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Societal Conditions and Conditioning Associated with State Building Projects in Ancient Mesopotamia

Yi Samuel Chen

Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient2026https://doi.org/10.1163/15685209-12341673article
ABDC B
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

Abstract State(-sponsored) building projects in ancient Mesopotamia were often represented by royal inscriptions as being in close association with a series of socio-economic governance measures. Approaching these representations from the theoretical perspective concerning the social production and construction of space, this study aims to trace and analyse the association between the building projects and the socio-economic measures in the inscriptions and other relevant textual sources, from Pre-Sargonic times to the Neo-Assyrian period. By gauging their varied degrees of association, this study argues that these measures served important functions in tempering the forces, relations, and processes involved in the social production and construction of space. This research reveals that the production of space not only necessitated societal conditions and conditioning but also served as a strategic occasion for initiating or reinstating the societal measures deemed essential for the proper functioning of cities and the state. The dynamic interplay between the production of space and societal development could also be observed in urbanisms elsewhere in ancient and modern times.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1163/15685209-12341673

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@article{yi2026,
  title        = {{Societal Conditions and Conditioning Associated with State Building Projects in Ancient Mesopotamia}},
  author       = {Yi Samuel Chen},
  journal      = {Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1163/15685209-12341673},
}

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Societal Conditions and Conditioning Associated with State Building Projects in Ancient Mesopotamia

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.