The Organization of Power: Aspects of Bureaucracy in the Ancient Near East (Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization)

This symposium volume deals with the structure, operation, and ideology of ancient Near Eastern bureaucracies. Four of the ten papers deal with the Third Dynasty of Ur (Mesopotamia, 2100-2000 b.c.), two with Egypt (Old Kingdom and Ptolemaic), one with Byzantium, and the others treat bureaucracy from sociological or anthropological perspectives. The Organization of Power is well edited and handsomely produced. [From a review by Benjamin R. Foster in American Journal of Archaeology 93 (1989) 292-93]. Contents: Introduction (McG. Gibson); 'In a City Without Watchdogs the Fox is the Overseer': Issues and Problems in the Study of Bureaucracy (M. G. Morony); The Administrative and Economic Organization of the Ur III State: The Core and the Periphery (P. Steinkeller); Ur III Bureaucracy: Quantitative Aspects (M. Civil); Charisma and Control: On Continuity and Change in Early Mesopotamian Bureaucratic Systems (P. Michalowski); Legitimation of Authority Through Image and Legend: Seals Belonging to Officials in the Administrative Bureaucracy of the Ur III State (I. J. Winter); Administration of the Temple of Inanna at Nippur under the Third Dynasty of Ur: Archaeological and Documentary Evidence (R. L. Zettler); The Organization and Functioning of the Royal Mortuary Cults of the Old Kingdom in Egypt (A. M. Roth); Ptolemaic Bureaucracy from an Egyptian Point of View (J. H. Johnson); Some Perspectives on Byzantine Bureaucracy (W. E. Kaegi, Jr); The Role of Bureaucracy in the Provisioning of Cities: A Framework for Analysis of the Ancient Near East (R. C. Hunt).