Trade or gender – which was more influential in relations between the royalty of the Neo-Assyrians and the “Queens of the Arabs”?

Bennett, Eleanor (2015). Trade or gender – which was more influential in relations between the royalty of the Neo-Assyrians and the “Queens of the Arabs”? University of Birmingham. M.Res.

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Abstract

The "Queens of the Arabs" are women who have the title "Queen of the Arabs" in Neo-Assyrian sources.
This thesis will investigate whether the importance of the trade routes through the Arabian Peninsula was enough of an explanation for the portrayal of the "Queens of the Arabs" in the Assyrian sources. The second half of this thesis will ask whether their gender was more important than trade in their portrayals by the Assyrians. This thesis will use the royal women of the Assyrian courts as a comparison in order to understand what the Assyrians expected from women associated with power. What we find is that there are very few visible royal Assyrian women in the texts and reliefs. To counter this problem, we will look at the visible exceptions. We can use these women to determine how Assyrian women were meant to behave, and what the Assyrians expected to encounter with the "Queens of the Arabs". These women appear to be the opposite to what the Assyrians would have seen in their royal women. This difference in expectations clearly had an impact on the Assyrians, and will be investigated in this thesis.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Masters by Research > M.Res.)

Award Type:

Masters by Research > M.Res.

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