Hesse, Brian. “Animal Husbandry and the Human Diet in the Ancient Near East,” 1:203-222.
Contrary to popular belief, camels, which are often the icons of ANE animal husbandry, were not domesticated until late in antiquity. The most common animals domesticated, sheep, goats, and donkeys, had the ability to survive and adapt to varying circumstances, which made them optimal for traveling nomads. Along with technological advances that improved agricultural productivity and prolonged the lifespan of domestic animals, animal husbandry shifted from providing necessities to becoming an economic enterprise. This led to the rise of cattle management, which in most cases was taken over by a centralized bureaucracy. This centralization sought to maximize productivity by supplanting efforts of the domestic household in favor of government-run agricultural systems (205). Systematic management and the maximizing of resources allowed for the support of segments of society such as craftsmen, military, government, and priests, who were freed from activities of securing food to focus on specialized duties. These enterprises also led to unequal distribution of resources and resulted in the accumulation of wealth for the upper classes. The poor worked for the landowners for just enough food to survive, while the landowners prospered immensely. The religious use of domestic animals also played a factor in the rise of economic systems, as large quantities of specifically defined animals needed to be secured for the service of the gods. This also led to animals being used as taxation commodity. The centralized management was resisted by pastoral nomads, who understandably were hostile towards the localized systems (208). Although nomads had the potential to amass great wealth and consequent political power, it was also a risky business, as there was no security against disaster. There appears to have been quite a debate taking place in the ANE about which system of pastoral organization was the best, evidenced in texts like the Hebrew bible which give hints of the barriers between nomads and localized enterprises.
