Understanding Power

At the beginning of the semester, we had to write a small paper answering the question "What is power?" My understanding of power has definitely grown over the course of this class in regards to how people use it. Originally I dealt with the question by arguing that power is basically the ability to influence another person's actions or experience. This, therefore, could be on purpose or unintentionally, but regardless it is considered power. For example, a person who intentionally took power was Hitler, whose eloquence and persuasive speech enabled him to demand power. On the other hand, babies unintentionally have power over their parents by getting what they want when they want it. These examples give a very broad perspective of power, and claim that power is the influence that we have on others.

Over the course of the semester we've looked at the definition of power as from the history of Ancient Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near Eastern societies. In their perspective, power came from the gods. They were first and foremost in control, and they gave power to those who they deemed worthy. For example, it was believed that the king was divinely chosen and therefore given direct power from the gods. Also, the priests and diviners were thought to have power and wisdom from the gods that enabled them to interpret the signs and understand their will. Power was from the gods, and was not equated with influence as I claim. There were different aspects of this power that we are able to interpret such as military power, diplomatic power, etc. The king had monopoly over this, and if he was able to effectively manage it then he would be very powerful. Hammurabi was a good example of someone who was able to handle this and took control over the whole Ancient Near East (basically). Compared to the beginning of the semester, my view of the Ancient Mesopotamians has matured, and I now understand that they were considerably advanced in their ways of thinking and interpreting the world, including their monopoly of power and control.