Palace-Clan Relations in the Bronze and Iron Ages Levant : Textual and Material Approaches

by: Bezzel, H. Covello-Param, K. Krause, J.J. Sergi, O. Seidel, J.

Palace-Clan Relations in the Bronze and Iron Ages Levant
Textual and Material Approaches
Edited by: Hannes Bezzel , Karen Covello-Paran , Joachim J. Krause and Omer Sergi
In collaboration with: Johannes Seidel

About this book
Recent studies have demonstrated that ancient Near Eastern societies considered themselves as part of one social fabric, divided not by mode of life or place of residence, but according to traditional associations of kin. Kinship relations appear to maintain their essential integrity over long periods of time, even within complex political organizations. In the past it was common to view state formation as an evolutionary process – from tribe to state – during which former kinship relations and tribal identities dissolve in face of the political identity imposed by the "state". Today, however, it seems that there were no evolutionary relations between the tribe and the state, as they both represent identities that coexist at the same time. It is against this background that a common structural element of ancient Levantine polities emerges: their fragmented nature, mostly based on an overarching concept of kinship.

This book presents studies of different polities and societies from the Bronze and Iron Ages Levant and beyond, highlighting their kin-based social and political structures, interactions, and ultimate formations, as may be gleaned from both material and textual sources.

Table of contents
Frontmatter

Preface

Contents

List of Contributors

Introduction: Palace-Clan Relations? On Structural Elements in the Socio-Political Organization of the Bronze and Iron Ages Levant and Their Archaeological Expressions

Omer Sergi, Karen Covello-Paran, Joachim J. Krause and Hannes Bezzel
Insights into the Socio-Political Structure of the Kingdom of Yādiya/Samʾal

Herbert Niehr
Beyond Purple and Ivory

The Economy of the Phoenician Homeland Reconsidered
Aaron Schmitt
Persistence and Adaption

Aspects of the Economic and Political Organization of the Beqaa during the Early Iron Age
Elisabeth Wagner-Durand
From Vine to Wine: The Royal Economy of Tel Shimron during the Middle Bronze Age

Karen Covello-Paran
Palace-Clan Relations Perspective on the Social and Political Structure of Iron Age Philistia

Aren M. Maeir
The Archaeological Expression of Palace-Clan Relations in Early Monarchic Israel, with Reflections on Biblical Traditions in Judges and Kings

Omer Sergi
The Israelite Tribal System as Reflected in the Book of Joshua

Literary and Traditio-Historical Considerations
Joachim J. Krause
Palace-Clan Relations and Redaction Criticism: The Case of Judg 3–5

Hannes Bezzel
Judges 9: A Lesson in Kingship and Kinship

Kristin Weingart
General Index

Index of Selected Text Passages

Palace-Clan Relations in the Bronze and Iron Ages Levant : Textual and Material Approaches

by: Bezzel, H. Covello-Param, K. Krause, J.J. Sergi, O. Seidel, J.

• ISBN-13: 9783111405513 / 978-3-11-140551-3
• ISBN-03: 3111405516 / 3-11-140551-6
• Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 2025