The Gospel of Mark
The earliest civilizations of Mediterranean antiquity, those of Mesopotamia and Egypt, are based on a very distinctive mode of exchange, the central storehouse economy. This appears to have originated in Sumer and to have spread to Egypt. Initially a priestly group mobilized its labor force, the slaves of the god, to labor on the temple lands. The temple acted as central storehouse. Produce was stockpiled within that storehouse, and redistributed to feed the temple's nonagricultural work force (generally weaving women and artisans) as well as the agriculturalists who produced it. In the off-season the work force was turned to ditching, diking and temple building. The priests held authority over their communities. They alone exercised control and direction. All others obeyed. Thus was born internal peace and order, and with it, the state.
Mark 15 exhibits interaction over a huge land mass between the leaders of a temple economy and the official representative of an emperor who maintained his position of power through a complex military institution throughout the Mediterranean world. The accusation the Roman prefect Pilate understands the priests to be making is that Jesus claims or aspires to be king over them (15:2, 9, 12). Since the traditional role of kings was to establish power over priests and their central storehouse economies, the "envy" the narrative imputes on the chiefpriests through Pilate's perceptions (15:10) would play into conventional understanding of the rivalry between priests and kings in the Mediterranean world.
From V. K. Robbins, Exploring the Texture of Texts, (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1996), p. 83.
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