Mesopotamia: myth and reality

Authors

• Alfred Haldar

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30674/scripta.67068

Keywords:

Mesopotamia, Myth, Middle East, Civilization, Ancient, Babylonia, State and religion

Abstract

Was there a myth relating to the state in ancient Mesopotamia? There were several complexes of such myth. An example of this is Hammurabi, the king of Babylonian dynasty who extended Babylon’s control throughout Mesopotamia. His most important reform was Marduk's rise to a position as the chief deity of the whole kingdom. Whether or not the Epic of Creation obtained its final literary form in the reign of Hammurabi is a question, which is not easily answered. There is sufficient evidence of the main features of Marduk's character before Hammurabi's reign, but quite another question is that of the literary process. In any case, Marduk's position as the chief deity of the realm coincided with Hammurabi's adopting the feudal system of administration. In the Ur III period, as we have seen, the early system still prevailed, and the earlier city states continued their existence, although as provinces of the unity. This system was continued in the period of the Isin and Larsa dynasties. In the reign of Shamshi-Adad of Asshur, at any rate, we meet with a typical feudal system, as is evident, for instance, from his correspondence with his son Yasmah-Adad, viceroy of Mari. This system implies that the king considered himself the possessor of the ground, particularly such as belonged to the temples, and its products as well.