kingship-templeWe're still mapping where this idea was first discussed. Key passages and related ideas below.
The City & Its Patron God
Every great city belonged to a god — its temple the god's house, its fall the god's departure.
Mesopotamian civilization was a civilization of cities, and each great city 'belonged' to a god: Nippur to Enlil, Eridu to Enki, Ur to the moon-god Nanna, Uruk to An and Inana, Babylon to Marduk, Assur to the god Aššur. The city was literally the god's estate, the temple the god's house, and the citizens the god's people. A city flourished while its god was pleased and present, and fell when the god, angered, abandoned it. Civic identity, religion, and politics were one: to be of a city was to serve its god.
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A hymn to Nibru and Išme-Dagan (Išme-Dagan W)
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A hymn to Numušda for Sîn-iqīšam (Sîn-iqīšam A)
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A praise poem of Enlil-bāni (Enlil-bāni A)
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