government organization: The Middle East 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 The power of the en grew with time, as did changes in the office 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—finding the administration of temple and city too burdensome—and turned them over to an ensi, or governor The en thus became the high priest of the main temple The ensi, meanwhile, concentrated 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 office may have made some of the ensi kings The kings of some city-states arrived at the throne via a third route During the early Sumerian period a lugal, or “big man,” was often appointed when a city-state faced a crisis, generally 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 Thus, 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 Mesopotamian kings did not actually claim to be divine The 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 Thus 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 represented in carved reliefs by making him appear taller than other people or, as was done in a relief of Hammurabi of Babylon (r 1792–1750 b.c.e.), by having him stand in front of the patron deity, whose light bathed the monarch The king was also spoken of as a reflection of the divine patron and as the king of all four quarters of the earth and the heavens SUCCESSION IN 515 MESOPOTAMIA The king had three symbols of his authority vested in him by the city’s patron deity: the crown, the scepter, and the throne The crown represented the king’s divine connection, the scepter stood for justice, and the throne signified 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 ineffective 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 The 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 influence over her husband Further, during the rule of the Akkadian dynasty (2350–2100 b.c.e.), one of the king’s daughters often 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 The center of the kingship, and consequently of the government, was the palace Here, the king had his and his family’s living quarters That family was often 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 The scribes were thus the record keepers, among whose chief duty was keeping track of tax collection They also composed tributes promoting the king’s character and achievements and made copies of myths, hymns, and epics, which often glorified the king’s ancestors and their relations to the gods