Doing the Work of God

The first time I was introduced to the ways of Ancient Mesopotamia with Uruk: The First City by Mario Liverani, it was clear that the temple had held significant power over the people. In particular, the temple was in charge of the economic system of distribution, had a hand at the production of barley (their main crop), and oversaw the city’s defenses. Now, with Zainab Bahrani’s Rituals of War, it is becoming even clearer just how much of a role ideology plays in the political scope of the kingdom. The belief in the gods has the power to not only shape foreign policy, but it can also influence people to sacrifice their lives all in the name of the god.

Documents have been found at archaeological sites that confirm that it was custom for kings to have diviners in their court. Diviners were people who could read and interpret the oracles and signs, whether it was coming from a sheep’s liver or from a dream. Many times, and especially when the outcome was uncertain, kings would ask the diviners to consult the gods to essentially “ask them for their permission” to attack a nearby kingdom or to accept help from another country. By asking the gods for their permission, and receiving a resounding “yes” in return essentially placed the anticipated action of the king in the god’s favor. Often, the kings would ask repetitive “yes or no” questions which only revealed their “profound anxiety [for the] coming events” (186). Omens such as “if a severed head laughs, conquest of the army” (187) uses graphic images to propound the belief that if such a thing were to occur, an unfortunate future was surely in the midst.

In other cases of ideology shaping political ways, was the use of a “substitute king.” When times were bad and ominous, the real king would be put on hold while another took his place (198). It was believed that bad times meant evil forces were at work, and if a substitute king could absorb those wicked spirits and die in the end to do so, then so be it!