Skip to content
Register Sign in Wishlist

Bronze Age Bureaucracy
Writing and the Practice of Government in Assyria

Award Winner
  • Date Published: February 2018
  • availability: Available
  • format: Paperback
  • isbn: 9781107619029

Paperback

Add to wishlist

Other available formats:
Hardback, eBook


Looking for an inspection copy?

This title is not currently available on inspection

Description
Product filter button
Description
Contents
Resources
Courses
About the Authors
  • This book describes ten different government archives of cuneiform tablets from Assyria, using them to analyze 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.

    • Provides the first full-length account of the nature and ethos of the Middle Assyrian state
    • Constitutes the first explicit attempt to explore the uses and effects of written documentation in a Late Bronze Age state administration
    • Offers new insights into scribal practices and the differences and similarities between neighboring states
    Read more

    Awards

    • Winner of the 2014 Frank Cross Moore Award, American Schools of Oriental Research

    Reviews & endorsements

    '… a superb monograph: a real must-have for all university libraries, colleges of higher education and anyone interested in the material nature and purpose of writing in Near Eastern Bronze Age cultures.' Sandra Jacobs, Strata: Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society

    '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

    See more reviews

    Customer reviews

    Not yet reviewed

    Be the first to review

    Review was not posted due to profanity

    ×

    , create a review

    (If you're not , sign out)

    Please enter the right captcha value
    Please enter a star rating.
    Your review must be a minimum of 12 words.

    How do you rate this item?

    ×

    Product details

    • Date Published: February 2018
    • format: Paperback
    • isbn: 9781107619029
    • length: 496 pages
    • dimensions: 255 x 180 x 25 mm
    • weight: 0.95kg
    • contains: 34 b/w illus. 7 maps
    • availability: Available
  • Table of Contents

    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.

  • Author

    Nicholas Postgate, University of Cambridge
    Nicholas Postgate was Professor of Assyriology at the University of Cambridge from 1994 to 2013 and Fellow of Trinity College. He directed excavations at the Sumerian city at Abu Salabikh in South Iraq from 1973 to 1989, and at the Bronze and Iron Age settlement at Kilise Tepe in South Turkey from 1994 to 2012. His articles have been published in Iraq, Revue d'Assyriologie, the Journal of Cuneiform Studies, the Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Sumer, and Anatolian Studies. He is author of Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History, editor of several volumes of Assyrian documents, and co-editor of A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian.

    Awards

    • Winner of the 2014 Frank Cross Moore Award, American Schools of Oriental Research

Related Books

Sorry, this resource is locked

Please register or sign in to request access. If you are having problems accessing these resources please email lecturers@cambridge.org

Register Sign in
Please note that this file is password protected. You will be asked to input your password on the next screen.

» Proceed

You are now leaving the Cambridge University Press website. Your eBook purchase and download will be completed by our partner www.ebooks.com. Please see the permission section of the www.ebooks.com catalogue page for details of the print & copy limits on our eBooks.

Continue ×

Continue ×

Continue ×
warning icon

Turn stock notifications on?

You must be signed in to your Cambridge account to turn product stock notifications on or off.

Sign in Create a Cambridge account arrow icon
×

Find content that relates to you

Join us online

This site uses cookies to improve your experience. Read more Close

Are you sure you want to delete your account?

This cannot be undone.

Cancel

Thank you for your feedback which will help us improve our service.

If you requested a response, we will make sure to get back to you shortly.

×
Please fill in the required fields in your feedback submission.
×