Bloomsbury The State in Ancient Egypt: Power, Challenges and Dynamics (Debates in Archaeology)

This book presents a new analysis of the organization, structure and changes of the pharaonic state through three millennia of its history. Moreno sheds new light on this topic by bringing to bear recent developments in state theory and archaeology, especially comparative study of the structure of ancient states and empires. The role played by pharaonic Egypt in these new studies is rather limited and often reiterates old views about the stability, conservatism and exceptionalism of Egyptian kingship, which supposedly remained the same across the Bronze and Iron Ages. However, analysis of the structure of the state, of the limits of royal power, of the authority of local but rather neglected micro-powers (such as provincial potentates and wealthy non-elite), and of the circulation and control of wealth, shows that ancient Egypt shared many parallels with other Bronze and Iron Age societies. Furthermore, Egypt experienced deep changes in its social, economic, political and territorial organization during its three millennia of history, thus making the land of the pharaohs an ideal arena to test models and to define the dynamics that rule societies on the longue durée. When seen through these new perspectives, the pharaonic monarchies appear less exceptional than previously thought, more dependent on the balance of power, on their capacity to control the resources of the kingdom and on the changing geopolitical conditions of their time.