In the seventh chapter, “Omens of war”, Bahrani reiterates the importance of divination in military decisions and the divine and ritual character of Mesopotamian warfare. We saw earlier in Van de Mieroop’s Hammmurabi that Hammurabi often used ideology or specifically the gods to justify his military action against neighboring states. Bahrani goes into further detail of the rituals involved in warfare.
When asking for the gods’ permission or approval for their battle plans or outcomes, the gods were asked to show a specific sign that meant non-consent Since the occurrence of the specific external response was almost impossible, the gods’ approval would have been almost certain. To me, the purpose of such a ritual was to use this ideology to assure the general public that the government made the right military decision. The ritual was used because it is the best way to explain to the general public an occurrence or a decision.
This applies to why the palace used substitute kings. Ideology would explain that the reason is that the substitute king would absorb all the evil forces in place of the real king. This may be just an explanation for the removal of an incompetent king. The explanation may be made either by the real king to explain his incompetence and to calm the public by showing that someone else better is doing his job. Or the explanation can be made by subversive subjects and the substitute king to explain why the real king, chosen by god, is no longer king.
The people were not dependent to the gods, merely reliant on chance. Instead, they were dependent on the powerful few who do not rule on whim and merely use the gods’ an ideological power tool.
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