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  3. Ritual, Performance, and Politics in the Ancient Near East
  • Cited by 27
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    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      05 December 2014
      11 December 2014
      ISBN:
      9781107588127
      9781107065215
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107588127
      Dimensions:
      (253 x 177 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.86kg, 331 Pages
      Dimensions:
      Weight & Pages:
      • Subjects:
      Middle East Studies, Area Studies, Archaeology of Europe and The Near and Middle East, Archaeology
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    Subjects:
    Middle East Studies, Area Studies, Archaeology of Europe and The Near and Middle East, Archaeology
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    Book description

    In this book, Lauren Ristvet rethinks the narratives of state formation by investigating the interconnections between ritual, performance, and politics in the ancient Near East. She draws on a wide range of archaeological, iconographic, and cuneiform sources to show how ritual performance was not set apart from the real practice of politics; it was politics. Rituals provided an opportunity for elites and ordinary people to negotiate political authority. Descriptions of rituals from three periods explore the networks of signification that informed different societies. From circa 2600 to 2200 BC, pilgrimage made kingdoms out of previously isolated villages. Similarly, from circa 1900 to 1700 BC, commemorative ceremonies legitimated new political dynasties by connecting them to a shared past. Finally, in the Hellenistic period, the traditional Babylonian Akitu festival was an occasion for Greek-speaking kings to show that they were Babylonian and for Babylonian priests to gain significant power.

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