The Routledge Handbook of the Ancient Near East and the Social Sciences

List of Contributors

Acknowledgements

List of Figures

List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

0. Introduction - Emanuel Pfoh and Jason M. Silverman

Part I: Overviews

1. History of the use of Social Scientific Theories in Ancient Near Eastern historiography - Marc Van De Mieroop

2. A Historiography of the use of the Ancient Near East in Social Scientific Theories - Emanuel Pfoh

3. “The Diabolical Carousel”: Interdisciplinary Meta-Methodology - Caroline Wallis

4. “Antiquity” and “Modernity” - Neville Morleu

Part II: Theories of Social Structure

5. Field Theory

5a. Field Theory and its Relevance to Research on Ancient Societies - George Steinmetz

5b. Nehemiah the Governor: An Elite Case Study Using Bourdieu’s Field Theory - Donna Laird

5c. Homo Academicus interdisciplinarius: Reflexive analysis of Ancient Near Eastern studies in Finland - Joanna Töyräänvuori, Jason M. Silverman and Caroline Wallis

5d. Who Shall Build it, and Why? Field Theory at Rural Çadır Höyük, Central Türkiye - Jennifer C. Ross and Sharon R. Steadman

6. Social Network Theory

6a. Introduction to Social Network Analysis - Miller C. Prosser

6b. Kidin-Adad’s World: A Middle Assyrian Mogul’s Network of Privation and Profit - Jonathan Valk

6c. Network Analysis Application in Light of Historical Knowledge: the Case of Adab - Émilie Pagé Perron

6d. Networks Methods and the Archaeology of Exchange - Christine L. Johnston

7. Environmentality

7a. Environmentality in the Levant in the Bronze and Iron Ages: Definitions, Approaches, and Conceptual Backdrops - Marta D’Andrea

7b. Human-Environment Interactions and Theories of Polity and Elite Formation in the Arid Southern Levant and North-western Arabia during the Bronze and Iron Ages - Juan Manuel Tebes

7c. On Marginality: Climate versus Land Use in the Late Assyrian Period - Silvana Di Paolo

7d. Environmentality: Rural case studies at Zincirli Höyük and Tell Ya’moun - Marta Lorenzon and Doga Karakaya

8. Response to Part II: Social Structure - Gad Barnea

Part III: Theories of Identity

9. Gender & Sexuality

9a. Introduction - Saana Svärd

9b. Elite Gender: Neo-Assyrian Queens - Ellie Bennett

9c. Masculinity and Pathology from the Margin to Center: The Case of the Man who does not Desire a Woman - Gioele Zisa

9d. Gender and Iconography from the Viewpoint of a Feminist Biblical Scholar - Silvia Schroer

10. Minorities and Ethnicity

10a. Introduction: Minorities and Ethnicities - Angelika Berlejung

10b. Ethnicity and Identity in the Late Bronze Age Levant: A Framework for definition - Jana Mynářová

10c. Ethnic and Marginal Groups in the Hebrew Bible: A Case for Exploring Human Connections and Belonging in Esther - Katherine E. Southwood

10d. In the Footsteps of Bagira: Ethnicity, Archaeology, and Iron Age I “Ethnic Israel” - Raz Kletter

11. Social Identity Approach

11a. Introduction: Social Identity Approach - Teemu Pauha

11b. Reconciling Social Identities: Josephus’s Dual Allegiances in the Jewish War - Marika Rauhala

11c. The Useful Slave Onesimus as an Identity Tool - Nina Nikki

11d. The Honor of Serving the Gods: A Social Identity Approach to the Clergy in Old Babylonian Nippur - Anne Goddeeris

12. Response to Part III: Identities - Philip Esler

Part IV: Theories of Practice

13. Economics

13a. Historical Demography and Historical Economics and the Ancient Near East - Julia Jennings

13b. “Elites” in the Economies of Early State Systems of Mesopotamia - Mitchell S Rothman

