Tribal Politics (without Tribes?) in the Southern Levant during the Late Bronze Age

EMANUEL PFOH

Oriens Antiquus - Serie Nova

Università di Roma

Lugar: Roma; Año: 2019 vol. 1 p. 135 - 140

0030-5189

Can the politics of the small Canaanite kings, reflected in the El Amarna letters, be called to some extent tribal? If we focus on the Southern Levant?s scene during the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550-1200 BCE), many of the activities of these socio-political actors do indeed match the rationale and expectations found in tribal situations and relationships, as documented in the modern ethnographic record of the Middle East. The key matter is the nature of the evidenced political practice, rather than the structure or organization of society. Thus, there would be no need for expecting the presence of proper tribes in order to find tribal politics in action. This paper understands the notices and reported deeds in the El Amarna correspondence (ca. 1350 BCE) from this perspective, which could in fact be regarded tribal, building upon kinship and patrimonial structures and patron-client relationships, and also related to (foreign) state intervention in the land.