UNIVERSITY OF TARTU

FACULTY OF THEOLOGY

ANDREAS JOHANDI

M ESO P O T A M I A N I N F L U E N C ES O N T H E O L D P E RSI A N R O Y A L
IDE O L O G Y AND RE L I GI O N DURING T H E A C H A E M E NID PE RI O D
0$67(567+(6,6

Supervisors
VLADIMIR SAZONOV, PhD
PEETER ESPAK, PhD

TARTU 2012

T able of Contents
Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................. 4
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 6
1

The Main Characteristics of Mesopotamian Royal Ideology........................................... 13

1.1

Royal Ideology in Mesopotamia during the Pre-historic Period ............................... 13

1.2 Royal Ideology in Mesopotamia during the Early Dynastic period (ca. 2900/28002334) 15
1.3 Royal Ideology in Mesopotamia during the Akkadian and Gutian periods (ca.23342112) 19
1.4

Royal Ideology in Mesopotamia during the Ur III and Isin-Larsa periods ............... 21

1.4.1

The Ur III period (ca. 2112-2004) ...................................................................... 21

1.4.2

The Isin-Larsa Period (ca. 2000-1800) .............................................................. 23

1.5 Royal Ideology in Mesopotamia during the Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian
Periods .................................................................................................................................. 23
1.5.1

The Old Babylonian Period (1894-1595) ........................................................... 24

1.5.2

The Old Assyrian Period (ca. 2000-1600/1500) ................................................ 25

1.6 Royal Ideology in Mesopotamia during the Middle Babylonian and Middle Assyrian
periods .................................................................................................................................. 26
1.6.1

The Middle Babylonian Period (1595-1155) ..................................................... 26

1.6.2

The Middle Assyrian Period (ca. 1400-1050) .................................................... 28

1.7 Royal Ideology in Mesopotamia during the Neo-Assyrian and Late Babylonian
Periods .................................................................................................................................. 29

1.7.1

The Neo-Assyrian Period (934-610) .................................................................. 29

1.7.2

The Late Babylonian Period (ca. 900-539) ........................................................ 30

The Main Characteristics of Mesopotamian Religion ...................................................... 32

2.1

Archaic Mesopotamian Religion ............................................................................... 33

2.2

Mesopotamian Religion during the Early Dynastic Period (ca. 2900/2800-2334) ... 35

2.3

Mesopotamian Religion during the Akkadian Period (ca. 2334-2154) ..................... 37

2.4

Mesopotamian Religion during the Ur III and IsinLarsa periods ............................ 38

2.4.1

The Ur III Period (ca. 2112-2004) ..................................................................... 38

2.4.2

The Isin-Larsa Period (ca. 2000-1800) .............................................................. 40

2.5

Mesopotamian Religion during the Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian periods ....... 41

2.5.1

The Old Babylonian Period (1894-1595) ........................................................... 41

2.5.2
2.6

Mesopotamian Religion during the Middle Babylonian and Middle Assyrian periods
43

2.6.1

The Middle Babylonian Period (1595-1155) ..................................................... 43

2.6.2

The Middle Assyrian Period (ca. 1400-1050) .................................................... 43

2.7

The Old Assyrian Period (ca. 2000-1600/1500) ................................................ 42

Mesopotamian Religion during the Late Babylonian and Neo-Assyrian periods ..... 44

2.7.1

The Late Babylonian Period (ca.900-539) ......................................................... 44

2.7.2

The Neo-Assyrian period (934-610) .................................................................. 46

Mesopotamian Influences on the Old Persian Royal Ideology and Religion .................. 48
3.1 Traces of Mesopotamian Influences on the Old Persian Royal Ideology and Religion
during the pre-Achaemenid Period ...................................................................................... 48
3.2 Mesopotamian Influences on the Old Persian Royal Ideology and Religion during
the Achaemenid Period (558-330) ....................................................................................... 55
3.2.1

The Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions .................................................................. 55

3.2.1.1

The Cyrus Cylinder ..................................................................................... 56

3.2.1.2

The Inscription of Darius at Behistun (DB) ................................................ 61

3.2.1.3

The Inscription of Artaxerxes II at Susa A (A2Sa) ..................................... 65

Conclusions .............................................................................................................................. 69
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 75
.RNNXY}WH ................................................................................................................................ 89

A bbreviations

AAMO

Acta Antiqua Mediterranea et Orientalia, Ugarit-Verlag.

ABC

A. K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles, Texts from

Cuneiform Sources, Volume V, Locust Valley, New York: J. J. Augustin
Publisher, 1975.

AOAT

$OWHU 2ULHQW XQG $OWHV 7HVWDPHQW 9HU|IIHQWOLFKXQJHQ ]XU .XOWXU XQG

Geschichte des Alten Orients und des Alten Testaments.
Kevelaer/Neukirchen-9OX\Q0QVWHUII

AoF

Altorientalische Forschungen, Schriften zur Geschichte und Kultur des

Alten Orients, Berlin 1974 ff.

ATU 7

Archaische Texte aus Uruk: vol. 7, R. Englund/H. Nissen, Archaische

Verwaltungstexte aus Uruk: Die Heidelberger Sammlung, 2001.

BIW A

R. Borger, BeitUlJH ]XP ,QVFKULIWHQZHUN $VVXUEDQLSDOV :LHVEDGHQ

1996.

CAH

The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge, England, 1970 ff.3.

CH

Codex Hammurabi.

C I I I/1

R. Schmitt, The Bisitun Inscriptions of Darius the Great: Old Persian

text. Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum I/1, 1, School of Oriental and
African Studies, 1991.

DB

Inscription of Darius I at Behistun.

EA

The El-Amarna Letters, ed. by W. Moran, 1992.

F A OS 5, I I

H. Steible, H. Behrens, Die altsumerische Bau- und Weihinschriften, Teil

II, Kommentar zu den InschULIWHQ DXV /DJD ,QVFKULIWHQ DXHUKDOE YRQ
/DJD)$26,-II., Freiburger Altorientalische Studien 5, Franz Steiner
Verlag, Stuttgart 1982.

J A OS

Journal of the American Oriental Society

J CS

Journal of Cuneiform Studies. New Haven, Baltimore, 1947 ff.

JN ES

Journal of Near Eastern Studies. Chicago, 1942ff.

JSO T

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. Sheffield, 1978/79 ff.

O B O 160/3

W. Sallaberger, A. Westenholz, Mesopotamien: Akkade-Zeit und Ur III=HLW2UELV%LEOLFXVHW2ULHQWDOLV)UHLEXUJ*|WWLngen, 1999.

O B O 160/5

K.R. Veenhof, J. Eidem, Mesopotamia: The Old Assyrian Period, Orbis

%LEOLFXVHW2ULHQWDOLV)ULERXUJ*|WWLQJHQ

RIM A 1

A. K. Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Third and Second Millennia BC

(to 1115 BC), The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Assyrian Periods,
Volume 1, University of Toronto Press, Toronto-Buffalo-London, 2002.

RIM A 3

A. K. Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC II

(858-745 BC), The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Assyrian
Periods, Volume 3, University of Toronto press, Printed in Canada,
Toronto-Buffalo-London, 1996.

RIM E 1

Douglas R. Frayne, Presargonic Period (2700-2350 BC), The Royal

Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Early Periods, Volume 1, University of
Toronto Press, Toronto-Buffalo-London, 2008.

RA

5HYXHG
$VV\ULRORJLHHWG
$UFKpRORJLH2ULHQWDOH3DULVII

Rl A

Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archaologie. Berlin,

1928ff.

UF

Ugarit-Forschungen. Kevelaer/Neukirchen-9OX\Q0QVWHUII

Introduction
Royal ideology and religion are important notions in the study of ancient history. The distance
in time does not allow the drawing of consistent conclusions and the writing of detailed and
all-encompassing overviews of ancient societies. The lack and imbalance of the sources often
leads to one-sided and partial illuminations of ancient life that forms the basis for the
hypothetical theories of the ancient societies as a whole. Between these theories consensus is
sought to revive distant history. As ancient history was often the history of rulers, based on
WKH IDFW WKDW D ODUJH SDUW RI WKH ILQGLQJV DUH FRQQHFWHG ZLWK WKH HOLWHV RI WKH VRFLHW\ WKH
research into royal ideology could prove resultant in an attempt to elucidate the ancient world.
Religion, on the other hand is always an important part of studying any society. Many
historians of religion are fond of creating opposites of the religious and the secular sphere in
the human experience.1 However, it is difficult to impose such a view upon ancient societies,
DVLQPDQ\FDVHVWKHUHOLJLRXVDQGVHFXODUVSKHUHVVHHPWREHVRLQWHUWZLQHGWKDWLWLVKDUG
to make any clear distinctions between them.
In the history of ancienW0HVRSRWDPLDDQG,UDQWKHUHOLJLRXVDQGVHFXODUOD\HUVDUH
also very hard to distinguish between. The heavenly sphere of the gods was not seen as being
apart from the mundane sphere of the humans. Accordingly, religion and royal ideology were
always tightly interwoven. The source of rulership was thus thought to reside in heaven2 and
it was bestowed upon the earthly rulers by the top gods of the pantheon. During a certain brief
period of history, the Mesopotamian rulers themselves were considered to be gods, a concept
common in ancient Egypt but unattested in ancient Iran during the Achaemenid rule. The
sources from ancient Mesopotamia and Iran - cylinder seals, inscriptions on clay tablets and
1

See e.g. Eliade 1959.

2QHRIWKHDQFLHQW0HVRSRWDPLDQOLWHUDU\FUHDWLRQV7KH6XPHULDQ.LQJ/LVW starts with the words:
:KHQWKHNLQJVKLSZDVORZHUHGIURPKHDYHQ (Jacobsen 1939, 71)
2

other material, onomasticon and visual representations on different objects etc. - are often
connected with royal ideology and religion. In the research fields of Assyriology and ancient
Iranian studies, the problems of royal ideology and religion are therefore prominent.
However, there is a lack of thorough and systematic studies on these topics. A wide array of
possibilities is open for future research.
T he A im of the T hesis
7KH DLP RI WKLV PDVWHUV WKHVLV WLWOHG 0HVRSRWDPLDQ ,QIOXHQFHV RQ WKH 2OG 3HUVLDQ 5R\DO
,GHRORJ\ DQG 5HOLJLRQ GXULQJ WKH $FKDHPHQLG 3HULRG LV WR FKURQRORJLFDOO\ IROORZ WKH
general developments of royal ideology and religion in the history of Mesopotamia during
three millennia BC (from the Early Dynastic period (2900/2800-2334) to the Neo-Babylonian
(626-538) period) and trace their subsequent influence on the Old Persian royal ideology and
religion during the Achaemenid period (558-330 BC). The hypothetical theories about the
earlier, prehistoric developments of royal ideology and religion on the proto-historic/protoliterate phases of Mesopotamia and Iran are also sketched. The most important source
materials are the Mesopotamian and Achaemenid royal inscriptions that will be compared and
analysed. Thus, the current thesis stands in the borderline of Assyriology and Iranian studies
and uses the sources from both fields of research.
This thesis has no pretensions whatsoever to be an exhaustive study in the matters of
Mesopotamian influences on the Achaemenid royal ideology and religion, as the topic and the
source material would allow a multitude of monographs to be written. Instead, it makes an
attempt to delineate some of the most obvious and well-founded influences.
7KHQRWLRQRIUR\DOLGHRORJ\LVXVHGV\QRQ\PRXVO\ZLWKWKHWHUPUXOHUVKLSLQWKH
current thesis. Both terms seem to adequately render this constantly changing system of views
DQG LGHDV 7KH XVH RI WKH WHUP NLQJVKLS WKH PRVW FRPPRQ GHsignator for the ancient
Mesopotamian and Iranian rulers in scholarly works, is avoided for the earlier rulers of
Mesopotamia due to the later historical connotations of the word.
Method
In the current thesis the following methods will be used:
1) Comparative method in religious studies. Comparative overview of the pantheons
and the gods connected with the institution of the ruler in Mesopotamia and the Achaemenid
Empire.
7

2) Comparative method in historical studies. Comparative overview of royal ideology

in the political context at various periods of Mesopotamian history and in the Achaemenid
period. Overview of royal titles as an important vehicle of royal ideology, their development
in time and the comparison of the Mesopotamian royal titles with the later Achaemenid royal
titulary.
3) Comparative method in linguistics. The basic materials for the comparative
linguistics used in the current thesis are the royal inscriptions written in the Sumerian,
Akkadian and Old-Persian languages. The Achaemenid inscriptions will be compared with
the earlier Mesopotamian material, common elements between them will be searched for.
H istoriography
The current author is not aware of any thorough and substantial studies on the topic of
Mesopotamian influences on the Old Persian royal ideology and religion during the
Achaemenid period. However, there are some influential articles published on this subject.
The late Gherardo Gnoli gives an adequate short overview of the topic in his 1988 article
%DE\ORQLDQLQIOXHQFHVRQ,UDQLQWKH(QF\FORSGLD,UDQLFD3, concentrating not only on the
Babylonian influences on the Achaemenid royal ideology and religion but on cultural
LQIOXHQFHV DV DZKROH $QWRQLR3DQDLQR LQ KLV DUWLFOH7KH0HVRSRWDPLDQ+HULWDJHRI
AchaePHQLG .LQJVKLS4 concentrates more specifically on the Mesopotamian influences on
kingship as well as religion, as the notions are tightly connected. Andrea Piras in his 2002
DUWLFOH Preliminary Remarks on Melammu Database: The Continuity of Mesopotamian
&XOWXUHE\,UDQRORJLFDO(YLGHQFH5 includes also the later Parthian and Sassanian material in
his article and counts the various Mesopotamian cultural influences on Iran as they appear in
HDUOLHU UHVHDUFKHV%XUNKDUW.LHQDVW LQ KLV DUWLFOHZur HerkunIWGHU$FKlPHQLGLVFKHQ
.|QLJVWLWXODWXU6 WUDFHV WKH SUHGHFHVVRUV RI $FKDHPHQLG UR\DO WLWXODU\ *HR :LGHQJUHQV
DUWLFOH7KH6DFUDO.LQJVKLSRI,UDQ7 emphasises on the Indo-European influences on
the institution of Iranian kinship but also hints to some possible customs (e.g. proskynesis8)
rooted in Mesopotamia.

Gnoli 1998.
Panaino 2000.
5
Piras 2002.
6
Kienast 1979.
7
Widengren 1959.
8
Ibid., 246.
4

From the monographs on Iranian history which also discuss the topics of royal
LGHRORJ\DQGUHOLJLRQVRPHSURPLQHQWRQHVPXVWEHPHQWLRQHG$OEHUW7HQ(\FN2OPVWHDGV
visionary but now somHZKDW REVROHWH  VWXG\ +LVWRU\ RI WKH 3HUVLDQ (PSLUH9
FRQFHQWUDWHVRQWKHKLVWRULFDOHYHQWVGXULQJWKH$FKDHPHQLGSHULRG5LFKDUG1)U\HV
ERRN 7KH +LVWRU\ RI $QFLHQW ,UDQ10 discusses also the later history under Macedonian,
Parthian and SassanLDQ UXOH0XKDPPDG $'DQGDPDHYVVWXG\ $3ROLWLFDO +LVWRU\RIWKH
$FKDHPHQLG (PSLUH11, originally published in Russian in 1985 (= 
      
, gives an overview of the historical events
during the Achaemenid empire, with a special emphasis on Babylonia, as the author is an
expert in the matters of Babylonia under the Achaemenids. The later stages of Macedonian,
Parthian and Sassanian rXOH RYHU ,UDQ DUH YLHZHG LQ -RVHI :LHVHK|IHUV ERRN 'DV DQWLNH
3HUVLHQ12, first released in 1993 and equipped with an epilogue concerning the modern
rediscovery of Iran and the cuneiform script. The colossal monograph on Achaemenid history,
3LHUUH%ULDQWV)URP&\UXVWR$OH[DQGHU$History of the Persian Empire13, probably the
most thorough study on Achaemenid history, was released originally in French in 1996 (=P.
%ULDQW+LVWRLUHGHO(PSLUHSHUVH/LEUDLULH$UWKqPH)D\DUG3DULV
Though there are countless articles written on the topic, they in general tend to be
engaged with some specific problem and do not consider these notions as a whole. There is a
lack of exhaustive, detailed and compendious studies. The only study known to the current
DXWKRU WKDW GLVFXVVHV UR\DO LGHRORJ\ DQG UHOLJLRQ LQ XQLVRQ LV WKH  .LQJVKLS DQG WKH
*RGV14 by Henri Frankfort, comparatively discussing the institution of kingship and its
UHODWLRQV ZLWK WKH JRGV LQ (J\SW DQG 0HVRSRWDPLD 7KRUNLOG -DFREVHQV  ERRN 7KH
7UHDVXUHV RI 'DUNQHVV +LVWRU\ RI 0HVRSRWDPLDQ 5HOLJLRQ15 does not give a systematic
overview of the religion but bases his study mainly on the quotes from Mesopotamian
literature.

Olmstead 1959.
Frye 1984.
11
Dandamaev 1989.
12
:LHVHK|IHU
13
Briant 2002.
14
Frankfort 1948.
15
Jacobsen 1976.
10

On the studies in Iranian religion, the works of Mary Boyce need to be mentioned. Her
WULORJ\ $ +LVWRU\ RI =RURDVWULDQLVP ILUVW HGLWLRQV 9RO  16, Vol. 2 198217, Vol. 318
1991) is the classical reference book on Zoroastrian religion. A useful source for studying the
$YHVWD DQG $FKDHPHQLG UR\DO LQVFULSWLRQV LV :LOOLDP : 0DODQGUDV  ERRN An
Introduction to Ancient Iranian Religion: Readings from the Avesta and Achaemenid
,QVFULSWLRQV19.
Primary Sources
The authentic cuneiform sources used in the current work are mainly the synchronic 20 royal
inscriptions of Mesopotamian and Persian rulers. There are many corpora of royal
inscriptions21 available from Mesopotamia (III-I millennium BC) and Persia during the
Achaemenid rule (558-330 BC), some of the exemplary ones will be used here. 22 Some
additional source materials like chronicles23, letters24, administrative documents25, laws26,
vassal treaties27, god-lists28, myths29, epics30, hymns31 will also be used. The use of sources
from synchronic and diachronic32 classical authors will be limited in this thesis as the focus of
discussion is set on the original sources from Mesopotamia and Iran.
Geographic Scope
The current thesis covers the area of Mesopotamia (Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia) and
the Iranian plateau (with the emphasis on the modern Iranian province of Fars). Other areas in
the ancient Near East (Elam, Egypt, the Hittite kingdom, Mitanni, Urartu etc.) will be
mentioned in connection with the Mesopotamian and Iranian states and rulers.

16

Boyce 1996.
Boyce 1982.
18
Boyce, Grenet 1991.
19
Malandra 1983.
20
The cuneiform texts contemporary with the periods discussed in the current thesis.
21
This thesis comparatively analyses Sumerian, Akkadian and Old Persian texts.
22
RIME 1, RIMA 1, RIMA 3, FAOS 5, II, BIWA, Piepkorn 1933, Cooper 1986, Schaudig 2001 for
Mesopotamia; Kent 1950, Schmitt 1991, Schmitt 2007, Brosius 2000, Kuhrt 2010 for Persia.
23
ABC.
24
EA.
25
ATU 7.
26
Roth 1997.
27
Parpola, Watanabe 1998; Wiseman 1958.
28
Litke 1998.
29
%HQLWR'DOOH\.lPPHUHU0HW]OHUIRUWKFRPLQJ
30
:LOFNH0DFKLQLVW&RKHQ5|PHU&DYLJQHDX[DO-Rawi 2000.
31
Reisman 1973.
32
Texts from later periods. In the context of the current thesis texts that were written after the
Achaemenid period.
17

10

T ime F rame and C hronology

The time frame of the current thesis covers the period between the Early Dynastic (ca.
2900/2800-2334 BC) and the Achaemenid periods (558-330 BC). At the beginnings of the
chapters brief abstracts will be added on the hypothetical theories concerning the problems of
pre-historic royal ideology and religion during the so-called Uruk culture in Mesopotamia and
pre-Achaemenid period in Iran. The middle chronology of Mesopotamian history will be used
for dating.
Structure
The text of the present thesis is divided into three main chapters:
Chapter 1, 7KH0DLQ&KDUDFWHULVWLFVRI0HVRSRWDPLDQ5R\DO,GHRORJ\, follows
the general developments of Mesopotamian royal ideology from pre-historic times (the Uruk
culture) to the Neo-Babylonian period (ca. 626-539 BC). The text is divided into subchapters
on the basis of the traditional periods in Mesopotamian history. Under each subchapter, a
short overview of the institution of rulership in the respective period will be presented. The
political and sacral role of the ruler will be discussed using primary sources, scholarly
theories, as well as some exemplary archaeological and iconographic material. The necessary
historical information will be added, with the emphasis on political history. The development
of royal ideology will be briefly discussed on the basis of the use of royal titles during the
various periods. The role played by different ethnical groups in the history of Mesopotamia
and their possible influences on Mesopotamian society, royal ideology and religion will be
presented.
Chapter 2, 7KH 0DLQ &KDUDFWHULVWLFV RI 0HVRSRWDPLDQ 5HOLJLRQ, follows the
developments of Mesopotamian religion with a structure similar to the first chapter: the text is
divided into subchapters covering the traditional periods of Mesopotamian history. Each
subchapter gives a short overview of the prominent gods of the respective era and centres on
these religious traits that are connected with the royal ideology. The relationship between the
gods and the rulers will be illuminated. The problems of syncretistic deities, the deification of
rulers, top gods of the pantheon and the possible influences of different theologies and
ethnical groups on Mesopotamian religion will also be discussed. The relevant written and
archaeological sources and modern theories will be presented.

11

Chapter 3, 0HVRSRWDPLDQ ,QIOXHQFHV RQ WKH 2OG 3HUVLDQ 5R\DO ,GHRORJ\ DQG
5HOLJLRQ GXULQJ WKH $FKDHPHQLG 3HULRG, differs from the first two chapters from a
structural point of view. Here the examples from primary written sources the royal
inscriptions of ancient Mesopotamia and Persia are quoted, analysed and compared. The
chapter is divided into two subchapters, the first traces the possible Mesopotamian influences
on Persian royal ideology and religion during the pre-Achaemenid period and discusses the
hypothetical background of the Iranian peoples and their emergence on the Iranian plateau,
the second part deals with the exemplary sources among the corpus of the Achaemenid royal
inscriptions. The possible Mesopotamian predecessors of the Achaemenid texts are quoted
and the similarities drawn out. The comparison centres on the royal ideology of the rulers,
appearing most prominently in the royal titles, and the relations between the rulers and the
gods.
The main question that the present thesis poses can be phrased as follows: Is it
possible to trace authentic elements of Mesopotamian royal ideology and religion in the
Achaemenid royal inscriptions? To answer this question it is impossible to go straight in

medias res, as the royal ideology and religion are too complex and multifaceted phenomena,
especially for ancient history that is often only partially visible. To give an adequate answer,
the material for the comparative analysis needs to be gathered and delineated first.
Accordingly the first chapters will be centred on delineating the authentic Mesopotamian
characteristics of royal ideology and religion. The results will be used in the third chapter,
which first discusses the pre-historic characteristics of Iranian royal ideology and religion and
then makes an attempt to find an answer to the posed question through a comparative study.

12

T he M ain C haracteristics of Mesopotamian Royal Ideology

The concept of royal ideology in Mesopotamia during the last three millennia BC should not
be considered as a single or monolithic unit of developments. There is a need to distinguish
between the different and constantly changing types of rulership, the different (e.g. ethnical,
linguistic, geographic etc.) backgrounds of the people living in Mesopotamia and separate the
multitude of social circumstances related to them. In the current chapter, only the general
developments are outlined and presented.
The primary topic of this chapter is the royal ideology in historical times, starting with
the sources from the III millennium BC. The earlier developments concerning the state
governance in Mesopotamian history remain highly hypothetical due to a lack of written
documents.33 The only basis for drawing the conclusions is the archaeological evidence which
allows only hypothetical claims to be made. Nevertheless, some comments about the era that
preceded the III millennium BC in Mesopotamia are made in an attempt to enlighten the
provenience of historical rulership.

1.1

Royal Ideology in Mesopotamia during the Pre-historic Period

The IV millennium in the Mesopotamian history is usually defined as the Uruk period
(differentiated by adding the excavation level numbers). The period is in turn divided into the
Early (ca. 4000-340034, levels XIV-V) and Late Uruk (ca. 3400-2900, levels IV-III) periods.35

33

The writing system was probably developed in the second part of the IV millennium, about 33003200 BC. The earliest documents were mainly financial documents and lexical lists composed of
pictograms and render little information about the social and political circumstances.
34
All dates in the current thesis are BC, otherwise noted. The middle chronology is followed for the
Mesopotamian history.

