De patrones y clientes: sobre la continuidad de las prácticas sociopolíticas en la Antigua Palestina

Abstract

Abstract: The emerging entities of Iron Age II Palestine have always been regarded as a true manifestation of statehood. From an evolutionary point of view, what constitutes statehood are quantitative features rather than qualitative differential ones. This paper points out the necessity of reconsidering from a critical perspective the sociopolitical nature usually granted to the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The archaeological and epigraphical records show a primacy of kinship at the inner communal realm and of patronage at the inter-communal realm. Therefore, taking into account the postulate that statehood cannot evolve from within the community, as some authors have suggested, and since patronage could be an extended way of kinship, it is proposed that during the Bronze and Iron Ages in Palestine existed a continuity of the socio-political practice of patronage which excludes the appearance of statehood as a native and main sociopolitical formation.