The Ancient Shepherd Kings
The Relationship Between Bronze Age Kings And Their Subjects
Oct 30, 2009
Some of the earliest evidence we have regarding the role of the King, and the perception that his subjects had of him, is written on clay tablets from Ancient Sumer and Akkad. These early writings create the archetype for Sumerian rulers within their mythology, and subsequent generations would use these stories to define the roles for their rulers. The earliest tales tell of the shepherd god Dumuzi, the husband of the goddess Ishtar, and the shepherd king of Kish, Etana, who received divine assistance from Shamash, the sun god.
This metaphor of the ruler as a shepherd offers an insight into the relationship between ancient kings and their subjects. Dumuzi, as a god in the role of shepherd, is directly representative of the transition from divine power to the rule of mortals acting on their behalf. Etana, who is listed as the “Shepherd Who Ascended To Heaven,” in the Sumerian King List, is also a symbol of the transitioning of divine power. He is recorded as having been a great conqueror, as well as a heavenly traveler.
The Origins Of The Metaphor
The shepherd god, Dumuzi, is of particular importance because, during the performance of the ritual of the Sacred Marriage with the goddess of the city, the king adopted the immortal aspect of the god’s personae to ensure good fortune for the all of the cities inhabitants. At the culmination of the ritual, the priestess, representing the goddess, would decree the 'shepherdship' of all countries to be the destiny of the king, thereby implying the kings right to impose his might at will and without bounds.
The empire of the third Dynasty of Ur, which ruled most of Mesopotamia from 2,100 to 2000 B.C.E., can be seen as responsible for spreading southern Mesopotamian administrative techniques, in particular large scale wool manufacturing, into the north. Not surprisingly the political and religious symbolism of the shepherd soon followed. We can determine that the use of the shepherd metaphor had spread into Northern Mesopotamia by the beginning of the 20th century B.C.E. Writings show the Hurrian King, Atal-sen of Urkesh, identified himself as the “the worthy shepherd,” again indicating a right to rule.
Within these Mesopotamian administrative systems the king, as 'shepherd' to his subjects, was legally responsible for the welfare of many widows and orphans. However, this was not a purely beneficent move on the part of the king, as these unfortunates were usually relegated to many years of labor in the palace controlled wool industry in exchange for this charity.
Marduk Appoints Hammurabi
Some centuries later, ca. 1750 B.C.E., the metaphor of the shepherd as an intermediary between the owner and his flock and, as an extension, the Lord and his subjects, can be seen impacting the iconography of ancient Iraq’s most famous king, Hammurabi of Babylon. In the prologue to his famous law code, Hammurabi outlines his relationship with the gods and with his subjects. Hammurabi declares that he has been chosen by the chief god of the city of Babylon, Marduk, to tend to the needs of the people on the god’s behalf.
I, Hammurabi, the shepherd,
have gathered abundance and plenty,
have stormed the four quarters of the world,
have magnified the fame of Babylon,
and have elated the mind of Marduk my lord.
This declaration of his divine appointment as shepherd can be seen as a reflection of the political reality of the day. Hammurabi was already in control of the entire region of Babylonia. Nevertheless, he chose to reinforce this political power by claiming a divine mandate.
In Ancient Mesopotamia, the metaphor of the shepherd was also a natural way of representing the power structure of the cosmos. The god Marduk entrusts his flock to Hammurabi, the shepherd of his people: a metaphor which implies not two, but three parties, for a shepherd was usually employed to look after other people’s sheep. In this way, Hammurabi’s new dynasty was able to reconcile the conflict of transitory mortal rulers acting on behalf of the gods, together with the eternal nature of kingship,
Chief Shepherd Of The Hittites
The use of shepherd imagery was not limited to Mesopotamia. The shepherd's crook is represented in the heka scepter of Egyptian Kings, and similar shepherd imagery is found throughout the Levant and Syria. In Anatolia, the Hittites, who would later destroy the last vestige of Hammurabi’s dynasty in Babylon, ca. 1600 B.C.E., used the title of “Chief Shepherd” to signify a high ranking military commander.
Hittite iconography also depicted their kings in the traditional shepherd role. This is symbolized by the Hittite King’s Staff, another stylized shepherd’s crook known as a kalmush. This symbol of kingship can be associated with Shamash, the sun god, who, as the lord of justice, is the chief shepherd of all humankind.
However, it is important to realize that the impression implied by kings who present themselves as a good shepherd is, at its foundation, not one of a caretaker fondly tending to those in need, as is often the stylized representation. Rather, the symbolism of the shepherd king is one of an administrative relationship between the gods and the king who is employed by them. The title directly implies a divine right to rule. The fact that such proclamations of appointed stewardship come, as in the case of Hammurabi, as an after-the-fact proclamation of divine authority, by one who already holds political power, should be recognized as part of the pattern of this relationship.
Sources
Postgate, J.N. Early Mesopotamia, (Routledge, London, 2004)
Bryce, Trevor, Life and Society in the Hittite World, (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002)
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