Salvete
this is part of my essay on Mesopotamia.Soemerian cities:
The cities that were formed in the late 4th millennia BC stayed separate states for long, even though they weren't that different from each other in language, population and social structure. Everywhere in Soemeria the temple of the chief deity played a significant role in the city. The priests of that temple oversaw the constructions that were to be done by the population and took care of storage and distribution of the production of the land. If the fields and gardens were partial or entirely collective possession isn't sure. If this was the case than we can assume that there was a slow process to privatization in the course of the 3rd millennia BC because this was the case from 2300 Bc according to Soemerian sources. The chief priests, the high priest could have called himself king or developed in that character, but this was no general rule because early in their history non- clerical functions appeared like army commander, as a tyrant. The kings could than have ruled over their subjects like Louis 16 did, as replacement ruler for the gods. But Louis 16 ruled as replacement ruler for God.
The monarchy in these cities is very old and the palaces were the political center of the city next to or weave with the temple. The king remained priest but at the same time king and he appeared as first and beloved servant of the deity and not, at least as a general rule, as a deity in the flesh like with the pharaohs. The idea of far beyond the human kind of deities always existed in Asia and in Mesopotamia. In the 3rd millennia BC, we hear of rivalry between the cities where the one city dominates the other. Important centers were Oer/Ur, Lagasj and Oeroek/Uruk. Short after 2400 BC we hear of a brave king of Uruk who managed to form a hegemony over whole Southern- and Middle- Mesopotamia. It was the first time in history that anyone tried to build an empire with force that covered the entire known world. 'King of all' or 'King of the Four quarters' would become titles in the future to point out world domination. This Soemerian empire collapsed to Akkad where king Sargon around 2375 BC settles the first Semitic Empire. Sargon conquered whole of Mesopotamia and even got as far as the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. With the arrival of the Amorites around the year 2000 BC, it would end this empire as well. And the political downfall of the Soemerians would begin: their language disappeared as a spoken language, and would for now on only be used for religious and other texts since it was a dead language.
valete optime in pace deorum
Sokarus Aurelius Orcus