The period is named after the dominating city-state in southern Mesopotamia at the time.36
The traces of the Uruk culture in material findings (bullae, calculi and cylinder seals) do not
appear only in southern Mesopotamia but expand also to other territories (Iran, Anatolia,
North-Syria, Palestine).37 The motives for this broad distribution and its possible colonial or
imperial influences are still debatable. The fourth millennium in Mesopotamia is, despite the
lack of documental findings, considered to be an important period in the history of human
progress towards civilisation. By the end of the millennium, several important inventions like
writing and the system of states and cities are already present. These innovations hint to the
existence of a complex hierarchical society and specialized labour.38 It is undoubtedly the
result of various cultural and social developments taking place during the whole millennium.
The most common view about the type of government in early Mesopotamian society
seems to be the one which concentrates the control over the social-political and the religious
sphere into the hands of a hypothetical ruler, usually referred to as thH SULHVW-UXOHU RU WKH
SULHVW-king.39 The large cultic temple complexes, like the Eanna precinct in Uruk, are
WKRXJKWWREHWKHSULPDU\VRFLR-HFRQRPLFLQVWLWXWLRQV40 which were probably administered
DQG JRYHUQHG E\ WKLV SULHVW-UXOHU 7KHUHIRUH WKH UXOLQJ SRZHU LQ WKH FLW\-state,
administrative as well as sacral, is thought to be concentrated into the hDQGVRIWKLVSULHVWUXOHULQWKHWHPSOH,WLVLPSRVVLEOHWRVD\DQ\WKLQJFHUWDLQDERXWWKHDPSOLWXGHRIWKHSRZHU
of this person and the opinions of scholars vary tremendously. Thorkild Jacobsen opposed the
autocratic-despotic concept of the early Mesopotamian political system and offered another
YLHZ +H VDZ WKH SROLWLFDO UHJLPH LQ SUHKLVWRULF 0HVRSRWDPLD DV D SULPLWLYH GHPRFUDF\
where the institution of a ruler was required only temporarily and in case of urgency. The
35

The period between ca. 3100-2900 is also called the Jemdet Nasr period, named after the excavation
VLWH LQ VRXWKHUQ 0HVRSRWDPLD QHDU WKH FLW\ RI .L 7KH FXQHLIRUP WKDW FDQ EH UHDG DV 6XPHULDQ
developed during this period (Kuhrt 1995, 23).
36
Uruk (biblical Erech, modern Warka) is the basis for all the studies in the Mesopotamian early
history. The city is notable for the monumental architecture, relief plastics, the seals and above all the
development of script. These findings show the high socio-economic level of the Uruk culture (Selz
1998, 287).
37
This phenomenon is also called the Uruk expansion.
38
Mieroop 2004, 19.
39
$ILJXUHRIWHQWKRXJKWWREHVLPLODUZLWKWKHSULHVW-ruler is pictured on the Uruk vase and also on
the basalt-stele that depicts two figures hunting. Piotr Steinkeller argues, on the basis of various archaic
and historical data, that already this early ruler was designated with the title enWKHFRQFOXVLRQWKDW
the archaic ruler of Uruk went by the name of en is virtually assured. Furthermore, as is strongly
suggested by the evidence from Jemdet Nasr, it appears that this title was borne equally by the rulers of
other Sumerian city-states. This would mean that the institution of enship enjoyed general acceptance
among the Sumerians during the archaic age. To put in even stronger terms, enship apparently was the
original form of Sumerian kingship (1999, 111). However, firm evidence to this assumption is not
available from the data and it remains a plain speculation. Cf. Braun-Holzinger 2007, 7ff.
40
Kuhrt 1995, 27.

14

actual political power was in thH KDQGV RI D JHQHUDO DVVHPEO\ FRPSRVHG RI DOO DGXOW IUHH
PHQ RI WKH FRPPXQLW\ ZKR GHFLGHG RQ WKH PDMRU LVVXHV OLNH ZDU DQG SHDFH 41 In the
6XPHULDQ HSLF *LOJDPHVK DQG $NND42, two types of assemblies seem to be present: the
VHQDWHRUWKHHOGHUVRI8UXk and the assembly of the townsmen.43 Gilgamesh, the ruler of
Uruk, has to face both of these assemblies before he sets out to fight with Akka, the ruler of
.L $FFRUGLQJ WR -DFREVHQ *LOJDPHVK QHHGV WR JHW WKH SHUPLVVLRQ WR DFW IURP ERWK
assemblies.44 However, the Gilgamesh texts are most probably from ca. the Ur III era45, thus
representing the state ideology of a much later era and are therefore of no direct value in
describing the governing bodies of the earlier periods.
The theory of Jacobsen was debated by Adam Falkenstein with his alternative theory,
EDVHG RQ WKH VWXG\ RI /DJD LQ WKH (DUO\ '\QDVWLF46 period, suggesting that during the
prehistoric period the temple was the sole landholder of the state.47 6R WKH SULHVW-UXOHU
should have been exercising quite influential power over the subjected people and extended
authority over irrigation works, the building of storehouses and temples, defence works,
defence against the outside and maintaining social justice.48 Falkenstein, in turn, was later
opposed by ,JRU 'LDNRQRII ZKR DOVR VWXGLHG GRFXPHQWV IURP /DJD49 and concluded that
purchasable land was also in the hands of free community members already from the earliest
times onward.50

1.2

Royal Ideology in Mesopotamia during the E arly Dynastic period (ca. 2900/28002334)

In the third Millennium the ideology of Mesopotamian rulership seems to gradually move
towards more centralised and autocratic forms of government. This tendency reaches its
41

Jacobsen 1943, 72.

6HH5|PHU)RUDQDOWHUQDWLYHLQWHUSUHWDWLRQRI*LOJDPHVKDQG$NND, see also Katz 1987.
43
Jacobsen 1943, 66.
44
Ibid. According to Selz 1998, 316-317 these assemblies are called: uNL-DU-ra ab-ba-uru-naka/ke4 GHU bOWHVWHQ VHLQHU 6WDGW) and uNL-DU-UD JXUX-uru-na-ka GHU -XQJPlQQHU VHLQHU
Stadt6HO]VHHVLQ*LOJDPHVKDQG$NND a conflict between two different ruling concepts: the sacralbureaucracy of the South Mesopotamia and the dynastic rulership from the north of the land (Selz 1998,
318).
45
Cavigneaux, al-Rawi 2000, 4-9.
46
Also known as Presargonic period.
47
Falkenstein 1974, 7.
48
Ibid., 11.
49
Cf. Deimel 1931.
50
Diakonoff 1969, 178.
42

15

height by the end of the millennium when the autocratic, centralised states of the Akkadian
kings and the III Dynasty of Ur appear.
The Early Dynastic period, the next stage in the history of Mesopotamia lasted from
ca. 2900/2800 until ca. 2334. The period subdivides into Early Dynastic I (ca. 2900-2750), II
(ca. 2750-2600), IIIa (ca. 2600-2450) and IIIb (ca.2450-2334), but the distinctions are made
based on the stylistic changes in the material remains, and in the political sense the whole era
should be seen as a unit.51 It is possible to divide the period as historical and pre-historical
based on the appearance of first longer royal inscriptions, for example, during the reign of Ur1DQHRI/DJDFD. 2520.52
The political situation in the Early Dynastic era has often been described as a struggle
between the city-states for hegemony in Mesopotamia. The domination over the adjacent
cities and territories shifted from the hands of one city to another, but these hegemonies
usually lasted for only a brief period of time.53 The most important city states were Uruk, Ur,
.L/DJD/DUVD$GDE8PPD,VLQHDFKRIWKHPDOVRFRQWUROOLQJDKLQWHUODQGRIWKHPDMRU
city. Different cities had different views about the role of monarchy and also different titles
for designating the rulers. For example, en ORUG VRPHWLPHV DOVR D SULHVW54), ensi FLW\
UXOHURUJRYHUQRU sanga SULHVWDQG lugal ELJPDQRUDUP\OHDGHUDWILUVWLQWKH
later Mesopotamian history it would become the par excellence designation for the ruler55).
The exact translations are still questionable and a search for specific conformances for those
titles from a modern terminology could easily lead to the usages that probably were alien to
the ancient Sumerians.56 In the same manner it is equally hard to circumscribe the amount of
power exercised by a ruler designated with a specific title.57 Therefore, taking into account all
the conclusions made about the different royal titles and their meaning, it must be kept in

51

Mieroop 2004, 43.

For Ur-1DQHVLQVFULSWLRQVVHH5,0(-119; Cooper 1986, 22-33.
53
Frankfort 1948, 217.
54
Uruk seems to be the only city-state where e n was the designation of the ruler, in Uruk en meant also
WKHOHDGHURIWKHDUP\5|OOLJ
55
Hallo 1957, 10.
56
5|OOLJ
57
'LDNRQRII,WLVGLIILFXOWWRGHILQHWKHVFRSHRIWKHDXWKRULW\RIWKHHQV tDVRSSRVHGWR
that of the l u g a l. Apparently the situation differed in the various states of Sumer. Some states never
had a l u g a l, others never had an e n s t,Q/DJDWKHUHVRPHWLPHVH[LVWHGDOXJDODQGVRPHWLPHV
DQHQVtLQVRPHRIWKHQRPHVDOXJDODQGDQHQVtVHHPWRKDYHH[LVWHGVLPXOWDQHRXVO\%XWFI
0LFKDORZVNL   WKH 6XPHULDQ WHUPV en, lugal, and pnsi are seen by some to have very
GLIIHUHQWV\PEROLFKLVWRULHVDQGIXQFWLRQLQIDFWWKH\DUHMXVWGLIIHUHQWORFDOZRUGVIRUVRYHUHLJQWKH
first one originally used in the city of Uruk, second in Ur, and the third in the city-VWDWHRI/DJDVK
52

16

mind that we are dealing with speculative-VFLHQWLILFVSHFXODWLRQVDQGQRW ZLWK UHDO Iacts of

KLVWRU\LQWKHPRGHUQVHQVH58
The royal ideology in the Early Dynastic period was closely connected with gods.
Each city-state had its own tutelary deity, and the ruler was seen as chosen by this deity and
acting as his/her representative on earth. So the real ruler of the city state was not the human
ruler himself but the tutelary deity; the ruler was only seen as following the orders of the god.
The rulers were also seen as created and nurtured by deities. Both the temple and the city as a
whole were considered to be the estate of the god who owned the large temple communities.
His high priest was at the same time the governor ( ensi) of the city.59 There were many
temples in one city-VWDWH)RUH[DPSOH/DJDDFFRUGLQJWRWKHGRFXPHQWVIRXQGKDG about
20 temples60, the most important and largest one belonging to Ningirsu61, the tutelary deity of
/DJD62 The city of Nippur had a special sacral function in the history of Mesopotamia. The
Ekur temple in Nippur was the home of Enlil, the political leader of the earlier Mesopotamian
pantheon.63 Enlil and Nippur was tightly connected with the notion of rulership, as the rulers
from various Mesopotamian cities searched recognition and legitimisation from him in
Nippur.64 In turn, the rulers lavished Nippur with precious gifts and carried out elaborate
construction works and restorations of the sanctuaries.65
From this period we have the first written material about the rulers who held power in
the independent city-states. The earliest known royal inscription belongs to (En)mebaragesi,
WKH UXOHU RI .L DQG LV GDWHG WR FD  )URP WKLV UXOHU WZR VKRUW LQVFULSWLRQV DUH IRXQG
altogether.66 The scarcity of source material still prevails for the Early Dynastic period. For
some of the rulers of this era no inscriptions are found so far, for some, only a few, and for
some, around ten.67 Taking this into consideration, scholars have tried to reconstruct the
overall picture of the era by using the literary sources depicting the Early Dynastic period. In
58

For the same reasons WKLV WKHVLV DYRLGV DV PXFK DV SRVVLEOH WKH XVDJH RI WHUPV OLNH NLQJ and
NLQJVKLS FRQFHUQLQJ WKH HDUOLHU KLVWRU\ RI 0HVRSRWDPLDQ UXOHUVKLS 7KH ZRUG NLQJ bears very
different connotations in the English language and seems unsuitable for the Early Dynastic rulers of
Mesopotamia.
59
Frankfort 1948, 222-223.
60
Ibid., 222.
61
Ningirsu = Ninurta in Isin and Assyria, see Annus 2002 about the mythology of Ninurta.
62
6HH6HO]DERXWWKHWHPSOHVDQGJRGVLQ/DJD
63
&ROH$VORQJDV(QOLOUHLJQHGDs king of the gods, his city served as the religious capital of
WKHDOOXYLDOSODLQDQGUHFHLYHGWKHYHQHUDWLRQRIWKHSODLQVLQKDELWDQWVHVSHFLDOO\LWVNLQJV
64
Gibson 2007.
65
Ibid. About Enlil see Selz 1992; Michalowski 1998; Edzard 2003.
66
RIME 1, 56-57; FAOS 5, II, 213-214.
67
Sazonov 2007a, 2002.

17

addition to WKH DIRUHPHQWLRQHG HSLF *LOJDPHVK DQG $NND DQG RWKHU HSLFV FRQFHUQLQJ
Bilgamesh/Gilgamesh and other rulers of Uruk (e. g. Lugalbanda epics68(QPHUNDUDQGWKH
/RUGRI$UDWWD697KH6XPHULDQ.LQJ/LVW70 DQG7KH+LVWRU\RI7XPPDO71 have formed
WKH EDVLV IRU WKH VFKRODUV LQ FRQVWUXFWLQJ WKH SLFWXUH RI WKH (DUO\ '\QDVWLF SHULRG 7KH
6XPHULDQ.LQJ/LVWLVDPRQJWKHPRVWGLVSXWHGRIWKHVHOLWHUDU\FRPSRVLWLRQV,WLVSUHVHQWHG
as a list of rulers from different cities in Mesopotamia, starting with the legendary times
before the flood when periods of reign were presented as extremely long. Then comes the
flood and after this event the reigning years of the rulers begin to decrease. What makes the
list exceptional is the way the ruling has been depicted. It seems to offer a certain idea of
KHJHPRQ\LQWKHVHQVHWKDWRQO\RQHUXOHUDQGRQHFLW\FRXOGUXOHDWDWLPHDQGQRQHRIWKH
UHLJQVRYHUODS7KHHDUOLHVWNQRZQYHUVLRQRI7KH6XPHULDQ.LQJ/LVWGDWHVIURPWKH8U,,,
era and most probably also represents the royal ideology of that period.72
Some scholars73 had the idea that the king list could be used as a source of authentic
history by the means of uniting the information from the royal inscriptions and the more or
less (quasi)histoULFDOGDWDIURPWKHNLQJOLVW7KLVSUDFWLFHKDVQWSURYHGWREHYHU\IUXLWIXODV
WKH QXPEHU RI UXOHUV DSSHDULQJ LQ ERWK VRXUFHV 7KH 6XPHULDQ .LQJ /LVW DQG WKH UR\DO
inscriptions) is so far as low as six, and the material that the list is based on seems to be
inconsistent.74 6HYHUDOPRGHUQVFKRODUVDJUHHWKDW7KH6XPHULDQ.LQJ/LVWLVQRWDSURSHU
tool for recreating the actual Mesopotamian history. 75
Among the most prominent and well documented rulers of the Early Dynastic era are
Ur-1DQHFDDQG(DQDWXPFDRI/DJD8U-1DQHLVSUHVHQWHGDVDEXLOGHURI
temples, public buildings and irrigation canals. On a votive plaque now in the Louvre, Ur1DQH LV GHSLFWHG ZLWK D EDVNHW RI EULFNV RQ KLV KHDG D FRPPRQ ZD\ RI DFFHQWXDWLQJ WKH
UXOHUV role as builder in Mesopotamia. Another text is the first longer description of an
historical event, namely of Ur-1DQHV PLOLWDU\ DFWLRQV DJDLQVW 8U DQG 8PPD 7KH
descendant of Ur-1DQH (DQDWXP76, is first of all known from the so-called vulture stele77
68

See Wilcke 1969.

See Cohen 1979.
70
See Jacobsen 1939.
71
See Michalowski 2006; Sollberger 1962.
72
See Steinkeller 2003.
73
Most elaborately and prominently Jacobsen 1939.
74
Kuhrt 1995, 30.
75
0LFKDORZVNL   6LQFH WKH .LQJ /LVW LV QRW D UHIOHFWLRQ RI UHDO HYHQWV EXW LV UDWKHU D
depiction of an idea of reality, the text should forever be banished from reconstruction of early
0HVRSRWDPLDQKLVWRU\&I0DHGD-3.
76
See RIME 1, 125-167; Cooper 1986, 33-IRU(DQDWXPVLQVFULSWLRQV
69

18

where Eanatum is pictured on his military campaign against the city of Umma. The military
action of Eanatum is sacrally justified by the god Ningirsu, as the latter is pictured on the stele
catching enemy soldiers with a net.78 Several other Early Dynastic rulers are also relatively
well known, such as Enanatum, Uruinimgina, Lugalzagesi etc.

1.3

Royal Ideology in Mesopotamia during the A k kadian and G utian periods (ca.23342112)

The Akkadian79 dynasty (ruled ca. 2334-2154) marks a wide-scale change in the royal
ideology of the Mesopotamian rulership. Still, the available data and consensus between
scholars concerning the problems with the Akkadian dynasty is limited.80 One of the major
reasons for the scarcity of the material is that Agade, the capital city of the dynasty, remains
unexcavated and even unlocated.81
Traditionally, the first ruler of the Akkadian dynasty, Sargon I (ca. 2334-2279), is seen
as the builder of the first empire. The question whether to call the created state an empire
remains debatable.82 What can surely be stated is the fact that Sargon created an entity that,
compared to the previous entities of the city-states, can be called a territorial state as it
encompassed a much wider scope of land than any of the previous states in Mesopotamia.
Sargon, the creator of the dynasty, managed to gain control over South-Mesopotamia after
defeating Lugalzagesi, the ruler of Uruk, in battle. Sargon is also known to have conquered
areas to the east (western Iran), to the north and to the west (Mari, Ebla). What cannot be
suggested with certainty is the level of rule that the kings of the Akkadian dynasty established
over the lands after conquering them. Though it is almost impossible to state by which means
Sargon added these areas to his state, it seems certain that the era of Sargon and his
descendants is characterised by centralisation and more despotic means of rule than in
previous times.83

77

See Ibid., 33-39.

Espak 2010a, 4-9.
79
Also called the Sargonid Dynasty or the Dynasty of Agade
80
Westenholz, OBO 160/3, 18. Ibid.II$OPRVWHYHU\WKLQJSHUWDLQLQJWRWKH6DUJRQLFSHULRGLVD
matter of controversy /.../ The available data are scattered, incomplete, inadequately published and even
more inadequately analysed.
81
See Wall-Romana 1990 for probable locations.
82
Westenholz, OBO 160/3, 103.
83
Cf. Sazonov 2008, 195.
78

19

There are various signs of centralisation, provable by using the material available from
written sources. For examSOHWKHXVHRIWKHXQLYHUVDOWLWOHVOLNHNLQJRI.LDQGNLQJRIWKH
IRXUTXDUWHUVRIWKHZRUOGDQd the deification of at least one of the Akkadian rulers84 shows
signs of immense power being concentrated into the hands of the rulers. The uniform system
for dating (the so-FDOOHG \HDU QDPHV WKH VWDQGDUGLVDWLRQ RI VFULSW ZHLJKWV FDOHQGDU
archives and the increase of crown-land reflect the extensive bureaucracy in service of the
UXOHU6DUJRQVVHWWLQJRIKHUGDXJKWHU(QKHGXDQQDWRWKHRIILFHRIKLgh-priestess of the moongod Nanna-6XHQDW8U85 and the Akkadian nobility (including probably the members of the
royal family) serving as ensis in the conquered areas testify to the fact that the empire was
controlled by a highly centralised family model. The Early Dynastic term ensi became the
designation for a local governor appointed to the office by the Akkadian rulers. The important
position of the rulers is also accentuated by the personal names 86, royal statues, and the
portrayal of the kings as mighty warriors, rulers and builders.
Sargon founded a new city called Agade87, which became the capital of the state and
the centre of all trade. The product surpluses of the territorial state were produced for Agade.
It is worth mentioning that despite the changes in the approach to rulership in the Akkadian
times, the royal ideology still remains uniform with the previous times of the hegemonic cityVWDWHVDVWKHNLQJRIWKLVH[WHQVLYHSROLWLFDOFRQJORPHUDWHFRQWLQXHGWREHILUVWDQGIRUHPRVW
WKHNLQJRI$JDGH88
According to the most common version, the end of the Akkadian dynasty came about
through tribesmen from the east, called the Gutians. Some scholars89 have doubted the idea
that the Gutians were primarily responsible for the destruction of Akkadian state and list some
other probable factors like attacks by other ethnic groups (Elamites, Lullubi, Hurrians,
Ummanmanda) and internal upheavals during the reign of Narm-6XHQ $FFRUGLQJ WR
archaeological records a large part of Mesopotamian area seems to have been left untouched

84

Most notably Narm-6XHQFD-2218) who in the Narm-6XHQ9LFWRU\6WHOHLVGHSLFWHGZLWKD

horned helmet, the symbol of gods. According to Selz 2008, 16 the horned crown is first attested in the
(DUO\'\QDVWLF,,SHULRGDQGLWUHVHPEOHVWKHYLJRURIOLIHDQGUHSURGXction.
85
In the next 500-600 years this move designates a ruler whose claim to power is vastly superior to the
power of a city-ruler (Kuhrt 1995, 50)
86
:HVWHQKRO] 2%2   7KH IDFW WKDW WKH NLQJ DSSHDUV HYHU\ZKHUH LQ 6DUJRQLF $NNDGLDQ
personal names with semi-GLYLQHVWDWXVLQGLFDWHVWKDWLWZDVTXLWHVLJQLILFDQW
87
Contrary to the traditional opinion, Aage Westenholz proposes the idea that the city was already
DQFLHQWLQ6DUJRQVWLPHV:HVWHQKRO]2%2
88
Kuhrt 1995, 55.
89
See Hallo 1971; Speiser 1967.

20

by the destruction and so the invasion of the Gutians probably had exerted more influence on
the northern part of the land.90

1.4
1.4.1

Royal Ideology in Mesopotamia during the U r I I I and Isin-L arsa periods

T he U r I I I period (ca. 2112-2004)

The rule of the Gutians was ended half a century later by Utu-hegal (ca. 2119-2113), the ruler
RI8UXNZKRXVHGWKHWLWOHNLQJRIWKH IRXUTXDUWHUVLQ WKHWUDGLWLRQ RI 1DUm-6XHQ91 It
seems possible that the first ruler of the Ur III dynasty Ur-Namma, (ca. 2112-2095) held a
power struggle over the hegemony of Mesopotamia with thHVWDWHVRI8UXNDQG /DJD The
circumstances are unknown, but king Utu-hegal disappears from history and the state of
/DJD LV LQFRUSRUDWHG WR WKH VWDWH RI 8U thus creating a new centralised empire in
Mesopotamia. The name of the dynasty the Third Dynasty of Ur or Ur III92 is derived
IURP7KH6XPHULDQ.LQJ/LVWZKHUHLWLVPDUNHGDVWKHWKLUGUXOHRIWKHNLQJVIURP8U8UNamma was the first ruler to adopt the tLWOHNLQJRI6XPHUDQG$NNDG.93
The Third Dynasty of Ur (ca. 2112-2004) carried on the pattern of centralisation
VWDUWHGE\WKH$NNDGLDQUXOHUV,WKDVEHHQGHVFULEHGDVDOHVVH[WHQVLYHEXWPRUHLQWHQVLYH
version of Akkad Empire.94 This statement seems apt because while the Third Dynasty of Ur
was definitely not as far-reaching in territory, it was one of the most well documented eras of
WKH 0HVRSRWDPLDQ KLVWRU\ 7KH DSRJHH RI WKH G\QDVW\ FDPH ZLWK LWVVHFRQG UXOHU XOJL ca.
2094-2047), who in his 21th year95 started the practice of deification, which was later
followed by the rest of the rulers of the dynasty, who were deified already from the beginning
RIWKHLUUHLJQ5XOHUVZHUHDOVRNQRZQDVJUHDWWHPSOHEXLOGHUVXOJLLVQRWDEOe for his social
reforms, as his 22th year in office shows a considerable growth in the economy documents,
from then on reaching the amount of thousands of documents per year.96 The amount and
content of the documents, reflecting mainly the economic transactions, allows us to assume
the vast amount of officials and scribes in the service of the hierarchical bureaucracy. The
90

Hallo 1971, 710.

Veenhof 2001, 73.
92
Also called the Neo-Sumerian period or the Sumerian Reneissance.
93
Edzard 2004, 99. The area of Sumer covers the area of southern Mesopotamia. The area of Akkad
covers the area of northern Mesopotamia. The city of Nippur is considered to be the approximate border
between the two areas.
94
Postgate 1994, 1.
95
Michalowski 2008, 36.
96
Nissen 1995, 209.
91

21

state was divided into provinces, each lead by an ensi who was probably only handling the
administrative matters and was under the absolute power of the king who could, for example
arbitrarily transfer the ensi from one place to another. The local deities were probably still
considered to be the actual owners of the provinces, as proven by the designations of lands as
WKH ILHOGV RI JRGV which have been ratified by the rulers.97 Nevertheless, the actual and
unlimited power was probably a privilege of the absolute ruler. This view is affirmed by the
OLWHUDWXUH GHGLFDWHG WR XOJL ZKLFK SUDLVHV WKH NLQJ LQ D PRVW H[RUELWDQW PDQQHU DQG IRU
example, depicts him as the perfect ruler and the son of the supreme god Enlil.98 During the
rule of the Ur III dynasty, several literary compositions were created, most notably the short
epics of the Gilgamesh cycle and the heroic stories of the kings Enmerkar and Lugalbanda99.
Associating the king with those ancient rulers of Uruk might have been also one of the most
significant features of the royal ideology of the period.
XOJLZDVSUREDEO\DOVRWKHPRVWFHOHEUDWHGNLQJLQ0HVRSRWDPLDZLWKYDULRXVK\PQV
and prayers dedicated to him.100 7KH\ FDQ EH GLYLGHG LQWR WZR JURXSV UR\DO SUD\HUV
GHGLFDWHGWRYDULRXVGHLWLHVDQGFRQWDLQLQJEOHVVLQJVDQGSUD\HUVIRUXOJLDQGJHQXLQHUR\DO
K\PQV ZKHUH WKH NLQJ KLPVHOI ZDV WKH PDLQ VXEMHFW RI SUDLVH101 ,Q WKH K\PQV ulgi is
presented as a hero who is an expert in warfare, hunting, judgement, music, sports, divination,
SROLWLFVDQGODQJXDJHV7KHJUHDWJRGVVHHKLPDVWKHMXVWLILHGUXOHUDJRRGVKHSKHUG 102 to
the land of Sumer.
The gods Nanna and Ninurta share the conWUDGLFWRU\VWDWXVRIILUVW-born son of Enlil
LQWKH8U,,,SHULRG,QWKHILUVWFDVHWKHHPSKDVLVOD\RQWKHKHDYHQO\NLQJVKLSDQGWKHFLW\
of Ur and in the second case, on the political realm and the city of Nippur.103 The earthly
rulers physically alsRUHVHPEOHG(QOLOVVRQVDQGVRPHRIWKH$NNDGLDQDQG8U,,,NLQJVZHUH
UHFRUGHG DV (QOLOV VRQV LQ the written sources.104 Amar Annus concludes that the Ur III
period rulers were considered fully divine and of equal rank with Nanna and Ninurta and that
the divine sons merged with the person of the king.105

97

Edzard 2004, 102.

