Rituals of Royalty: Power and Ceremonial in Traditional Societies.

List of illustrations Notes on contributors Acknowledgements Introduction: divine rites of kings David Cannadine 1. Usurpation, conquest and ceremonial: from Babylon to Persia Amelie Kuhrt 2. From noble funerals to divine cult: the consecration of Roman emperors Simon Price 3. The construction of court ritual: the Byzantine Book of Ceremonies Averil Cameron 4. The Lord's anointed and the people's choice: Carolingian royal ritual Janet L. Nelson 5. Bureaucrats and cosmology: the ritual code of T'ang China David McMullen 6. Gifts to the gods: power, property and ceremonial in Nepal Richard Burghart 7. The ritual of the royal bath in Madagascar: the dissolution of death, birth and fertility into authority Maurice Bloch 8. The person of the king: ritual and power in a Ghanaian state Michelle Gilbert Index.