Death Rituals, Ideology, and the Development of Early Mesopotamian Kingship Toward a New Understanding of Iraq's Royal Cemetery of Ur At the beginning of Mesopotamia’s Early Dynastic period, the political landscape was dominated by temple administrators, but by the end of the period, rulers whose titles we translate as “king” assumed control. This book argues that the ritual process of mourning, burying, and venerating dead elites contributed to this change. Part one introduces the rationale for seeing rituals as a means of giving material form to ideology and, hence, structuring overall power relations. Part two presents archaeological and textual evidence for the death rituals. Part three interprets symbolic objects found in the Royal Cemetery of Ur, showing they reflect ideological doctrines promoting the office of kingship. This book will be particularly useful for scholars of Mesopotamian archaeology and history. This book combines archaeological and textual evidence to outline the process of mourning, burying, and venerating dead elites in Early Dynastic Mesopotamia. It argues that these ritual acts constituted a locus of ideological production and empowerment for early rulers. The book addresses a scholarly but non-specialist audience interested in ancient Near Eastern history, the archaeology of early cities, and the anthropology of ritual and religion. About the author(s) Andrew C. Cohen, Ph.D. (2001) in Near Eastern Archaeology, Bryn Mawr College is Senior Analyst at the Cultural Heritage Center in Washington, DC. He has participated in archaeological fieldwork most recently in Turkey and Syria. This is his first book. ISBN-13: 978-90-04-14635-8 Publication Date: Oct-05 Publisher: BRILL Pages: xxii, 246 pp. Format: Hardback