Empire's inner theatre : interiority and power during the Neo-Assyrian period, c.750 - c. 650 BC
What role do concepts of the thinking and feeling self play in the processes of imperial rule? How do individuals within empire manage and subvert the government of the self the ecumenical power demands? I address these questions through an exploration of the inner theatre of operations of the Assyrian Empire, which dominated the Middle East in the early first millennium BC from its capitals in North Iraq. The key sources are the state correspondence, c.4,000 letters on clay tablets, written in the Semitic Akkadian language in the cuneiform script. They provide a window into the everyday practice of empire, supplemented by royal inscriptions on clay and stone. These texts have recently been edited and published in high quality interactive scholarly editions online. In the first part of the thesis, I propose the concept of an 'intentional loop' traversing the interior and exterior world. I explore the concepts of tÌŁemu 'thought, intention, order, news' and libbu 'interior,' which linked these worlds. TÌŁemu, a thought traversing the libbu, unfolded through language and action, manifesting events which looped around into further thought and action. I then analyse techniques used by the Assyrians to shape the
Kanchan, Chaitanya Dutta
Empire's inner theatre : interiority and power during the Neo-Assyrian period, c.750 - c. 650 BC. What role do concepts of the thinking and feeling self play in the processes of imperial rule? How do individuals within empire manage and subvert the government of the self the ecumenical power demands? I address these questions through an exploration of the inner theatre of operations of the Assyrian Empire, which dominated the Middle East in the early first millennium BC from its capitals in North Iraq. The key sources are the state correspondence, c.4,000 letters on clay tablets, written in the Semitic Akkadian language in the cuneiform script. They provide a window into the everyday practice of empire, supplemented by royal inscriptions on clay and stone. These texts have recently been edited and published in high quality interactive scholarly editions online. In the first part of the thesis, I propose the concept of an 'intentional loop' traversing the interior and exterior world. I explore the concepts of tÌŁemu 'thought, intention, order, news' and libbu 'interior,' which linked these worlds. TÌŁemu, a thought traversing the libbu, unfolded through language and action, manifesting events which looped around into further thought and action. I then analyse techniques used by the Assyrians to shape the
empire inner theatre power neo_assyrian period role concept think feel self play process imperial rule individual_within empire manage subvert government self ecumenical power demand address_question exploration inner theatre operation assyrian empire dominate middle_east capital north iraq key source state correspondence letter clay tablet write semitic akkadian language cuneiform script provide window everyday_practice empire supplement royal inscription clay stone text recently edit publish high_quality interactive scholarly edition online first_part propose concept intentional traverse interior exterior world explore concept thought intention order news interior link world think traverse language action manifest event around thought action analyse technique_use shape