State and Empire in Early Mesopotamia

Abstract

Early Mesopotamia in practical use refers to ancient Mesopotamia from the Late Uruk Period to the Ur III Period or the Old Babylonian Period and geographically it includes the watersheds of the Euphrates, Tigris, and Karun Rivers, now divided between Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey (Pournelle 2013; cf. Sherratt 2004; Wright and Johnson 1975). Regarded as one of the few regions in the world that saw civilization, early Mesopotamia has been featuring heavy in discussions of the important ‘firsts’, the most significant of which would be the emergence of the primary state (Childe 1952; Trigger 2003; Wittfogel 1957). In our division of academic labour, the emergence of the primary state is mostly a topic for the archaeologists and anthropologists, while the traditional historian seldom gets his hands dirty in such theoretical issues. In light of recent rethinkings of fundamental assumptions in modern historiography (Smail 2005; Smail and Shryock 2013), however, it becomes urgent to look for an integrated view of history from its rightful beginning. The following is one attempt as such at the dynamic emergence and the characteristics of the earliest state societies in early Mesopotamia with special attention to the integration of theoretical discussions and insights from philological research (cf. Forest 2005; Postgate 1994a; Stein 2005).