Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies,
Pennsylvania State University
Research Interests
My research explores New Kingdom Egyptian foreign relations and diplomacy, with a particular focus on intercultural communication and miscommunication between the great powers of the Late Bronze Age Near East. I am interested in how ancient rulers, scribes, and envoys negotiated power, prestige, and identity across cultural boundaries – through diplomatic correspondence, gift exchange, dynastic marriage, and public ceremony. My broader interests include imperialism and its performance, political ritual, Ancient Near Eastern trade and travel networks, interconnectedness across the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, and epistolary practices as a window into cross-cultural encounter.
Current Research
My current book project, Pride, Prejudice, and Profit: New Kingdom Egypt’s Diplomacy from the Perspective of Intercultural Communications (under contract with De Gruyter), examines Egypt’s diplomatic relations with Mittani, Hatti, Assyria, Babylonia, and the Levantine city-states during the Late Bronze Age. Drawing on the Amarna Letters and related sources, the book analyzes three modes of diplomatic exchange – verbal and nonverbal communication, gift exchange, and diplomatic marriage – and argues that pride, prejudice, and profit were the driving motives behind these ancient encounters.
I am also developing a related project on the use of animal metaphors in Ancient Near Eastern diplomatic texts, building on my research into how rhetoric of subordination and status was encoded through imagery of dogs, birds, and other animals in royal correspondence.
Publications
Under Contract
Wang, Z. Pride, Prejudice, and Profit: New Kingdom Egypt’s Diplomacy from the Perspective of Intercultural Communications. Berlin: De Gruyter.
In Press
Wang, Z. “Egypt and the Levant in the Early New Kingdom Period.” In S. Hollis (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Egypt and the Hebrew Bible. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
In Preparation
Wang, Z. “Wild Diplomacy: Dogs, Birds, and the Rhetoric of Subordination in Late Bronze Age Near Eastern Diplomacy.” In Z. Hawass, S. Redford, and M. Bárta (eds.), Donald Redford Memorial Volume.
2022
Wang, Z. “Spectacle of Imperial Splendour: The Presentation of Gifts and Tributes Ceremony in the 18th Dynasty.” In E. Apostola and C. Kekes (eds.), Current Research in Egyptology 2021. Proceedings of the Twenty-First Annual Symposium, University of the Aegean, 9–16 May 2021.