Narratives of Building Activities as an Element of Royal Legitimation

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter I
2. Acknowledgments V
3. Table of Contents VII
4. Part I: Introduction
5. Bound by Stories?! Narration as a Strategy of Royal Legitimation: An Introduction 1
6. Part II: The Righteous Guided King: Tales of the Wise, the Pious, and the Lawful One
7. “Pious Shepherd” and “Guardian of Truth”: In Search of the Narrative Visualization of the Kings’ Piety and Righteousness 19
8. The Literate King Reconsidered: Self-representation, Wisdom, and Learnedness 49
9. Response: Das Narrativ vom guten König 65
10. Part III: Tell Me How to Live – Narrating Royal Building Activities in the Ancient Near East
11. Building, Arts, and Politics: Narrative Elements in the Depiction of “Building Kings” 77
12. Narratives of Building Activities as an Element of Royal Legitimation 91
13. Response 101
14. Part IV: Warrior Tales: The Royal Hero in the Ancient Near East
15. Kings or Soldiers? Representations of Fighting Heroes at the End of the Early Bronze Age 109
16. Der Feldzugsbericht in Šū-Sîns Königsinschriften im Vergleich zu Verwaltungsurkunden: Die Grenze zwischen Erzählung und Geschichte im Rahmen der Königsdarstellung 139
17. Response: Two Tales of Royalty, Or the Intermediality of Image and Text in the Third millennium BCE 155
18. Part V: Case Studies
19. Strategies of Legitimation of the Aramaean Kings in Ancient Syria: Three Case Studies on Damascus, Hamath and Yādiya/Samʾal 165
20. “The True Image of the God…:” Adoration of the King’s Image, Assyrian Imperial Cult and Territorial Control 185
21. Part VI: Categories and Concepts: Legitimacy and Narration Put to Test
22. Down with “Legitimacy”: On “Validity” and Narrative in Royal Tales 243
23. Narratology: Selected Terms and Concepts with a Focus on the Ancient Near East 261
24. Part VII: Conclusion
25. Why Study “Narration” in Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and Assyriology? – Potentials and Limitations 289
26. List of Contributors 315
27. Indices 319