The consequences of monumental architecture on wealth inequality: the case of ancient Assyria (c. 900–600 BCE)

This study examines the socioeconomic implications of large-scale state-sponsored construction in the Neo-Assyrian Empire (ca. 900–600 BCE), focusing on how monumental building programs, traditionally studied as expressions of royal ideology, also reshaped labor availability and contributed to increasing wealth inequality in the imperial core. Moving beyond broad comparative and cross-cultural approaches to inequality, the paper focuses on the historical case of Assyria in the 9th–7th centuries BCE to investigate the specific mechanisms by which imperial policies affected the distribution of labor and resources. By comparing estimates of labor demand for major construction projects at Kalhu, Dur-Sharrukin, and Nineveh with evidence for Neo-Assyrian deportation policies, it argues that imperial expansion substantially enlarged the labor pool available to the state. Although textual and archaeological evidence remains incomplete, the comparison suggests that labor abundance may have created conditions favorable to lower labor compensation and facilitated the large-scale mobilization of inexpensive labor. The study integrates textual evidence for population resettlement and wages with architectural evidence from ordinary houses and palaces to reconstruct patterns of social differentiation. The exceptional growth of Assyrian elite architecture relative to domestic structures suggests an unprecedented concentration of resources among upper social groups, potentially contributing to the structural vulnerabilities of the Neo-Assyrian state.