Moab in the Iron Age: Hegemony, Polity, Archaeology (Archaeology, Culture, and Society) - Hardcover

Routledge, Bruce

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 081223801X ISBN 13: 9780812238013

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004

Synopsis

Moab was an ancient kingdom located in the highlands east of the Dead Sea, in what is now Jordan. Known primarily from references in the Hebrew Bible, Moab has long occupied a marginal position, one defined by the complex interrelationship of history, theology, and politics that underlies biblical archaeology. Moab in the Iron Age: Hegemony, Polity, Archaeology inverts this position, using Moab as the centerpiece of an extended reflection on the nature and meaning of state formation.

Focusing on the state as an effect rather than a cause, Bruce Routledge examines the constitution of the kingdom over a period of some seven hundred years. In particular, he develops Antonio Gramsci's concept of hegemony by examining the ways intellectual products, such as inscriptions, public buildings, and administrative practices, transformed local cultural resources in order to construct political dominance as a moral order. Through a careful analysis that combines archaeology and textual study, Routledge demonstrates how long-established principles underlying local identities were transformed when appropriated for particular state building projects. From this, he offers insights into the realization and historical reproduction of political power in everyday life.

Rich in previously unpublished material, Moab in the Iron Age reinvigorates discussions of politics and culture in early complex societies, and presents a novel approach to the study of state formation.

About this title

About the Author:

Bruce Routledge is a Lecturer at the School of Archaeology, Classics, and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool.

Review:

"From both a methodological and a theoretical point of view . . . Routledge's work demonstrates the real potential of new and alternative approaches to Iron Age archaeology."—American Journal of Archeology

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 081223801X
• ISBN 13: 9780812238013
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336