Power and Regions in Ancient States
An Egyptian and Mesoamerican Perspective

The aim of the Element is to provide a comprehensive comparison of the basic organization of power in Mesoamerica and Egypt.

Gary M. Feinman (Author), Juan Carlos Moreno García (Author)

9781108816229, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 March 2022

75 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 0.6 cm, 0.15 kg

The aim of the Element is to provide a comprehensive comparison of the basic organization of power in Mesoamerica and Egypt. How power emerged and was exercised, how it reproduced itself, how social units (from households to cities) became integrated into political formation and how these articulations of power expanded and collapsed over time. The resilience of particular areas (Oaxaca, Middle Egypt), to the point that they preserved a highly distinctive cultural personality when they were included or not within states, may provide a useful guideline about the basics of integration, negotiation and autonomy in the organization of political formations.

1. Comparing ancient societies: prehispanic Mesoamerica and the Nilotic world
2. Regional background
3. The economic basis: Agriculture, sedentary life and productive complexity
4. The beginnings of complexity: Households, cities and states
5. Polity and governance: The basis of power and leadership
6. State power and its local implementation
7. Monumentality and society
8. Conclusions
References.

Subject Areas: Egyptian archaeology / Egyptology [HDDG]