Location: Wharton Room
The third lecture examines socio-political transformations in Iron Age Anatolia. It takes the case of Gurgum (modern-day Kahramanmaraş), exceptionally documented by a series of local inscriptions, as a representative microcosm for a broader analysis. The inscriptional evidence left by local political leaders illuminates not only the peculiar path to rulership walked by Gurgum’s ruling dynasty, but, most importantly, the changing and manifold nature of political leadership in Iron Age Anatolia as a whole. Key aspects include the rise of marginal figures to positions of power; the importance of genealogy as a means to legitimize status; the appropriation of martial ideology by new leaders of non-royal pedigree; and the diffusion of a rhetoric of justice among both rulers and subjects as a new standard of social recognition and political legitimation.
