ISAW Hosts Conference "The Mechanics of Extraction: Comparing Principles of Taxation and Tax Compliance in the Ancient World"

Last Friday and Saturday (September 30 - October 1) ISAW hosted a conference entitled The Mechanics of Extraction: Comparing Principles of Taxation and Tax Compliance in the Ancient World. The conference was organized by ISAW PhD candidates Irene Soto and Jonathan Valk, and brought together more than a dozen scholars to present case studies of various aspects of ancient taxation systems over a period of three millennia and throughout the old world. The research presented at the conference proved to be a fruitful basis for considering both the universal elements of extractive systems and their local idiosyncrasies; it also served to stimulate discussion of ancient taxation in comparative perspective. It is hoped that a volume will be produced in the coming year that will facilitate the dissemination of the illuminating research and theoretical insights that resulted from the conference.

Steven Garfinkle (Western Washington University) discussing "Co-option and Patronage: The Mechanics of Extraction in Southern Mesopotamia under the Third Dynasty of Ur" and Richard Payne (University of Chicago) on "Taxation, Aristocratic Autonomy, and Theories of Reciprocity in the Iranian Empire."

Eva von Dassow (University of Minnesota) discussing "Liberty and Duty in Late Bronze Age States" and Lorenzo d'Alfonso (ISAW) on "Taxation in Hittite Anatolia."