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The Construction of Women's Identities through Commemorative Objects in Bronze Age Mesopotamia

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Type

Article

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Authors

Highcock, N 
Tsouparopoulou, Christina  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9796-4313

Abstract

jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pThis article focuses on female devotees and divine beneficiaries in Early Mesopotamia, analyzing the nearly 600 known objects dating to the third and second millennia BCE and dedicated by non-royals to the gods, in order to memorialize themselves and others. It seeks to track patterns of gendering objects, namely through the lens of female identities. Such patterns include the relationship between female devotees, goddesses, and particular object types, such as female genitalia. In addition, by taking an intersectional approach to women’s identities, we demonstrate that factors such as status complicate the overarching patterns in object choice. Certain elite women, for example, dedicated mace-heads – normally a male-coded object – to the gods. Commemorative objects dedicated by private individuals thus comprise a crucial data set for not only examining religious belief and practice across Mesopotamia, but also the particular ways in which dedicatory practice represented female identities and commemorated individual women.</jats:p>

Description

Keywords

4303 Historical Studies, 43 History, Heritage and Archaeology

Journal Title

Altorientalische Forschungen

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0232-8461
2196-6761

Volume Title

47

Publisher

Walter de Gruyter GmbH

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Marie Sk?odowska-Curie actions (748293)
Swedish Research Council (via Uppsala University) (2016-02028)