Landscapes of power: the great estate beyond Egypt
Peter Sarris
La plaine appartient au seigneur. To the established families of Tripoli, main city north Lebanon and urban centre for Akkar, ‘the mountain’ is epitome unregenerate ‘tribalism’ savage ‘backwardness’. The warrior figures Jurd with their upturned moustaches, rifles bandoliers seem very type archaic traditionalism. They represent polar opposite values are subject a certain mocking humour. But to people foothills plain, signifies something more precise, immediate: clanship, autonomous self-help, heavily armed men, forces be feared not easily restrained. Men higher villages sometimes ‘come down’ on lower settlements in raid or furtherance some political dispute. Most seriously, they can cut water supply settlements. state gives little protection against these mountain communities who live different lives from small cultivators labourers. Only powerful lords such as Minister ensure that relations remain relatively stable. INTRODUCTION As seen chapter five, documentary papyri record existence fifth- sixth-century Egypt highly monetised and, by implication, commodified bipartite great estates owned members late antique aristocracy service. These were worked agricultural workers, often resident estate-owned styled epoikia choria , split time between allotments associated holdings ( ktemata ) centrally administered estate ‘in hand’ demesne (the autourgia ).
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