how did the ideas of kingship increase in Mesopotamia
Answers
The origins of kingship
The best theories we have indicate that kingship developed out of one of the most endemic of human activities — waging war. Well, not quite full out war, but instead raiding and competition for resources.
Whilst the temple handled redistribution of food, the cities often needed (or wanted) more resources. From luxury items to building materials to slaves, these were usually attained by foraging or raiding parties either gathering the materials from the wild or attacking other cities to gain them.
Indeed, one of the defining characteristics of a city became a wall to defend from attackers. The earliest kings were likely war chiefs who managed to leverage their control of these parties to gain power.
These early kings ruled through their own charisma and control of the parties, however in order to institutionalise their power and create dynasties they crafted a specific ideology.
Like with the Temple, they claimed divine authority — “after the kingship descended from heaven” — and associated with the Temple, adopting titles used by the priesthood.
They created their own building — the Palace — that competed with the Temple for dominance of the skyline, and adopted some of its re-distributive functions, often focusing on elite good exchange. Through royal inscriptions and building monuments, they spread this ideology and gave it visual form, asserting their authority and legitimacy.
Human Sacrifice at the Death Pits of Ur, An artist’s impression of the death scene in a royal tomb at Ur from The Illustrated London News in 1928. Credit: University of Pennsylvania Museum.
At the Royal Cemetery at Ur, we can see death pits full of human sacrifices – loyal retainers following their kings into the afterlife.
The practice died out quickly but it shows that this was a period of innovation, when the early kings were trying out different ways of creating an ideology that would grant them authority beyond personal charisma and lasted over generations.
They succeeded and created one of the first examples of an institution that, though it has changed in form over the millennia, exists right to this day.