Aim: How did the authority of the State assert itself and grow? What kept it in check?

Government originally arises from the need to: Organize irrigation and food production Protect and seize surplus food Create order among many families and tribes living together Protect trade and commerce - or exploit it!

Later, government also acts to protect hierarchical social structures Code of Hammurabi: Laws were rigged to favor the elites and upper classes Protect property, establish social and gender relations

Organized Religion becomes a tool of elite social classes to ensure compliance From nature spirits to gods in human form, and with human motives Who do these gods most resemble in Mesopotamian society? Just as gods rule humans, kings rule their subjects

Creating “Organized Religion” Powerful gods “become” male Each city-state has its own god As kingdoms are assembled, each city’s god becomes part of an assembly of gods

Creating “Organized Religion” Rulers “conquer” the temple - family members becomes priests and priestesses Ruler is a god or a god’s intermediary

Who can contest the king’s will?

Who can contest the king’s will? Common people: who may demand that the king abide by community norms or traditions Nobility: large landholders or warriors who can exercise power over their localities Priests: representing god’s will Other kings

What are the difficulties kings face in maintaining their empires?

What were the difficulties kings faced in maintaining their empires? Different languages, ways of life Unrest over taxation and plunder; peasant rebellion Regional nobles and vassals Ambitious generals Paying for army outposts in farflung regions Invasion from better armed pastoralists or adjacent kingdoms seeking plunder

The conflict between centralizing kings and the many forces of decentralization will be a theme of ‘State-Building” all year