Religious Ideology in Assyria

The role of the king of Assyria, according to Joannes, relied heavily on a basis of religious ideology. The power that the king claimed was power that was ultimately inherited by him from the god Ashur. Thus, the people of Assyria abided by their king’s rule because they believed that they were essentially following the will of the Gods. In the section entitled, “A protector king”, Joannes describes how other sovereign states were granted protection if they acknowledged the mightiness of King Assyria, or more specifically, “that of the God Ashur whose executive he was”. We see that the one of the main reasons people followed the king of Assyria so emphatically was because of their religious ideologies. The king himself had the responsibility of living up to these expectations of Godly like qualities, which meant that he needed to exhibit outstanding moral and physical attributes in all spheres of life. By embodying these characteristics of a prominent leader, the king of Assyria managed to gather a great strength of support from his people.
An example of the type of devotion that was seen by the people of Assyria can be seen in the document at the end of this chapter. We see the measures that were taken by people in positions under king in order to gain his approval. Joannes writes, “The mere fact of working in the service of his master is indeed the source of happiness for the true servant; if he is prevented from doing so, his life loses all its point”. This devotion is so extreme that death sees to be only the option for these people if they fail to gain the approval of the king. This relates to the king’s relationship with the Gods, because if someone was not seen in great light by the king, then they were also looked down upon by the Gods. This condemnation by the Gods was something that proved to be very serious in these times. The value of a life, as seen in this context, is essentially based on how the higher beings perceived that specific life, and whether or not they chose to acknowledge it.