the opinions of the elders carried more weight than did that
of the ordinary citizen.
To carry out policy, the assembly appointed a leader
known as an en. Originally, the en could be either a man or a
woman. In addition to secular duties, the en also had religious
obligations, conducting religious ceremonies and supervising
temple activities as well as the working of temple lands. Th e
power of the en grew with time, as did changes in the offi ce.
Women became ineligible to be the en; indeed, they had no
place in city politics, even being banned from membership in
the assembly. As the authority of the en grew, so did that of
the assembly erode until the latter became little more than an
advisory body to the en.
In some city-states the en became a king, while in others
the en relinquished his secular duties—fi nding the admin-
istration of temple and city too burdensome—and turned
them over to an ensi, or governor. Th e en thus became the
high priest of the main temple. Th e ensi, meanwhile, concen-
trated on creating and enforcing laws, regulating commerce,
maintaining city streets and buildings, collecting city taxes,
and seeing to the defense of the city. Over time the powers
inherent in the offi ce may have made some of the ensi kings.
Th e kings of some city-states arrived at the throne via a
third route. During the early Sumerian period a lugal, or “big
man,” was oft en appointed when a city-state faced a crisis, gen-
erally the threat of attack by a neighboring state. At the end of
the emergency the lugal was supposed to step down. However, if
the crisis continued for a long time or if the lugal was ambitious,
he might retain permanent power, thus becoming a king.
KINGS AND DIVINITY IN MESOPOTAMIA
To Mesopotamians the land and everything and everyone on
it belonged to the gods and goddesses. Indeed, each city had
supposedly been built by a particular god or goddess, who
was the city’s patron deity. Th us, Uruk’s patron was Inanna,
later known as Ishtar, who, among her other duties, was the
goddess of love, while that of Nippur was Entil, god of the
wind. Since each city was the property of its patron deity,
Mesopotamians came to see the king as a divinely appointed
administrator. Yet despite their godly connection, most Meso-
potamian kings did not actually claim to be divine. Th e third
millennium Akkadian king Naram-Sin (r. 2254–2218 b.c.e.)
and Shulgi (r. 2094–2047 b.c.e.), king of Ur, were among the
few that did make such a claim, as shown by the addition of
the superscript dingir, meaning “god,” to their names.
More common was the practice of emphasizing a king’s
divine ties. Th us the king was spoken of as being surrounded
by an aura and of being the metaphorical son of the patron
deity of his city. His connection to the divine was also rep-
resented in carved reliefs by making him appear taller than
other people or, as was done in a relief of Hammurabi of Bab-
ylon (r. 1792–1750 b.c.e.), by having him stand in front of the
patron deity, whose light bathed the monarch. Th e king was
also spoken of as a refl ection of the divine patron and as the
king of all four quarters of the earth and the heavens.
SUCCESSION IN MESOPOTAMIA
Th e king had three symbols of his authority vested in him by
the city’s patron deity: the crown, the scepter, and the throne.
Th e crown represented the king’s divine connection, the scepter
stood for justice, and the throne signifi ed his dominance over
the living. A new king sat upon the throne and was given the
scepter to hold and the crown to wear in a ceremony designed
to underscore his power. At the time of this ceremony the king
might also speak of his legitimate right to be the city’s ruler. He
based his claim on the fact that his ancestors had been kings
before him. Still, even though a kingship was hereditary, it did
not necessarily pass to a ruler’s eldest son. Instead, a younger
son or even a brother might be the royal heir. Cousins and
nephews generally were not in the line of succession, but some
sometimes did illegally seize the throne, becoming usurpers.
Indeed, such usurpation was not uncommon. Nor did
a usurper have to be a member of the royal family. Strong,
ambitious men made themselves king, particularly when the
monarch they replaced was seen by the city populace as an
ineff ective or bungling leader. A king who was seen to have
lost the favor of the gods—if, for example, famine ravaged the
land or a war was lost—might face open rebellion and the loss
of his throne to a usurper. A usurper normally claimed that
the city’s patron deity had ordered him to become king.
Rarely did a daughter, wife, or sister inherit the throne.
Th e queen, the king’s chief wife, generally had no real power.
Even so, a strong-willed queen, or even one of the king’s other
wives, occasionally exerted much infl uence over her husband.
Further, during the rule of the Akkadian dynasty (2350–2100
b.c.e.), one of the king’s daughters oft en became the head
priestess of the temple of Nanna, the moon god, in the city
of Ur. Although the political function that the high priestess
fulfi lled is unclear, her installation was considered a major
event, and clearly the post was considered important to the
ruling monarch.IN THE MESOPOTAMIAN PALACE
Th e center of the kingship, and consequently of the govern-
ment, was the palace. Here, the king had his and his family’s
living quarters. Th at family was oft en extensive and included
not only his many wives, concubines, and children but also
brothers, cousins, uncles, and nephews. Sometimes members
of the royal family, particularly the royal heir, had their own,
smaller palaces.
Also living and working in the palace, though separated
from the royal living quarters, was the king’s staff. Many of
these people were household servants, but also present were
scribes, whose ability to read and write made them the clerks,
secretaries, and accountants of the king. Th e scribes were
thus the record keepers, among whose chief duty was keeping
track of tax collection. Th ey also composed tributes promot-
ing the king’s character and achievements and made copies
of myths, hymns, and epics, which oft en glorifi ed the king’s
ancestors and their relations to the gods.government organization: The Middle East 515