See e.g. Klein 1981.
99
See Wilcke 1969, Cohen 1979.
100
Klein 1981, 8.
101
Ibid.
102
S ipad zid in Sumerian.
103
Annus 2002, 17.
104
Ibid., 18.
105
Ibid.
98

22

1.4.2

T he Isin-L arsa Period (ca. 2000-1800)

The end of the Third Dynasty of Ur came during its fifth ruler Ibbi-6XHQFD-2004). He
lost power over the former provinces. An independent dynasty seized power in Isin, lead by
,EL-Erra (ca. 2017-1985), a former governor under Ibbi-6XHQ7KHFLW\RI8UZDVVDFNHGE\
the Elamites coming from the east and Ibbi-6XHQZDVWDNHQWR6XVDDVFDSWLYH,WZDV,ELErra, who managed to drive out the Elamite forces DQGHVWDEOLVKKLVUXOHRYHUWKHFLW\,ELErra claimed himself the legitimate successor of the Third Dynasty of Ur106, but the territories
were not as extensive. In the next two centuries there was no central government ruling over
Mesopotamia. The land was divided into smaller, rivalling entities, deriving their royal
ideology mostly from the Ur III state. Among the Ur III influences were probably the
deification of rulers and equating them with Ninurta and Nanna.107 Isin and Larsa were the
most prominent among those states. Thus, the era is sometimes called the Isin-Larsa period.
Lipit-(WDU-1924) is another notable ruler from Isin, above all for his law codex.108 The
domination of Isin did not last long, as it was soon rivalled by the dynasty from Larsa and its
fifth ruler, Gungunum (1932-1906), the contemporary of Lipit-(WDU+H managed to conquer
Ur and took control of the important trade route to Dilmun/Bahrain.109 Gungunum bore the
WUDGLWLRQDO0HVRSRWDPLDQWLWOHVNLQJRI6XPHUDQG$NNDGDQGNLQJRIUr.110

1.5

Royal Ideology in Mesopotamia during the O ld Babylonian and O ld Assyrian

Periods

The Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian periods are characterised by new political and ethnical
powers appearing in the area of Mesopotamia. The earlier times of Akkadian and Ur III
periods already show traces of new ethnical groups in the Mesopotamian area. These groups
are called the Amorites111 and the Hurrians, with especially the former playing a significant
role in the next stage of the Mesopotamian history. The general political situation in
Mesopotamia is for the most part fragmented into small city-states, thus resembling the

106

This aspiration to legitimate the rulership of Isin is also reflected in the contemporary versions of
7KH 6XPHULDQ .LQJ /LVW ZKLFK LQFOXGHG WKH '\QDVW\ RI ,VLQ DV VXFFHVVRU WR WKH 8U ,,, VWDWH
(Finkelstein 1979, 61).
107
Annus 2002, 18.
108
See Roth 1997, 23-35.
109
Saggs 1968, 79.
110
Oates 1979, 58.
111
The term is derived from a murru, the Akkadian term which designates the people from the west,
probably separate Semitic tribes of North Syrian origin.

23

traditional political order of the Early Dynastic times. The city-states are for short periods of
time concentrated into larger territorial units under capable rulers who use military strength
and diplomatic means in conquering and controlling other city-states. The common examples
IRUVXFKUXOHUVDUHDPL-Adad I (1808-RI(NDOODWXP5P-6XHQ-1763) of Larsa,
and Hammurabi (1792-1750) of Babylon.

1.5.1

T he O ld Babylonian Period (1894-1595)

The most famous ruler of the period was Hammurabi of Babylon. 112 He was the sixth ruler of
the First Dynasty of Babylon (1894-1595), the dynasty of Amorite origin. The city of Babylon
was then only a locally important centre, ruling only over its close vicinity. By the end of his
rule, Hammurabi had outplayed all his rivals for the dominion over Mesopotamia and reigned
over the whole territory and further, albeit the First Dynasty of Babylon ruled only fleetingly
on such a scale. During the time of Hammurabi, the cult of the local city god Marduk started
to gain momentum. The most famous heritage of Hammurabi is probably the so-called
&RGH[ +DPPXUDEL ZULWWHQ RQ D VWHOH IRXQG LQ 6XVD113 The function of the laws of
Hammurabi has been the subject of constant scholarly debate. The common conclusion seems
WR EH WKDW LWV QRW DFWXDOO\ PHDQW WR EH D XQLIRUP DQG DOO-round law code. Contemporary
juridical documents show that the judges seem to rely more on common sense and other
means like documents, testimonies of witnesses and even the river ordeal, and do not need
reference to a certain law code.114 2QH ZD\ RI LQWHUSUHWLQJ WKH &RGH[ +DPPXUDEL
especially its prologue and epilogue, would be to regard the stele as a means of royal
propaganda, presenting the king as the righteous ruler and a benefactor for his subordinates,
WKH Ning of justice who secured the eternal well-being of the people and provided just
ways for the land.115 J.J. Finkelstein also denies the legislative meaning of the laws and
defines them to be royal apologia and testament.116 The view of Hammurabi as a just ruler is
acknowledged on the top of the law stele where the ruler is depicted receiving symbols of
justiFHIURPDPDWKHsun-god and as such also the all-seeing eye of judgement.

112

About Hammurabi see Klengel 1999; Mieroop 2005.

Probably there as a result of an Elamite raid to Mesopotamia.
114
Mieroop 2005, 108.
115
CH xlviii 338 = Roth 1997, 134135.
116
Finkelstein 1961, 103.
113

24

1.5.2

T he O ld Assyrian Period (ca. 2000-1600/1500)

The beginning of the Old Assyrian period is usually dated to ca. 2000. The earlier
developments in northern Assyria remain vague because of the lack of documentation. At
OHDVWIURPWKHEHJLQQLQJRIWKHVHFRQGPLOOHQQLXPWKHFLW\RI$XUZDVDQLPSRUWDQWFHQWUH
for international trade, situating near the crossing of Tigris where the caravan routes from
different directions met.117 The most significant amount of sources for Old Assyrian period
DQGWKHFLW\RI$XUFRPHVIURPFHQWUDO$QDWROLDWKHFLW\RI.DQHVKZKHUHWKHFRPPHUFLDO
TXDUWHURUWUDGLQJFRORQ\NUXP) of Assyrian merchants was located.118
The early political prominence of Assyria is usually associated with a ruler named
DPL-Adad I. He was not an Assyrian himself but, like Hammurabi, of Amorite origin.
DPL-Adad I managed to create a large territorial state in the northern part of Mesopotamia.
He conquered AXU LQ 119 and is associated with the first rise of Assyria as major
political power and the development of monarchy in northern Mesopotamia. Albert Kirk
Grayson explains this development: The concept of sovereignty in Assyria was inspired and
conditioned by two chief factors, the growth in political power of Assyria and the presence of
a more sophisticated civilization to the south.120 ,Q WKLV ZD\ DPL-Adad I created the
institution of the ruler in Assyria, following the example of the rulers in southern
Mesopotamia. He also used the Akkadian term DUUX, the title traditionally translated as
NLQJLQWR(QJOLVK121, for the first time in Assyrian history.122
The territorial states of the Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian era faded soon after their
founGDWLRQDPL-$GDGVVWDWHLQWKH1RUWKORVWLWVLQIOXHQFHDIWHUWKHIRXQGHUVGHDWK7KH
First Dynasty of Babylon lasted for one and a half centuries after its most prominent ruler
Hammurabi and was then razed by the Hittite king Mursili I123 (ca. 1620-1590) in 1595. This
event created a vacuum of power in Babylon which was soon filled by a new national group
in the history of Mesopotamia the Kassites.

117

Veenhof 2001, 113.

Veenhof, OBO 160/5, 41.
119
Ibid., 26.
120
Grayson 1971, 312.
121
LUGAL in Sumerian.
122
Grayson 1971, 312.
123
About Mursili I see Bryce 2005, 96-100. According to Walter Mayer the sack of Babylon by Mursili
I in the long term lead to total upheaval of the political relations in Syria and Mesopotamia (Mayer
1995, 167).
118

25

1.6

Royal Ideology in Mesopotamia during the M iddle Babylonian and Middle

Assyrian periods

The Middle Babylonian (ca.1595-1155) and Middle Assyrian (ca.1400-1050) periods are also
GHVLJQDWHG DV 7KH *UHDW 3RZHUV &OXE LQ WKH 1HDU (DVWHUQ KLVWRU\ 124 The Club of Great
Powers refers to a tighter relationship between the large and powerful territorial states
(Babylonia, Hatti, Egypt, Mitanni, Assyria).125 Part of the period is also referred to as the ElAmarna age. The name El-Amarna is the modern name of Akhetaten from where an extensive
archive of royal letters was found from the time of Akhenaten and Amenhotep III (ca. 13651335).126 The letters were predominantly written in Akkadian, the lingua franca of the time.
The most part of the correspondence was held between the rulers of Egypt and their subjected
rulers in the Levant, but a smaller part of letters was received from the other great powers.
The main topics in those letters reflect the personal relations of the rulers, for example,
diplomatic marriages between the courts and the royal gifts sent to each other. Among other
information, the Amarna letters render valuable information about the characteristics of
rulership at the time.

1.6.1

T he M iddle Babylonian Period (1595-1155)

The Middle Babylonian rule in Babylonia proper was, as mentioned before, crucially
influenced by yet another ethnic group of tribDO SHRSOH  WKH H[SHUW KRUVH-breeders and
charioteers called the Kassites127. Thus, the era is also called the Kassite period. The earliest
signs about the Kassite activity in Mesopotamia come from the 53rd year of Rim-6XHQ,RI
Larsa (ca. 1770), as an individual named Kilamdi-%XULD128 was mentioned in an economic
text.129 The Kassite dynasty first controlled northern Babylonia (in the early 16th century) and
then expanded their control to the southern part by ca. 1475.130 Their rule lasted until ca. 1155
when it was ended by the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte, who conquered Babylon and
appointed his son Kudur-Nahhunte as governor.131 The Kassite rule is considered to be the
124

6HH/LYHUDQLIRUWKH7KH*UHDW3RZHUV&OXE
It is also the period when, though surprisingly late, Egypt appears for the first time in the cuneiform
texts (Edzard 2004, 142).
126
See EA and Cohen, Westbrook 2002 for El-Amarna letters.
127
The original homeland of the Kassites has not yet been localised and their language is considered to
be an isolate language, not of Semitic or Indo-European ancestry.
128
%XULDZDVWKHZHDWKHUJRGRIWKH.DVVLWHV
129
Brinkman 1980, 466.
130
Ibid., 465.
131
Oates 1979, 96.
125

26

longest and the most stable rule in the history of Babylonia, as well as the age of great
building programs132. However, one of the controversial problems is the question of how
much did the Kassite rulers actually influence the culture and society of Babylonia, as they
seemed to have taken over many of the earlier phenomena from the area.133 John A. Brinkman
suggests two important features of monarchy in the Kassite period that distinguishes it from
the earlier times. Firstly, the birth of a national monarchy in the sense that the ruler is
primarily the ruler of a country or a national state and not a ruler of a city-state; secondly, that
Babylonia was internationally accepted as one of the most important states of the era and its
UXOHUZDVPDUNHGZLWKWKHWLWOHJUHDWNLQJ.134 Also known are XTDPXQDDQGXPDOL\Dthe
patron deities of the royal family, to whom in Kassite Babylonia temples were built.135 The
titles that the Kassite kings used were traditionally Mesopotamian; the only invention attested
LV NLQJ RI .DUGXQLD.136 Another distinctive element of the Kassite Babylonia was the

kudurru or the boundary-stone, signifying a royal grant to announce the granting of land to a
person in the form of an oval or pillar-shaped stone.137 Some deities of Kassite origin appear
on the kudurrus.138
After the fall of the Kassites in ca. 1155 a new dynasty of rulers called The Second
Dynasty of Isin (1158-1027) emerged from Isin. Nebuchadnezzar I (1126-1105), the most
powerful king of that dynasty, managed to conquer Susa and bring back the statue of Marduk.
However, the rule of the dynasty remained ephemeral.
The state of Mitanni had its reputation among the great powers of the time. Very little
is known about the historical events and social institutions of this state. In its heyday (ca.
1500-1360) it reached from the Zagros Mountains in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the
west, with its heartland in the .KEU5LYHUUHJLRQZLWKWKHXQORFDWHGFDSLWDORI:DVVXNNDQL
7KH$VV\ULDQODQGVLQWKHYLFLQLW\RI$XUZHUHDOVRXQGHUWKH0LWDQQLDQRYHUORUGVKLS$IWHU
1360 Mitanni became the vassal state of the Hittites king under king Suppiluliuma I (ca.1370132

E.g., 'U-Kurigalzu, the second capital or royal residence of Babylonia was erected.
%ULQNPDQ   Although there was a Kassite family reigning over the country for most of
that time, there is no obvious trace of either a Kassite ruling caste of officials or even of a
disproportionately large Kassite population within Babylonia. Kassite rulers seem to have followed
older Mesopotamian tradition in religious matters. Sumerian was used as the language for most royal
building inscriptions; and Babylonian continued as the language for letters, accounts, and legal
GRFXPHQWV
134
DUUXUDE in Akkadian. Brinkman 1974, 397.
135
Zadok 2005.
136
%ULQNPDQ   NLQJ RI .DUGXQLD - Akkadian DU PW .DUGXQLD. .DUGXQLD means
Babylon in the Kassite language.
137
Oates 1979, 99-100.
138
About kudurrus see Seidl 1989.
133

27

1330). During the 14th century Mitanni was gradually incorporated into the rising state of
Assyria.

1.6.2

T he M iddle Assyrian Period (ca. 1400-1050)

7KH SROLWLFDO VWUHQJWKHQLQJ RI $VV\ULD LV XVXDOO\ DVVRFLDWHG ZLWK $XU-Uballit I (ca. 13651330). In his two surviving letters to the Egyptian ruler, located in the El-Amarna archive139,
one can witness his craving to be recognised as one of the great powers. In those letters,
$XU-Uballit I denotes himself with the new politiFDO WLWOH NLQJ RI $VV\ULD.140 The title
exhibits the international ambitions of the ruler. The Assyrian kings thus far had used titles
like LLDN d$XU141YLFH-UHJHQWRIWKHJRG$XURUDNLQ d Enlil 142DSSRLQWHHRIWKHJRG
(QOLOZKLFKUHSUHVHQWWKHNLQJLQKLVSULHVWO\IXQFWLRQVDVDQLQWHUPHGLDU\EHWZHHQWKHVH
gods and the people.
In the Middle Assyrian society many inventions appear, including the Assyrian Royal
Annals143 in the time of Tiglath-Pileser I144 (1114-1076) or the new means of deporting145
people in the conquered areas during the reign of Shalmaneser I (1274-1245). Probably the
most powerful Middle-$VV\ULDQ UXOHU ZDV 7XNXOW-Ninurta (1244-1208). He was notable for
conquering Kassite Babylon in 1225 and overthrowing Babylonian ruler Kastiliash IV. His
PLJKWDQGPLOLWDU\DFWLYLWLHVZHUHFHOHEUDWHGLQWKH7XNXOW-1LQXUWD(SLF146 and also in his
royal inscriptions with extensive titulary147)RUH[DPSOH7XNXOW-1LQXUWDXVHGWKHWLWOHNLQJ
RI NLQJV DU DUUni, IRU WKH ILUVW WLPH LQ 0HVRSRWDPLDQ KLVWRU\ 7XNXOW-Ninurta is also
notable for building Kar-7XNXOW-Ninurta, the new capital of Assyria. The Middle Assyrian
royal ideology and royal titulary, the aktu festival and literature were strongly influenced by
Babylonia.148 The Middle-Assyrian society has been described as essentially militaristic and

139

EA 15 & 16; see also Artzi 1978.

Artzi 1978, 29.
141
8VHGEHIRUHWKHUHLJQRIDPL-Adad I, see e.g. RIMA 1 A.0.32.1, ll. 2-3, p. 15; RIMA 1 A.0.34.1,
ll. 2-3, p. 41. The word LLDNis written ZLWKWKHORJRJUDPe16,LQWKHFLWHGFDVHV
142
)LUVWDWWHVWHGZLWKDPL-Adad I, see e.g. RIMA 1 A.0.39.3, l. 2, p. 55; RIMA 1 A.0.39.4, l. 2, p. 56.
143
Probably influenced by the Hittites.
144
About Tiglath-Pileser I see Olmstead 1917.
145
About Assyrian deportations see Oded 1979, Freydank 1980, Sazonov 2010b.
146
See Machinist 1978.
147
About the titulary of 7XNXOW-Ninurta see Sazonov 2010a, 96-148.
148
Grayson 1971, 318-319.
140

28

lead by strict rules.149 $FFRUGLQJWRWKH0LGGOH-$VV\ULDQODZV150, the common measure of

punishment was mutilation, e.g. the cutting off of the convicts fingers, nose or ears.

1.7

Royal Ideology in Mesopotamia during the Neo-Assyrian and L ate Babylonian

Periods151

The next few centuries following the Middle Assyrian and Middle Babylonian periods are
scantily documented in both Babylonia and Assyria. This is usually substantiated by the social
cataclysms and political disorder caused by the new invading tribes called the Arameans. The
time between ca.1050-900 remains relatively obscure in the history of Mesopotamia.
1.7.1

T he Neo-Assyrian Period (934-610)

The Neo-Assyrian period saw Assyria emerge as the sole superpower in the Near East. The
new rise of Assyria started iQWKHQLQWKFHQWXU\XQGHUWKHUXOHU$XU-Dan II (934-912). In the
first phase of the Neo-Assyrian period, the rulers seem to be reclaiming the control that the
powerful Assyrian rulers exercised during the Middle Assyrian period. Mario Liverani sees an
imSRUWDQW GLIIHUHQFH EHWZHHQ WKH SROLWLFDO SURJUDP RI $XUQDVLUSDO ,, -859) and
Shalmaneser III (859-:KLOH$XUQDVLUSDO,,WULHGWRUH-establish the rule over the land
DV LW KDG EHHQ LQ WKH WLPHV RI 7XNXOW-Ninurta I and Tiglath-Pileser I, Shalmaneser III
broadened the landscape and wanted to conquer the rest of the world.152 After Shalmaneser
III153 there was a period of crisis (ca. 827-744), but when Tiglath-Pileser III (744-727) came
to power, he and the following six rulers managed to seize control over the whole of the Near
(DVWDQGDWWLPHVDOVR(J\SW7KHODVWUHDOO\SRZHUIXOUXOHURI$VV\ULDZDV$XUEDQLSDOca.630), who managed to crush the revolt in Babylonia (652-648) and annihilate Elam in 646.
The unexpectedly rapid downfall of the empire came at the end of the seventh century when
joint forces of Babylonian, Medes and Scythians managed to destruct Nineveh (612) and a
IHZ \HDUV ODWHU WKH UHPDLQV RI WKH HPSLUH XQGHU WKH UXOH RI $XU-Uballit II (611-609) in
Harran.

149

Especially harsh rules were imposed upon women. For example, women were only allowed to be
seen with covered heads in public places.
150
See Roth 1997, 153-194.
151
7KHXQWUDGLWLRQDOWHUP/DWH%DE\ORQLD LVXVHGKHUHLQVWHDGRIWKHWUDGLWLRQDO1HR-Babylonia to
encompass a longer period of time.
152
Liverani 2004, 220.
153
About Shalmaneser III see Yamada 2000.

29

The royal ideology of the Neo-Assyrian Empire centred on the absolute and
unchallenged rule of the king. All of the subordinates were considered to owe total loyalty to
the ruler154, hence the life and death of his subjected people, as well as the appointment of
officials, was solely in the hands of royal power. The ruler was seen as the defender of world
order, and this definition legitimises also the constant military traits of the Assyrian kings.
Everything outside the empire was considered to represent the powers of chaos and had to be
subjected to cosmic order, carried out, among other things, by the military conquests of the
ruler.155 The foreign element or the military foe was described as a demonic, monstrous force.
)RUH[DPSOH$urbanipal describes his military opponeQWV DVWKH FUHDWXUHVRI7LDPDW156
But as absolute rulers, the Assyrian kings were not deified and acted only as mediators
between their subjects and the gods as in most cases in the history of Mesopotamian
rulership.157 According to Stefan M. Maul, the kings used divination as the means of keeping
the cosmic order in place: the signs in nature, the astral phenomena and the terrestrial omens
were to be heeded by kings as warnings of the wrath of the gods whom they had to pacify
with the help of rituals and sacrifices.158 So there seems to be a certain contradiction in the
DEVROXWLVP RI WKH NLQJ DV KH ZDV QRW DQ DEVROXWH UXOHU LQ WKH VHQVH WKDW KH FRXOG PDNH
arbitrary decisions for his own pleasure. The building of temples, the royal hunt, the cultic
meals are all not only the displays of personal power of the king but first and foremost the
ritual duties of the king as a mediator between his gods and his subjects.159

1.7.2

T he L ate Babylonian Period (ca. 900-539)

The time between ca.900-745 in Babylonia is scantily documented; the sources are more
numerous for the period of the Assyrian overlordship between ca.744 and 627. For most of
the ninth century, Babylonia was independent and ruled by monarchs within one family, but
the political power was relatively weak and could not control the tribes of Sutians and
Arameans160 in the hinterland. In the eight and seventh centuries, the political situation in the
land was very unstable no continuous dynasties were present and there was constant
154

See the vassal treaties of Assyrian kings: Parpola, Watanabe 1988; Wiseman 1958.
0DXO$OV.ULHJVKHUUVWHOOWHHUVHLQ+DQGHOQDOV$NWGHU5HWWXQJYRUGHP&KDRVGDULQ
GHU :HLVH ZLH LQ GHQ 0\WKHQ GHU 6LHJ GHU +HOGHQJ|WWHU 1LQXUWD RGHU 0DUGXN EHU GLH .UlIWH GHV
Chaoss (Anz, asakku; Timat) geschildert sind.
156
Haas 1980, 43.
157
Cooper 2008, 261.
158
Maul 1999, 201.
159
5|OOLJ-124.
160
Sometimes thought to be one tribe.
155

30

fighting for domination over northern Babylonia, mainly between the Assyrians and the
Chaldean tribes from the barely controllable southern Babylonia. Assyria, who dominated161
for most of the time, could not impose any stability, and constant tribal revolts endangered
their rule.
The Neo-Babylonian period (ca.626-539) is better documented. It starts with the king
Nabopolassar (626-605), who formed the Neo-Babylonian dynasty and managed to overthrow
the Assyrian empire. His successor Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562) was a great builder (the
Ishtar gate, Esagila and Etemenanki in Babylon) and is also known for his annual military
campaigns against Egypt, Judah and Elam. His most famous achievement in military history
is the destruction of Jerusalem in 587/6 and the deportation of its people to Babylon, known
as the Jewish exile. His annual campaigns, with tribute-collecting and punitive purposes, are
the follow-up to the common practice of Assyrians. The last king of the dynasty, Nabonidus
(555-539), tried to develop the cult of the moon-god 6XHQLQ+DUUDQDQGVHWWOHGLQWKH7DLPD
RDVLVWKXVQRWEHLQJDEOHWRFDUU\RXWWKHNLQJVLPSRUWDQWUROHLQWKH1HZ<HDUIHVWLYDOVLQ
Babylon.162 These steps proved unpopular among his Babylonian subjects.

Nabonidus

succumbed eventually to defeat by Cyrus II of Persia, the founder of the Achaemenid Empire.
The characteristics of royal ideology in the Neo-Babylonian period emphasise the
NLQJVLQYROYHPHQWZLWKWKHFXOWLFHYHQWVDWWKHWHPSOHVLQ%DE\ORQDQGWKH%DE\ORQLDQ1HZ
<HDUVIHVWLYDO$FFRUGLngly, the ideologies of rulership differ from the Assyrian ideology in
WKHVHQVHWKDWWKHNLQJVUROHDVZRUVKLSSHURIWKHJRGVLVDFFHQWXDWHGDQGKLVPLOLWDU\VNLOOV
and endeavours in the Assyrian sense remain in the background.163 Otherwise, the king is still
a typical Mesopotamian absolute ruler with the traditional titulary.

161

The Assyrian rulers had three solutions to the %DE\ORQLDQSUREOHP they tried to rule Babylonia
themselves, through members of their royal families or through Babylonian puppet rulers, but none of
these practises were succesful in the long term (Brinkman 1974, 410).
162
Oates 1979, 133-134. Cf. ABC 104-111.
163
Dandamaev, CAH III, p. 2, 1991, 253.

