Description:

In this presentation I pose a question that runs through all of my research, “How did politics in the past use the environment for political advantage?” For this talk in particular, I examine how Assyrian imperialists (ca. 900 – 600 BCE) used the perception of ‘empty lands’ to legitimate their expansion into foreign territories of northern Iraq, southeastern Anatolia, and northwestern Syria (i.e. Upper Mesopotamia). This is a study that combines textual, archaeological, and environmental data in order to address an ancient issue of contemporary concern – the politics of environmental discourse and practice.