Download Untitled

Absolute Power
Priests
Priestkings
Military
kings
Hereditary
kingship
Gilgamesh ca. 3100-2700 BCE - Priest/King
Thought to be more of a priest-king: have the
responsibilities of both the religious rites and
state administration (incl. military leadership)
Gilgamesh is listed in later Sumerian
records as the king of Uruk and builder of
its great city wall.
The written stories of Gilgamesh show
him to be half-man, half-god.
He may be largely legendary, but his city
is real enough as an early center of
civilization.
The city wall, dating from a little after
3000 BC, is about six miles long.
And it is from Uruk that the earliest
written tablets survive.
Sargon of Akkad: ca. 2350 BC
•SARGON OF AKKAD was an ancient
Mesopotamian military king who reigned
approximately 2334-2279 BC.
• He was one of the earliest of the world's great empire
builders, conquering all of southern Mesopotamia as well as
parts of Syria, Anatolia, and Elam (western Iran).
• He established the region's first dynasty and was
considered the founder of the Mesopotamian military
tradition.
• Although the Akkadians now ruled over Sumer, they kept
many of the same common and religious traditions.
Moving from the priest-king
• Akkadians formed new form of government which became a model for
later rulers.
• Akkadian kings were military kings and had an absolute power, while the
title was hereditary.
• Priesthood still played very important role throughout the history of
Mesopotamia.
• Akkadian rulers named themselves Lord of the Four Quarters (of the
Earth) and were eventually elevated to the divine status.
• Unlike in ancient Egypt, the divine status of the Mesopotamian rulers
was more of an exception than the rule.
Urukagina ca. 2275 BCE
-Ruled the Sumerian city-state of Lagash
around 2275 BCE
-Thought to be the first ruler to pass laws
that protected the people
-Reform: to create or change laws to
protect the welfare of the people
-laws were written by scribes and not
forgotten
Hammurabi ca. 1800 BCE
Hammurabi was king of Babylon, north of
Sumer and Akkad. He conquered those
kingdoms.
• The Law Code of Hammurabi is
significant because it is one of the
oldest set of laws yet discovered.
• Hammurabi also appointed judges to
uphold the law. (He was sharing power)
• Like the Akkadians, the Babylonians
also kept many of the traditions of the
Sumerians.
• His own dynasty collapsed following his
death, but the code of laws which he
instituted endured because they were
recorded in tablets and stone
Babylonians
• Babylonian kings also retained
centralized administration introduced
during the Akkadian Period.
• Babylonian kings were military kings
having complete authority.
• The famous Code of Hammurabi
indicates that the Babylonian kings had
supreme authority as law-maker and
judge.
Law Code of Hammurabi
currently resides in the
Louvre Museum, Paris.