Creating An Empire Of Informers
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Creating an Empire of Informers
Author: Poppy Tushingham
language: en
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Release Date: 2024-04-22
Throughout history, many states have attempted to harness the attention of their populations for their own ends. This study argues that the Assyrian Empire in the year 672 BC is such a case. In 672 BC, Esarhaddon, King of Assyria, imposed a succession covenant (adê) on his subjects, the inhabitants of the Assyrian Empire. This covenant required the empire’s population to monitor one another, and themselves, for signs of disloyalty to the monarch and his chosen successor, Ashurbanipal. This study examines the aims and outcomes, desired and undesired, of imposing this duty of vigilance across the Assyrian Empire. To consider the presentation and implementation of this duty of vigilance, the study draws largely on evidence supplied by the covenant and other royally-commissioned texts. To examine the outcomes of the covenant’s enactment, meanwhile, it explores cuneiform sources, such as letters to the crown, private legal documents, and literary compositions, as well as the Aramaic Story of Ahiqar and the biblical Book of Deuteronomy. By providing a sustained analysis of the real-world implications and outcomes of the covenant, this book sheds new light on a text that fundamentally altered the political makeup of the Assyrian Empire.
Triumph and Betrayal
Author: Alexander Johannes Edmonds
language: en
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Release Date: 2025-04-21
While the study of Assyria as ‘the world’s first empire’ has never been more popular, the events of the foundational early Neo-Assyrian period (935–745 BC) remain only poorly understood and explained. This book re-examines the historical question of Assyria’s expansion, presenting a novel reconstruction of the early Neo-Assyrian period with the latest data (including new Assyrian kings), detailed regional studies synthesising the newest historical and archaeological findings, and interpretative essays outlining new historical factors. The resultant history is unprecedentedly complex, containing newly discovered succession conflicts, difficult compromises with neighbouring powers, local dynasties appointed to Assyrian governorships, self-serving high officials, and sudden reverses in policy. In place of circular structuralist arguments for the Neo-Assyrian expansion, it presents a new model emphasising internal political conflict, and competing visions for Assyria’s future. This book is intended for historians and archaeologists of Assyria, for whom it will provide a new basis for research, and also for scholars of neighbouring disciplines and laypersons interested in what happens to an ancient state before it becomes an empire.
Corruption, Anti-Corruption, Vigilance, and State Building from Early to Late Modern Times
Author: Ricard Torra-Prat
language: en
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Release Date: 2024-08-14
Corruption, Anti-Corruption, Vigilance, and State Building from Early to Late Modern Times challenges current historiographical approaches, proposing new interpretations to rethink the relation between corruption and the socio-political and economic transformations since early globalisation. By adopting both transnational and long-term approaches, the book explores the historical dimension of notions such as accountability, transparency, and vigilance in their immediate political, social, and legal contexts. The starting point is to view corruption not as a moral category that emerged in 1789 to delegitimise past, foreign or present state systems, but as a constantly contested concept that must also be historicised in past societies. The collection revisits chronologies and examines different local, regional, and national frames, highlighting that the path to modernity was contested and affected by a variety of unique circumstances, such as revolutions and external political powers. Building on the latest research and offering new methods of inquiry, this book is a compelling resource for academics interested in political history and the history of corruption.