Did the People of Ancient Mesopotamia Believe their Kings were Divine YouTube

The concept of kings and emperors being divine while alive or deified after death seems to have been common amongst many ancient peoples. So the question I've often been asked is whether or not the same was true in ancient Mesopotamia. That is, did people there believe that their kings were divine? The general answer is no, but there are a number of exceptions. Throughout the early dynastic period of Sumer, roughly between 2900-2334 BC, which is the period for which we have written records and proclamations attributed to Mesopotamia's earliest historical rulers, kings and even priests considered themselves to have been earthly representatives and servants of their gods on earth, but not gods themselves. Their duties included building temples and conducting rituals to appease and glorify their gods. When kings conquered new cities, they donated a percentage of the spoils as offerings to their respective god or goddess' temple and a number of other holy sanctuaries. Overall, the people of ancient Mesopotamia, the king included, lived in fear of their gods because it was ultimately they who controlled the climate, the flooding of the rivers, and whose blessings were needed for a good harvest or to ensure victory in war. When armed conflicts did break out between city-states, it was often seen as not just the kings and their armies doing battle, but also the patron deities of each respective side. The inscriptions we have for the period, and there are many, all point to the king acting in the service of the gods or receiving the authority and blessings from a particular god or goddess to achieve a certain task, such as victory in battle or the construction of a canal. The temporal power that a ruler held was essentially a trust given to him by the gods. One example of this is contained in an inscription by a king of Kish named Lugal-Kigi-Nidudu. It reads, When Enlil favorably summoned him and combined the kingship and the lordship for him, Enlil, king of all the lands, had Lugal-Kigi-Nidudu exercise his lordship in Uruk. In great joy, Lugal-Kigi-Nidudu dedicated this stone vessel to Enlil, his beloved king. That being said, there were some kings who at one time or another did believe that they were divine. The first written evidence of this comes from the reign of the Akkadian king, Naram-Sin, who after obtaining many victories in battle and, supposedly with his people's consent, declared himself to be a god, specifically the god of the city of Agade, the capital of the Akkadian empire. In such texts, his name was preceded by the star-shaped sign known as the Dingir, which was generally reserved for deities. One text attributed to Naram-Sin states the following, Because he defended his city in crisis, the people of his city asked of him that he be god of their city Agade, with Enlil in Nippur, with Dagan in Tutul, with Enki in Eridu, with Sin in Ur, with Shamash in Sipar, and they built his temple in Agade. Though Naram-Sin may have promoted himself as a god equal to those found in the Sumero-Akkadian pantheon, that doesn't mean future generations believed it. In a later poem known as the Curse of Agade, which dates to about a century or two after the fall of the Akkadian empire, Naram-Sin is punished and humbled by the gods for his acts of impiety, in this case, destroying the great temple of the god Enlil in a bout of rage. As far as we know, historically, this never actually happened, as there's no evidence whatsoever of Naram-Sin committing such an act. The story was actually meant to be a cautionary tale of what happens when a mighty king, let alone a man, attempts to challenge, or even question, the will of the gods. One of the most famous kings to have been deified during his lifetime was Shulgi of Ur. Ruling for 47 years, which may have led some at the time to truly believe that he was immortal, Shulgi had many hymns dedicated to himself, some of which honoured him as a god, and were recited in public processions. A passage from one such hymn reads, I, the king, was a hero already in the womb. I, Shulgi, was born a mighty man. I am a fierce-looking lion, begotten by a dragon. I am the king of the four regions. I am the herdsman and shepherd of the black-headed people. I am a respected one, the god of all the lands. Several decades later, many less powerful kings during the early decades of the Old Babylonian period, such as the kings of Essene, had similar, if not totally plagiarized versions of Shulgi's hymns written in honour of themselves. However, by around 1750 BC, the pendulum seems to have firmly swung into the camp of the king being an earthly representative and instrument of justice for the gods. One clear example of this is in the introduction to the famous law code of the Babylonian king, Hammurabi. While he does extol his own virtues and status throughout the text, he also clearly recognizes the supremacy of the gods and his role in carrying out their will. Text from the law code's introduction reads, When the august god, Anu, king of the Anunnaki deities, and the god, Enlil, lord of heaven and earth, who determines the destinies of the land, allotted supreme power over all peoples, to the god, Marduk, named the city of Babylon and made it supreme within the regions of the world, at that time, the gods, Anu and Enlil, for the enhancement of the well-being of the people, named me by my name, Hammurabi, the pious prince, who venerates the gods and makes justice prevail in the land, to abolish the wicked and the evil, to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak, to rise like the sun god Shamash over all humankind, to illuminate the land. I am Hammurabi, the shepherd, selected by the god, Enlil. By the time of the most powerful kings of ancient Mesopotamia, the Neo-Assyrian kings, the notion that a human ruler could be divine had pretty much disappeared. This may have been in great part due to the Assyrian religion and ideology. For the Assyrians, the god Ashur was always their real king, with the terrestrial ruler merely being his servant. The king recognized that all of his successes were due to Ashur and these other gods. So, I hope that this short video clarified some things about ancient Mesopotamia's rulers and their relationship with the divine. There's a lot more coming up, so stay tuned and thanks for watching. I'd also really like to thank this and all future content. Check out the benefits to being a Patreon member, and if you'd like to join, please click the link in the video description. You can also follow History with Sai on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as continue to to special audio programs on the History with Sai podcast. Thanks again, and stay safe.