Kings and Prophets

The nature and meaning of kingship has been hotly debated by anthropologists and scholars of religion since the middle of the last century, and the richness of this topic is by no means exhausted. In this fascinating book, comprising a series of published and unpublished essays, Grottanelli focuses on the subject of kingship in the ancient world. The essays explore the ways in which centralized state power, as epitomized by the sacred king, encounters other oppositional forms of power, such as those possessed by prophets, tricksters, and women.