This dissertation represents an investigation into the changing nature of political power during the final 133 years of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, seeking to understand how power functioned within the Assyrian system through studying the careers of its imperial administrators. How was power distributed between the king and his officials? What sort of relationships existed between officials and the king, and with each other? How did Assyrian officials’ careers progress? Finally, to what extent did the above shape the political history of the Neo-Assyrian Empire? To answer these questions, this dissertation utilizes a combination of old and new approaches. Close readings of primary source documents are combined with aggregate analysis and insights from the fields of social network analysis and organizational communication. Rejecting most previous efforts at studying Assyrian imperial organization as too reliant on hierarchical models of organization, this study utilizes tools such as a Communicative Constitution of Organizations framework and Leader-Member Exchange Theory, which emphasize the importance of informal structure and interpersonal relationships in studying human organizations. Through a social network analysis of 3,864 letters which survive from the years 745-612 BC, it identifies especially influential officials during the reign of each king as well as long term changes over time in communications patterns and the types of officials who achieved prominence. This dissertation argues that Sargon II initiated a wide-ranging reform of the imperial administration, seeking to centralize power in the person of the king and the royal family through greatly expanding the number of provincial governors and other officials who reported directly to the king. These reforms increased the importance of informal hierarchy, as a few officials who managed to build close working relationships with the king could wield significant power. Sargon’s reforms structured the empire in such a way as to promote intense competition between officials for status, both between individuals and between the rival sectors of provincial government, palace administration, and the major temples. However, this competition had unintended consequences: the large number of persons writing to the king made it more difficult for the king to acquire accurate information about conditions in the empire. Essentially a prisoner of the information being provided to them, Assyrian monarchs of the seventh century tried a variety of methods to solve this problem, including employing special agents to provide an independent source of information, consulting experts in divination to check the loyalties of their subjects, and implementing public oaths which enjoined the entire population to inform the king of potentially disloyal elements. None of these attempts were successful, and the problem of information likely contributed to a weakening of imperial control over the course of the seventh century, culminating the dramatic collapse of the empire in 612 BC.

Ce travail présente une nouvelle analyse des bas-reliefs des palais néoassyriens du premier millénaire av. J.-C. Elle combine une analyse spatiale, basée sur la restitution à l’aide de l’imagerie 3D des palais d’Assurnazirpal II et Sargon II, qui permet la remise en situation des images dans l’architecture, et une analyse sémiologique.L’analyse de la structure de ces images, couplée à une étude sémantique des textes des palais qui leurs sont associés permet de montrer que les décors, ainsi que les textes, forment des portraits de rois, dont la synthèse se trouve dans la salle du trône, centre du palais et du royaume, les thèmes des images présents dans les autres salles étant concentrés dans celle-ci.Mais les portraits ainsi mis en évidence sont partagés entre un portrait de la royauté, traditionnel et stéréotypé, et le portrait du roi. Ils se situent également entre deux conceptions du temps, le premier circulaire, manifesté par les images faisant le tour des salles, ainsi que par l’inscription des Fastes chez Sargon II racontant les campagnes militaires du roi selon un découpage géographique, et un temps linéaire, manifesté par les textes des Annales.Le portrait du roi se ferait ainsi dans ce temps linéaire, et le portrait de la royauté dans le temps cyclique, les événements s’y reproduisant, sources de traditions, comme la forme des salles du trône, les thèmes utilisés et les conventions employées dans la représentation. Le portrait du roi se manifestant dans le choix de tel ou tel thème au détriment des autres, comme les scènes rituelles sous Assurnazirpal II, qui laissent la place à la chasse au lion sous Assurbanipal, concrétisant un éloignement du rituel dans les images entamé sous Sargon II. / This work presents a new analysis of low reliefs of neo-Assyrian palaces from the first millennium B.C. It combines a spatial analysis, based on 3D restitutions of Assurnazirpal II and Sargon II palaces, which permits to replace images in the architecture, and a semiological analysis.Structural analysis of images associated with a semantic study of texts present in palaces too, permits to demonstrate that the decoration and texts make portraits of kings. Throne rooms are synthesis of these portraits, as centre of the palace and kingdom, themes of images in other rooms being concentrated in this one.But these portraits are divided between a portrait of royalty, traditional and stereotyped, and the portrait of the king. They are so between two conceptions of time. One circular, shows by images going round rooms, and by the Display Inscription from the palace of Sargon II which tells of king’s military campaigns according to a geographical cutting. The other time is linear, as showed in annals of kings.The portrait of the king would take place in this linear time, and the portrait of kingship in the cyclical one, events to recur in, sources of traditions, like the throne room plans, themes used and conventions employed in representations. The portrait of the king isapparent in themes chosen among the others. So, ritual scenes with Assurnazirpal II left place to hunt scenes with Assurbanipal, who concretizes a distance with ritual images started under Sargon II.

The question leading this study is whether or not the contents of Hezekiah‘s storehouses and treasuries (2 Ki 20:13, 2 Chr 32:25-28 and Is 39:2) defy or reflect the reality of the Judaean domestic economy in the late 8th – early 7th century BCE. I have adopted a multidisciplinary and holistic approach, considering the literary, political, economic, religious, and socio-cultural dimensions of Hezekiah‘s reign. The study concludes that revenue from agriculture could not have been Hezekiah‘s only source of income. Local goods and taxes were insufficient in volume and value to account for the extent of Hezekiah‘s wealth. While the religious reforms and cult centralisation introduced by Hezekiah would have generated considerable income, alternative sources must have been available to the king. Tolls, taxes, and customs imposed on the international trade traversing the Levant contributed significantly. Examination of the available archaeological evidence reflects a prosperous economy, one that favoured a powerful minority. / Biblical and Ancient studies / M. A. (Biblical Archaeology)

The question leading this study is whether or not the contents of Hezekiah‘s storehouses and treasuries (2 Ki 20:13, 2 Chr 32:25-28 and Is 39:2) defy or reflect the reality of the Judaean domestic economy in the late 8th – early 7th century BCE. I have adopted a multidisciplinary and holistic approach, considering the literary, political, economic, religious, and socio-cultural dimensions of Hezekiah‘s reign. The study concludes that revenue from agriculture could not have been Hezekiah‘s only source of income. Local goods and taxes were insufficient in volume and value to account for the extent of Hezekiah‘s wealth. While the religious reforms and cult centralisation introduced by Hezekiah would have generated considerable income, alternative sources must have been available to the king. Tolls, taxes, and customs imposed on the international trade traversing the Levant contributed significantly. Examination of the available archaeological evidence reflects a prosperous economy, one that favoured a powerful minority. / Biblical and Ancient studies / M. A. (Biblical Archaeology)