History of the Discipline

with the contribution of:
Srijani Das
Saikat Mukherjee
Jessica Scaciga
Anatolii Viktorov

Writing the history of a specific discipline is always a very endeavor enterprize; and this statement is even more true in the case of a, so to speak, ‘sub-discipline’ as the political history of the ancient Syro-Mesopotamia, which implies different ‘side-disciplines’.

The reconstruction and proper understanding of the Syro-Mesopotamian political entities is definitely more difficult since we are dealing with a broken tradition (on this topic, see Buccellati, CAR); even though, this is not an impossible effort, and many scholars dealt with this topis: their contribution and different perspectives will be briefly summarized on this page, starting with the approach of Giorgio Buccellati.

NOTES: this page is structured as follows:

the authors are listed in alphabetical order, besides Giorgio Buccellati who is placed as the first in the list, since his work represents our starting point;

some entries have been written not by the main editor of the present companion website but by members of the research group; in this latter case, the authorship is clearly stated at the end of the entry; where authorship is not openly stated at the end, the authorship belongs to the main editor, only;

each author entry is divided into two sections:

“Main bibliography”: here, the main contributions of the author are linked to (for a complete bibliography, see the related page);

“Core thoughts and contribution to the present topic”; here, the main, peculiar aspects of the author’s contributions are briefly sketched, pinpointing aspects which could either (always under a critical perspective):

support Giorgio Buccellati’s ideas;

contrasting Giorgio Buccellati’s opinions.

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Buccellati, Giorgio

Giorgio Buccellati’s approach in his book At the Origins of Politics (which core narrative can be read here) stands out for his methodology, which is anchored on an -emic perspective (cf. Buccellati, G. 2006) attempting at analyzing ancient politics in Syro-Mesopotamia within the tradition and legacy of this area, trying to ‘read’ the mindset of ancient people living many centuries (and also millennia for the pre-historical times) before our present; to fulfill this purpose, the Author resorts to different disciplines: epigraphy, textual analysis, archaeology, history, anthropology, social sciences, cognitivism, psychology, and many more.

The fils rouge binding together the entire volume is a strong sense of coherence of the whole, meaning that at least four main leading aspects are stated from the very beginning:

the importance of the sense of solidarity (Section 5.3);
the relevance of the perception of landscape/territory (Section 2);
the development of fundamental para-perceptions (Section 3.1);
the invention or reification of physical entities (Section Section 2.1).

Reading the book, it will turn out very clearly that these were the main factors for the formation and dissolution of the different political forms in ancient Syro-Mesopotamia, from the very first human aggregations in small settlements/villages, passing through the experiences of the nuclear territorial state, the expanded territorial state, the ‘empire’, and ultimately the nation.

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Algaze, Guillermo (Havana, 1954-)

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Main bibliography

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Core thoughts and contribution to the present topic

The work of Guillermo Algaze, who is primarily an anthropologist (even though he also carried on archaeological excavations), mainly focused on aspects related to the earliest phases of development of the first Mesopotamian and Anatolian settlements, lated evolved into cities.

Furthermore, the researched in the field or history and archaeology, trying to figuring out the earliest relationships between lands of the Anatolia plateau, Syro-Mesopotamia proper, and Iran.

In his, we must stress some key-points:

in his thought, Mesopotamian first cities like Uruk were driven to move outside their “homeland” by the need of obtain materials not naturally present or not crafted in the Mesopotamian alluvium (see e.g. Algaze 1993 Uruk). The contact (and sometimes even contrast) with other societies politically not as developed as those of the Uruk system led to the formation of an asymmetrical nature in their relationships;
an important point stressed by Algaze in Algaze 2001 Initial is the uniqueness of the Mesopotamian ecological and geographical situation, a point also remarked by Giorgio Buccellati (cf. Origins 2); this uniqueness, mostly in natural resources, led Mesopotamia becoming an important core of trade; even though, we cannot not recall how similar phenomena developed also in Syria, for instance at Ebla, almost in the same periods, or, at most, slightly later; se cannot, therefore, consider trade as one of the first and firsmost factors in the development of the earliest Mesopotamian political systems;
a third crucial point in Algaze’s analysis of the first Mesopotamian societies is that considering this area of the “cradle of civilization”; even though is explanation for this phenomenon (i.e., the importance of the rivers in trade) is not enought to establish the Sumerian supremacy in the historical development of political systems (cf. e.g. the almost coeval situation of the Indus Valley, unfortunately not well known as that of the Southern Mesopotamia).

