Lecture by Dr. Clemens Reichel (Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto – Royal Ontario Museum) is going to take place on 3 May 2017 at 16:00 in the Green Room (Celetná 20, Prague 1).
Working for the State, Minding Your Own Business: On Dynamics and Complexity in Eshnunna’s State Administration (2070–1850 BC) |
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For more than two hundred years Eshnunna was one of the principal power players on the Mesopotamian political stage. Throughout its history, from its rise as a provincial center during the Ur III period (ca. 2112–2004 BC) to its time as a capital of an independent state, it political leadership was based from the Palace of the Rulers, a palatial complex located in the middle of the city. Comprehensive excavations, undertaken by the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute during the 1930s, not only uncovered several building phases dating between 2070 – 1850 BC, but also over 1200 cuneiform tablets and clay sealings that reflect the surviving paper trail of the palace’s administration. Using spatial and locational analyses to reintegrate textual data into corresponding architectural contexts this paper will reconstruct the administrative history of this building, its functional organization, and highlight the fates of its key players over time. |
The lecture is supposted by the grant GA ČR P401/12/G168 History and Interpretation of the Bible.
Contact person: Jana Mynářová (phone: 221 619 609, 603 147 965, jana.mynarova@ff.cuni.cz)
