Understanding Hegemonic Practices of the Early Assyrian Empire is a thematic volume that addresses the issue of how the Middle Assyrian State achieved and maintained its hold over conquered territories. The central question is whether this state had particular hegemonic practices that might explain its remarkable successes. Contributions were written by established and up and coming archaeologists and Assyriologists.
Particular themes addressed in this volume include; first, the relation between the Middle Assyrian state and that of the Mittani: to what degree the Assyria was a successor state and how it transformed its Mittanian heritage; second, what the effects of the Middle Assyrian Empire were on settlement patterns and landscapes in occupied territories; third, what the strategies of the Middle Assyrian Empire were in its westernmost peripheries; fourth, what the agricultural policies of the Middle Assyrian state were; fifth, what the administrative techniques of the Middle Assyrian state were and how they differed from those of other states; and sixth, how we can best understand the success of the (Middle) Assyrian Empire from a comparative perspective.
Contributing authors: Peter Akkermans; Anacleto D’Agostino; Rémi Berthon; Kim Duistermaat; Bleda Düring; Federica Fantone; Stefan Jakob; Victor Klinkenberg; Rafał Koliński; Hartmut Kühne; Tijm Lanjouw; Jaume Llop-Raduà; Simone Mühl; Bradley Parker; J. Nicholas Postgate; Hervé Reculeau; Daisuke Shibata; Aline Tenu; and Frans Wiggermann.
The volume has been dedicated to Frans Wiggermann in honour of his important contributions to the study of the Middle Assyrian period on the occasion of his 65th birthday.