monarchy and empire

Early dynastic period (c. 2900-2400 BCE): 

Sumerian king list (19th century BCE) records a list of the kings that ruled in Sumer going all the way back to the beginning

• Reveals that the first kingship was in Gish which reigned for 1200 yrs

• Early documentary evidence that the early political institution born alongside the state was kingship

Kings claimed all lands as his own and portrayed himself as protector of the city

Remains of palace at Kish (c. 2500 BCE)

Standard of Ur, c. 2600-2400 BCE: “war panel”

Rise of the Akkadian states: network of military garrisons  under Naram-Sin

• First instance of a city state conquering other city states

Naram-Sin’s success in battle made him the god of Akkade

• Claims of divine sanction, kings compare themselves to God-like figures

Babylonia (18th century BCE): king is responsible for establishing norms and laws and enforcing them

Old Assyrian Empire: commercial empire with exchanges reaching into Anatolia, trade of goods like tin

• King was not all powerful during this phase, but when we get into the Neo Assyrian Empire, the king is an absolute ruler and not merely a first among equals

• King is now a conqueror 

Early kings are defining their roles and functions by building monuments, such as royal palaces

ISIS destroyed Nimrud (2015) and photographed themselves doing it

First 3 achaemenid kings:

• Cyrus II (“the Great”): 559-330

• Cambyses II: 530-522

• Darius: 522-486

Achaemenid religion:

• Ahuramazda

• Zoroastrianism

Different forms of collaboration between kings and local elites, where the local elites will undertake to guarantee the imperial authority is well protected in their local territory in exchange for different marks of favors and gifts from the king. Kings are better to make these type of collaborations than collective forms which are subject to checks and balances.

Pharaonic kingship

Egyptian royal titulature 

• King of upper and lower Egypt

  • Sedge (upper) and bee (lower)

Beloved of the 2 ladies

• Vulture (upper) and cobra (lower)

Egyptian pharaohs married multiple wives and secession went oldest son to principal wife

Principal wife is hard to define, could be the first wife, oldest wife, or wife that came from  most elite background

Kingship is also crucial institutionally bc it represents unified rule

Unified rule → highly centralized top down planning

Building of pyramids in Egypt was possible bc of the index of the capacity of a sole ruler to coordinate mass labor

Kingship, monuments and intersection of the human and the mind

• Exhibit A is Egypt, where this manifests the most

Interlinking of religion and power: temples are for more than just for the gods but also for kings

Alexander in his 20s conquers all of the Achaemenid Empire, he conquered it very fast but failed to create stability

Alexander died at only 36 w no plan of secession

Main players in 323 BCE after alexander’s deah were macedonian military men

• Perdiccas (chiliarch = “vizier”)

• Ptolemy (general)

• Lysimachus (general)

• Seleucus (general)

• Cassander (son of Antipater)

• Antipater (regent of Macedonia)

• Antigonus the One-Eyed (satrap of Phrygia = Asia Minor)

Marginal players: Alexander’s family w/ royal blood

• Philip Arrhidaeus

• Alexander 

Perdiccas makes mistake of taking general authority over the entire power… later gets assassinated

Antigonus the One Eyed: most aggressive conqueror, fights against other contenders and in the year 314, he issues a proclamation decreeing Cassander an enemy unless he releases custody of the king and showed himself obedient to the king

As no one survived to inherit the kingdom, Cassander, Lysimachus and Antigonus are now freed from their fears in regard to the king. Though they have no royal blood, they do have land.

Soldiers saluted Antigonus and Demetrius as kings – surviving generals of Alexander declared a personal kingship over their territories and marks shift in Greece from a city based gov to dynastic form of gov