8 Geographies of Power: Territoriality and Empire during the Mesopotamian Iron Age

Abstract

ABSTRACT This chapter synthesizes archaeological, textual, and ethnohistorical data from or pertaining to the Mesopotamian Iron Age to reconceptualize the nature of the territoriality of the Neo‐Assyrian Empire. Instead of seeing the Neo‐Assyrian Empire as a monolithic political unit, I show that it was an expansionist state that applied varying degrees of power over conquered landscapes. In describing what I call the “geographies” of Assyrian power, I utilize a modified version of D'Altroy's territorial‐hegemonic continuum to model the broader implications of these geographies for a more nuanced understanding of the spatiality of empire. [archaeology, Assyrian Empire, imperialism, territory, hegemonic power]