Old Babylonian Letters and Class Formation: tropes of sympathy and social proximity
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Seth Richardson
Abstract
a re-analysis of Old Babylonian letters (2003–1595 BC) reveals the construction of class identity for men called “gentlemen” (awīlū) through their use of sympathetic expressions positioning correspondents as brothers, friends, colleagues, etc. While this observation is not new, this article makes two further points. First, I argue that class consciousness was created through the policing of failures to enact the social relations expressed in the letters, rather than superficial claims that such relations existed in the first place. This reading requires that we engage seriously with the contingent nature of class identity—that fears and anxieties about falling out of status were more in evidence as the motor for and incentive towards class membership than simple claims of inclusion or group solidarity. Second, I argue that the sympathy enjoined by the letters simulated the affective-spatial cognitive states necessary for group identity. Group problems of geographic and physical distance and even loneliness were solved by the letters’ production of sympathy. Not only does a sincere consideration of the subjective experience of class formation require an understanding of individual and group emotional states, the letters themselves, filled with expressions of pathos and worry, invite it.
Note
All abbreviations in this essay follow the system used by the Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD; see esp. the latest volume U/W [Chicago, 2010]), and Akkadian terms and their translations also refer to this work. Most important are the many references to the series AbB (Altbabylonische Briefe in Umschrift und Übersetzung, vols. I–XIV; Leiden: Brill, 1964–2005) and SAA (State Archives of Assyria, vols. I–XVIII; Helsinki: University of Helsinki, 1987–2003). All sigla ARM (Archives royales de Mari) follow the translations of Heimpel (2003). The abbreviation CUSAS refers to texts numbered by publication in the series Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology.
Acknowledgements
My thanks go to the anonymous external reader who sharpened many aspects of this essay. Earlier versions of this paper were presented by invitation to two workshops: “Communications in the Classical World” at the National Humanities Center (Research Triangle Park, N.C., 2011); and “Reverence and Deference,” organized by Thomas Götzelt and funded by the German Research Foundation (Freie Universität Berlin, 2019). I am grateful for the discussion and feedback I received at both workshops.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Old Babylonian Letters and Class Formation: tropes of sympathy and social proximity
- The Introduction of Coinage in Southern Italy: Sybaris and Metapontium
- Dynastic Genealogies and Funerary Monuments: Nectanebo, Alexander, and Judas Maccabee and the Evidence of Ptolemaic Influence on the Hasmoneans
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Old Babylonian Letters and Class Formation: tropes of sympathy and social proximity
- The Introduction of Coinage in Southern Italy: Sybaris and Metapontium
- Dynastic Genealogies and Funerary Monuments: Nectanebo, Alexander, and Judas Maccabee and the Evidence of Ptolemaic Influence on the Hasmoneans
- Roman Economic History from Coins and Papyri: Monetary Value, Trust and Crisis
- Fighting against nature: Romans and Barbarians on the Icy Danube