31

T he M ain C haracteristics of Mesopotamian Religion

Writing an overview about religion in Mesopotamia is undoubtedly a difficult task. An

exhaustive, chronological history of Mesopotamian religion is yet to be written. However, one
can seriously doubt the effective purpose of this kind of work164, as the level of ambiguity and
contradictoriness remains high enough for even the most marginal questions of Mesopotamian
religion. The main reason for this kind of situation is the constant lack of findings, the
imbalance of the texts by habitat and by genre (e.g. literary, historical, and ritual texts, royal
inscriptions etc.) and finally the multidimensional religious picture in the area. Even the
attempt to construct a common Mesopotamian pantheon at some point in history is bound to
fail because of the multitude of deities and the endless variety of panthea in different
geographical locations. As Gonzalo Rubio formulates:
It was through the various deities in the pantheon that religion was experienced and public cult
performed in Mesopotamia. This pantheon, however, is an archaeological reconstruction
predicated on the available sources, which are as diverse as they are inherently uneven: ritual
texts, literary compositions, god lists, royal inscriptions, historical texts of various sorts,
administrative documents, the onomasticon, and so forth. The inventory resulting from
compiling all theonyms attested in all these various sources is called the pantheon of that
period or city. Modern scholars are quite aware of the fact that each city or geographical area
had its own pantheon and that specific panthea did evolve and change through time. Moreover,
each of these corpora (rituals, inscriptions, onomasticon, etc.) may also bear witness to a
specific pantheon, and, therefore, the simple addition of all these panthea to construct a single
pantheon often entails a simplification of an otherwise sundry religious, devotional, and cultic
landscape.165

Despite all of these hardships surrounding the topic, the general developments in
Mesopotamian religion will be presented in this chapter. Accordingly to the title of this thesis,
the religious traits are viewed in connection with the notion of royal ideology. Some religious

164

Cf. Oppenheim 1964, 172 who brings out two major problems in writing the systematical overview
of Mesopotamian religion: the nature of the available evidence and the problem of comprehension
across the barriers of conceptual conditioning.
165
Rubio 2011, 91-92.

topics that are more loosely connected with rulership are excluded or only briefly
mentioned.166

2.1

A rchaic M esopotamian Religion

As was the case with the early Mesopotamian notion of rulership, similar hardships are
encountered when trying to describe the archaic Mesopotamian religion. The lack of material
does not allow anything certain to be said. Various theories have been developed by scholars
but no real consensus is found in many of the problems, and all the conclusions remain highly
hypothetical. One thing that still can be quite surely stated is that the notions of rulership and
religion seem to be tightly entwined167 and so the questions concerning archaic religion
resemble those of archaic rulership, discussed in the beginning of the first chapter of this
thesis. Also the basis for the discussion is formed by the same scanty findings, for example,
the Uruk vase and the archaic texts168 from the same city-state. On the top row of the Uruk
vase, tKH DIRUHPHQWLRQHG SULHVW-UXOHU DQG WKH VSHFXODWLYH en of Uruk seemingly offers
agricultural products to the goddess, who presumably is Inanna, the tutelary goddess of Uruk
known from the later times.169 On the middle section of the vase, naked male servants,
probably thHUHWLQXHRIWKHSULHVW-UXOHU carry vessels and jars of farm produce. Below, men,
VWUHDPVRIZDWHUVKHHSJRDWVDQGHDUVRIJUDLQDUHGHSLFWHG7KHZDWHUVORZHVWSRVLWLRQRQ
the vase seems to have a significant meaning it could be seen as a life-giving natural force
that makes the plants and animals grow. The carvings on the vase could outline the view of
the ancient Mesopotamians who saw the world as an agricultural hierarchy with water,
animals and grain on the bottom and the goddess on top.170 This leads to the topic of the roles
of female deities in the archaic Mesopotamian pantheon, who, by the speculations of some
scholars, dominated over the male deities. In an attempt to reconstruct the earliest Sumerian
pantheon, Piotr Steinkeller states:

166

E.g. the relatively obscure topic of personal deities, the practice of divination, the role of minor
deities etc.
167
One possible explanation is that religion of ancient Mesopotamia is for the most part a religion of the
rulers, as very little is known about the religious affiliation of other layers in the society (Oppenheim
1964, 181).
168
See e.g. ATU 7. See also Nissen 1986.
169
7KLVVFHQH RID PHHWLQJEHWZHHQWKH SULHVW-ruler and the goddess seems to be important, as it is
also depicted on a number of cylinder seals found in the Eanna precinct in Uruk (Braun-Holzinger 2007,
9).
170
Cf. Espak 2010b, 215.

33

It appears quite certain that the earliest Sumerian pantheon was dominated by female deities.
As I would reconstruct the situation existing during the Uruk period, most of the city-states (or
proto-city-states) had goddesses as their titulary divine owners. Those goddesses controlled
broadly all aspects of human and animal life, namely fertility, procreation, healing, and death.
Included among them were the birth goddesses Ninhursag, Nintu, and Gatumdug; the grain
goddesses Nisaba and Ninsud; the cattle goddess Ninsun; the fish and water-fowl goddess
Nanshe; the goddess of sex drive Inanna; the healer Gula; and the death specialist Ereshkigal.
And then there was one dominant male figure. That was Enki, a personification of
male reproductive power, the god of fresh water and creative intelligence. Enki undoubtedly
was the original head of the pantheon. As I would suggest, Enki was paired with the most
chief goddesses, complementing them as a male element, and thus functioning as a sort of
universal husband.171

This quotation raises a few of the most essential questions about the archaic Mesopotamian
religion: about the dominant role of female goddesses and about the early male leader of the
SDQWKHRQZKRLQ6WHLQNHOOHUVWKHRU\ZDV(QNL7KHGRPLQDQWURle of female goddesses has
been suggested for many of the ancient societies, with the later Minoan culture one of the
examples with a mother-goddess dominantly appearing in the visual imagery.172 Concerning
archaic Mesopotamian religion, the question arises: why and how did the female-dominated
pantheon of the prehistoric era turn into the masculine one known and documented from the
later periods? Steinkeller insists that it happened in the concurrence of two developments: the
inner changes within the Sumerian society and the northern influence by the Semitic
Akkadians, whose deities were very dominantly male.173 Seeing Enki174 as the head of the
archaic Sumerian pantheon immediately raises the question about the position of Enlil 175, the
later top god of the Sumerian pantheon. Steinkeller and Piotr Michalowski have proposed the
idea that Enlil was originally a Semitic god. They equated Enlil with the foreign (probably
6HPLWLF JRGV 'DJDQ (O DQG $XU RQ WKH EDVLV RI OLQJXLVWLF QXDQFHV 176 However, another
171

Steinkeller 1999, 113-114.

Matz, &$+ ,, S    7KH IDFW WKDW WKH ODGLHV SOD\ DQ LPSortant role in the pictures is
characteristic of Minoan life in general. In accordance with the pre-eminent position of the mothergoddess they appear in cult scenes, and we learn from the miniature frescoes that, when they were
spectators at public functions, they were separate from the men and occupied privileged positions.
173
Steinkeller 1999, 114.
174
About Enki/Ea see Espak 2010b.
175
(QOLOVGRPLQLRQLVWUDGLWLRQDOO\FRQVLGHUHGWREHZLQGDQGDLU6HHHJ-DFREVHQ-/RUG
Wind; Kramer 1997, xLLWKHDLU-god. For a different opinion, see the next footnote.
176
Steinkeller 1999, 114, n. 36, Michalowski, 1998, 241-242. Steinkeller gives three arguments why
Enlil could be a god with foreign (semitic) background: 1) the earliest spelling of the name I-li-lu
suggests a possible etymology of il-LOWKHJRGRIDOOWKHJRGV(QOLOZDVDJRGZLWKQRVSHFLILF
GRPDLQDQGFOHDULQGLYLGXDOWUDLWVUHPLQLVFHQWRI'DJDQ(ODQG$XUKLVZLIH d1,1//ZDVEXWD
female reflection of Enlil. Steinkeller doubts the traditional etymology of Enlil, the one that saw Enlil as
D/RUG-:LQGRU$LU-*RG the animating breath-giver of the universe. He suggests the possibility
that the actual meaning of en-OtO-FRXOGEH/RUG-*KRVWWKXVPDNLQJWKHGHLW\DKDUELQJHURIGHDWK
not a life-JLYHU+HDOVRDGYLVHVWKHSRVVLELOLW\RIWKHWUDQVODWLRQORUGRIWKHKRXVHKROGSDWHUIDPLOLDV
based on the 3rd millennium writing d(1e
172

34

prominent scholar Dietz Otto Edzard opposed the idea. Edzard argued that the name can be
explained with Sumerian background and there is no basis for the conclusion that the name
derives from the Semitic area.177 As there is no firm proof about the provenience of Enlil and
Enki, both early contenders for the Mesopotamian supreme throne, the situation remains
unclear.
Among the early deities of prominence, there were three male astral deities: the sky
god An, the moon-god Nanna-6XHQDQGWKHsun-god Utu. The astral deities of Mesopotamia
were peculiar compared to almost all of the other surrounding societies because the sun-god
Utu and the moon-god Nanna-6XHQZHUHERWKPDOH,QWKHVXUURXQGLQJVRFLHWLHVRIWKH1HDU
East, the moon was almost always masculine and the sun feminine; sometimes they were
siblings or twins. In the Mesopotamian astronomy, the siblings were usually Venus and the
Sun, Inanna and Utu.178 The moon-god was usually considered to be their father. In another
genealogy all the astral deities were siblings with the sky god An belonging to the older
generation of gods.179

2.2

Mesopotamian Religion during the E arly Dynastic Period (ca. 2900/2800-2334)

The religious circumstances in the first part of the Early Dynastic period seem to resemble
those of the previous stage, as there was no common pantheon that would have dominated the
whole area of Mesopotamia. The most common reconstruction of the religious relations in the
Early Dynastic period sees the city-states as entities ruled by their tutelary deities, with the
assistance of human rulers as their deputies or vicars. The royal inscriptions show that the
human rulers were created, suckled and chosen for their office by the deities.180 The ruler
received the crucial legitimisation through the patronage and parentage of the gods, without
being deified himself.181
The will of the gods was seen as the reason for the florescence or decline of the city182,
and the interstate relations were seen as lead by the gods who justified and legitimised the
actions of human rulers. One of the earliest attestations of this royal ideology is in the so177

Edzard 2003, 184.

Michalowski 2002, 415.
179
The genealogies are based on myths, other literary texts and god-lists. The two referred to here are
only two among the most popular, as there was a vast amount of genealogies altogether.
180
See e.g. Eanatum 1: RIME 1, 129-130; Cooper 1986, 34.
181
5|OOLJ
182
Lambert 1992, 119.
178

35

FDOOHG6WHOHRIWKH9XOWXUHV183ZLWK1LQJLUVXWKHWXWHODU\GHLW\RI/DJDILJKWLQJDORQJVLGH
KLVKXPDQGHSXW\(DQDWXP(DQDWXPVDFWLRQVDUHDOVRMXVWLILHGDQGDSSURYHGE\ other deities
besides Ningirsu, like Inanna, Ninhursag and Enlil.184 When a city was annihilated in war, the
reason for the destruction was not seen as a mundane action by the military forces of the
enemy but in the theological justification of the tutelary deity abandoning his/her city.
Evidence from the Early Dynastic city-states indicates to different types of panthea.
*RQ]DOR5XELRGLYLGHVWKRVHLQWRWKUHHW\SHVEDVHGRQWKHQDWXUHRIWKHVRXUFHPDWHULDOThe
pantheon represented in the god lists185 and literary texts is scholarly in nature. The pantheon
of the offering lists and cultic texts is that of the official cult. Finally, the theophoric personal
names bear witness to both the mainstream tendencies of the official cult and the individual
preferences of popular religion.186 The mutual overlapping between the panthea is only
partial as the number of deities appearing in all the sources is slight. The reconstruction of the
popular religion seems problematic, as the major source of information about the religion of
people not belonging to the nobility is the onomasticon. Nevertheless, the personal names
could not even yield DGHTXDWHLQIRUPDWLRQDERXWWKHLUEHDUHUVHWKQLFDOEDFNJURXQGDVWKHUH
is no direct connection between the language of the name and the language of its bearer or
between language and ethnicity. Some of the names are also the grammatical hybrids of the
Sumerian and Semitic languages.187 So, all the conclusions made about personal religion on
the basis of personal names are highly hypothetical. The pantheon reflected in the god lists
could, in turn, be scholarly constructs188 and thus not reflect the actual religious
circumstances.
Another problem with detecting deities from written sources and pictographic material
is the inconsistency in marking and depicting gods. Two of the most common markers for
separating deities are the dingir-sign, appearing already in the earliest texts from Uruk, and
the horned crown, first attested in the Early Dynastic II period. However, the use of these
markers seems to be rather inconsistent in the sources in the Early Dynastic period.189
Despite the obvious problems with documentation, the pantheon developed gradually
during the Early Dynastic period, and for the second part of the third millennium, some
183

Eanatum 1: RIME 1, 126-140; Cooper 1986, 33-39.

Espak 2010a, 13.
185
For god lists see Litke 1998.
186
Rubio 2011, 107.
187
Ibid., 108.
188
Ibid., 109.
189
Selz 2008, 15-16.
184

36

clearer idea of the overall pantheon had appeared. The central figure of the pantheon is now
definitely Enlil, and his holy city Nippur with his temple Ekur is now the cosmic centre of the
XQLYHUVH WKH ERQG RI KHDYHQ DQG HDUWKQHWKHUZRUOG.190 The rulers who controlled Nippur
were contenders for the hegemony over southern Mesopotamia.191 Enlil was also the
chairman192 RIWKHJRGVDVVHPEO\ZKLFKJUDQWHGUXOHUVKLSWRKXPDQUXOHUV193 The first proof
of seeing Enlil as the political deity dates to the WLPHRI(DQDWXPRI/DJD194 An, Enki and
Ninhursag are listed among the other prominent deities of the Early Dynastic period.195

2.3

Mesopotamian Religion during the A k kadian Period (ca. 2334-2154)

As the designation suggests, the Akkadian era has to do with the political influence of
Akkadians, the Semitic people who probably occupied the northern part of Mesopotamia
already previously but gained real political influence only in the 24th century with the rise of
the Dynasty of Agade. Despite the many political196 and religious inventions of the era, the
background and reasoning of those changes remains debatable.
0DQ\6HPLWLFJRGQDPHVDSSHDULQWKLVHUDIRUH[DPSOH$GDG(D'DJDQDQGDPD
as well as many minor deities appearing in personal names, votive inscriptions and cylinder
seals.197 7KH6HPLWLFJRGVZHUHSUREDEO\HTXDWHGZLWKWKH6XPHULDQGHLWLHVHJ$GDG ,NXU
DPD 8WX HWF WR form the Akkadian-Sumerian syncretistic pantheon. Enlil and Ninurta
were the major gods who were not equated in this way.
The goddess Inanna/Ishtar played a dominant role in the religious traits of the
Akkadian era.198 As DWDU-annuntum WKH/DG\RI%DWWOH she was the city goddess of the
capital Agade. Her appearance in different times involves many characteristics, most notably
connected with fertility, love and sexuality, war and Venus-star. The earlier epiphanies of
goddess Inanna with different epithets appear in the god lists, offering lists and literary texts
190

dur an ki in Sumerian, Lambert 1992, 119.

&ROH%\WKHPLGGOHRIWKHWZHQW\-IRXUWKFHQWXU\%&DNLQJVSRVVHVVLRQRI1LSSXUDQG
ZLWKLWKLVFODLPRI(QOLOVFDOOWRNLQJVKLSSURYLGHGWKHEDVLVRI de jure political hegemony, however
HSKHPHUDORYHUWKHSODLQRIWKHWZLQULYHUV
192
$Q WKH JRG RI KHDYHQ DQG WKH IDWKHU RI WKH JRGV LV DOVR WKH FKDLUPDQ RI WKH JRGV DVVHPEO\
sometimes together with Enlil. But unlike Enlil and the other major gods, An/Anu remains a rather
shady figure in the Mesopotamian mythology, without clear characteristics in myths and iconography.
193
Jacobsen 1943, 168-170.
194
RIME 1, 126-140; Cooper 1986, 33-39.
195
Michalowski 1998, 240.
196
See Chapter 1.
197
Westenholz, OBO 160/3, 78.
198
About Ishtar see Colbow 1991.
191

37

in various localities which could be the result of the Uruk expansion.199 In the Akkadian
times, Inanna became synchronised with Ishtar, whose Akkadian form was warlike as
witnessed by the cylinder seals and royal inscriptions from the Akkadian period. Enheduanna,
the daughter of the empire-founder Sargon, who served as priestess in Ur, allegedly wrote
glorifying hymns for Inanna, accentuating her versatility and her affect on human affairs.
Inanna/Ishtar was especially honoured in the inscriptions of the kings of Agade. For example,
Narm-6XHQKRQRXUHGDWDU-annuntum more than any other god.200
As already noted in the first chapter, the important invention explicitly appearing for
first time during the rule of Narm-6XHQZDV the deification of ruler.201 The process of the
deification is described in the so-called Bassetki Statue, a bronze monument found in northern
Iraq. The inscription tells of people of Agade expressing their wish to the gods to make
Narm-6XHQ D JRG RI WKHLU FLW\ DQG EXLOG KLP D WHPSOH ,W ZDV WKH RQO\ ILUPO\ DWWHVWHG
deification of the Akkadian kings, as Narm-6XHQV VXFFHVVRU 6KDUNDOLVKDUUL ZDV SUREDEO\
not deified.202

2.4
2.4.1

Mesopotamian Religion during the U r I I I and IsinL arsa periods

T he U r I I I Period (ca. 2112-2004)

One of the main characteristics of the Ur III religion was the formation of a new imperial
pantheon that appears in the lists of deities.203 For the earlier periods of Mesopotamian
history, no such unitary lists existed, probably due to higher level of political and
mythological division in the era of the city-states.204 During the Ur III period, lists with deities
appearing in a steady order emerge, thus reflecting the official interpretation of the pantheon

199

Westenholz, 2009, 336.

Westenholz, OBO 160/3, 49.
201
About deification of Akkadian rulers see Sazonov 2007b, Sazonov 2007c.
202
Westenholz, OBO 160/3, 56. The possible deification of Sharkalisharri is a more difficult problem.
Some other scholars (cf. Klein 2006, 19; Sazonov 2007b, 22) have proposed his deification, at least in
the beginning of his reign. See also Farber 1983.
203
About god-lists see Litke 1998.
204
(VSDN7KLUGPLOOHQQLXP2OG-Sumerian lists are not organised following a certain fixed
centralised model of the pantheon and several differing traditions seem to be in existence
simultaneously. Understanding these early lists is made difficult by the fact that several essential aspects
of the third millennium mythology are still impossible to interpret in lack of preserved longer
mythological texts.
200

38

by the rulers and officials of the Ur III state.205 The canonical order of the deities in the lists
during Ur III is: $Q(QOLO1LQKXUVDJ(QNL6Xen, Utu, Inanna.
Another topic closely connected with both royal ideology and religion is the
deification of the rulers, already briefly discussed in the first chapter. Some follow-up remarks
will be made here. It ZDVXOJLWKHVHFRQGNLQJRIWKH8U,,,G\QDVW\ZKRVWDUWHGZULWLQJKLV
name with a divine marker in the middle of his reign. All his successors in the dynasty
followed his example, but his predecessor, the founder of the dynasty Ur-Namma, was never
written with divine determinative during his lifetime.206 XOJLPLJKWKDYHXVHG1DUm-6XHQ
as a role-model for his deification207EXW3LRWU0LFKDORZVNLKDVWKHLGHDWKDWXOJLQHHGHGD
new royal ideology to make up for his father Ur-1DPPDVYLROHQWGHDWKLQEDWWle:
,Q RUGHU WR FUHDWH KLV QHZ LGHQWLW\ XOJL UHDFKHG EDFN WR KLV IDPLO\V 8UXN RULJLQV DQG
inserted himself into the heroic past. The figure of Gilgamesh, sired by the union of mortal
royal hero Lugalbanda and the goddess Ninsumuna, provided the perfect PRGHO XOJL FRXOG
UHIOHFW KLPVHOI LQ WKLV SRHWLF PLUURU E\ EHFRPLQJ *LOJDPHVKV EURWKHU /XJDOEDQGD DQG
Ninsumuna became his metaphysical parents, assuring his divinity.208

,QWKHVHDUFKIRUUHDVRQVIRUXOJLVVHOI-divinisation, Michalowski sees it only as a part of a

wider process of state reinvention that happened in a concrete historical context, not as an
autonomous symbolic system.209 XOJLV VHOI-divinisation was later followed by all of his
successors in the Ur III dynasty. The deified kings had cults established for them throughout
the land, reflected also in the personal names of the citizens.
Among one of the most frequent and controversial in Assyriology and Ancient
History is the topic of hieros gamos, the sacred marriage rite210. In Mesopotamia, this topic is
usually particularly united with the Ur III dynasty, as most of the texts concerning sacred
marriage date from this period and from the following Isin period.211 The sacred marriage rite
in Mesopotamia was based on the Sumerian epic literature about goddess Inanna and his
FRQVRUW 'XPX]L 'XPX]L LV SUREDEO\ PHUJHG IURP WZR FKDUDFWHUV LQ 7KH 6XPHULDQ .LQJ
/LVW'XPX]LWKHVKHSKHUG-king, and Dumuzi, the deified fisherman.212 In this rite, the Ur III

205

Espak 2012, 47.

Hallo 1966, 134.
207
Klein 2006, 119-120.
208
Michalowski 2008, 36-37. However, already Ur-Namma appeared in the literature as brother of
Gilgamesh and son of Ninsun (=Ninsumuna) and Lugalbanda.
209
Ibid., 39.
210
About the sacred marriage rite see Lapinkivi 2004; Steinkeller 1999; Kramer 1969.
211
Lapinkivi 2004, 2.
212
Klein 2006, 128.
206

39

and Isin kings played the role of Dumuzi who marries Inanna213. The rite was probably put
LQWRSUDFWLFHGXULQJWKH1HZ<HDUIHVWLYLWLHVEXWWKHH[DFWFRXUVHRIHYHQWVLVYDJXH$OOWKDW
is known for certain is that, at least at Uruk, the king entered the gipar 214 and spent there a
period of time, probably a single night, during which he consummated the marriage with
Inanna.215 The union was probably only a symbolic annual fertility rite with the purpose of
securing abundance in nature and the human society and the relations between the gods, the
king and his people. There have been assumptions that the rites involved real sexual
intercourse, but Steinkeller opposes the idea as there seems to be no adequate candidate for
the role of Inanna among the priestesses of the Eanna temple.216

2.4.2

T he Isin-L arsa Period (ca. 2000-1800)

Many of the religious tendencies from the Ur III period were taken over by the rulers of the
politically fragmented Isin-Larsa period. There was a continuation in the sacred marriage rite
as proven by the hymn of Iddin-Dagan217 (ca. 1974-1954) from the Isin dynasty. But as the
rulers of Isin did not always exercise control over Uruk, they moved the festivities to their
capital Isin and practised the rite with their own city goddess Ninisina, who was identified
with Inanna.218 Another fertiOLW\K\PQKDVSUHVHUYHGIURPUXOHU,PH-Dagan (1953-1935).219
All the rulers from Isin and some from Larsa followed the example of the Ur III rulers
in writing the god determinative in front of their names.220 But it is doubtful whether this
practice also involved the cults for the living rulers, as it could only be the copying of the Ur
III traditions on a much more limited scale. During Isin-Larsa periods, several or even the
most significant amount of Sumerian myths might have been created, reflecting also the
UHOLJLRXVFLUFXPVWDQFHVRIWKHHUD$PRQJWKRVHP\WKVZHUHHJ(QNLDQGWKH:RUOG2UGHU
DQG (QNL DQG 1LQPDK.221 In WKH P\WK (QNL DQG WKH :RUOG 2UGHU WKH ,VLQ FLW\ JRGGHVV

213

As argued by Steinkeller, the prerequisite for impersonating Dumuzi in this rite was the enship of
Uruk. However, this argument remains hypothetical for the Ur III rulers, as only Ur-Namma bore the
WLWOHHQRI8UXN, en Unugki. Steinkeller complements his statement with the proposition that the kings
RI8U,,,ZHUHDOVRFDOOHGWKHKXVEDQGV of Inanna in the inscriptions (1999, 130; 105 note 4).
214
The residence of the priest/priestess.
215
Steinkeller 1999, 130.
216
Ibid., 133.
217
See Reisman 1973.
218
Klein 2006, 128-129.
219
,PHGDJDQ-See Klein 1998.
220
Klein 2006, 120.
221
See Benito 1969.

40

Ninisina is elevated among the great mother-goddesses of the Sumero-Akkadian pantheon.222

In Isin, Ninisina was wedded to Ninurta, (QOLOVVRQDQGthe city-god of Nippur, who was paid
great attention by the Isin rulers. The wedding might have been a religious-political concept
of the Isin kings who promoted the elevation of their city-goddess.223 Starting with
Gungunum (1932-1906), the rulers of Larsa had the city of Ur as their important religious
centre, with the cult of the moon-god Nanna-6XHQ224 Ninurta and Nanna-6XHQ were both
sons of Enlil, so the fight over hegemony between Isin and Larsa could be interpreted as the
quarrel of brothers over supremacy.225

2.5
2.5.1

Mesopotamian Religion during the O ld Babylonian and O ld Assyrian periods

T he O ld Babylonian Period (1894-1595)

During the Old Babylonian period, the deification of human rulers lost its importance.
Hammurabi, the most successful and prominent ruler of the time might have given up this
practice226. The most important invention during the time of Hammurabi was the addition of
Marduk, the tutelary god of Babylon to the Mesopotamian pantheon.227 The theological
GHYHORSPHQW RI0DUGXNVLQIOXHQFHZHQW KDQGLQKDQGZLWK WKHSROLWLFDOSURPLQHQFHRIWKH
city Babylon, starting with Hammurabi, who managed to conquer large areas of Mesopotamia
and Elam by the end of his reign. From the third millennium, only two texts are known where
Marduk is possibly named. The first firm attestations come from the beginning of the second
millennium when Babylon had already become the centre of a small state founded by the
Amorites.228 Marduk was promoted in the most prominent example of written sources from
the Old Babylonian era WKH&RGH[+DPPXUDEL,QWKHSURORJXHRIWKHFRGH[0DUGXNWhe
ILUVWERUQ 6RQ RI WKH JRG (D UHFHLYHV WKH VXSUHPH SRZHU RYHU DOO SHRSOHV DQG HWHUQDO
NLQJVKLSIURPthe great gods Anu and Enlil.229 In the gradual process of gaining importance,
the identities of various deities were added to the figure of Marduk through which he acquired

222

Espak 2010b, 116.

