Religion and Government

Religion and ideological power seems to be prevalent in all societies, and the Assyrian government was no different. However, in the beginning of our readings of Chapter Four, the author already mentions that “[t]he king of Assyria was both the legitimate successor of a theoretically unique line, and the chosen of the gods, and was thus endowed with every quality” (Johannes 78). To me, it seems that religion had a large emphasis on their culture and society, but what really aggravates me is the fact that the author makes it sound like the choosing of the king by the gods was so legitimate. In fact, later on, it says “[a]t his coronation, the king received his authority from the god Ashur” (Johannes 79), and the tone of writing makes it sound like the god Ashur actually came down and “blessed” the king with good luck, knowledge, and righteousness over the society. Johannes seems to use the sources literally, and many times, the sources were primary documents, which would say stuff like this. However, the way the author presents the facts makes it sound like it was really real, but we know that religion and the gods were part of the ideological part of society at the time, and it should definitely be noted instead of taking their word for it.

It appears as if the entire government was run upon the fact that the king should not be challenged since he has been approved by the god Ashur, and the king has the title of being not only the king of the territory but also of the universe and the four regions of the world (Johannes 79). Not only was he the official king of the Assyrian territory, he was also the chief priest, and apparently, his presence was needed in every single religious ritual. Obviously, it is not possible for the king to be at every single ritual, but what is amusing was the fact that “he was therefore able to have himself represented symbolically by his cloak” (Johannes 83). It is not clear how a cloak could represent the king himself, and it is a wonder how the cloak was able to be passed around the different regions of the territory to symbolize his presence at the rituals. It just doesn’t seem practical that a piece of clothing (the king’s clothing, by the way) could be utilized in this case. If the king wasn’t there, perhaps a statue or a sculpture could be used, but I have never heard of a cloak being used instead.

The king and the government also used oracles to decide what to do in a given event, and many official were nervous about what the oracle was going to say in every case (Johannes 84-85), and it is just shocking how, if we assumed that the oracle was completely random with 2 choices, the government would be run based on the luck of the draw, with each outcome being 50%. And perhaps, some had also used animal livers to determine the fate of something, but if a particular condition affects the liver in some way which makes all the animals get the same outcome (like liver cancer, etc.), then they would notice that all their outcomes would be a particular answer, and it is just odd to me that they didn’t think that the oracle was in any way incorrect or unreliable.

Many of these ideological values factored into the kingship of Assyria, and he was responsible for the building of temples, etc., as well as all the mentioned above. He had some pressure into fulfilling his role as a king ideologically, but for most of the time, he was probably favored for it, because technically, anything that he does is considered correct.