After Kingship had Descended from the Heavens: The Role and Duties of a King in Ancient Mesopotamia

Who was king? Who was not king? What was a king in ancient Mesopotamia? In this video, we'll take a quick look at kingship and the duties of a king in ancient Mesopotamia through the ages.

Contents:

00:00 "After Kingship had descended from the heavens..."
02:36 The Development of Kings in Ancient Sumer
04:31 Role and Duties of Kings in Ancient Mesopotamia
14:02 Thank You and Patrons

Related Videos:

Did the People of Ancient Mesopotamia Believe their Kings were Divine?

The Complete and Concise History of the Sumerians and Early Bronze Age Mesopotamia (7000-2000 BC)

Babylon: The City at the Center of the World - The Concise History of Babylonia (2000-539 BC)

Ancient Sumer and the Sumerians (Ancient Mesopotamia in Minutes)

Sources and Suggested Reading:

A History of Babylon, 2200 BC - AD 75 - Paul-Alain Beaulieu
A History of the Ancient Near East: ca. 3000-323 BC, Third Edition - Marc Van De Mieroop
Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins - Ed. by Ariane Thomas and Timothy Potts
Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization - Paul Kriwaczek
The Ancient Near East: Historical Sources in Translation - Mark W. Chavalas
Civilizations of the Ancient Near East: Vol. I - Ed. by Jack M. Sasson

Follow History with Cy:

#bronzeage #ancienthistory #history

[PopGoesTheology]

Highlight: 5:33 "Man is the shadow of a God and a slave is the shadow of a man, but the king is the mirror of a god." - Akkadian Proverb

[DinoExMachina]

Love the way you read the historical texts. It really adds weight and personality to people who lived so long ago. Brings history to life.

[GLeibniz]

The ancient Egyptians get all the attention but the ancient Sumerians were the more interesting and creative: well done cy!

[WanaxTV]

I love your presentation of the Mesopotamian topics! Naram-Sin definitely had some nerve! 😎

[nicholasbarber]

I like how unlike the egyptian pharaohs who demanded to be worshiped as God. The sumerians kings just saw themselves as the gods overseer.

[_rma]

This is the #1 channel I listen to before going to school and leaving school

[Jon-BEDM]

The more I learn about Sumerian kings, from being shepherds to a king boasting of a deity showing them favor after a great flood, the more I realize the religion I was raised on was just a remix of several previous ones. Thank you for another fun, insightful video🖖

[yoursoulisforever]

I like to think those early civilizations also looked back in time with some mystery and wonder regarding "the ancient ones" that lived before.

[Amadeu.Macedo]

I wonder why Hammurabi (whose locus and era were devoted to the god Marduk) and Ashurbanipal (whose chief god was Ashur) both exalted Enlil, the main god of Sumer and Akkad (centuries before their respective periods)...

[SobekLOTFC]

Keep up the great work, Cy! 👍

This video is prodigious: I'm speaking with Amanda Podany later today 😊

[StMiBll]

How amazing it would be to be able to go back and see this great transitional phase of man from the prehistoric tribal coalition to the first civilizations. Being able to read their words and get a feel for how they viewed the world and did things is truly amazing.

[FranciscoRodríguez-bw]

hola soy mexicano y me gustan estos videos

[scottheg-zw]

Another Great vid. But can you research and present about how agriculture developed in Sumer? I recently saw a vid that said due to the tidal surge of the gulf that pushed the river water back, overflowing (twice daily) the banks with fresh water which enabled early farming. But I have only seen the one. More detail would be great. Having been to Iraq have always been fascinated about how civilization developed there. Thanks!!!

[markospoulios]

Another great video! Watching it, I couldn't help but notice that the ancient mesopotamian concept of kingship is very similar in parts to the concept of God in the old testament.

It wouldn't be hard to believe that these two are related in some way, since the religion of the Israelites developed around that time, with distant, all powerful kings that called themselves shepherds and benevolent, but could at a moment's notice turn genocidal when slighted.

I am not saying that the God of the Israelites is an ancient mesopotamian king, but that the concept of god for the ancient Israelites was influenced by the world around them at the time. Which I think wouldn't be strange.

In any case, keep up the good work man, such good content is hard to find on the internet!

[roykay]

I always appreciate your posts here. Keep 'em coming. Maybe a post on Minusinsk sometime. I like the odd ball places too.

[just_kos]

I love your narration. This was an awesome video!

[Numba]

Thank you for another excellent and informative video! You are my favorite provider of very ancient history content. Thank you again!
God be with you out there, everybody. ✝️ :)

[sarah]

Thanks for the informative Mesopotamian videos, Cy. Us Iraqi viewers love and appreciate you. ❤

[davepowell]

There may have been periods of time associated with families. Prima geniture is commonly used to describe epochs neatly
ie. King Arthur is alleged to have fought Romans and then Saxons 250 years later.
A great great grandson with the same name as listed in the Brut genealogy is plausible

[asumegealisonsume]

It's just sad how little historical records we have of Sumer prior to the 26th century BCE. The people who invented writing so it best to use their invention to keep accounting records, not events