have not been edited or translated, were excavated at the capital, Assur, and in the provinces, and they give vivid details to illuminate issues such as offerings to the national shrine, the economy and political role of elite households, palace etiquette, and state-run agriculture. This book concentrates particularly on how the Assyrian use of written documentation affected the nature and ethos of government, and compares this to contemporary practices in other palatial administrations at Nuzi, Alalah, Ugarit, and in Greece.

Recenzje

'At nearly five hundred pages, this ninety-nine dollar volume is a bargain, a treasure trove of data, meticulously organized and enhanced by Postgate's great erudition, keen judgment, and profound appreciation of the mechanics of Late Bronze Age bureaucratic practice.' M. P. Maidman, Journal of the American Oriental Society

Spis treści

1. Introduction; 2. The land of Assur in the late Bronze Age; 3. Writing in Assyria: the scribes and their output; 4. Archives at Assur; 5. Archives in the provinces; 6. The government of Assyria and its impact; 7. Nuzi, the nearest neighbor; 8. Western contemporaries: Alalah, Ugarit and Greece; 9. The records of government.