Richter 1999, 450.
224
Ibid., 451.
225
Annus 2002, 20.
226
7KLV FDQQRW EH GLUHFWO\ SURYHQ DV RQ VRPH RFFDVLRQV +DPPXUDELV QDPH LV VWLOO ZULWWHQ ZLWK WKH
dingir determinative. See e.g. Hammurabi C = Green 1975, 70.
227
$ERXW0DUGXNVULVHWRWKHWRSRIWKH0HVRSRWDPLDQSDQWKHRQVHH6RPPHUIHOG
228
Ibid., 19-22.
229
Roth 1997, 76.
223

41

a wide assortment of aspects.230 One of the absorbed gods was Asaluhi, through whom
Marduk was related to Enki or to the Eridu pantheon in general.231 This connection with Enki
was probably also a measure to achieve prominence within the pantheon.
The sun-JRG8WXDPD and his city Sippar held a prominent position at the time of
Hammurabi, who in his inscriptions was described as WKHJUHDWORUGRIKHDYHQDQGHDUWKDQG
the king of the gods.232 An and Enlil were also prominent deities, but Enki was not
considered important enough to be named in the royal titles.233

2.5.2

T he O ld Assyrian Period (ca. 2000-1600/1500)

There are a few essential topics concerning the Old Assyrian religion in Assyriology. One of
them is about the nature of the city-JRG$XUDQGWKHRWKHUDERXWWKHLQIOXHQFHVRIVRXWKHUQ
Mesopotamia on the Assyrian religion. The god AXULVNQRZQDOUHDG\IURPWKHLQVFULSWLRQV
from the third millennium234, but his initial features and aspects remain shady. He is certainly
a peculiar figure among the gods of Mesopotamia, as he, for example, lacks the usual family
connections with other gods, has no stock epithets and is not related to the powers of nature as
other deities.235 The fact that the god and the city under his aegis both bear the same name is
also peculiar. In this sense, the god could be interpreted as a personification of the city.236 The
influence of the south was a constant feature in the history of Assyrian religion and culture
DQG KDV LWV HIIHFW RQ WKH FKDUDFWHULVWLFV RI $XU DPL-Adad I brought the Enlil-centred
LGHRORJ\RI1LSSXUWR$XULQWKHHDUO\th century.237 Certain characteristics of Enlil were
HTXDWHGZLWK$XUDPRQJWKHPKLVSRVLWLRQDVWKHORUGRINLQJVKLSDQGDVWKHUXOHURIWKH
ODQG(QOLOVZLIH1LQOLOZDVPDGH$XUs heavenly consort under the name Mullissu.238

230

Oshima 2009, 349. The gods absorbed by Marduk probably appear in the VI and VII tablets of
(QPD HOL ZKHUH  QDPHV RI 0DUGXN DUH QDPHG )RU (QPD HOL VHH 7DORQ  .lPPHUHU
Metzler 2012 (forthcoming). A slightly different version of the 50 gods appears in the lexical god-lists
from the Middle-Babylonian period, see Litke 1998.
231
Espak 2010b, 144.
232
Ibid., 141.
233
Ibid.
234
See e.g. RIMA 1 A.0.1003.2001, l. 13, p. 9; RIMA 1 A.0.27.1, ll. 1-6, p. 13.
235
Lambert 1983, 82.
236
Black, Green 1992, 37.
237
Cancik-Kirschbaum 2003, 144.
238
Ibid., 145.

42

2.6
2.6.1

Mesopotamian Religion during the M iddle Babylonian and M iddle Assyrian

periods
T he M iddle Babylonian Period (1595-1155)

The Kassite rule over Babylonia probably brought no major inventions into the religious
sphere as the Kassites largely assimilated with the existing Babylonian society. Nevertheless,
VRPH JHQXLQH .DVVLWH JRGV DQG JRGGHVVHV DUH NQRZQ E\ QDPH +DUEH %XULD RU +XGKD
XTDPXQDXPDOLDXULDRU6DK%XJD0DUXWWDLSDN7XUJX6RPHRIWKHPZHUHODWHU
equated with the Babylonian deities; independently they were probably forgotten after the end
of the Kassite rule.239
Some subsequent developments in the elevation of Marduk can be attested in the
Kassite period.240 On the level of personal religion, mirrored by the prayers on cylinder seals
and onomasticon, Marduk is among the most popular deities of the era. On the seals of the
.DVVLWHSHULRGLWZDVFRPPRQWRDGGSUD\HUVWRJRGV0DUGXNVJURZLQJSRSXODULW\LVVKRZQ
by the fact that of 150 prayers of this kind, his name is mentioned in 62: exclusively in 54 of
them and in connection with other deities in eight occurrences.241 In theophoric onomasticon,
Marduk is also among the most popular deities of the era, evidenced by findings from all the
cities where texts have been found. In official religion, as proven by the kudurru-stones,
Marduk did not rank among the top triad of deities with Anu, Enlil, Ea and occasionally the
mother-goddess, but belonged to the second-ranking group with SvQ DPD $GDG DQG
sometimes Ishtar.242

2.6.2

T he M iddle Assyrian Period (ca. 1400-1050)

In the 14-13th century the importance of the city-JRG $XU VWDUWHG WR LQFUHDVH LQ QRUWKHUQ
Mesopotamia in connection with the foundation of the powerful kingdom by the Middle
Assyrian kings.243 $XU URVH DPRQJ WKH WRS JRGV GXULQJ WKH UHLJQ RI 6KDOPDQHVHU , DQG
especially under Tukult-Ninurta I (1244-1208), whose military endeavours granted wider
prominence to the city god. Tukult-Ninurta I conquered Babylon and brought back the statue
of Marduk as booty. Symbolically, Marduk, the head of the Babylonian pantheon, was seen as
239

Black, Green 1992, 112.

6RPH VFKRODUV DOVR GDWH (QPD HOL WR WKLV SHULRG HJ -DFREVHQ  -190; Sommerfeld
1982, 175).
241
Sommerfeld 1982, 157.
242
Lambert 1984, 3.
243
Sazonov 2010a, 41.
240

43

D SULVRQHU RI WKH JRG $XU DQG FRXOG WKXV EH LQWHUSUHWHG DV KDYLQJ LQIHULRU UDQN LQ WKH
Mesopotamian pantheon.244
Another sign of WKHUROHRIWKHJRG$XULQ$VV\ULDDSSHDUHGLQWKHDQQXDOFURZQLQJ
ritual of the Assyrian king. In this ritual, the mediating role of the king in relation to the god is
FOHDUO\SUHVHQWDVWKHFHUHPRQ\ZDVDFFRPSDQLHGE\WKHVKRXWV$XULVNLQJ245, and the
actual human ruler appears only thereafter.246 This crowning ritual was probably designed in
the Middle-Assyrian period, ca. 1300247, and it clearly validates the predominance of the god
$XUDQGVHHVWKHKXPDQUXOHUDVKLVKLJKSULHVW248 The priestly function of the ruler is also
one of the main differences between the Assyrian and Babylonian royal ideologies.249

2.7
2.7.1

Mesopotamian Religion during the L ate Babylonian and Neo-Assyrian periods

T he L ate Babylonian Period (ca.900-539)

In the period of Assyrian hegemony in Babylonia and in the Neo-Babylonian period, Marduk
had performed a gradual rise of about a thousand years starting from the time of Hammurabi.
0DUGXNVVXSHULRULW\LVPLUURUHGLQWKH%DE\ORQLDQFUHDWLRQHSLF(QPDHOLZKHUH0DUGXN
is already the undisputed leader of the Mesopotamian pantheon and the creator of the world.
The exact dating of the composition is unsure and there are various scholarly opinions in
dating the epic.250 Most copies of the composition date to the first half of the first
millennium.251

244

Sazonov 2010a, 41 +LHU NDQQ PDQ QLFKW QXU GLH UHLQ SROLWLVFKH 6FKZlFKXQJ GHV NDVVLWLVFKHQ
Babyloniens, sondern auch GLH SROLWLVFKH XQG VRJDU WKHRORJLVFKH 6FKZlFKXQJ 0DUGXNV GHU REHUVWHQ
*RWWKHLW %DE\ORQLHQV VHKHQ LQGHP QLFKW QXU GHU DVV\ULVFKH .|QLJ 7XNlt-Ninrta I.) den
EDE\ORQLVFKHQ .DWLOLD ,9 VRQGHUQ DXFK GHU DVV\ULVFKH *RWW $XU GHQ EDE\ORQLVFKHQ 0DUGXN
besiegt und gefangengenommen hat.
245
Oppenheim 1964, 99.
246
5|OOLJ
247
Ibid.
248
-DNRE   9RQ GHQ $XIJDEHQ GLH GHP .|QLJ DXIJUXQG VHLQHV +HUUVFKHUDPWHV ]XIDOOHQ
/HLWXQJGHV6WDDWVNXOWV2EHUEHIHKOEHUGLH6WUHLWNUlIWHK|FKVWULFKHUOLFKH.ompetenz, administrativ|NRQRPLVFKH)XQNWLRQHQVLQGYRUDOOHPGLH3IOLFKWHQDXIUHOLJL|VHPXQGPLOLWlULVFKHP6HNWRUDXIGHQ
Reichsgott $XU EH]RJHQ 6R HUIOOW GHU .|QLJ GLH )XQNWLRQ GHV REHUVWHQ $XU-3ULHVWHUV XQG WUlJW
damit eine besondere VerantwortuQJIUGHQ$XU-Tempel, das Zentrum des Staatskults.
249
Oppenheim 1964, 99.
250
0RVW VFKRODUV DJUHH ZLWK :LOIUHG * /DPEHUW ZKR GDWHV (QPD HOL WR WKH UHLJQ RI
Nebuchadnezzar I (1126-1105) who sacked Elam and brought back the statue of Marduk (Lambert
1984, 4). Stephanie Dalley suggests Old-Babylonian period (Dalley 2000, 230), as does Amar Annus
(Annus 2002, 37-39). Walter Sommerfeld (Sommerfeld 1982, 175) and Thorkild Jacobsen (Jacobsen
1976, 189-190) prefer the Kassite period.
251
Jacobsen 1976, 167.

44

(QPDHOLEHJLQVZLWKILYHJHQHUDWLRQVRIJRGVEHLQJQDPHG$QXLVWKHIRXUWKDQG
his son Ea the fifth generation. The first godly creatures, Tiamat and Apsu252 are getting
annoyed by the noise made by the younger generations of gods and plan to destroy them. Ea
still manages to kill Apsu. Following the killing he builds a dwelling place for himself and his
wife Damkina out of the corpse of Apsu, where they beget Marduk, the protagonist of the
HSLF$WWKHVDPHWLPH7LDPDWVLUHVDKRDUGRIKRUULEOHPRQVWHUVWRILJKWWKHJRGV$QDUWKH
god from the third generation, then in turn sends Ea and Anu to fight Tiamat, but they both
return unsuccessfully. Then Marduk steps up and is ready to fight Tiamat on the condition
that the counsel of gods has to recognise him as the leader of the gods. All the great gods
agree, and the counsel accepts Marduk as the leader of the pantheon. Marduk kills Tiamat
with his bow and arrow and creates heaven and earth out of her body. He also lets Ea design
WKHKXPDQVIURPWKHERG\RI7LDPDWVJHQHUDO.LQJX4LQJX7KHPDLQPLVVLRQRIKXPDQVRQ
earth is to work for the gods and feed them.253
The story line of the epic was probably reflected in the annual DNWX festivals under the
Late Babylonian kings. During the festivities the battle between Marduk and Tiamat254 was
symbolized with the rites in the DNWX house outside the city.255 The DNWX festival was also
important for the royal ideology. When Marduk was annualy elevated to the the top of the
pantheon, the human ruler was accordingly reinstated to his position.256 (QPD HOL ZDV
also recited during the DNWX festival in Babylon.257
7KH VLWXDWLRQ LQ (QPD HOL LV GLIIHUHQW LQ FRPSDULVRQ WR &RGH[ +DPPXUDEL - the
HDUOLHU YHUVLRQ RI 0DUGXNV HOHYDWLRQ ,Q &RGH[ +DPPXUDEL 0DUGXN DVFHQGHG DPRQJ WKH
JUHDWJRGVZKLOHLQ(QPDHOL he became an undisputed monarch of the gods and obscured
Enlil. That also reflects the standing of the city Babylon in world politics. In the words of
Wilfred G. Lambert:
When Babylon became the political capital under Hammurabi, its god Marduk was promoted
from obscurity to be a great god among the other great gods, the Igigi, and was granted full
control of the peoples. Babylon became supreme in the world regions, but that is so far as the
wording goes. Cosmically it remained untouched. Anu and Enlil initiated these limited
252

The salty and the sweet water.

This motive is actually much older, e.g. appears already in the Isin-/DUVDSHULRGP\WKV(QNLDQG
the World Order(QNLDQG1LQPDK).
254
(QPD HOL ,9 VLJQV -110 = Talon 2005, 92f. See also Jacobsen 1968, 106 who interprets the
battle as a fight between forces of nature, the thunderstorm and the sea.
255
Lambert 1963, 189.
256
Annus 2001, 17.
257
Dalley 2000, 231.
253

45

promotions of Marduk and Babylon but in no way abdicated in the process. However, the
continuance of Babylon as the political capital resulted in the building of pressure to have
Marduk and Babylon made supreme in place of Enlil and Nippur. This eventually happened
DQG(QPD(OvLVWhe manifesto of this change. Marduk becomes the head of the pantheon by
saving his elders from Tiamat, Qingu, and the eleven monsters. The older gods agreed to
abdicate in his favour should he succeed in this mission. Enlil is humiliated throughout. Until
the very end he only appears as one of the Neo-Sumerian trinity, Anu, Enlil, and Ea, never on
his own. And his very first appearance is after the battle is over and Marduk, using his newly
acquired authority, reorganizes the universe to his own specifications.258

This citation sums up the overthrow of the earlier leaders of the pantheon in favour of the new
Marduk-centred rule. Marduks rise to supremacy is also stressed by the fact that in the late
Babylonian times he is usually called blWKHORUG
The late Babylonian period saw the rise of another prominent deity. This time it was
Marduks son Nab, the scribe of the gods259 and the tutelary deity of Borsippa near Babylon.
NabVUROHEHFDPHVRSURPLQHQWWKDWKHULYDOOHG0DUGXNLQP\WKRORJ\DQGPLJKWhave been
on the verge of replacing his father at the top of the pantheon.260

2.7.2

T he Neo-Assyrian period (934-610)

The Neo-Assyrian period sees Assyrian hegemony over most of Mesopotamia. When the
Assyrians rose to world dominance in the beginning of the first millennium, they continued
the tradition of borrowing from their southern neighbours Babylonians, especially in the fields
RIUHOLJLRQDQGOLWHUDWXUH,QWKLVZD\(QPDHOLZDVDGDSWHGLQWR$VV\ULDQWKHRORJ\DQG
cosmogony by making only minor adjustments to the original text, most prominently with the
UHSODFHPHQW RI 0DUGXN ZLWK $XU261 One other important change was introduced in the
$VV\ULDQYHUVLRQ$XUZDVLGHQWLILHGZLWKWKHSULPHYDOJRG$QDU262, maybe only due to the
similarity of the names.263 ThLVLQYHQWLRQVHW$XULQWRWKHVWDUWLQJSKDVHRIFUHDWLRQ264 and
made him the forefather of the other great Mesopotamian gods. Apart from the adapted
P\WKRORJ\RI0DUGXN$XUKDGQRP\WKRORJ\RIKLVRZQDQGKLVFXOWZDVOLPLWHGRQO\WR

258

Lambert 1992, 120.

Before Nab, the scribal role was attributed to goddess Nidaba/Nisaba of Eresh, see Michalowski
2002.
260
Oates 1979, 172. Cf. Lambert 1963, 190.
261
Jacobsen 1976, 167.
262
$1R, WKHORJRJUDSKLFVSHOOLQJRI$XULVILUVWDWWHVWHGDOUHDG\LQWKHIRXUWHHQWKFHQWXU\3DUSROD
2000, 160).
263
Black, Green, 1992, 38.
264
Cancik-Kirschbaum 2003, 112.
259

46

WKHFLW\$XUDVWKHUHZHUHDOVRQRFKDSHOVRI$XULQRWKHUFLWLHVRULQWKHWHPSOHVRIRWKHU
deities.265
$XU LV VXUHO\ E\ IDU WKH PRVW SURPLQHQW GHLW\ LQ $VV\ULD :KHQ KH LV PHQWLRQHG
among other deities, his name almost exclusively precedes the other gods.266 Besides him
there was a group of other important gods in the Assyrian pantheon. Among them were
DPDWKHsun-god and the god of justice, who was very powerful and popular in Assyria in
the second and first millennia; the moon-JRG 6vQ WKH JRG RI SHVWLOHQFH DQG ZDr Erra; the
warlike Ishtar, who was prominent until the end of imperial Assyria, and others.267
In Neo-Assyrian times there was at least one occasion when an Assyrian ruler tried to
introduce an essential religious invention. That happened when the Assyrian king Sennacherib
(704-DWWHPSWHGWRVXEVWLWXWH$XUIRU0DUGXNDVWKHVXSUHPHJRGRIWKHODQG
Sennacherib developed a hatred for Marduk, city god of Babylon, who had replaced Enlil as
head of the pantheon some 500 years earlier. This hatred expressed itself in the attempt to put
DQ HQG WR WKH FXOW RI 0DUGXN DQG WR VHW XS $XU LQ KLV SODFH ,URQLFDOO\ WKLV RIWHQ PHDQW
PDNLQJ$XUPRUHOLNH0DUGXNWKDQKHKDGEHHQSUHYLRXVO\268

6HQQDFKHULEVKDWUHGWRZDUGV%DE\ORQIRXQGLWVH[SUHVVLRQLQWKHGHVWUuction of Babylon and

its temples in 689. A part of the blame for the destruction was put on the military activities of
the Marduk temple.269

265

Cancik-Kirschbaum 2003, 113.

Parpola 2000, 168.
267
Sazonov 2010a, 38f.
268
Lambert 1983, 86.
269
Brinkman 1973, 95.
266

47

Mesopotamian Influences on the O ld Persian Royal Ideology and

Religion

*KHUDUGR *QROL GLVWLQJXLVKHV EHWZHHQ WKUHH SHULRGV LQ WKH LQIOXHQFH RI 0HVRSRWDPLDQ
civilization on pre-Islamic Iran: (1) the pre-Achaemenid period: before the conquest of
Babylon by Cyrus the Great; (2) the Achaemenid period: before the conquest of the Persian
Empire by Alexander the Great; and (3) the Seleucid-Parthian-6DVDQLDQ SHULRG270 The
current chapter centres on the Achaemenid (Old Persian) period, but some introductory
remarks about the pre-Achaemenid period are also presented.

3.1

T races of Mesopotamian Influences on the O ld Persian Royal Ideology and

Religion during the pre-A chaemenid Period

The Persians stemmed from the proto-Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-Europeans. All of the
many theories about Indo-Europeans and their beginnings remain highly hypothetical, but a
FHUWDLQ FRQVHQVXV KDV EHHQ UHDFKHG LQ VRPH JHQHUDO GHYHORSPHQWV ,QGR-(XURSHDQ LV
actually a special term designating the hypothetical initial language which later divided into
Indian, Iranian, Tocharian, Anatolian, Armenian, Greek, Italian, Celtic, Germanic, Baltic and
Slavic branches and can be reconstructed by comparative methods. 271 The proto-IndoIranians272 probably lived as pastoralists east of the Volga River and divided into two separate
groups of peoples in the beginning of the third millennium.273 The Persians, in turn, are a part
of the larger Iranian group of peoples who were identified on the basis of language which

270

Gnoli 1988.
Puhvel 1996, 42.
272
A term designating the transitional stage of developments between the Indo-Europeans and Indians
and Iranians as linguistically distinct peoples.
273
Boyce 1979, 2.
271

divided into dialects.274 A closer following of the Iranian peoples in reaching their new
homelands in Central Asia, the Iranian plateau and Afghanistan is problematic due to
hardships in uniting archaeological findings with linguistic data.275 They probably stayed for a
long period of time in Central Asia and Eastern Iran, with little contact with the west where
the settled cultures of Mesopotamia and Elam were located.276
Before the Iranians reached the Iranian Plateau, it was already inhabited by various
ethnic groups. Western Iran had been occupied by the Hurrians277 (who were related with the
later Urartians and Mannaeans) in the north and the Elamites278 (together with Kassites) in the
south.279 These ethnic groups (especially the Urartians) played an important role as mediators
of influence between the Mesopotamians and the Iranian newcomers. The general agreement
proposes the gradual movement of Iranians from Zagros to Anshan towards the end of the
second millennium.280 To a certain degree the Iranian peoples probably assimilated with the
locals, thus forming the ethnic groups of the Medes (in Zagros) and the Persians (in Fars, Old
Persian Prsa, Greek Persis).281 As stated by Gherardo Gnoli about the earlier Mesopotamian
LQIOXHQFHRQ,UDQ7KHILUVWSHULRGZDVFKDUDFWHUL]HGE\DQLQIOXHQFHRQWKH0HGHVDQGWKH
Persians that was often indirect and at times mediated by the Elamite world /.../.282 The
penetration of the Persians to the land of the Elamites might have been peaceful and carried
out with the permission of the Elamite rulers.283 The pre-Achaemenid Mesopotamian
influences on Iran were probably also mediated by the kingdom of Urartu (ca. 900-590).284
Very little is known about the society and the royal ideology of the pre-historic
Iranians. The main reason for this is that none of the Iranian peoples seem to have used
writing until the Old Persian script was invented, probably during the reign of Darius I (522274

Avestan and Persian (Kuhrt 1995, 652).

Frye 1984, 47.
276
Ibid., 52.
277
The Hurrians are attested already in the Akkadian cuneiform tablets from the third millennium.
During the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni (ca. 15th-14th century), probably the first Indo-Iranian names
appear. In the treaty between the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I and Kurtiwaza, the king of Mitanni, Indian
deities Indra, Mitra-Varuna and the NsatyVDUHSUREDEO\PHQWLRQHG(Frye 1984, 46; Puhvel 1996, 4849). However, many topics concerning the Indo-Iranian influences on Mitanni remain controversial
(Kuhrt 1995, 297-298).
278
The Elamites had close and often violent relations with Mesopotamia at least from the third
millennium.
279
Frye 1984, 46.
280
Briant 2002, 17.
281
Kuhrt 1995, 652.
282
Gnoli 1988.
283
Dandamaev 1989, 1.
284
The intermediation of Urartu can be traced in the Achaemenid royal titulary (Schmitt 1977, 386f.,
389).
275

49

486).285 The society of the early Iranian peoples is widely accepted as being tribal. The
Avesta, the only known text written in the Avestan language, which together with the Old
Persian forms the Iranian subdivision of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European
languages, and also the holy book of the Zoroastrians mention some officials who could be
interpreted as tribal leaders. Richard N. Frye lists nmnpaiti (pater familias), vspaiti WKH
FODQOHDGHUDQG zantupaiti WKHWULEDOFKLHI286 Several tribes ruled by tribal chiefs formed
a dahyu D GLVWULFW RU D FRXQWU\ OHDG E\ D [VKk\DWKL\D NLQJ287 However, offering
adequate translations and a closer view of the early tribal offices on the basis of the Avesta is
complicated because of difficulties in dating the different parts of the text. The situation is
even more complex because in earlier times parts of the Avesta were only rendered orally.288
The written Avesta probably dates only to the Sasanian rule over Iran, approximately to the
UXOH RI NLQJ pr II (309-379 AD)289, and is thus not trustworthy as a source of history.
Therefore, the Avesta is not the primary source for estimating Mesopotamian influence on the
Achaemenids, as there might be no straight connections between the Avesta and the
Mesopotamian civilisation.290
The religion of the early Iranians is also surrounded by great obscurity. The
hypothetical Proto-Indo-Europeans who lived in the steppes might have had fire and water as
the main objects of worship.291 Water was honoured as personified goddesses, the Apas; the
personification of the ever-burning fire was honoured under the name Atar.292 It has been
suggested, based on a lack of autochthonous elements in the Avesta, that the ancient Iranian
beliefs were probably closer to general Indo-European layers than the many other related
branches of the Indo-European linguistic family.293 The comparison between the Gths294
and Rig-Veda suggest initial similarities between the Iranian and Indian religions before the

285

Kellens 1987.
Frye 1984, 56.
287
Dandamaev 1989, 13.
288
It has been suggested that the Indo-Iranian religions evaluated the oral textual transmission. Learning
the texts by heart and reciting them precisely and carefully might have been essential in the adequate
cult (Kellens 1987).
289
Kellens 1987. CI%R\FH,WLVSRVVLEOHWKDWVRPHSDUWRIWKH$YHVWDZDVZULWWHQGRZQLQ
the late Parthian period, but the fixed canon was not established until the Sasanian era, apparently as
late as the 6th century A.C.
290
Frye 1984, 52.
291
Boyce 1979, 3. Water was the life-giving force and fire was the source of warmth and used in
cooking.
292
Ibid., 4. The cognate forms of Atar are Agni in Sanskrit and Ignis in Latin.
293
Frye 1984, 54.
294
The GthV6RQJVDUH the oldest part of Avesta, traditionally attributed to Zoroaster himself.
286

50

reforms of Zoroaster.295 It has also been suggested that in contrast to ancient Mesopotamian
gods, the social and moral elements of the Iranian deities were more important in their
character than the forces of nature.296 The tendency with the Indo-Iranian deities seems to be
that before the specific god was personified, there existed an abstract idea or concept that was
later gradually developed into the divine personality.297 Mithra, the god first hypostatizing
loyalty to the covenant298 and later the god of war299, the great judge and a solar deity, seems
to be an example of this tendency. He was also considered to be the upholder of the ancient
Indo-Iranian principle of DD, ta in Sanskrit.300 $D was the orderly principle or natural law
which was believed to maintain the movement of the sun, the change of the seasons, and the
continuance of existence.301 The worship and sacrifice by humans was also thought to
maintain the DD.302 Another important Iranian deity was the goddess Anhit. She appears in
the Yashts303 of Avesta as Ardw Sra Anhit7KH0RLVW6WURQJ8QWDLQWHG, the goddess
whose main dominion is water304. In the post-Zoroastrian tradition the name Anhit appears
in the astrological context, designating the name for planet Venus and could thus have been
influenced by Mesopotamian Inanna/Ishtar. The most prominent god of the ancient Iranians
was Ahura Mazd /RUG:LVGRP+LVRULJLQUHPDLQVFRQWURYHUVLDOEXWWKHUHVHHPVWREHD
link with Varuna, the Vedic deity who for some reason lost his importance in the Iranian
religion.305 In the Gths and Achaemenid inscriptions Ahura Mazd was considered to be the
creator of the universe, the controller of all destinies and a personal deity of his

295

Puhvel 1996, 104. The reforms of Zoroaster and even his dating are still a matter of controversy.
Zoroaster has been suggested to have purged the Iranian pantheon from the older deities as he
accentuated the role of Ahura Mazdh as his only god. He also might have set in place the dualism of
DD and drug, the good and evil ( Ibid., 105).
296
Ibid. Nevertheless, the forces of nature were also honoured by the early Iranians as Sky and Earth,
Asman and Zam; Sun and Moon, Hvar and Mah; and two gods of the wind: Vata and Vayu (Boyce
1979, 6).
297
Boyce 1979, 10.
298
The Indo-,UDQLDQ ZRUG 0LWUD KDG WZR PHDQLQJV  FRYHQDQW FRQWUDFW WUHDW\  IULHQGVKLS
(Malandra 1983, 56).
299
As the god of war, Mithra rides a chariot filled with weapons and punishes the covenant breakers.
The warlike role of Mithra is very similar to the role of Vedic Indra. The possible explanation is that
when Indra was eclipsed by the reforms of Zoroaster, his characteristics were taken over by Mithra
( Ibid., 57).
300
Boyce 1996, 27.
301
Boyce 1979, 6-7.
302
Ibid., 7. The principle of DD was confronted by drug, the principle of falsehood or distortion ( Ibid.,
8).
303
<DVKWV6DFULILFHVDUHWKHK\PQVGHGLFDWHGWRYDULRXVGHLWLHVLQWKH$YHVWD
304
The other aspects of her personality, when compared with the non-Avestan material could point to
non-Iranian origins. On the basis of linguistic evidence it has also been suggested that two distinct
goddesses might have been united in the Avesta (Malandra 1983, 117-118).
305
Frye 1984, 54.