13c. The Book of Ruth as a Case Study of Economies on the Margin - Philippe Guillaume

13d. The Functioning of the Rural Economy in Pharaonic Egypt - Christopher Eyre

14. Rituals

14a. Rituals: An Introduction - Lauren M. Ristvet

14b. The Akītu Effect: A Social Reading of the Mesopotamian Royal Ritual - Céline Debourse

14c. Ritual Practice and Ritualization as Anxiety Management: The Hebrew Bible and Dead Sea Scrolls as Case Studies - Jutta Jokiranta

14d. Anatolian Wastelands: The Hittite dammel pedan and the Construction of Ritual Space - Romina Della Casa

15. Migration

15a. Introduction: Migration - Eric M. Trinka

15b. Emissaries and Envoys: Travel as Political Prestige - Adrianne Spunaugle

15c. Cross-regional Migration into the Urban Middle Class: the Cases of Seventh-Century Memphis and Assur - Melanie Wasmuth

15d. Phoenician Immigrants in Egypt and Greek Immigrants in Carthage: States’ Migration Regimes and Migrants’ Repertoires - Denise Demetriou

16. Communication

16a. Introduction to Communication and the Ancient Near East: Beyond Orality and Literacy - Jason M. Silverman

16b. Communication: An Elite Case Study - Christopher W. Jones

16c. Conversation Analysis as a Lens for Ancient Communication: Storytelling as a Case Study - Raymond F. Person, Jr.

16d. Material Communication - Izaak J. de Hulster

17. Response to Part IV: Practice - Tate Paulette

Part V: Theories of Power

18. Empire

18a. Empire: An Introduction - Gojko Barjamovic

18b. The Case of an Empire: The Hittites - Marta Pallavidini

18c. Caught Between Empires: Ugarit and Marginality - Kevin McGeough

18d. Living under Empire in Urban Babylonia - Heather D. Baker

19a. Elite Theory and the Ancient Near East - Bruce Routledge

19b. Urtēnu among the Elite of Ugarit: An Elite Theory Case Study - František Válek

19c. Elite Theory and Early Mesopotamia - Lorenzo Verderamme

19d. Rural Elites in the Ancient Near East - Juan Carlos Moreno García

20. Conflict Theory

20a. Introduction: Conflict Theory - Joanna Töyräänvuori

20b. Conflict and ordeal in letter ARM 26/1, 249 (Mari/ Tell Hariri, Second millennium BCE) - Luciana Urbano

20c. Conflict Theory and Ancient Galilee: Understanding the Jesus Movement through Class Conflict - Taylor Weaver

20d. Archaic Greece: rural conditions according to Hesiod and Solon - Mait Kõiv

21. Response to Part V - Beate Pongratz-Leisten

Part VI: Synthetic Discussions

22. History and Social Science Theory: Compatibilities and Conflicts - Nancy Partner

23. Large Scale Approaches to History: Querying the Past Using the Database of Religious History - M. Willis Monroe and Andrew J. Danielson

Author Index

Sources Index

Subject Index

Biography

Jason M. Silverman is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture at the University of Helsinki, Team Leader in the Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires, Finland, and PI of ERC AdvG WORK-IT.

Emanuel Pfoh is Docent of Old Testament Studies at the University of Helsinki, Docent of Cultural History of the Levant at the University of Turku, University Researcher in the Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires, Finland, and Researcher at the National Research Council (CONICET), Argentina.

"Silverman and Pfoh supply a toolkit for every ANE scholar needing better acquaintance with not only social science theory but models of application. From ethnicity to environment to empire, this collection brings practical approaches and fresh thinking to topics new and old, in dozens of studies both thought-provoking and useful." - Seth Richardson, University of Chicago, USA

"This exciting, substantial Handbook collects contributions by scholars from different countries and continents, offering a state-of-the-art presentation of the new perspectives and approaches to the study of the ancient Mediterranean cultures. It is a precious tool for the scholars and a very interesting and enriching reading for the interested public." - Frances Pinnock, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy