kingship-templeWe're still mapping where this idea was first discussed. Key passages and related ideas below.
The Sumerian King List & Dynastic Legitimacy
A king-list whose first rulers reign for thirty thousand years — not history, but a claim about who deserves the throne.
The Sumerian King List is a remarkable document that lists dynasties and kings in sequence, claiming that kingship passed from one city to the next — Kish, Uruk, Ur, and so on — in a single unbroken line authorized by the gods. Before the Flood it credits kings with reigns of tens of thousands of years. Modern scholars treat it not as a historical record but as a political claim: that rule over the land was always one, always granted from above, and legitimately held by whoever currently held the throne. It contains historical names but cannot be read as a reliable chronicle.
Key passages(2)
Very high
High