51

worshippers.306 In the Zoroastrian dualism he was opposed to his evil counterpart, Angra
Mainyu.307
The traces of the Iranian peoples are visible in the Mesopotamian sources in the first
quarter of the first millennium. The Medes appeared in the Assyrian sources from the ninth
century onwards.308 The Assyrians had constant military conflict with them in the Zagros
area.309 Probably the most famous historical information about the Medes was the sacking of
Assyrian capital Nineveh in 612 in coalition with the Babylonian forces. The scholarly
tradition reports the existence of a Median empire after this event, but as the modern views
UHO\ VWURQJO\ RQ WKH UHSRUWV RI WKH QRW DOZD\V UHOLDEOH +LVWRULHV E\ +HURGRWXV310, the
existence of Median Empire has been doubted in recent works.311 Until today very little is
known about the Medes as they had no script of their own, and the archaeological findings are
uncertain, saying little about the territorial, political, social and cultural circumstances in the
Median state.312
The first possible mention of the Persians by the Assyrians appears in a royal
inscription of Shalmaneser III (859-824), dating from his 24th year:

ma-da-t si 27 MAN-0(-ni / i KUR SiU-su-a at-ta-ar313

I received tribute from twenty-seven kings of the land Parsua.314
Here, however, the situation is more problematic, as it cannot be said with certainty that the
kings mentioned here are the kings of the ancestors of the later Persians. As the mentioned
Parsua is probably located near the modern Kermanshah in north-western Iran and is not the
later settlement of Persians in the modern province of Fars (Old Persian P rsa), the Parsuans
could be the Persians who later moved southwards or a splinter group of the same people who

306

Malandra 1983, 44f.

However, the development of this opposition is somewhat more complicated. In the Zoroastrian
sense there was a dualistic opposition of DD and drug (Cf. Vedic ta and druh), the truth and the lie, or
(the good and evil). The executor of DD was SpQWD 0DLQ\X 7KH +RO\ 6SLULW), of drug, Angra
0DLQ\X 7KH (YLO 6SLULW). In the later developments Spnta Mainyu lost its importance and Angra
Mainyu was opposed directly to Ahura Mazd (Puhvel 1996, 105).
308
:LHVHK|IHU
309
Kuhrt 1995, 652.
310
E.g. Herodotus I. 103.
311
Rollinger 2008, 52. See also Sancisi-Weerdenburg 1988.
312
:LHVHK|IHU
313
RIMA 3 A.0.102.14, ll. 19-20, p. 68.
314
Ibid. A.0.102.14, l. 20, p. 68.
307

52

moved west while the main body moved on to south.315 In 714 the Persians are mentioned as
the subjects of Assyrian king Sargon II (721-705).316
The exact time the Persians reached the modern province of Fars is unknown. The
ancient name of the area, roughly corresponding to the area of Prsa, was Anshan. It was the
centre of the eastern part of the Elamite state.317 7KH (ODPLWH NLQJV ERUH WKH WLWOHV NLQJ RI
$QVKDQ DQG 6XVD IURP WKH EHJLQQLQJ RI WKH VHFRQG PLOOHQQLXP318

7KH WLWOH NLQJ RI

$QVKDQ SUREDEO\ EDVHG RQ WKLV HDUO\ (ODPLWH WLWOH ZDV DWWULEXWHG WR &\UXV ,,V DQFHVWRUV
Cambyses I, Cyrus I and Teispes on the Cyrus Cylinder.319 The second testimony of the title
is an impression of a cylinder seal from Persepolis320, depicting a spearman on a horse
attacking the enemies, complemented with the Elamite text &\UXV RI $QVKDQ VRQ RI
Teispes.321 3LHUUH%ULDQWVXJJHVWVWKDW7HLVSHV&\UXV,,VJUHDW-grandfather could have been
the first to bear this title after 646, when Assyrians sacked the Elamite capital Susa.322 After
the sacking of Susa, a new kingdom of Elamites and immigrant Persians was possibly formed
in Fars, independent of the Elamite state with its capital in Susa.323 This Teispes/Chishpish
was thus maybe the first king of the Persians. The later sources mention Achaemenes, the
eponymous name-giver of the dynasty, but he was possibly only a legendary figure. 324 There
DOVRLVSURRIRIWKHXVHRIWKHWLWOHNLQJRI3HUVLDDWWULEXWHGDOVRWR&\UXV,WDSSHDUVLQWKH
$VV\ULDQDQQDOVZKHUH&\UXVZDVUHSRUWHGDVSD\LQJWULEXWHWR$XUEDQLSDOLQWKHV325

315

Frye 1984, 66.

Dandamaev, Lukonin 1989, 3.
317
:LHVHK|IHU&I'DQGDPDHY,WKDVEHHQNQRZQIRUDORQJWLPHIURP$FKDHPHQLG
period texts that this area was called P rsa , which is the Persis of the Greek sources, modern Fars.
Consequently, it was concluded that Anshan and P rsa were alternative names for one and the same
country. Starting from at least the middle of the seventh century B.C., Anshan became the old, archaic
and formal name, sanctified by an age-old tradition which was mainly preserved in royal titles. But the
real name of the land was P rsa , which was derived from the appelation of its new rulers.
318
Briant 2002, 17.
319
Schaudig 2001, 552.
320
Catalogued as PFS (Persepolis Fortification Tablets) 93. The Persepolis Fortification Tablets
together with Persepolis Treasury Tablets (PTT), are administrative documents written on clay tablets in
the Elamite language. These tablets from Persepolis are an important source of the early Achaemenid
history from Darius to Xerxes. The use of the Elamite language as the official administrative language
of the empire ceased in ca. 460 and was later replaced with Aramaic documents written on parchment
:LHVHK|IHU
321
Brosius 2000, 4. The Cyrus appearing on the seal is usually identified witK &\UXV , &\UXV ,,V
grandfather.
322
Ibid.
323
Dandamaev 1989, 2.
324
Ibid.
325
$XUEDQLSDOVDQQDOV+,,-%,:$-192.
316

53

Later the Persians became the vassals of the Median kings. 326 Cyrus II the Great (558
530) was traditionally seen as the ruler who managed to break free from the rule of Medians
under king Astyages. Cyrus II managed to sack Ecbatana, the capital of the Medes in
554/53327 or 550/49328. This event is witnessed in the chronicle of Nabonidus (555-539) from
Babylon:
1 [ id]-[ke]-e-ma ana mui m Ku-UDjr An-i-an ana ka-[i-di i ] l-lik-ma [...]
2 m,-tu-me-JXXPPQL-~LEEDONLW-su-PDLQDTWII a-EtWD-na m Ku-UDLW-x[...]
3 m Ku-UDD-na
[...]

kur

A-gam-ta-QXODUUX-~-tu il-lik-ma kaspa XUa EDPDNNUD

4 i kurA-gam-ta-QX L-lul-~-ma
XPPQLP>H...]329

a-na

kur

An-i-an il-Tt ED PDNNUD i

1 (Astyages) mustered (his army) and marched against Cyrus (II), king of Anshan, for
conquest [...]
2 The army rebelled against Astyages and he was taken prisoner. Th[ey handed him
over] to Cyrus (II). ([...])
3 Cyrus (II) marched to Ecbatana, the royal city. The silver, gold, goods, property, [...]
4 which he carried off as booty (from) Ecbatana he took to Anshan. The goods (and)
property of the army of [...]330
After the sacking of Ecbatana and subordinating the Medes, Cyrus conquered Lydia 547,
Babylonia 539331 and eastern Iran in less than twenty years and created an empire stretching
from Mediterranean to India.

326

Mary Boyce suggests that the Persian-led kingdom of Anshan was made subject to the Medes right
after the overthrow of Assyria by the Medes and Babylonians (1979, 49).
327
Third year of Nabonidus as proposed in the Sippar Cylinder (see Law 2010, 202-208).
328
Sixth year of Nabonidus as proposed in the Nabonidus Chronicle (See ABC 7).
329
ABC, 106.
330
Ibid.
331
Henri Frankfort in his seminal ERRN.LQJVKLSDQGWKH*RGV DWWDFKHVJUHDWLPSRUWDQFHWR&\UXV,,V
conquering of Babylon and the influence of this event on the abrupt change in the royal ideology,
VRFLHW\ DQG DUFKLWHFWXUH RI WKH $FKDHPHQLGV )UDQNIRUW ZULWHV :KHQ &\UXV FRQTXHUHG %DE\lon, for
example, he assumed a cultural heritage which could not be accommodated within the traditional forms
of Persian life. /.../ after the conquest of Babylon, Cyrus found himself the center of an immense
apparatus which set the Mesopotamian ruler apart and insured his proper functioning as an intermediary
between society and the divine powers. Although our knowledge of the Achaemenian kingship is very
slight, Greek sources show that its original simplicity was lost when it became burdened with the
dignLW\RI.LQJRIWKH/DQGV,QWKHUXLQVRI3DVDUJDGDH3HUVHSROLVDQG6XVDZHKDYHPDWHULDOSURRI
that kingship under Cyrus the Great and Darius I was given a setting for which there were no Persian

54

3.2

Mesopotamian Influences on the O ld Persian Royal Ideology and Religion during

the Achaemenid Period (558-330)

In the following treatment some of the most exemplary Achaemenid sources are taken under
discussion in chronological order. The focus is on the royal inscriptions where the possible
Mesopotamian influence concerning royal ideology and religion is being traced. The
necessary information about the historical background of the material is added.

3.2.1

T he A chaemenid Royal Inscriptions

The Achaemenid royal inscriptions together with the Elamite administrative tablets from
Persepolis and archaeological findings are the most important sources for reconstructing
Achaemenid history, as they are both contemporary and Iran-oriented.332 Most of these
inscriptions were trilingual333 and were found in Persis (Persepolis, Naqhs-i Rustam,
Pasargadae), Elam (Susa) and Media (Behistun, Hamadan).334
The first problem that arises in discussing the Achaemenid royal inscriptions is the
genealogy of the Achaemenid kings. There are different sources for reconstructing the
Achaemenid lineages of rulers, none of them entirely trustworthy. About the kings prior to the
empire founder Cyrus II, the information is scanty. The Cyrus cylinder lists the following line
of kings: Teispes-Cyrus I-Cambyses I-Cyrus II335 while the Behistun inscription of Darius I
lists Achaemenes-Teispes-Ariaramnes-Arsames-Hystaspes-Darius I336 and states that there
were eight kings in his family ruling before him 337. The reason for the differing lineages lies
LQWKHXVXUSDWLRQRIWKHWKURQHE\'DULXV,ZKRURVHWRSRZHUDIWHUWKHGHDWKRI&\UXV,,VVRQ
Cambyses II and the revolt of Gaumata in 522. It has been claimed that Darius used the means

precedents and in which the Mesopotamian ingredients are clearly recognizable. If the pillared halls of
the Achaemenid palaces had prototypes in the vast tents of nomadic chieftains, the walled artificial
terrace, the monstrous guardians at the gates, the revetments of sculptured stone slabs, and the panels of
glazed bricks derived from Babylon, Assur and Nineveh, even though they were executed by craftsmen
from all over the empire and transfused with the spirit demonstrably Persian.
332
:LHVHK|IHU&I0DODQGUD7KH$FKDHPHQLGLQVFULSWLRQVDUe a unique source of
information about Old Iranian religion in that they can be dated and assigned to historical personalities.
333
Written in Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian. Sometimes also bilingual or monolingual.
334
:LHVHK|IHU
335
Schaudig 2001, 552.
336
'%,  &,,, Cf. Herodotus VII.11 lists Achaemenes-Teispes-Cambyses-Cyrus-TeispesAriaramnes-Arsames-Hystaspes-'DULXVDVWKHDQFHVWRUVRI'DULXVVRQ;HU[HV
337
'%,+RZHYHU'DULXVGRHVQRWQDPHWKHHLJKWNLQJV

55

of propaganda to justify his rights to the throne of the Achaemenids.338 In connecting his
ancestors to the royal line of Cyrus II with the mutual ancestor Teispes, Darius I presents
himself as a member of the branch of the royal family and thus legitimises his claims to the
throne.339 There are also two inscriptions on golden plates from Hamadan (ancient Median
capital Ecbatana) attributed to Ariaramnes and Arsames,340 but most scholars have accepted
them as not authentic on the basis of grammatical peculiarities and dated them to the late
Achaemenid period.341

3.2.1.1 T he C yrus C ylinder

There are no inscriptions in the Old Persian language preserved from the time of Cyrus II342.
Next to the Deutero-Isaiah mentioning of Cyrus, the most important document concerning the
founder of the kingdom is the so-called Cyrus cylinder, written in Akkadian language.343 The
text describes the misdeeds of Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty, who
was not pious towards Marduk and tortured the citizens of Babylon with a corvpe. Marduk
decides to punish Nabonidus, chooses Cyrus II as the ruler of the world and sends him to
Babylon. Cyrus takes the city without battle and the citizenry greets him with joy. Cyrus then
returns the images of gods, releases the people connected with their cults to their original
dwellings344 and starts out with building activity. The text ends with the report of Cyrus
ILQGLQJ DQ LQVFULSWLRQ E\ $XUEDQLSDO 7KLV FRXOG EH LQWHUSUHWHG DV &\UXVV DWWHPSW WR
connect himself to an earlier prosperous ruler.345
This propagandistic text directly reflects the Mesopotamian influences on the Old
Persian royal ideology. The physical shape and literary genre of this text was already a few
thousand years old when this particular text was written, as it belongs to the tradition of
Mesopotamian building texts, a subgenre of royal inscriptions.346 In fact, there are no
JHQXLQHO\2OG3HUVLDQFRPSRQHQWVDSSHDULQJLQWKLVWH[W7KH&\UXV&\OLQGHULVDGRFXPHQW
338

Cf. Briant 2002, 16.

7KH RWKHU WUDGLWLRQ KROGV 'DULXV FODLPV DV WUXWK DQG VHHV WZR OLQHV RI NLQJV LQ )DUV GLYLGHG E\
Teispes between his sons Cyrus I and Ariaramnes (See e.g. Frye 1984, 90-91).
340
AmH, AsH.
341
Dandamaev 1989, 8. Cf. Schmitt 2007, 28.
342
There are two inscriptions CMa and CMc from Pasargadae attributed to Cyrus II, but they are
considered to be later additions by Darius I (Waters 2004, 94).
343
Ahn 1992, 135.
344
7KLVLVWUDGLWLRQDOO\DVVRFLDWHGZLWKWKH&\UXVVHGLFW, the Book of Ezra 1:2-4 where Cyrus starts
out the building of a temple in Jerusalem and releases the Jews from captivity in Babylon.
345
Kuhrt 1992, 51.
346
Kuhrt 1983, 88.
339

56

composed in accordance with traditional Mesopotamian royal building texts and apart from
the incontrovertible fact that the main protagonist is a Persian no foreign and/or new literary
elements appear in it.347 The traditional way to substantiate this kind of Mesopotamian
HVVHQFH RI &\UXV ,,V WH[W ZRXOG EH WKH FRQFHSW RI WKH $FKDHPHQLGV new tolerant policies
towards the subdued peoples.348 Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg doubts the emergence of a new
political philosophy of tolerance and argues that the Achaemenid kings only followed local
customs and acted as local kings.349 The cylinder has also been attributed to the priests of
Marduk who were concerned with their privileges under Nabonidus and thus sustained the
SURSDJDQGDRI&\UXVWKHDOOHJHGUHVWRUHURI0DUGXNVFXOW 350 From the discussed evidence it
could be concluded that the Cyrus Cylinder was by genre closer to the royal inscriptions of
Mesopotamian kings than of the Achaemenids.
If one traces back the more specific role-model of the Cyrus cylinder, the somewhat
surprising outcome would be that the text lacks similarity with most of the Neo-Babylonian
building inscriptions, resembling only some inscriptions of his antagonist Nabonidus.351
Taking into account that the texts of Nabonidus have been written following the example of
the inscriptions by Assyrian kings, it can be concluded that the closest Mesopotamian
relatives to the Cyrus Cylinder (besides texts from Nabonidus) are actually those of the Neo$VV\ULDQ NLQJV (VDUKDGGRQ DQG $XUEDQLSDO352 The aforementioned te[W RI $XUEDQLSDO
found by Cyrus, could in this context be important.
The obvious way to stress the genuinely Mesopotamian essence would be the analysis
of the royal titles in the text:
(20) a-naku Iku-ra-ilugal NL-DWlugal gal lugal dan-nu lugal tin.tirki lugal kur X-me-ULDN-

ka-di-i lugal kib-ra-a-ti er-Ep-et-Wu

(21) dumu Ika-am-bu-zi-ia lugal gal lugal uru an-D-an dumu dumu Iku-ra-ilugal gal luga[l*
u]ru* an-D-an jEDOEDOIL-L-pi-Llugal gal lugal uru an-i-an353

347

Kuhrt 1983, 92.

Sancisi-Weerdenburg 1993, 156.
349
Ibid. &I %HDXOLHX   6XFK DELOLW\ WR FDWHU WR ORFDO FXOWXUHV DQG LGHRORJLFDO V\VWHPV
distinguished the Achaemenid rulers, Cyrus in particular, and no doubt facilitated the integration of
many diverse components into a centralized empire.
350
Piras 2002, 207.
351
Kuhrt 1983, 91.
352
Ibid., 92.
353
Schaudig 2001, 552.
348

57

(20) I am Cyrus, king of the universe, great king, mighty king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer
and Akkad, king of the four quarters,
(21) son of Cambyses, great king, king of Anshan, grandson of Cyrus, great king, king of
Anshan, offspring of Teispes, great king, king of Anshan

7KLVSDVVDJHLVVLPLODUWRWKH&\OLQGHURI&\UXV,,VDUFKHQHP\1DERQLGXV
(1) a-na-ku dNa-bi-um-na--LGDUUXUD-bu-~DUUXGDQ-nu
(2) DUNL-D-WLDU%ELOLKI DUNLE-ra-a-ti er-bet-ti354

(1) I, Nabonidus, great king, mighty king,

(2) king of the universe, king of Babylon, king of the four quarters
All the five titles used by Nabonidus are similar to the ones used by Cyrus II. The cited
SDVVDJHVDUHFRPSDUDEOHWRWKHSULVPLQVFULSWLRQ(GLWLRQ%RI$XUEDQLSDO
D-na-NX,DXU-EkQL-DSOLDUUXUDEDUUXGDQ-nu
jUNLDWLjUPkWXDXUNLjUNLE-rat irbitti(tim)
3 i-LWOuE-EL,DXU-aa-LGGLQDjUPkWXD-XUNL
DNNDQDNEkELOLNLjUPkWXPHUvXDNNDGvNL
OLSOLSL,LOXVvQ-arPH-LUvEDjUNLDWLjUPkWXDXUNL355
1

I, Ashurbanipal, the great king, the mighty king, 2king of the universe, king of

Assyria, king of the four world-regions, 3offspring of the loins of Esarhaddon, king of
Assyria, 4duke of Babylon, king of the land of the Sumerian and the Akkadian,
5

grandson of Sennacherib, king of the universe, king of Assyria356

+HUH $XUEDQLSDO ZKR UXOHG RQH KXQGUHG \HDUV HDUOLHU XVHV ILYH RI WKH VL[ WLWOHV XVHG E\
Cyrus on his cylinder. Both kings also list their ancestors. The only difference appears in the
title concerning Babylonia. While Cyrus II presents himself as the lugal tin.tirki NLQJ RI
%DE\ORQ $XUEDQLSDO VHWWOHV ZLWK WKH UROH RI DNNDQDNXP GXNH RU JRYHUQRUJHQHUDODOVRDQDQFLHQW0HVRSRWDPLDQWLWOHKDYLQJLWVURRWVLQWKHWKLUGPLOOHQQLXP357

354

Kienast 1979, 354.

Piepkorn 1933, 28.
356
Ibid.
357
GR.NITA in Sumerian, first used by Lugal-zagesi (Hallo 1957, 127).
355

58

The Cyrus Cylinder follows the example of the age-old Mesopotamian titles:
1. LUGAL NLDW = DU NLDWLP NLQJ RI WKH XQLYHUVH 7KLV WLWOH GDWHV EDFN WR WKH (DUO\
'\QDVWLF 6XPHULDQ WLWOH /8*$/ .,358

 NLQJ RI .L ,Q WKH (DUO\ '\QDVWLF SHULRG LW

designated the ruler of the city-VWDWH.LDQGLQWKHEURDGHUVHQVHDSRZHUIXOUXOHUZKRFRXOG

exert his power during conflicts between the city-VWDWHV359. During the times starting with
Sargon of Akkade (2334-2279) and the Akkadian dynasty, the Sumerian titlH /8*$/ .,
was translated into Akkadian as DUNLDWLP and started to be used as a universalistic royal
title360 PHDQLQJNLQJRIWKHXQLYHUVH361 This title was later used by e.g. Hammurabi (1792 DPL-Adad I (1808- 7XNXOW-Ninurta I (1244-1208) and Kurigalzu I (ca.
1400).362
2. LUGAL GAL, DUUX UDE in Akkadian JUHDW NLQJ). LUGAL GAL is a far-spread
Mesopotamian title from the third millennium. Used in the inscriptions of Assyria from
$XUEONDOD-1057), in Babylonia from Kurigalzu I.363 /DWHUXVHGE\HJ$XUQDVLUSDO
II (883-859), Tiglath-Pileser III (744-727), Esarhaddon (680-$XUEDQLSDO-ca.630)
of Assyria.364
3. LUGAL dannu or DUUX GDQQX LQ $NNDGLDQ PLJKW\ NLQJ 'DWHV EDFN WR WKH 8U ,,,
period, first used in Sumerian form LUGAL KALAGA by Amar-6XHQ -2038),
UHSODFLQJWKHHDUOLHUWLWOH1,7$.$/$*$PLJKW\PDQ 365 The remaining Ur III kings and
all kings from Isin, as well as Hammurabi and his successors from the First Dynasty of
Babylon, all bore the title.366 /DWHULWZDVXVHGE\ HJ $ULNGQLOL-1308), Sennacherib
(704-DQG$XUEDQLSDORI$VV\ULDDQG1DERSRODVVDU-605) of Babylonia.367
4. LUGAL tin.tir ki  . DINGIR RAki), DUEELOL LQ$NNDGLDQNLQJRI%DE\ORQ8VHGE\
WKH2OG%DE\ORQLDQNLQJV8VHGODWHUE\WKH$VV\ULDQNLQJVHJ7XNXOW-Ninurta I, TiglathPileser III, Sargon II, Sennacherib; the Babylonian kings Marduk-apla-idinna (721-710),

358

Appears in the first known Mesopotamian royal inscriptions by (En)mebaragesi, see RIME 1, 56-57;
FAOS 5, II, 213-214.
359
See Maeda 1981.
360
About universalistic royal titles see Stadnikov 1998.
361
Sazonov 2008, 196f.
362
Ibid., 208.
363
.LHQDVW7KLVWLWOHDOVRDSSHDUVRQDOHWWHUVHQWWRDPL-Adad I (1813-1781)( ibid.).
364
Ibid.
365
Hallo 1957, 127.
366
Ibid.
367
Kienast 1979, 356f.

59

Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562), the Achaemenid ruler Cambyses II (in

538368).369
5. LUGAL XPHUL  akkadi (=DU PW XPHUL X DNNDGL), LUGAL KI-ENGI KI-URI in
6XPHULDQ NLQJ RI 6XPHU DQG $NNDG )LUVW DWWHVWHG XQGHU WKH 8U ,,, king Ur-Namma
(2112-ca.2095).370 /DWHU XVHG E\ HJ XOJL -2047)371, the Old Babylonian kings, the
0LGGOH $VV\ULDQ NLQJ 7XNXOW-Ninurta I372, the Neo-$VV\ULDQ NLQJV DPL-Adad V (823811)373 and Tiglath-Pileser III374.
6. LUGAL NLEUDWL HUEpWL (=DU NLEUWLP DUEDLP), LUGAL AN-UBDA LIMMUBA in
6XPHULDQNLQJRIWKHIRXUTXDUWHUV)LUVWDWWHVWHGXQGHU1DUP-6XHQ-2218).375 This
WLWOHVLJQDOLVHVDFKDQJHLQWKHLGHDRINLQJVKLSDV1DUP-6XHQVWDUWHGWRVWUHVVWKHLGHDRI
military expansion to distant territories.376 The title is partly synonymous with another
universalistic title DU NLDWL as both stand for the political program of universal control.377
The title is also borne by e.g. the Sumerian king Utu-hegal378 (2119-2113), the Old
Babylonian king Hammurabi379 WKH 0LGGOH $VV\ULDQ NLQJ 7XNXOW-Ninurta I380, the Kassite
king Kurigalzu I381.
The Cyrus Cylinder follows the example of the earlier Mesopotamian concepts also in
the religious traits. The king is seen as the restorer of cults and a great builder. He holds an
exclusive relationship with the god Marduk who chose him as his favourite. All these
concepts reach back to the third millennium Mesopotamia. The ideas of the Cyrus Cylinder
are also present in another text from the same time and probably written for the same
purposes, the so-called verse account of Nabonidus.382

368

Cyrus II probably appointed his son Cambyses as king of Babylon in 539/538. The title NLQJ RI
ODQGVDUPWWL) was attributed to Cyrus II, while NLQJRI%DE\ORQDUEELOL) was attributed to his
son Cambyses (Peat 1989, 210). This institution of co-regency was probably one of the Assyrian
influences on the Achaemenid royal ideology (See Frankfort 1948, 243f.).
369
Kuhrt 1992, 25.
370
Hallo 1957, 126.
371
Ibid.
372
Cifola 1995, 42.
373
Ibid., 129.
374
Cifola 1995, 138.
375
Hallo 1957 124f.
376
Maeda 1984, 80.
377
Cifola 1995, 141f.
378
Hallo 1957, 125.
379
Ibid.
380
Sazonov 2010a, 115.
381
Ibid., 116.
382
For the text of the verse account of Nabonidus see Law 2010, 209-217.

