E-Thesis 77 views
Authority and Ambition: Royal Power and Elite Representation under Psamtik I / John Rogers
Swansea University Author: John Rogers
DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.69096
Abstract
This dissertation examines the changing state structure that accompanied the expansion of the Saite state under Psamtik I (664-610 BCE), through royal and elite discourses of power and authority. It re-examines Saite-Assyrian political relations in light of the specific purpose of references to Psam...
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Swansea, Wales, UK
2025
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| Institution: | Swansea University |
| Degree level: | Doctoral |
| Degree name: | Ph.D |
| Supervisor: | Sagrillo, Troy L. ; Knoblauch, Christian |
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69096 |
| Abstract: |
This dissertation examines the changing state structure that accompanied the expansion of the Saite state under Psamtik I (664-610 BCE), through royal and elite discourses of power and authority. It re-examines Saite-Assyrian political relations in light of the specific purpose of references to Psamtik I in the Assyrian royal prism inscriptions, and analyses the structure of the court under Psamtik I. This analysis identifies the key ways different elites built their power through their self-representations. In some situations, this was done by focusing on their roles as intermediaries between the local and the king, their proximity to the king, and their status as honoured by the king. They thus used the king as a tool to advance their own purposes, while the king placed himself as the basis of authority in diverse settings throughout the country. Other elites conspicuously avoided using the king however, instead utilising alternative, often more locally specific, referents to maintain and expand their authority. The dissertation therefore uses case studies to examine local administrative continuity and change in different settings, demonstrating the multiple means by which the Saite state became a source of authority for local elites, permeating the local and at the same time placing that local within a broader horizontal network hierarchically below the state. Throughout the transition from Kushite to Saite Egypt, the primary criterion of success in building power was personal political expediency, in which persons sought the best means to advance their own ends and enfranchise others towards this goal. |
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| Item Description: |
ORCiD identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1145-7498 |
| Keywords: |
Egyptology, Ancient History, Statehood, Authority |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Funders: |
SURES |