The FARE WORK workshop is gathering scholars from all over the world to explore the Ancient Near East through a new approach applying concepts from economy and social sciences. Scholars expert in ancient Egypt, Persia, Babylonia, and the Levant will be in dialogue with scholars working with modern theories to discuss the application of new theoretical framework to analyse fiscality and labour in the ancient world. The field theory of Bourdieu will be the main frame of the workshop. After each session, where the scholars present their research, there would be plenty of time for discussions aiming to foster dialogue between the different disciplines, encourage comparison, and help reflecting on which methodologies and theories could improve these fields of studies.
The workshop is born by a partnership between the WORK-IT, led by Jason Silverman, and the FARE Project, led by Nico Dogaer, and will take place on March 4–6 2026 at the University of Helsinki.
The WORK-IT Project "Work without End: Informal Taxation and Forced Labor within Persian Southern Levantine Temple Economy and Society” is composed by a team including postdoctoral researchers and PhD candidates investigating the social and economic structures of the ancient Near East, specifically Persian Southern Levant temples. We are focusing on evidence for (re)building, gifts, taxes, tithes, produce, welfare, priesthoods, and dependents within a theoretical frame using forced labor, informal taxation, and Bourdieusian field theory (cf.
The FARE Project « FiscAl Reform in Egypt: From the Achaemenids to the Ptolemies » examines fiscal reform in Egypt in the long term, with a central focus on Persian-period fiscality. It aims to establish the rationale of the fiscal system by exploring the nature of obligations (in kind, silver and labor), the use of fiscal intermediaries, and the beneficiaries of the system (
PROGRAM
WEDNESDAY March 4th: Faculty Hall
9:00-9:15: Welcome
9:15-10:00: Introduction - Jason Silverman and Nico Dogaer
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10:00-10:15: Coffee break
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Session 1: Modelling Labor and Fiscality
10:15-10:45: “On the Macro- and Micro-economics and the Macro- and Micro-management of Public Building in Babylon” - Michael Jursa (University of Vienna)
10:45-11:15: “Work, Goods, or Silver? Taxation and Temple Intermediaries in the Ancient Near East” - Marcelo de Carvalho Griebeler (Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo)
11:15-11:30: Questions
11:30-12:15: Morning discussion
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12:15 to 13:45: Lunch
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Session 2: Persian Labor and Fiscality through Classical and Hellenistic Texts
13:45-14:15: “Achaemenid Fiscality in Xenophon” - Christopher J. Tuplin (University of Liverpool)
14:15-14:45: “In Search of Labor Obligations and their Silver Substitution in Persian Egypt”- Nico Dogaer (CNRS)
14:45-15:00: Questions
Session 3: WORK-IT
15:00-15:35: “Payday: Specialized Workers’ Remuneration and Role in the Archives of Persia” - Filippo Pedron (University of Helsinki); Jeremy Land’s reflections (University of Helsinki)
15:35-15:50: Questions
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15:50-16:05: Break
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Session 4: WORK-IT
16:05-16:35: “Bringing Bourdieusian Reflexivity, or How to Think about What We Do and What We Ask” - Anwar Arifin (University of Helsinki)
16:35-16:50: Questions
16:50-17h30: Afternoon discussion and reflection on the day
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17:45: University Reception
19:00: Dinner
THURSDAY March 5th: Please note that we switch from Room F3020 to the Faculty Hall after lunch!
Room F3020
Session 5: Exploring the Field: Theoretical Perspectives on Labor and Fiscality
9:00-9:30: “A New Institutional Economics View of Persian-Period Fiscal Administration in Yehud: Promise and Limitations” - Peter Altmann (Fuller Theological Seminary)
9:30-10:00: “Bourdieu and Labor in the Private Archives of Achaemenid Babylonia” (title tbc) - Laetitia Graslin-Thomé (Université de Lorraine)
10:15-10:30: Questions
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10:30 to 10:45: Coffee break
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Session 6: WORK-IT
10:45-11:20: “Labor, Taxation, and Local Administration: Reassessing Workers and Material Allocations in the Aramaic Idumaean Corpus”- Mitchka Shahryari (University of Helsinki); Jeremy Land’s reflections (University of Helsinki)
11:20-11:35: Questions
11:35-12:15: Morning discussion
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12:15 to 13:45: Lunch
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Faculty Hall
Session 7: Reassessing Community Dynamics in Light of New Daily-Life Documents
13:45-14:15: “New Divination Texts and Pivotal Events in Daily Life in Maresha” - Esther Eshel (Bar-Ilan University)
14:15-14:45: “Women Can Count and Counting Women: Elephantine Society in Light of New Evidence and Proposals” - James D. Moore (The Ohio State University)
14:45-15:15: Questions
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15:15-15:30: Break
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Session 8: WORK-IT
15:30-16:05: “Sweat and Stones: Architectural Energetics and Forced Labor in the Persian-Period Southern Levant”- Lucia Cerullo (University of Helsinki); Jeremy Land’s reflections (University of Helsinki)
16:05-16.20: Questions
16:20-17:00: Afternoon discussion and reflection on the day
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17:00: Photography session; 18:00: Aperitif/Bar (facultative); 19:00: Special dinner
FRIDAY March 6th: Faculty Hall
Session 9: Empire-Community Interactions: Labor and Fiscality in Ezra-Nehemiah
9:00-9:30: “Imperial Support and Its Limits: Temple Rebuilding in Ezra–Nehemiah in the Cuneiform Context of the Long Sixth Century BCE” - Tova Ganzel (Bar-Ilan University), Shalom E. Holtz (Yeshiva University)
9:30-10:00: “Taxes and Forced Labor in Neh 5 and 9”- Kristin Joachimsen (MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society)
10:15-10:30: Questions
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10:30-10:45 Coffee break
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Session 10: WORK-IT
10:45-11:20: “Connecting Tradition and Imperial Practices: Work in Ezra-Nehemiah" - Daniele Soares (University of Helsinki); Jeremy Land’s reflections (University of Helsinki)
11:20-11:35: Questions
11:35-12:15: Morning discussion
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12:15-13:45: Lunch
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Session 11: Cross-Cultural Perspectives: Labor and Social Structures through Time
13:45-14:15: “Shifting Statuses: Social and Fiscal Terminology in the Persepolis Fortification Archive” - Wouter F. M. Henkelman (École Pratiques de Hautes Études)
14:15-14:45: “Patterns and Changes in Labor Structure and Occupational Diversity in North Orkney, Scotland (1851-1911)” - Julia A. Jennings (University at Albany)
14:45-15:00: Questions
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15:00-15:15: Break
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15:10-15:50: Afternoon Discussion
15:50-16:20: Conclusions - Jason Silverman, Nico Dogaer
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17.30-18.30: Walking tour
18:30: Dinner in the Sauna Place