60

3.2.1.2 T he Inscription of Darius at Behistun (D B)

Cyrus II died in the summer of 530 in the battle with the Massagetai, east of the Caspian
Sea.383 After him reigned his son Cambyses II, who managed to conquer Egypt in 525. The
inscription at Behistun reflects the events that took place after the death of Cambyses (530522) in 522. Cambyses had secretly killed his brother Bardiya 384 before setting off to
Egypt.385 Cambyses himself died on his way back from Egypt when a revolt had started
against him in Fars, Media and other provinces.386 The leader of the revolt was Gaumata the

magus387, who presented himself as Bardiya, the brother of Cambyses. Gaumata was
overthrown by Darius in 522. According to Muhammad A. Dandamaev, the Behistun
inscription was created between November 521 and March 518.388 Apart from containing
some historical facts, the inscription is also a propagandistic piece of self-justification by
Darius and thus should not be considered to be an entirely adequate depiction of history.
The inscription of Behistun is typically to the Achaemenid inscriptions trilingual,
written in Old Persian, Elamite and Akkadian. Old Persian was a south-western Old Iranian
dialect spoken by the king and his subjects in Fars, with the written form probably invented
under Darius I.389 The Old Persian language is expressed most elaborately and substantially in
the inscription of Behistun. The inscription is also notorious for being the device for
deciphering the ancient Near Eastern scripts. In the traditional manner of the ancient
Mesopotamian inscriptions, it starts with the royal titles given by Darius and the listing of his
genealogy:
DGDP'UD\DYDX[\DL\DYD]UDND[\DL\D[VK\DL\
QP[\DL\D3UVDL\[\DL\DGDK\QP9iW
VSDK\SXoD$UPDK\QDS+D[PDQLL\DWL\
'UD\DYDX[\DL\DPDQSLW9iWVSD9iWVSDK\SLW$U
PD$UPDK\SLW$UL\UDPQD$UL\UDPQDK\SLW&LSL&LS
LSLW+D[PDQLWL\'UD\DYDX[L\DDYDK\DU
383

Frye 1984, 95.

Smerdis in Greek.
385
'%
386
Frye 1984, 98.
387
Member of the hereditary priesthood in Media.
388
Dandamaev 1989, 134.
389
:LHVHK|IHU   %DVHG RQ WKH SHFXOLDULWLHV RI WKH JUDPPDU LW LV VXJJHVWHG WR EH DQ DUWLILFLDO
language.
384

61

GL\YD\DP+D[PDQLL\DK\PDK\KDFSDUXYL\DWDPWDPD
K\KDFSDUXYL\DWDK\DP[DPWDXP[VK\DL\KD
WL\'UD\DYDX[\DL\D9,,,PDQWDXP\W\DL\SDUXYDP
[\DL\KDDGDPQDYDPD,;GXYLWSDUDQDPYD\DP[\DL
\DPDK\390
 -3. I am Darius the Great King, King of Kings, King in Persia, King of
countries, son of Hystaspes, grandson of Arsames, an Achaemenian.
 -6. Darius the King says: My father was Hystaspes; Hystaspes' father was
Arsames; Arsames' father was Ariaramnes; Ariaramnes' father was Teispes; Teispes'
father was Achaemenes.
 -8. Darius the King says: For this reason we are called Achaemenians. From
long ago we have been noble. From long ago our family had been kings.
-11. Darius the King says: there were 8 of our family who were kings before me;
I am the ninth; 9 in succession we have been kings.391
The titles used here are similar to the titles used by the earlier Mesopotamian rulers:
1. [\DL\D NLQJ) a title derived from the verbal root [D\ WR UXOH392 This title is
probably a Median loanword into Old Persian and, as such, probably a title coined by the
Medes.393
2. [\DL\DYD]UDNDJUHDWNLQJ the title [\DL\D NLQJ is often accompanied by the
title vazraka JUHDW ZKLFK DOVR LV SUREDEO\ taken over from Media and follows the
Mesopotamian example (cf. Akkadian DUUXUDE, also appearing on the cylinder of Cyrus).394
The Medes, in turn, probably took the title over from Urartian kings (starting with Sarduri I (ca. 825) and Ishpuini (-ca. 810)) who bore the same title in the 9th century.395

390

Kent 1950, 116f.

Kent 1950, 119.
392
6FKPLWW    VLFK EHL GHU $QDO\VH DOV HLQH $GMHNWLYDEOHLWXQJ YRQ GHP SULPlUHQ
(erschlossenen) Nomen actionis [D\-aD- +HUUVFKDIW (mit dem suffix ar. *-atha-, iran. *-aD-) zu
der Verbalwurzel ar. ND\LUDQ [D\KHUUVFKHQ HUZHLVW'HU.|QLJZLUGDOVRHLQIDFKEHQDQQWDOV
der, ,der charaktisiert ist durch die Herrschaft.&I:LHVHK|IHUZKRWUDQVODWHV [VKk\DWKL\D
as den eine Herrschaft auszeichnet.
393
Ibid. Though studies have given no firm proof about the Median provenience, Schmitt gives two
justifications to the Median background of the title: firstly, he suggests that it is historically coherent
while there was no kingdom ruled by the Iranians prior to the Medes; he also cites Strabo (11, 13, 9),
who hDVVDLGWKDWWKHZRUVKLSRINLQJVFDPHWRWKH3HUVLDQVIURPWKH0HGHV Ibid.).
394
:LHVHK|IHU
395
Schmitt 1977, 386.
391

62

3. [\DL\D[\DL\QP NLQJRINLQJV also a title of Mesopotamian origin, taken over

by the Persians from the Medes, who in turn borrowed it from the Urartians. 396 It was a
universalistic title written DU DUUQL397 DOVR 0$1 0$10(398 and LUGAL
/8*$/0(399) in Akkadian.400 In the Mesopotamian inscriptions it was first used by the
0LGGOH$VV\ULDQNLQJ7XNXOW-Ninurta I.401 The title first appeared in the name of Akkadian
NLQJDUNDOLDUUL-2193).402 Later it became a title par excellence for the Iranian rulers
(Middle Persian KQK, New Persian KDQK).403
4. [\DL\D 3UVDL\ NLQJ RI 3HUVLD a rare title in the Old Persian royal inscriptions,
appearing besides DB only in one minor inscription404 which copies the beginning of DB405
and in the two aforementioned suspicious inscriptions from Hamadan406. It is probably
impossible to follow the probable role-models for this title as this kind of combination
(designation of a ruler + topographical name) is widespread.407
5. [\DL\DGDK\QP NLQJRIFRXQWULHV408 the title was used by all of the Achaemenid
kings who left behind royal inscriptions, starting with Darius I.409 It has only rare counterparts
in Mesopotamia as DU PWWL DUX WKH JORULRXV NLQJ RI ODQGV LQ $NNDGLDQ appearing
during the reigns of the Neo-$VV\ULDQ NLQJV $XUQDVLUSDO ,, DQG 6KDOPDQHVHU ,,, 410 A
version of this title, [\Diya dahyQPYLVSD]DQkis comparable to the Akkadian titles DU
NLEUWLPDUEDLP and DUNLDWLP in the demand for world dominion.411
11 /.../ YDQ$XUDPD]G
KDDGDP[\DL\DDPL\$XUDPD]G[DoDPPDQIUEDUD412

396

Schmitt 1977, 386 .

See e.g. RIMA 1 A.0.78.7, l. 1, p. 248.
398
See e.g. RIMA 1 A.0.78.24, l. 7, p. 275; RIMA 1 A.0.78.13, l. 3, p. 257.
399
See e.g. RIMA 1 A.0.78.39, l. 3, p. 289.
400
Sazonov 2012, 257.
401
Ibid.
402
7KHQDPHFDQEHWUDQVODWHGDVNLQJRIDOOWKHNLQJV
403
:LHVHK|IHUI
404
DBa.
405
DB 1.1-11.
406
AmH, AsH.
407
(JWLWOHVOLNH/8*$/.,/8*$/7,17,5ki from Mesopotamia.
408
7KLVWLWOHDOVRKDVVRPHYDULDQWV6FKPLWWD[yaiya dahynm vispazannP.|QLJ
GHU /lQGHU GLH DOOH 6WlPPH XPIDVVHQ E [yaiya dahynm paruzannP .|QLJ GHU
/lQGHU GLH YLHOH 6WlPPH XPIDVVHQ F [yaiya dahynP WD\DLm parnP .|QLJ GHU
YLHOHQ/lQGHU.
409
Nagel 1975, 356.
410
Kienast 1979, 358.
411
Schmitt 1977, 388.
412
Kent 1950, 117.
397

63

 -2. /.../ By the favor of Ahuramazda I am King; Ahuramazda bestowed the

kingdom upon me.413
This is a typical formula of the Achaemenid royal inscriptions, probably influenced by
Mesopotamian ideology.414 The Achaemenid divine investiture contained the idea of a king
chosen by the top deity of the pantheon which is similar to the Mesopotamian idea of sacral
kingship.415 In the Mesopotamian inscriptions, the king was similarly chosen by top gods of
WKH SDQWKHRQ  (QOLO 0DUGXN DQG $XU 7KLV NLQG RI LQYHVWLWXUH DSSHDUV LQ 0HVRSRWDPLD
already in the third millennium. Lugalzagesi, the king of Uruk was granted the kingship of the
land by Enlil in a similar manner in the 24th century:
36) u4 en-OtO
37) lugal-kur-kur-ra-ke4
38) lugal-]j-ge-si
39) nam-lugal40) kalam-ma
41) e-na-sum-ma-a416

i 36-37) When the god Enlil, king of all lands,

i 38-41) gave to Lugal-zage-si the kingship of the land417
In this text appears the Sumerian title lugal-kur-kur-ra NLQJRIDOOWKHODQGV,Q6XPHULDQ
texts it was used as a title of the gods Enlil and An. The title could be a distant predecessor of
the Old Persian title [\DL\DGDK\QP NLQJRIFRXQWULHV
The Behistun inscription is illustrated with a relief depicting life-sized Darius with his
foot on prostrating Gaumata and attended by two servants and nine figures with their hands
tied and ropes around their neck, representing the conquered peoples. Also appearing in the
scene is a figure within the winged disk, handing Darius the ring of kingship. The relief has
similarities with earlier Mesopotamian depictions of victorious royalty. Various rock reliefs
and other pictorial representations have been suggested to be the role-PRGHOV IRU 'DULXV
relief. For example, the Sar-i Pul relief of the king Annubanini from ca. the late third
413

Kent 1950, 117.

Gnoli 1988.
415
Ibid.
416
RIME 1 E.1.14.20.1, p. 436.
417
Ibid.
414

64

millennium is the most obvious example in the vicinity.418 The motive of the king placing his
foot upon the prostrate enemy, the pose of the bound enemies, as well as the king being
offered the ring of kingship on the Behistun monument might have been directly taken over
from the Sar-i Pul relief.419 The Sar-i Pul relief, in turn, might have been influenced by the
earlier Mesopotamian prototypes.420 7KH 9LFWRU\ 6WHOH RI 1DUP-6XHQ421 has also been
suggested as a possible role-PRGHOIRU'DULXVUHOLHI2QWKHVWHOH1DUP-6XHQDOVRKROGVKLV
foot upon the enemy and is pictured larger then the other human actors, as is Darius on the
Behistun relief. Joan Goodnick Westenholz has suggested that Darius might have had seen the
1DUP-6XHQ VWHOH ZLWK KLV RZQ H\HV DV LW ZDV SOXQGHUHG DQG EURXJKW WR 6XVD DQG ZDV
probably still standing there in his days, among the other Akkadian stelae.422 The NeoAssyrian prototypes have also been considered important influences for the style of the
Behistun relief.423 Margaret Cool Root considers the Neo-Assyrian stelae and palace reliefs as
the possible influences for the Behistun relief.424

3.2.1.3 T he Inscription of A rtaxerxes I I at Susa A (A 2Sa)

The trilingual (Old Persian, Elamite, Akkadian) inscription of the late Achaemenid period
king Artaxerxes II (404-359) commemorates the building of a palace:
LPDPDSDGQD'UD\DYDXDSDQa\NDPDDN
XQDDEa\DSDUDXS$UWD[DoPQa\NDPDYDQ$0$QDKDWDXW
0LWKUDLPDPDSDGQDDGDPDNXQP$0$
5 nahaWDXW0LUDPPSWXYKDFYLVSJDVWXSLPDPW\DDNXQP
PYLMDQWL\ PYLQD\WL\425
418

Westenholz 2000, 122. The Sar-i Pul relief is located on the same road from Babylon to Ecbatana.
Root 1979, 199-201.
420
,ELG,WLVSUREDEO\WUXHWKDWWKHSODQQHUVRIWKH%HKLVWXQUHOLHIGHULYHGWKHPRWLIRIWKHNLQJ
placing one foot upon a prostrate enemy directly from the Sar-i Pul relief of Annubanini. The
appearance of the motif at Sar-i Pul may, in turn, be due to the influence of a series of Akkadian and Ur
III monuments which display the same motif of the king placing his foot on prostrate, living, captive
enemy in a symbolic gesture of supremacy.
421
However, one thing that Darius and Narm-6XHQGLGQRWKDYHLQFRPPRQZDVWKHGLYLQHVWDWXV7KH
Achaemenid kings were not deified and they were not of divine origin (cf. Schmitt 1983). Aeschylus
contradicts this oSLQLRQLQ7KH3HUVLDQV (157)ZKHUHTXHHQ$WRVVDLVFDOOHGPLVWUHVVRIWKHJRGRI
3HUVLDQVDQGPRWKHURIJRGAeschylus 1991, 53).
422
Westenholz 2000, 122.
423
Root 1979, 200.
424
Ibid., 202-210.
425
Kent 1950, 154.
419

65

This palace Darius my great-great-grandfather built; later under Artaxerxes my

grandfather it was burned; by the favor of Ahuramazda, Anahita, and Mithra, this
palace I built. May Ahuramazda, Anahita, and Mithra protect me from all evil, and
that which I have built may they not shatter nor harm.426
In the inscriptions starting from Artaxerxes II (404-359), a triad of gods appears instead of
only Ahura MD]G6FKRODUVKDYHXVXDOO\LQWHUSUHWHG$UWD[HU[HV,,VLQFOXVLRQRI$QKLWDQG
Mithra to his inscriptions as an abrupt change in the religious policies of the Achaemenids.427
In the Darius inscription of Behistun, the actions of the king were brought into life by the
favor of Ahura MD]G+RZHYHULQWKHLQVULSWLRQVRI$UWD[HU[HV,,428, three gods are invoked.
In no way can this be interpreted as a development from monotheism towards polytheism, as
Darius mentions other gods already in the Behistun inscription.429 This could more likely be a
VLJQRIWKHLQFUHDVHGWUDQVFHQGHQFHRI$KXUD0D]GDVSroposed by William W. Malandra.430
,Q0DODQGUDVLQWHUSUHWDWLRQ$KXUD0D]GKDGEHFRPHD deus otiosus, a god whose level of
transcendence was too high to actively participate in the everyday religious concerns.431 So
WKHLQFOXVLRQRI$QKLWDQG0LWKUDLQWKLV inscription could be based on the need to support
the royal ideology with gods who take more active part in human affairs. This development
has its similarities with the usually abstract and inactive role of the sky god An in the
Mesopotamian religion. An had become a deus otiosus while Enlil and Enki/Ea remained
active figures in the Mesopotamian religion and mythology.432 However, these parallels can
not be taken too far, as there is absolutely no proof that the example of An had anything to do
ZLWKWKHFKDQJLQJUROHRI$KXUD0D]GLQWKHUHOLJLRQRIWKH$FKDHPHQLGV
7KHSDUDOOHORI$KXUD0D]GZLWKWKH0HVRSRWDPLDQGHLWLHV(QOLO0DUGXNDQG$XU
has been noted above. Another possible parallel with Mesopotamian religion could be found
in the divine pairings of gods. As the Mesopotamian royalty had tight connections with divine
pairings like Enlil-1LQOLO $XU-Ninlil (Ishtar) and Marduk-Zarpanitu, the emergence of
$QKLWLQWKH$FKDHPHQLGLQVFULSWLRQV WRSDLU$KXUD0D]G during the reign of Artaxerxes
II could have been introduced due to Mesopotamian influence.433

426

Kent 1950, 154.

Jacobs 2006, 1.
428
Also in the inscriptions of Artaxerxes III (359-338).
429
Cf. )U\H  I %RWK WKH IROORZHUV RI =RURDVWHU DQG WKH $FKDHPHQLGV FRQFHQWUDWHG WKHLU
worship on the great god Ahura Mazd and both did not deny the existence of other deities.
430
Malandra 1983, 47.
431
Ibid. About deus otiosus see Eliade, Sullivan 1987.
432
Enlil and Enki eventually lost their prominence to Marduk in the theology of (QPDHOL
433
Panaino 2000, 36.
427

66

$QKLW DQG 0LWKUD UHTXLUH D FORVHU YLHZ LQ FRQQHFWLRQ with the Mesopotamian
influences, as there are some recognisable similarities with the Mesopotamian deities. In the
detection of possible influences, it should be kept in mind that the religious influences are
never unambiguous in topics like the Achaemenid religion. The absence and imbalance of
sources can never lead to exhaustive conclusions or a clear determination of the influences.
Despite of this, it can be stated that the religion during the Achaemenids was essentially
syncretistic. Richard N. Frye lists the major elements of the fusion:
Three general factors can be singled out as the background for discussion about the religion of
the Achaemenids, first the general Iranian beliefs and practices inherited from Indo-Iranian
ancestors, second the message of Zoroaster grafted onto, or mixed with, the former, and finally
ancient Near Eastern religions with temples, priests and ancient practices. In time, under the
empire the third factor obviously grew in importance /.../434

7KH 0LWKUD DQG $QKLW RI WKH $chaemenids seem to be examples of this threefold
fusion. As this thesis focuses on the Mesopotamian influences, the argumentation is mainly
connected with the third basis layer of the Achaemenid religion suggested by Frye.
The possible introduction of the $QKLWFXOWE\$UWD[HU[HV,,FRXOGILQGDIILUPDWLRQ
in the works of classical authors. Berossos, the Babylonian priest of Marduk, reports through
a quotation of Clement of Alexandria435 that Artaxerxes, the son of Darius, introduced the
adoration of anthropomorphic figures to the Persians, set up the statues of Aphrodite Anaitis
in Babylon and demanded their worship from the Susians, Ecbatanians, Persians and
Bactrians and from Damascus and Sardis.436 A contrasting remark is made by Herodotus, who
describes PHUVLDQ FXVWRPV 7KH HUHFWLRQ RI VWDWXHV WHPSOHV DQG DOWDUV LV QRW DFFHSWHG
practice among them, and anyone who does such thing is considered a fool, because,
SUHVXPDEO\WKH3HUVLDQUHOLJLRQLVQRWDQWKURSRPRUSKLFOLNHWKH*UHHN437 So it seems that
Artaxerxes II introduced a new trait to the traditionally non-iconographic Achaemenid
religion. Taking the Achaemenid inscriptions and classical sources into account, it could be
FRQFOXGHG WKDW WKH LQVSLUDWLRQ IRU WKH LPDJHV RI $QKLW FDPH IURP RXWVLGH WKH ,Uanian
culture, probably in the figure of the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna/Ishtar.438 The similarities
DOVR DSSHDU LQ WKH GHVFULSWLRQ RI WKH JDUPHQWV RI $UGZ 6UD $QKLW439, which could be
434

Frye 1984, 121.

Proptrepticus V, 65.2-3, for translation see Kuhrt 2007, 566-567.
436
However, the excavations have not revealed any statues of the Persian deities and the identification
of Aphrodite Anaitis with Anhit could be problematic (Brosius 2006, 66-67).
437
Herodotus I. 131
438
Panaino 2000, 37; Cf. Malandra 1983, 118.
439
Described in Yasht 5 sentences 126-129; see Malandra 1983, 129-130 for translation.
435

67

based on the observation of a cult image.440 It is known that Inanna/Ishtar was also elaborately
dressed for worship.441 The Mesopotamian influences are also noticed by Herodotus, who
says that the cult of Uranian Aphrodite was learned from the Assyrians and Arabians. 442 The
Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar also is a probable influence to the seals, rings and tablets
GHSLFWLQJ$QKLW443
Mithra was identified with the Mesopotamian sun-god DPD Though the Iranians
had their own sun-JRG+YDU.KDWDLQWKH$YHVWDWKH5DGLDQW6XQ0LWKUDZDVHTXDWHG
ZLWKDPDDQGJDLQHGSURPLQHnce as a solar god.444 0LWKUDDQGDPDZHUHYHU\VLPLODULQ
the first millennium.445 Both were solar deities and in the Mesopotamian calendar446, the
seventh month (7DUWXZDVGHGLFDWHGWR DPD ,QWKH ,UDQLDQFDOHQGDU WKHVHYHQWK PRQWK
(%JD\GL) was dedicated to Mithra.447 /LNH DPD ZKR LV DFFRPSDQLHG E\ FRPSDQLRQV
%XQHQHDQG0LDUX-XVWLFH0LWKUDLQWKHWHQWK<DVKWLVDFFRPSDQLHGE\WKHUHWLQXHRIthe
GHLWLHV 6UDRD 2EHGLHQFH DQG 5DQX -XGJH448 The later Mithraic mysteries in the
Roman Empire most probably had a connection with Iranian Mithra, but the exact nature of
the relation remains open.449
Only a fraction of the possible Mesopotamian influences on Old Persian royal
ideology and religion were discussed in the third chapter. A more detailed view is possible on
many of the topics, as the current observation tried to show.

440

Malandra 1983, 18.

6HH /HHPDQVDERXW,QDQQDVJDUPHQWVVHHDOVRWKH6XPHULDQ QDUUDWLYH ,QDQQDV'HVFHQWWR
Netherworld (ETCSL c. 1.4.1).
442
Herodotus I. 131. However, in the same paragraph Herodotus equates Aphrodite with Persian Mitra,
which is clearly a mistake.
443
Briant 2002, 253-254.
444
Boyce 1982, 28.
445
Ibid.
446
Babylonian calendar was used throughout the Achaemenid empire (Frye 1984, 133).
447
Gnoli 1988.
448
Puhvel 1996, 109.
449
Jong 1999, 579.
441

