Patronage in the Ancient Near East

Patronage is generally assumed by scholars to have been a universal feature of ancient Near Eastern societies, but has been neglected as a topic of serious investigation. The purpose of this study is to offer, without prior assumptions, textual evidence that establishes the existence of the concept...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the economic and social history of the Orient 2005-01, Vol.48 (2), p.210-233
Main Author: Westbrook, Raymond
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ancient civilizations of the near east
Ancient history
ANCIENT NEAR EAST
Anthropology
Antiquity
Area studies
Art and archaeology
Business partnership
CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS
Customers
Emperors
Fathers
Friendship
History
Hittites
Kings
Kinship
Mayors
Mesopotamia and Near East
PARTNERSHIP
PATRONAGE
Sons
Sumer
Terminology
VASSALAGE
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Summary:Patronage is generally assumed by scholars to have been a universal feature of ancient Near Eastern societies, but has been neglected as a topic of serious investigation. The purpose of this study is to offer, without prior assumptions, textual evidence that establishes the existence of the concept of patronage. The approach is to present case studies from various parts of the region which are best explained by the presence of patronage. For these purposes patronage is narrowly defined on the basis of ancient Roman and contemporary anthropological models. /// Les historiens du Proche-Orient ancien supposent que le patronage était un phénomène universel dans la région, sans que ce sujet n'ait fait l'objet d'une étude approfondie. Dans cet article je propose de présenter sans présomptions préalables des preuves textuelles que le concept de patronage existait. L'approche est de présenter des cas concrets provenants de plusieurs parties de la région qui s'expliquent au mieux par la présence du patronage. À ces fins, j'adopte une définition étroite du patronage, à la base de modèles romains anciens et antropologiques modernes.
ISSN:0022-4995
1568-5209
0022-4995
DOI:10.1163/1568520054127121