Gods Relation with Man in War

After reading through Chapter Seven and Eight of the Rituals of War, there seems to be a very ambiguous relationship established between the gods and humankind. The pantheon of gods are at the top of the pyramid, but unlike other religions, the interactions between man and god are very dynamic. The Assyrians believed in fate or destiny and considered all outcomes as divine will. The gods decided the outcomes of every battle and military decisions and strategies were passed down from the gods to the oracles. The king never went to war until he had consulted the gods and oracles. The king went through this religious method in order to justify their battles as a "defensible, just war" (Bahrani, 184). Furthermore, it seems that every oracle predicted a victory for their own state. This is one of the first contradictions that I found interesting reading through the chapters. If the gods knew all and already knew the outcome of the wars, then why are the oracles of one state wrong? Could it be that their oracles made a wrong reading or was the patron god just not powerful enough to defend their home state? Moreover, throughout the chapters we see that when the statues of gods were desecrated or removed from their homes, it was already predicted by that god and it was actually the wish of the god to be removed. The reasoning that Bahrani gave for this was that the gods were angry at their home citizens and chose to be removed. However, why would any of these patron gods want their statues to be desecrated? The oracular omens and explanations just look to be excuses for unpredictable misfortune.

According to Bahrani, through the relentless repetition of inquiries to the gods and oracular readings, we see a profound anxiety and seriousness that reveals that these religious ideologies were not propagandistic acts for repression or coercion (Bahrani 197). However, looking at the evidence provided, I believe that their is some aggrandizement of the king and justification of his decisions given by these ideologies that were imposed upon the people. The Assyrians had so much contact with their gods leaving very little distinction between god and man. Texts depict gods' chariots accompanying the king into battle and cult statues were transported by land (Bahrani 193-197). Also, Bahrani writes that Hammurabi controlled and directed law on behalf of the gods, almost as a divine king (Bahrani 204). Although, the Mesopotamians worshiped their gods and the kings submitted themselves to the gods, the amount of interactions depicted by reliefs and other archaeological evidence points to a blurred line between god and man.