Loyal Servants of the King: A Political Anthropology of Subordination in Syria-Palestine (ca. 1600-600 BCE)

EMANUEL PFOH

Leiden

Congreso; 58th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale "Private and State in the Ancient Near East", Leiden 2012; 2012

International Association of Assyriologists / UNiversity of Leiden

Syria-Palestine was occupied and ruled by foreign powers during most of the Late Bronze and Iron Ages (ca. 1600-600 BCE) due mainly to the strategic role this region played in geopolitical and commercial terms. In this paper, we attempt to draft a general scheme for the working of local sociopolitical subordination to foreign masters (Egypt and Hatti during the Late Bronze Age; Assyria in the Iron Age II), comparing particularities and noting similarities between the different stages of foreign domination. The critical use of perspectives and models proper to political anthropology (especially the concept of patronage or patron-client relationships) is seen as most appropriate to enhance the interpretation of diplomatic epistolography and asymmetrical treaties, exchanged and established respectively, documenting political alliance and subordination between polities of different status and power.