• Corpus ID: 131781846

The Transmission of Courtly Lifestyles in the Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean

@inproceedings{Walsh2016TheTO,
  title={The Transmission of Courtly Lifestyles in the Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean},
  author={Crosbie Walsh},
  year={2016}
}

• Crosbie Walsh
• Published 28 April 2016
• History

This thesis offers and applies a new theoretical and methodological framework for understanding the diplomatic relationships between the ancient court societies in the Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean (Egypt, Upper Nubia, Levant, Anatolia, and the Aegean) with particular focus on the Middle Bronze Age covering first half of the 2nd millennium BC. Previous scholarship on diplomacy has largely concentrated on the philological analyses of Late Bronze Age diplomatic texts and the artistic styles of luxury visual arts, attempting to identify the origins of specific artistic styles and correlate gift lists with actual material objects. This thesis departs from these prior studies by adopting a more firmly sociological and anthropological approach, focusing on the social and ceremonial contexts of diplomatic activity. In particular, the role of etiquette (ritualized and codified forms of behavior) in diplomacy is the primary focus. Via a holistic analysis incorporating material culture, texts, and art, the thesis discusses how forms of etiquette can be reconstructed from the archaeological record, if forms of etiquette transmission can be identified, and the extent to which these transmissions can be used to reconstruct diplomatic relationships.