The waterscape in the Neo-Assyrian Empire: royal perspectives and ideologies towards water in the royal inscriptions

• Grant number: 22/04247-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2022
• End date: July 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Aparecido Rede
• Grantee: Theo Caram de Moraes Miguez
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project aims to analyze the relationship between kingship in ancient Mesopotamia and water as a geographical, economical, strategic, environmental, and religious element. Within the scope of research will figure key aspects of palace administration such as the building of hydraulic infrastructure, the cultural perception of several waterscapes, the theological dimensions of the aquatic element as a sacred agent, and the characterization of a worldview set in a geographic space limited by bodies of water. The temporal and spatial selection will happen through the choice of working with Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions as primary sources, likewise exploring the gradual shifts in palace paradigm and action towards hydrography and navigation related to the expansion of the Levant in the first millennium BCE.(AU)