Obedient Bellies: Hunger and Food Security in Ancient Mesopotamia

Abstract

This essay argues that a broad survey of the evidence for hunger in ancient Mesopotamia shows that, while it was relatively rare in fact (if familiar enough in theory), the political management of hunger by early states points to its use in simulating their positions, in rhetoric and ideology, as providers of security and political membership as a rational economic choice. In fact, the social marginalization and moral pejorativization of the hungry points to these protections as “security theater” rather than security in fact.