Archaeology has always stood in the valuable position of providing the broad-spanning field of empire studies with the often-unheard voices of the subaltern, non-elites, and peripheral entities. Editors Craig Tyson and Virginia Herrmann have compiled a volume that engages and furthers the discipline with a unique focus on the perimetric regions of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (ca. 950–600 BC). Within 10 chapters (organized geographically), the authors work toward a reassessment of our interpretations of peripheral interactions with imperial cores.
The volume commences with an introduction by Herrmann and Tyson (Chapter 1) that summarizes the formation and function of the Assyrian empire, taking us through the history of research and theoretical underpinnings of how empires are addressed in modern thought. A contribution by Bleda Düring (Chapter 2) shows how the Neo-Assyrian Empire of the first millennium BC drew its administrative practices from its predecessor, the Middle Assyrian state of the late second millennium. These two chapters effectively orient and enable the reader to delve into the main themes of the volume, which follow two main trajectories. The first challenges the supremacy of the imperial core so often taken for granted. Guido Guarducci (Chapter 3) emphasizes Assyrian conflict and compromise with the local populations of southern Anatolia, illustrating the sociopolitical makeup of this region and the way Assyrian officials were compelled to balance force and compromise with local actors. The imperial frontier became a flexible negotiation between these entities, with an emphasis placed on local agency. This same emphasis is seen in Tyson's (Chapter 7) discussion of the engagement of local Ammonite elites with the Assyrians, suggesting that benefits were not only found on the Assyrian end, given that local elites used Assyrian influence to gain status within their own communities. Likewise, Avraham Faust's (Chapter 4) contribution on the Levantine economy in the wake of Assyrian takeover and Anna Cannavò's (Chapter 9) discussion of Cypriot interactions with the distant (to them) empire promote the importance of Assyria's indirect effects, in contrast to the purposeful, direct actions often given primacy in imperial studies.
The second theme revolves around reassessing evidence in the light of this peripheral agency. Erin Darby (Chapter 5) rethinks previous ideas on the use of Judean pillar figurines—pushing back on notions that they were used as identity reinforcement to instead situate them in their cultural and temporal context where figurines in general are popular, especially for healing rituals within the home. Stephanie Brown (Chapter 6) uses ceramic evidence from the Edomite site of Busayra to illustrate purposeful adoption of Assyrian culture, pushing back against interpretations of Busayra as Assyrian-occupied/oriented to instead show that Assyrian influence did not replace local traditions. At Busayra, an Iron Age site in Jordan, archaeologists have excavated monumental buildings, fortifications, and domestic housing contexts. Megan Cifarelli (Chapter 8) likewise reexamines assumptions made about the northern Iranian site of Hasanlu and its relationship with Assyria. As a site located between the warring empires of Urartu and Assyria, it has, at times, been associated with both imperial powers—a clear destruction level illustrating the result of conflict with Urartian forces. Culturally, however, it has largely been associated with Assyrian trends in the literature. Cifarelli argues against this interpretation, stating that the reason Hasanlu's traditions were originally seen as “Assyrianizing” was due to a familiarity of the excavators with Assyrian culture over that of northern Iranian culture and interpreted it initially within that lens. Ultimately, these contributions call for a critical reinterpretation of things once assumed to be “Assyrian” in nature (or, in responses to Assyrian incursion).
Despite such a wide variety of datasets and approaches, this volume is notable for its coherence. As the late Bradley Parker reviews in his contribution (Chapter 10), all authors are united in their examinations of the agency of the so-called periphery and rejections of the core supremacy espoused by the now-defunct world-systems and central-place theories. Each case study illustrates the negotiation of sociopolitical tensions, with the peripheries as main actors in their own right. Overall, the volume presents an excellent blending of multiple datasets—settlement object, architectural, historical, art historical—to form a contribution that will prove especially useful in the field of Assyrian and Near Eastern studies.
Although confined to the region of the Near East and the Mediterranean, the discussions in this volume have the potential to be used broadly in furthering ideas about agency and centrality in discussions of any empire. Yet, despite the excellent overviews by Herrmann and Tyson (Chapter 1) and Düring (Chapter 2), I would not recommend this as an introduction to the Assyrian empire or its provinces. Instead, I believe this book appeals to (a) readers with a basic knowledge of the Assyrian empire or ancient Near East who wish to delve into studies on the peripheries and provinces, or (b) readers interested in empire studies at a cross-regional, comparative scale. (For readers interested in a general introduction to the Assyrian empire, I would suggest Eckart Frahm's edited volume, A Companion to Assyria [2017]). I am certain, however, that any reader outside of these two categories who opts to pick up Tyson and Herrmann's volume has much to gain.
