Women and Palaces in the Neo-Assyrian Period

Abstract

The status of women in Neo-Assyrian palaces is well documented, and has been for a long time, through texts and archaeological finds. It reveals that what we could term the Queen’s Household as an institution was a powerful element of the Neo-Assyrian palatial system. Women who operate in the Queen’s Household possess an economic power that can be con- siderable. Every place where the Queen is present, and even every place where she owns large domains, generates a Queen’s Household with female staff used for service, produc- tion, and administration. On the royal administration’s model, these Queens’ Households are placed under the authority of an administrator-in-chief, the šakintu. This person manages and controls the finances of the House placed under her authority, as the Queen would herself do it, as in fact the lady of the house would in general. These šakintus rely both on the power that their function affords them, and on belonging to family or ethnic networks that are a useful complement to their economic role. This economic role is indeed not ordered along a male/ female distinction only. The marriage of Ṣubētu, the daughter of the šakintu Amat-Astarti is a good example of the status and economic power of such a woman