As far the author’s work concerns the present topic, we must indeed recognize it as an invaluable contribution to a better understanding of the earliest Mesopotamian political system(s); even though, Algaze’s analysis is mostly based on spatial patterns and anthropological comparisons which could not always perfect fitting the evidence coming from archaeology and philology.

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Core thoughts and contribution to the present topic

in a paper dated 1970, “Towards the Image of Tammuz” (Jacobsen 1970 Towards; cf. also Excerpts), Jacobsen put forward some interesting ideas about what he called the primitive democracy.

In general, we can summarize Jacobsen point of view by quoting the following passage:

“The political pattern of the myths, "Primitive Democracy," differs from a comparable pattern found in the stories about human or semi-human heroes, the epics and epical tales, by its greater primitivity, and it stands apart altogether from anything we know of the political organization of the country in historical times” (p. 132; cf. Excerpt)

Hence, according to him and looking at some myths, politics in Mesopotamian early stages (different from political patterns of later periods) was characterized by some interesting features, resambling the structure and organization of the Mesopotamian pantheon:

the political power was in the hands of a general assembly of citizens (unkin);
this assembly was directed by a leader;
the assembly’s verdicts were approved by votes, thus becoming law (nam-tar-a);
the assembly was gathered particularly in periods of crises; in this instances, the assembly elected a “suitable organizer, a lord (en)”;
the king (lugal) is perceived mostly as a war leader, usually chosen among young men of noble family, but just as an ad hoc provisional decision (just in case of emergencies), with a charge which was issued for a limited period of time (bala);^{Note 2}
after the emergency was over, the assembly regained his political power.

This idea put forward by Jacobsen is indeed intriguing; nevertheless, we have to stress at least to critical points:

it is basically anchored to mythological texts;
it is not supported by other textual or archaeological evidence from the ‘historical periods.’

Even though, this interpretation and inference by Jacobsen still deserve a particular attention (cf. also the interpretation of the development of the first Mesopotamian cities in Hudson 2024 Enclave, with the related Excerpts).

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Liverani, Mario

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Main bibliography

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Matthews, Roger J.

Matthews 2003.

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McC Adams, Robert

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Oppenheim, Leo

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Main bibliography

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Core thoughts and contribution to the present topic

Civilization based on a city occured spontaneouly only in Southern Mesopotamia;
in the Mesopotamian city there was a strong sense of solidarity [cf. Buccellati, Origins];
the city hosted the two most important and distinct institutions of the Mesopotamian community:
1. the palace;
2. the temple;
the palace and the temples triggered the development of the city;
the Mesopotamian development of the city can be compared to:
1. that of the Italian cities during the Renaissance;
2. that of the Greek poleis;
kingship is related to the divine sphere (it origins from the heavens);
relevance of obedience to authority;
urbanization led at the same time to the development of both:
1. aggregative factors;
2. elements of disaggregation;
the Mesopotamian society was composed of both:
1. people living in cities;
2. people dwelling in the countryside.

These two components sometimes clashed each other.

[Jessica Scaciga]

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von Soden, Wolfram

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Main bibliography

von Soden 1985.

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Main bibliography

This section lists the most relevant publications about the present topic (cf. above, bolded references):

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Notes

Note 1: The most relevant publications about the present topic are given in bold and they are all listed in the section ‘Main bibliography’. _{Back to text}
Note 2: Cf., e.g., this figure to that of the Roman dictator. _{Back to text}

Mesopotamian Politics

I. The Argument

History of the Discipline

Introduction

Methodology and approaches

Buccellati, Giorgio

Algaze, Guillermo (Havana, 1954-)

Main bibliography

Core thoughts and contribution to the present topic

Berlin, Adele

Main bibliography

Bottéro, Jean (Vallauris, 1914 - Gif-sur-Yvette, 2007)

Main bibliography

Childe, Vere Gordon (Sydney 1892 - Blackheath 1957)

Main bibliography

Finkelstein, Jacob J.

Main bibliography

Fleming, Daniel E.

Main bibliography

Frankfort, Henri A.

Main bibliography

Garfinkle, Steven J.

Main bibliography

Gelb, Ignace J.

Main bibliography

Jacobsen, Thorkild (Copenaghen, 1904 – Bradford, 1993)

Main bibliography

Core thoughts and contribution to the present topic

Liverani, Mario

Main bibliography

Matthews, Roger J.

McC Adams, Robert

Oppenheim, Leo

Main bibliography

Core thoughts and contribution to the present topic

von Soden, Wolfram

Main bibliography

Main bibliography

Notes