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An Example of Historical Evolution of Civilisations

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THE PAX ASSYRIACA: AN EXAMPLE OF HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF CIVILISATIONS by BENJAMIN TORO A Thesis Submitted to the University of Birmingham for the Degree of PhD Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology FT Department of Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham October 2014 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. 1 ABSTRACT This thesis seek to provide a study of the evolutionary process of ancient civilizations stressing the complementarily between theoretical principles with the relevant historical evidence. For this reason, the study will focus on the origin, development and collapse of the first stage of the ‘Central Civilization’, which was the result of the merger of two primeval civilizations, such as Mesopotamia and Egypt, during the ‘Near Eastern phase’ of this Central Civilisation. This merger seems to have been the result of the political expansion of an imperial entity coming from Mesopotamia under the aegis of the so-called Neo-Assyrian Empire from 1000 BC to 600 BC – better known as the Pax Assyriaca – although the process of full integration with Egypt seems to have been concluded by the successor empires of Assyria circa 430 BC. 2 Tablet of Contents Introduction 1. The Concept of Civilization…………………………………………………………..…9 2. Historical Evolution of Civilisations..............…………………………………………..13 a) The Origin of Civilisations...............................................................................................13 b) The Development of Civilisations....................................................................................17 c) The Decline and Collapse of Civilisations.......................................................................23 3. First Aim of this Thesis: the Central Civilisation and the Mesopotamian / Egyptian Merger………………………..............................................................……….....................26 4. Second Aim of the Thesis: the Methodological Approach to the Knowledge of the Ancient Near East.................................................................................................................36 Chapter 1 The Historical Evolution of the Ancient Near East and the Rise of the Assyrian Phenomenon.........................................................................................................................41 1. The Ancient Near East as Geopolitical Entity.................................................................41 2. The Land of Mesopotamia as the Cradle of Civilisation..................................................50 a) Southern Mesopotamia and the First Socio-economic Development..............................57 b) Northern Mesopotamia and the Origin of the Kingship..................................................74 3. The Mesopotamian Symbiosis.........................................................................................83 4. The Assyrian Phenomenon..............................................................................................91 5. The Ancient Near East and the ‘Catastrophe’ at the End of the Bronze Age................109 a) Old Theories and New Approaches...............................................................................109 b) The Survival of the Assyrian World and the Beginning of a New Era.........................125 3 Chapter 2 The Neo-Assyrian Empire and the Pax Assyriaca.............................................................132 1. The Meaning of ‘Empire’ and its Principal Dimensions...............................................132 2. The Neo-Assyrian Expansion and its Peripheral Politics of Domination......................140 a) The Royal Ideology of the Neo-Assyrian Monarchy.....................................................143 b) The Neo-Assyrian Military Reform at the Iron Age......................................................151 3. The Neo-Assyrian Hierarchy of its Imperial Core.........................................................157 a) The Land of Assyria (Aššur Mat)...................................................................................161 b) The Largest Assyria........................................................................................................164 4. The Neo-Assyrian Order and its Global Context...........................................................172 a) Infrastructure of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.....................................................................174 b) Superstructure of the Neo-Assyrian Empire...................................................................182 Chapter 3 Ancient Egypt and the Pax Assyriaca................................................................................192 1. General Introduction to the Egyptian Civilisation.........................................................192 a) Ancient Egypt and their Geographical and Human Characteristics..............................192 b) Ancient Egypt and its Historical Evolution...................................................................195 c) Ancient Egypt during the Time of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.......................................199 2. Ancient Egypt and the Neo-Assyrian’s Peripheral Politics of Domination..................208 a) The Royal Ideology of the Egyptian Monarchy and the Neo-Assyrian Model............208 b) The Egyptian Legacy during the Third Intermediate Period........................................211 c) The Egyptian Militarism and the Confrontation with the Neo-Assyrian Empire.........219 3. Ancient Egypt and the Neo-Assyrian Imperial Core.....................................................235 a) The Egyptian Order and its Personal Global Context...................................................235 b) Egypt and the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the Syro Palestine region................................239 c) The Neo-Assyrian Empire and the Administration of Egypt........................................248 4 4. Ancient Egypt and the Neo-Assyrian Order in its Global Context...............................256 a) Neo-Assyrian Infrastructure in Egypt...........................................................................256 b) Neo-Assyrian Superstructure in Egypt..........................................................................263 Chapter 4 The Collapse of the Pax Assyriaca....................................................................................275 1. The Collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire……………………………………………275 a) The Hierarchical Crisis of Imperial Core......................................................................280 b) The Collapse of the Assyrian Periphery........................................................................287 c) The Collapse of the Assyrian Order..............................................................................289 2. Ancient Egypt and the Collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.......................................297 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................305 Bibliography.......................................................................................................................319 5 Tablet of Figures Figure 1 Different settlement of city-states, small and large territorial states......................................................................19 Figure 2 Distinguishing characteristics of an ancient city-state and two territorial states....................................................19 Figure 3 Example of historical evolution with phases of expansion (A) and contraction (B) in the Near East according to Chase-Dunn and Hall.............................................................................................................................................................20 Figure 4 An outline of the Central Civilisation by Wilkinson...............................................................................................28 Figure 5 Historical evolution of Egypt before merging with Mesopotamia by Taagapera....................................................30 Figure 6 Historical evolution of Mesopotamia before merging with Egypt by Taagapera....................................................31 Figure 7 Comparative graphic of the expansion evolution of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia by Taagapera.....................33 Figure 8 Population of the largest cities in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia from 2000 BC until 650 BC by Bosworth....34 Figure 9 Comparative graphic of the expansion evolutions of Egypt and Mesopotamia until 430 BC by Taagapera...............................................................................................................................................................................35 Figure 1.1 The Ancient Near East.........................................................................................................................................44 Figure 1.2 The geography and major environmental zones of the Near East........................................................................45
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