Power and Identity at the Margins of the Ancient Near East rethinks the dichotomy between antiquated terms such as “core” and “periphery,” explores lived realities in the margins of central authority, and centers those margins as places of resistance and power in their own right.
 
The borderlands of hegemonic entities within the Near East and Egypt pressed against each other, creating cities and societies with influence from several competing polities. The peoples, cities, and cultures that resulted present a unique lens by which to examine how states controlled and influenced the lives, political systems, and social hierarchies of these subjects (and vice versa). This volume addresses the distinct traditions and experiences of areas beyond the core; terminology used when discussing empire, core, periphery, borderlands, and frontiers; conceptualization of space; practices and consequences of warfare, captive-taking, and slavery; identity- and secondary state–formation; economy and society; ritual; diplomacy; and the negotiation of claims to power.
 
It is imperative that historians and social scientists understand the ways in which these cultures developed, spread, and interacted with others along frontier edges. Using an intersectional approach across disciplines, Power and Identity at the Margins of the Ancient Near East brings together professionals from archaeology, religious studies, history, sociology, and anthropology to make new contributions to the study of the frontier.
 
Contributors: Alexander Ahrens, Peter Dubovský, Avraham Faust, Daniel E. Fleming, Mahri Leonard-Fleckman, Alvise Matessi, Ellen Morris, Valeria Turriziani, Eric M. Trinka
 

Sara Mohr is digital scholarship librarian at Hamilton College. She uses her background in anthropology and digital humanities to study ancient cuneiform scholarship and the impact of modern scholarship on the study of the ancient world. She has worked as an editorial assistant with Brown University’s Digital Publications Initiative and as a term-appointed specialist with the National Endowment for the Humanities.
 
Shane M. Thompson is assistant professor of religious studies at North Carolina Wesleyan University and has also taught at Brown University, High Point University, Wake Forest University, Wake Forest University School of Divinity, Wofford College, and the University of South Carolina. His research examines power relations in the ancient Near East, with particular focus on the Late Bronze and Iron Age Levant.