The FARE WORK workshop gathered 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 were 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 was the main frame of the workshop. After each session, where the scholars present their research, there was 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 was born by a partnership between the WORK-IT, led by Jason Silverman, and the FARE Project, led by Nico Dogaer, and took 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 (