This dissertation will comprise a systematic study of the royal family of the Ur III Dynasty. The first part of the study will identify membership in the family, by both blood and marriage, interrelationships among members, and the various roles or functions attributed to members in the extant records. This evidence will be analyzed in the second part, with the aim of ascertaining how the dynasty gained and maintained political and economic control over Sumer, its peripheral regions, and its vassal states. Aspects to be considered will include various means of coercion and cooption, such as nepotism, diplomacy and military action, as well as the monopolization of goods, labor, institutions, and positions of prestige. Challenges and resistance to the dynasty’s hegemony, and factors which led eventually to its loss of control will also be examined. [table “6” not found /]
Categories: PhD Research