68

Conclusions
7KHDLPRIWKHFXUUHQWPDVWHUVWKHVLVZDVWRWUDFHWKH0HVRSRWDPLDQLQIOXHQFHVRQWKH2OG
Persian royal ideology and religion during the Achaemenid period (558-330 BC). For
delineating the material for comparative analysis, the general concepts of royal ideology and
religion in Mesopotamia were chronologically discussed from the hypothetical pre-historic
stages of the Uruk period (4000-2900 BC) to the Neo-Babylonian period (626-538 BC). The
political and sacral role of the rulers and the royal titles were observed. The primary sources
and scholarly theories, with some exemplary archaeological and iconographic material,
formed the basis of discussion. The discussion in the first two chapters was used as a basis for
the third chapter, where parts of some exemplary Achaemenid royal inscriptions were
analysed and compared to the earlier Mesopotamian royal inscriptions in an attempt to track
the possible influences on royal ideology and religion. In the context of royal ideology and
religion, the necessary historical information was added. The possible influence of different
ethnical groups on Mesopotamian and Iranian society was examined.
The first chapter 7KH 0DLQ &KDUDFWHULVWLFV RI 0HVRSRWDPLDQ 5R\DO ,GHRORJ\
traced the chronological development of Mesopotamian royal ideology in some of its
manifestations. The political and sacral role of the rulers, and the royal titles were observed.
About the pre-historic period of Mesopotamian royal ideology, conclusions of only
speculative nature can be made on the basis of the archaeological material (e.g. the Uruk
vase), as there is no written evidence directly reflecting the concept of royal ideology. The
common theory suggests that the administrative and sacral powers were united into the hands
of a hypothetical SULHVW-UXOHU ZKR PLJKW KDYH EHHQ FDOOHG en. It is possible to divide the
historical and pre-historical periods of Mesopotamian history in the Early Dynastic period (ca.
2900/2800-2334 BC) on the basis of the first longer royal inscriptions, for example, during
the reign of Ur-1DQHRI/DJDFD520 BC). In this period the royal ideology was closely

connected with the tutelary deities of the city-states. The tutelary deities were seen as the
actual rulers of the city-states with human rulers as their representatives. The god Enlil and
his city Nippur played a special role concerning the royal ideology, as rulers searched
legitimisation from him in Nippur. The following Akkadian period (ca. 2334-2154 BC)
brought about a change in the royal ideology. The Akkadian kings, starting with Sargon I (ca.
2334-2279 BC), created a territorial state and practiced a more despotic and centralised rule
than their predecessors, witnessed by the new universalistic royal titles and the deification of
rulers. After the ephemeral interlude of the Gutian rule, the shift in the royal ideology
introduced by the Akkadian dynasty was followed by the Ur III state (ca. 2112-2004 BC). The
Ur III rulers exercised absolute rule on a smaller geographical scale, set in place the
KLHUDUFKLFDOEXUHDXFUDF\DQGVWDUWLQJZLWKXOJLFa. 2094-2047 BC), were also deified. The
royal ideology of the Ur III state was inherited by smaller states that reigned in Mesopotamia
during the Isin-Larsa period (ca. 2000-1800 BC). In the Old Babylonian (1894-1595 BC) and
Old Assyrian periods (ca. 2000-1600 BC) the territorial states re-emerged, most famously
with Babylonia of Hammurabi (1792-%&DQGWKHVWDWHRIDPL-Adad I (1808-1776) in
northern Mesopotamia. Both rulers were of western, Amorite origin. Hammurabi promoted
the cult of Marduk, the city god of Babylon. He also is known for his law code, which
probably was not a legislative codex in the modern sense but an expression of royal
SURSDJDQGD GHSLFWLQJ +DPPXUDEL DV D ULJKWHRXV UXOHU DPL-Adad I is connected with the
emergence of the concept of sovereignty in Assyria, probably following the example of
southern Mesopotamia. During the Middle Babylonian (1595-1155 BC) and Middle Assyrian
(ca.1400-1050 BC) periods new international relations emerged in the Near East, reflected in
the El-Amarna correspondence. The Middle Babylonian period was influenced by the
Kassites, a new ethnical group appearing in Babylon. The Kassites had probably little
influence on Mesopotamian royal ideology. One possible innovation was the concept of
national monarchy. The Middle Assyrian period saw the state of Assyria rise among the great
powers of the ancient Near East. The new political might was reflected in the extensive
titulary of the kings, especially 7XNXOW-Ninurta I (1244-1208 BC). In the Neo-Assyrian period
(ca. 934-612 BC) Assyria became the sole superpower in the Near East. The militaristic kings
of Assyria starting with Shalmaneser III (859-824), set a new aim and wanted to conquer the
world. The royal ideology of the Assyrians centred on the unchallenged rule of the king, who
was seen as a defender of world order from chaos. The Neo-Assyrian hegemony was ended
by the joint forces of the Babylonians and the Medes. The Neo-Babylonian period (626-539
BC) was characterised by building activity and military campaigning of the rulers, especially
70

during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC). The royal ideology in the NeoBabylonian state centred on the cultic activities of the kings.
The second chapter 7KH0DLQ&KDUDFWHULVWLFVRI0HVRSRWDPLDQ5HOLJLRQ centred
on the traits of Mesopotamian religion that were connected with the institution of the ruler.
The development of the pantheon, the role of the prominent gods, the relations of gods and
rulers, the deification of rulers, religious syncretism and the various theological and ethnic
influences on Mesopotamian religion were examined.
The theories about archaic Mesopotamian religion remain speculative due to a lack of
ILQGLQJV 7KH 8UXN YDVH FRXOG SLFWXUH WKH SULHVW-UXOHU en) of Uruk offering agricultural
products to Inanna, the tutelary deity of the city. The archaic Mesopotamian pantheon might
have been dominated by the female deities, who were paired with the god Enki as the
universal husband. The later, mainly masculine pantheon could have been formed by the
influence of the Semitic Akkadians. The question about the pre-historic leader of the pantheon
remains open, with Enlil and Enki as the main contenders. The astral deities - the sky god An,
the moon-god Nanna-6XHQDQGWKHsun-god Utu - might have also been prominent in the prehistoric times. In the Early Dynastic times the tutelary gods were considered to be the actual
rulers of the city states, who created, chose, and suckled the human rulers. The will of the
gods was seen as a guarantee for the well-being of the cities and the interstate relations were
considered to be lead by the gods, who justified and legitimised the actions of human rulers.
Enlil was established as the top god of the pantheon during the Early Dynastic period, with
An, Enki and Ninhursag being the other prominent gods. In the following Akkadian period
many Semitic god names appeared. The Semitic gods were probably equated with the
Sumerian gods to form a syncretistic pantheon. The goddess Ishtar was an important deity
during the Akkadian period in her warlike form, honoured in the royal inscriptions of the
kings. She was the city goddess of Agade, the capital of the Akkadian state. The Akkadian
period witnessed the first known case of deification of the ruler in the history of
Mesopotamia. During the following Ur III period a new imperial pantheon appeared. The
JRGVZHUHSUHVHQWHGLQWKHFDQRQLFDORUGHU$Q(QOLO1LQKXUVDJ(QNL6XHQ8WX,QDQQD
The Ur III rulers were engaged in the controversial hieros gamos, which was probably
FHOHEUDWHGGXULQJWKH1HZ<HDUVIHVWLYDODVDIHUWLOLW\ULWH7KHIROORZLQJ ,VLQ-Larsa period
took over many religious concepts of the Ur III period. In the Old Babylonian period the main
religious innovation was the adding of the Babylonian city god Marduk to the Mesopotamian
pantheon. Marduk started his gradual rise to the top of Mesopotamian pantheon. The Old
71

$VV\ULDQ UHOLJLRQ DQG LWV PRVW LPSRUWDQW JRG $XU ZDV LQIOXHQFHG E\ VRXWKHUQ
Mesopotamian, Nippur-centred theology, exported to Assyria E\ DPL-Adad I (1808-1776
%& /LNH (QOLO $XU ZDV FRQVLGHUHG WR EH WKH ORUG RI NLQJVKLS DQG WKH UXOHU RI WKH ODQG
(QOLOVZLIH1LQOLOZDVHTXDWHGZLWK0XOOLVVXWKHVSRXVHRI$XU7KH0LGGOH%DE\ORQLDQ
period brought no major inventions to Mesopotamian religion; some Kassite gods are attested
and some following developments in the elevation of Marduk could be traced. The Middle
$VV\ULDQSHULRGZLWQHVVHGWKHULVHRIWKHLPSRUWDQFHRIWKHJRG$XULQFRQQHFWLRQZLWKWKH
rise of political prominence of the Middle Assyrian kingdom. The annual crowning ritual of
WKH $VV\ULDQ NLQJ VKRZV WKH SUHGRPLQDQFH RI $XU ZKR ZDV FRQVLGHUHG WR EH WKH DFWXDO
ruler of the state. The late Babylonian period witnessed the final elevation of Marduk to the
status of the tRSJRGRIWKH0HVRSRWDPLDQSDQWKHRQ7KHGHYHORSPHQWLVUHIOHFWHGLQ(QPD
HOL the Babylonian creation epic. This period also witnessed the rise of another prominent
deity Nab0DUGXNVVRQDQGWKHVFULEHRIWKHJRGV7KH1HR-Assyrian period adapted the
%DE\ORQLDQ FUHDWLRQHSLFLQWR$VV\ULDQWKHRORJ\ E\WKHUHSODFHPHQWRI 0DUGXNZLWK $XU
$XUZDVDOVRHTXDWHGZLWKWKHSULPHYDOJRG$QDUDPD6vQ(UUDDQG,VKWDUZHUHDPRQJ
the other prominent gods in the Neo-Assyrian period.
The third chapter 0HVRSRWDPLDQ ,QIOXHQFHV RQ WKH 2OG 3HUVLDQ 5R\DO ,GHRORJ\
DQG 5HOLJLRQ first deals with the hypothetical origins of the Iranian peoples. The Iranians
were part of the proto-Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. They
probably reached the Iranian Plateau at the end of the second millennium, first inhabiting the
eastern part of the plateau. They might have blended with the autochthonous people to a
certain degree, thus forming the ethnic groups of the Medes and the Persians. The preAchaemenid influences of Mesopotamia might have been indirect and mediated by the
Elamites and Urartians. Very little is known about the society and rulership of the early
Iranian peoples. The form of society was probably tribal. In the Avesta, the holy book of the
Zoroastrians, some tribal offices are mentioned, but their translations and definitions are
problematic due to the problems with dating the various parts of the Avesta. The proto-IndoIranians might have worshipped fire and water. The later prominent gods were Ahura Mazd
Mithra and Anhit7KHODWHUIRUPRIJRGGHVVAnhit was connected with the planet Venus
and was thus possibly influenced by Mesopotamian goddess Inanna/Ishtar. Compared to the
Mesopotamian pantheon, the archaic Iranian deities might have been more abstract in their
character, as their moral characteristics were more important than the forces of nature. The
Persians and the Medes first appeared in the Assyrian sources in the ninth century; the
72

Persians in the 24th year of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (859-824 BC). In the middle of
the sixth century the Achaemenid king Cyrus II (558-530 BC) conquered the other great
powers Media, Lydia and Babylonia and created an empire stretching from the Mediterranean
to India.
The second part of the third chapter discusses the most significant sources of the
Achaemenid Empire the royal inscriptions. Three exemplary Achaemenid royal inscriptions
the Cyrus Cylinder from Babylon, The Inscription of Darius I at Behistun and the
inscription of Artaxerxes II from Susa were analysed and compared with earlier
0HVRSRWDPLDQ UR\DO LQVFULSWLRQV 7KH UR\DO WLWXODU\ SUHVHQWHG E\ WKH UXOHUV DQG WKH UXOHUV
relations with the gods were emphasised.
The Cyrus Cylinder actually is a Mesopotamian royal inscription a building text
written in the manner of the twothousandyear tradition in the Akkadian language. The only
truly Persian element in it was the nationality of the king. The Darius Inscription of Behistun
is a trilingual text written in the Old Persian, Elamite and Akkadian language. It is the longest
and most elaborate text written in Old Persian, the language which in its written form was
probably invented during the reign of Darius I (522-486). In the current thesis the Old Persian
version of the text was analysed and compared to the Mesopotamian texts. In the titles of
Darius, many Old Persian renderings of the Mesopotamian royal titles appear, probably
intermediated to the Persians by the Urartians and the Medes. The inscription of Artaxerxes II
at Susa is noteworthy for the fact that instead of only Ahura MazdAnhitDQG0LWKUDZHUH
also included. The discussion presented in the current thesis traced the parallels of Anhit
and Mithra and the Mesopotamian deities. It was concluded that AnhitFRXOGEHLQIOXHQFHG
E\,QDQQD,VKWDUDQG0LWKUDE\DPD
In conclusion it could be stated that many elements of the Old Persian royal
inscriptions are very similar to their Mesopotamian predecessors and in all probability were
influenced by them. Thus the question posed in the introduction can be answered positively.
In the context of the present work, the topics reflected in the Achaemenid inscriptions,
especially the relations between the ruler and god(s) and the royal titulary, had their
antecedents in the distant history of the third millennium Mesopotamia. Despite the seemingly
many abrupt changes in the institution of rulership and religious life, the almost constant
political turmoil and ceaseless influences of various ethnical groups during the three millennia
long history of Mesopotamia, the core features of the Mesopotamian royal ideology and
73

religion always showed signs of utmost durability. This is proven by the fact that the elements
of Mesopotamian culture survive in the artefacts of the people with a completely different
ethnic, linguistic and religious background the royal inscriptions of the Achaemenid
Persians.

74

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uudsed rahvusvahelised suhted, mida peegeldab El-Amarna kirjavahetus. Kesk-%DEORRQLD
SHULRRGL P}MXWDYDG NDVVLLGLG XXV UDKYXVJUXSS %DEORRQLD DODGHO NHV YDOLWVHMDY}LPX
LGHRORRJLDOHNOOLOPVHOWYlKHVWP}MXDYDOGDVhNVY}LPDOLNNHNDVVLLWLGHWRRGXGXXHQGXVLROL
rahvusliku monarhia idee. Kesk-$VVULD DMDVWX ROL WXQQLVWDMDNV $VVULD ULLJL W}XVXOH
VXXUY}LPXGHVHNND8XWSROLLWLOLVWY}LPVXVWYlOMHQGDV$VVULDNXQLQJDWHXODWXVOLNWLWXODWXXU
Uus-$VVULD SHULRRGLO ROL $VVULD /lKLV-,GD DLQXNHQH VXXUY}LP $ODWHV 6KDOPDQHVHU ,,,
(859- VHDGVLG $VVULD YDOLWVHMDG HHVPlUJLNV PDDLOPD YDOOXWDPLVH $VVULD
NXQLQJDY}LPX LGHRORRJLD NHVNHQGXV NXQLQJD DLQXY}LPXOH NXQLQJDV QlKWL PDDLOPDNRUUD
kaitsjat kaose eest. Uus-%DEORRQLDSHULRRGL-538) iseloomustas kuningate ehitustegevus
MD V}MDOLVHG NDPSDDQLDG HULWL 1HEXNDGQHWVDU ,, - DMDO 9DOLWVHMDY}LPX LGHRORRJLD
keskendus kuningate kultustoimingutele.
7HLQH SHDWNN 0HVRSRWDDPLD UHOLJLRRQL SHDPLVHG WXQQXVMRRQHG keskendub
Mesopotaamia religiooni nendele omadustele, mis on seotud valitseja institutsiooniga.
9DDGHOGDNVH DUHQJXLG SDQWHRQLV WlKWVDPDWH MXPDODWH rolli, jumalate ja valitsejate suhteid,
YDOLWVHMDWH MXPDOLNXVWDPLVW UHOLJLRRVVHW VQNUHWLVPL QLQJ PLWPHVXJXVWH WHRORRJLDWH MD
UDKYXVWHP}MX0HVRSRWDDPLDUHOLJLRRQLOH
7HRRULDG DUKDLOLVH 0HVRSRWDDPLD UHOLJLRRQL NRKWD MllYDG VSHNXODWLLYVHWHNV
allikmaterjaOL YlKHVXVH W}WWX 8UXNL YDDV Y}LE NXMXWDGD 8UXNL OLQQD QQ SUHHVWHUNXQLQJDW
SDNNXPDV MXPDODQQD ,QDQQDOH S}OOXPDMDQGXVVDDGXVL Mesopotaamia arhailises panteonis
Y}LVLG GRPLQHHULGD QDLVMXPDOXVHG NHV PRRGXVWDVLG SDDUL MXPDO (QNLJD +LOLVHP SHDPLVHOW
maskuliLQQH SDQWHRQ Y}LV PRRGXVWXGD VHPLLWLGHVW DNNDGODVWH P}MXO (QOLO MD (QNL RQ
SHDPLVHGNDQGLGDDGLGHHODMDORROLVHSDQWHRQLSHDMXPDODNRKDOHNXLGVHHNVLPXVMllEDOOLNDWH
SXXGXPLVH W}WWX ODKWLVHNV .D WDHYDMXPDO $Q NXXMXPDO 1DQQD-6XHQ QLQJ SlLNVHMXPDO 8WX
Y}LVLG HHODMDORROLVHV SDQWHRQLV ROOD WlKWVDO NRKDO 9DUDGQDVWLOLVHO SHULRRGLO SHHWL MXPDODLG
OLQQULLNLGH WHJHOLNHNV YDOLWVHMDWHNV NHV O}LG YDOLVLG YlOMD MD LPHWDVLG LQLPHVWHVW YDOLWVHMDLG
-XPDODWHWDKWHVQlKWLJDUDQWLLGOLQQDGHKHDROXOHQLQJDUYDWLHW riikidevahelisi suhteid juhivad
MXPDODG NHV }LJXVWDVLG MD OHJLWLPHHULVLG YDOLWVHMDWH WHJHYXVW (QOLO VDL YDUDGQDVWLOLVH
SHULRRGLOSDQWHRQLSHDMXPDODNVWHLVHGWlKWVDGMXPDODGROLG$Q(QNLMD1LQKXUVDJ-lUJQHYDO
Akkadi perioodil ilmusid mitmed semiidi jumalate nimed. Semiidi jumalusi hakati ilmselt
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VDPDVWDPD 6XPHUL MXPDODWHJD QLQJ PRRGXVWXV VQNUHWLVWOLN SDQWHRQ $NNDGL SHULRRGLO ROL
ROXOLQHMXPDODQQD,WDUNHVROL$NNDGLULLJLSHDOLQQD$JDGHOLQQDMXPDOXV$NNDGLSHULRRGLVW
on teada esimene valitseja jumalikustamise juhtum Mesopotaamia ajaloos, Narm-6XHQca.
2254-2218) -lUJQHYDO 8UL NROPDQGD GQDVWLD DMDVWXO WHNNLV XXV LPSHULDDOQH SDQWHRQ PLGD
HVLWOHWL NLQGODV MlUMHNRUUDV $Q (QOLO 1LQKXUVDJ (QNL 6XHQ 8WX ,QDQQD 8UL NROPDQGD
GQDVWLD YDOLWsejad osalesid hieros gamosHV PLV LOPVHOW ROL YLOMDNXVULLWXV PLGD SKLWVHWL
XXVDDVWDIHVWLYDOLO -lUJQHY ,VLQ-/DUVD SHULRRG Y}WWLV 8UL NROPDQGDOW GQDVWLDOW OH PLWPHLG
religioosseid ideid. Vana-%DEORRQLD DMDVWX WlKWVDLP UHOLJLRRVQH XXHQGXV ROL 3DDEHOL
OLQQDMXPDOD0DUGXNLOLVDPLQH0HVRSRWDDPLDSDQWHRQL0DUGXNDOXVWDVVLLVRPDMlUNMlUJXOLVW
W}XVX SDQWHRQL SHDMXPDODNV 9DQD-$VVULD UHOLJLRRQL MD SHDMXPDOXV $XULW P}MXWDV
O}XQDSRROQH 1LSSXUL WHRORRJLD PLOOH W}L $VVULDVVH DPL-$GDG , $XULW SHHWL VDrnaselt
(QOLOLJD NXQLQJDY}LPX LVDQGDNV MD PDD YDOLWVHMDNV (QOLOL NDDVDW 1LQOLOL Kakati samastama
$XUL kaaslase Mullissuga. Kesk-%DEORRQLD SHULRRG HL WRRQXG 0HVRSRWDDPLD UHOLJLRRQL
ROXOLVL XXHQGXVL LOPXVLG P}QHG NDVVLLGL SlULWROX MXPDODG MD WRLPXVLG HGasised arengud
Marduki kerkimisel peajumala staatusesse. Kesk-$VVULD SHULRRG DQGLV WXQQLVWXVW MXPDO
$XUL WlKWVXVH VXXUHQHPLVHVW NHGD NXQLQJD NURRQLPLVULWXDDOLV SHHWL $VVULD WHJHOLNXNV
YDOLWVHMDNV+LOLVHO%DEORRQLDSHULRRGLOVDDE0DUGXN0HVRSRWDDPLa panteoni peajumaluseks.
6QGPXVWNDMDVWDE3DDEHOLORRPLVHHSRV(QPDHOL 7lKWVDNVPXXWXENDNLUMDNXQVWLMXPDO
Nab 8XV-$VVULD SHULRRGLO PXJDQGDWDNVH 3DDEHOL ORRPLVHHSRV $VVULD WHRORRJLDVVH
DVHQGDGHV0DUGXNL$XULJD$XULWVDPDVWDWDNVHNDUJMXPDOXV$QDULJDDPD6vQ(UUD
ja ,WDURQWHLVHGROXOLVHGMXPDOXVHG8XV-$VVULDSHULRRGLO
.ROPDQGDSHDWNL0HVRSRWDDPLDP}MXG9DQD-3lUVLDYDOLWVHMDY}LPXLGHRORRJLDOH
MDUHOLJLRRQLOH$KKHPHQLLGLGHDMDVWXO struktuur erineb kahest esimesest SHDWNLVW6LLQRQ
WVLWHHULWXG DQDOVLWXG MD Y}UUHOGXG 0HVRSRWDDPLD MD 3lUVLD HVPDVHLG NLUMDOLNNH DOOLNDLG
3HDWNNMDJXQHENDKHNVDODSHDWNLNV(VLPHQHDODSHDWNNYDDWOHE0HVRSRWDDPLDY}LPDOLNNH
P}MXVLG 3lUVLD NXQLQJDY}LPX LGHRORRJLDOH MD UHOLJLRRQLOH Hnne Ahhemeniidide ajastut, ning
,UDDQL UDKYDVWH KSRWHHWLOLVW SlULWROX 7HLQH DODSHDWNN WHJHOHE 0HVRSRWDDPLD MD
$KKHPHQLLGLGHYDOLWVHMDWHUDLGNLUMDGHY}UGOHYDDQDOVLJD
,UDDQODVHGROLGRVDLQGRHXURRSDNHHOHUKPDSURWR-indoiraani harust. Iraani lavamaale
M}XGVLGLUDDQLUDKYDGLOPVHOWWHLVHHHONULVWOLNXDDVWDWXKDQGHO}SXV7}HQlROLVHOWVHJXQHVLGQDG
VHDO NRKDOLNH DOJHODQLNHJD PRRGXVWDGHV SlUVODVWH MD PHHGODVWH UDKYXVUKPDG (QQH
$KKHPHQLLGLGH DMDVWXW Y}LVLG 0HVRSRWDDPLD P}MXG ROOD NDXGVHG QLQJ YDKHQGDWXG Iraani
UDKYDVWHOH HHODPODVWH MD XUDUWODVWH NDXGX ,UDDQL UDKYDVWH YDUDMDVH KLVNRQQD MD YDOLWVHPLVH
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NRKWD RQ YlJD YlKH WHDGD LOPVHOW ROL WHJHPLVW K}LPXKLVNRQQDJD =RURDVWULVWLGH SKDV
UDDPDWXV $YHVWDV RQ PDLQLWXG P}QLQJDLG K}LPXOLNXWH WLLWOHLG NXLG QHQGH W}ONLPLQH MD
defineerimine on keeruline Avesta erinevate osade dateHULPLVSUREOHHPLGH W}WWX 3URWRiQGRLUDDQODVHG Y}LVLG MXPDOLNXVWDGD WXOG MD YHWW +LOLVHPDG WlKWVDPDG MXPDODG ROLG Ahura
Mazd 0LWKUD MD Anhit -XPDODQQD Anhit KLOLVHP DYDOGXPLVYRUP oli seotud planeet
9HHQXVHJD QLQJ Y}LV VHHW}WWX ROOD P}MXWDWXG 0HVRSRWDDPLD MXPDODQQDst Inannast,WDULVW
9}UUHOGHV 0HVRSRWDDPLD SDQWHRQLJD Y}LVLG DUKDLOLVHG ,UDDQL MXPDODG ROOD ORRPXOW
abstraktsemad, sest nende moraalsed omadused olid olulisemad kui looGXVM}XG3lUVODVHGMD
PHHGODVHG LOPXVLG $VVULD DOOLNDLVVH KHNVDQGDO VDMDQGLO SlUVODVHG $VVULD NXQLQJD
DOPDQDVVHU,,,-824 e.m.a) 24. valitsemisaastal. Kuuenda eelkristliku sajandi keskpaigas
YDOOXWDV3lUVLDNXQLQJDV.\URV,,0HHGLD/GLDMD%DEORRQLDULLJLGQLQJUDMDVLPSHHULXPL
mis ulatus Vahemerest Indiani.
.ROPDQGD SHDWNL WHLQH SRRO UllJLE $KKHPHQLLGLGH LPSHHULXPL N}LJH ROXOLVHPDWHVW
allikatest kuninglikest raidkirjadest. Siin on vaadeldud kolme eksemplaarset Ahhemeniidide
raidkirja Kyrose silindrit, Dareios I Behistuni ning Artaxerxes II Susa raidkirja. Nimetatud
UDLGNLUMX RQ DQDOVLWXG MD Y}UUHOGXG YDUDVHPDWH 0HVRSRWDDPLD UDLGNLUMDGHJD .HVNHQGXWL
valitsejate titulatuuri ja valitseja ning jumalate suhete uurimisele.
Kyrose silinder ongi loomult Mesopotaamia raidkiri ehitistekst, mis on kirjutatud
kahe tuhande aastase traditsiooni vaimus. Ainus tegelikult 3lUVLDVWSlULQHY element sellel on
NXQLQJD UDKYXV 'DUHLRV , %HKLVWXQL UDLGNLUL ROL NROPHNHHOQH WHNVW YDQDSlUVLD HHODPL MD
akNDGL NHHOHV 9DQDSlUVLD NHHOH NLUMDOLN YRUP OHLXWDWL W}HQlROLVHOW 'DUHLRV , -486)
YDOLWVXVDMDO 7||V Y}UUHOGL WHNVWL YDQDSlUVLD YHUVLRRQL 0HVRSRWDDPLD WHNVWLGHJD 'DUHLRV ,
WLLWOLWHV LOPQHYDG PLWPHG 0HVRSRWDDPLD P}MXG PLGD W}HQlROLVHOW YDKHQGDVLG SlUVlastele
XUDUWODVHGMDPHHGODVHG$UWD[HU[HV,,WHNVW6XVDVWRQWlKHOHSDQXYllUQHVHOOHSRROHVWHWOLVDNV
varasemate Ahhemeniidide raidkirjades mainitud jumal Ahura MazdOH LOPQHYDG VLLQ ND
jumalad Anhit ja Mithra. Arutati Anhit MD 0LWKUD Y}LPDOLkke paralleele Mesopotaamia
MXPDODWH,QDQQD,WDULMDDPDLJD
.RNNXY}WWHNV WXOHE PlUNLGD HW PLWPHG HOHPHQGLG 9DQD-3lUVLD NXQLQJOLNHV
UDLGNLUMDGHV RQ YlJD VDUQDVHG 0HVRSRWDDPLD HHONlLMDWHJD QLQJ RQ OLPDOW W}HQlROLVHOW neist
P}MXWDWXG 6HHJD Y}LE SVWLWDWXG XXULPLVNVLPXVHOH YDVWDWD SRVLWLLYVHOW 7HPDDWLNDO PLGD
Ahhemeniidide raidkirjad kajastasid, antud kontekstis eriti valitseja ja jumala suhted, ning
YDOLWVHMDWH HSLWHHWLGHO ROLG RPD NDXJHG HHONlLMDG NROPDQGD HHONULVWOLNX DDVWDWXKDQGH NDXJHs
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ajaloos. .D PLWPHWHV $KKHPHQLLGLGH DMDVWX MXPDODWHV Y}LE OHLGD 0HVRSRWDDPLD MXPDODWH
P}MXVLG +RROLPDWD SDOMXGHVW WRLPXQXG MlUVNXGHVW PXXWXVWHVW YDOLWVHMD LQVWLWXWVLRRQLV QLQJ
UHOLJLRRVVHVHOXVSLGHYDVWSROLLWLOLVWHVQGPXVWHNHHULVHVWQLQJSDOMXGHUDKYXVUKPDGHP}MXVW
0HVRSRWDDPLDV NROPH HHONULVWOLNX DDVWDWXKDQGH MRRNVXO QlLWDVLG 0HVRSRWDDPLD
YDOLWVHMDY}LPX LGHRORRJLD MD UHOLJLRRQL NHVNVHG RPDGXVHG OHV llUPLVW YDVWXSLGDYXVW 6HGD
W}HVWDEIDNWHW0HVRSRWDDPLDNXOWXXULHOHPHQGLGVlLOLVLGKRRSLV erineva etnilise, keelelise ja
UHOLJLRRVVHSlULWROXJDUDKYD SlUVODVWH kuninglikes raidkirjades.

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