Evans-Pritchard Lecture Series 2026
The Reinvention of Rule: Political Leadership and Legitimacy in the Iron Age Eastern Mediterranean, ca. 1200–600 BC
Dr Marco Santini, The University of Edinburgh
This series of five lectures proposes an overarching interpretation of key political developments that characterized Greece, Anatolia, and the Levant during the period called the Iron Age (ca. 1200–600 BC). By overcoming traditional disciplinary divides between Classical and Near Eastern Studies, the lectures will show that significant common patterns can be detected across the three regions, disproving widespread views that the political development of early Greece followed a peculiar and unparalleled trajectory. By emphasizing the Mediterranean dimension of early Greek history, and by positing the existence of a shared, coherent system of political thought and practice across Iron Age Eastern Mediterranean societies, the lectures will make the case for a new understanding of the so-called foundations of “western civilization.”
Lecture 3. Rulers of Many Names: Experiments with Power in Iron Age Anatolia
13th May 2026, 5:00 pm
Location: Wharton Room, All Souls College
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.
For those joining remotely, the Teams link can be found here: https://www.asc.ox.ac.uk/event/evans-pritchard-lectures-2026-lecture-3-rulers-many-names-experiments-power-iron-age-anatolia
