Hazor was the largest Bronze Age site in the southern Levant, established as an urban centre with many temples. This study explores how Hazor's elites used religion as an ideological tool to promote their legitimacy, to reinforce social hierarchy, and to maintain control over the populace. Accordingly, a methodology employing the spatial analysis of temple assemblages will be used to show that the use patterns of many of Hazor's temples diverge from other contemporary temples in the region. These anomalies, it is argued, resulted from Hazor's elites actively controlling and manipulating the performance of ritual throughout the site. Hazor's elites also made use of highly recognizable forms of cultic space so as to engage the non-elite sectors of society while altering the manner in which those spaces were used and who had access to them. This religious innovation at Hazor was directly related to an elite ideology that strived to maintain control over non-elites, while also aiming to integrate the various socially stratified groups into a community joined together in a sacred landscape.

中文翻译：

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青铜时代夏佐的宗教创新和精英意识形态

夏琐是黎凡特南部最大的青铜时代遗址，建成为拥有许多寺庙的城市中心。本研究探讨了 Hazor 的精英如何利用宗教作为意识形态工具来提升他们的合法性，加强社会等级制度，并保持对民众的控制。因此，将使用一种对寺庙组合进行空间分析的方法来表明，夏琐的许多寺庙的使用模式与该地区其他当代寺庙不同。有人认为，这些异常现象是由于夏佐的精英们积极控制和操纵整个遗址的仪式进行所致。夏佐' s 的精英们还利用了高度认可的邪教空间形式，以吸引社会的非精英阶层，同时改变这些空间的使用方式和使用方式。夏琐的这种宗教创新与精英意识形态直接相关，这种意识形态努力保持对非精英的控制，同时也旨在将各种社会分层的群体整合成一个在神圣景观中结合在一起的社区。