The history of institutions in Mesopotamia concerns the origin and evolution of institutions (economic, social or political) in the Mesopotamian civilization. Its history spans from the emergence of civilization and the existence of written records that allow History to be made until the fall of the Chaldean or Neo-Babylonian Empire, the last Mesopotamian empire.
The origin of the institutions belonging to civilization – basically the social differentiation inherent to the division of labour and its organization on an urban scale, the construction of power in the primitive States and the establishment of institutionalized religions with temples and clergy — occurred in Mesopotamia and Egypt from the 4th millennium B.C. onwards.
The first institutions The first Mesopotamian institutions that arose are largely unknown and likely predate recorded history. From the 5th millennium B.C. onwards, the villages in the south of present-day Iraq revealed a progressive occupation of the Tigris and Euphrates valleys and the consolidation of agriculture and farming. The first metallurgical techniques also appeared, such as copper (Chalcolithic). The city model of this period is usually considered the preamble to the urban revolution and the first institutions are found in it. Around 4500 B.C. a building with thick walls could be found that signaled a change in society. This (institutional) building could have belonged to the whole village and played a role in a collective organization level of regularization of the relations of the inhabitants. This building indicates the transition from one society to another that required a greater organization. This phenomenon multiplied in all the villages of the south. It can be considered a temple with bureaucratic power that organized the commercial transactions and that had rooms in its interior where copper objects, remains of grain, pieces of wool have been found, it was an economic activity of local origin, also remains of ceramics and material coming from the exterior like precious stones have been found.
From the social point of view, at the beginning of the III millennium B.C., the first great economic differences appeared (until then there were differences based on sex and age), and their consequent internal struggles. Some families held power through control of the temple. They turned part of the population into slaves and appropriated part of the production, until then collective. This aristocracy that settled around the temple created the first administrative positions. The first local institutions also arose, the Council of Elders with a juridical character, and the Assembly of men of the city with a defensive character. The first local chiefs assumed functions such as that of military chief who was the only one who could ensure political and military independence, due to the growing rivalry with neighboring cities, and monopolized the unitary power. It is necessary to emphasize the religious power that was united to the political, judicial and military power, with the customary law. It evolved towards a progressive centralization of power.
This first phase led to another, more clearly defined phase. The first temples fulfilled an economic mission within these societies, being economically independent and self-sufficient cities. Parallel to the emergence of the temples, disputes also began between the great families, who vied for local leadership. This can be dated to around 4000-3100 B.C. and was a response to the needs of the time.
There was a pre-state model in each village that preceded the emergence of the city-states. This model had a special boom in southern Mesopotamia with irrigated agriculture and a more advanced agricultural technology and this is where the first testimonies of writing (socio-economic writings) come from and later the phase of the first dynasties will appear.
Institutions in the protodynastic period
In the protodynastic period there was an important development in the agricultural techniques that marked a great progress, there was also a technological development, copper was substituted by bronze and also the ceramics will achieve important advances.
There was no ethnic unity judging by the written sources. The texts of stratum 4A of Uruk and in Jemdet Nasr identify an element of Sumerian population and another of unknown origin that would inhabit the area before the Sumerians and also highlight non-Sumerian linguistic elements. From the second half of the third millennium this country of the Persian Gulf was called Sumer. To the northwest of this one the country of Akkad will appear.
The Sumerian element was the most important element in the development and this process led to decisive changes in the formation of society. The cities were walled and even the temples within the city itself were walled. Associated with these temples was a priestly caste that commanded them and had great power that was based on a broad economic control. The first texts were written in these temples. In the stratum 4A of Uruk around 3100 B.C. there are more than 4000 texts that come from the great temple of Uruk and recorded the economic and commercial activities of the temple.
These economic texts reveal data of an institutional regulation and provide specific data on areas of cultivated fields, farming and exportation, and transportation. In some later documents there is evidence of a series of names of professions that reveal an organization of the craftsmanship through a specialization of functions. According to these data, not only craft work but also trade was linked to the administration of the temple. There is also evidence of a large-scale trade that provided the importation of mainly luxury goods, raw materials coming from distant regions.
This import capacity transformed the growing potential of the temples (economic) that surely allowed them to maintain this exchange for a long time, which reveals their economic self-sufficiency that seems to export agricultural products, fishing, textile and farming production. This process could not exist without a numerous group of people specialized in the commerce that were denominated Dam-Gár that are the first known merchants and appear mentioned in the texts of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr. It is considered the function of these institutional merchants that makes possible the human relations with an organization and within this movement of the merchants it is necessary to emphasize the private activity of the same ones. It was clear that they are intermediaries of the temples in the outside and would be used in their external relations.
The cities were acquiring more importance in the south of Sumer and were consolidated as city-states. There were also city-states in Syria. For various reasons, economic competition between cities and military clashes multiplied and are documented in textual documents. The warrior spirit emerged as a novelty and the cities were walled and it was an important feature of the first dynasties around 2700 B.C. The need to concentrate military power for defense gave rise to hereditary kingship. And as consequence these kings occupied important functions of cult and progressive submission of the temples to these kings that are of those great families of the protodynastic period before mentioned, that began to stand out at that time. This royalty was distributed throughout all the city-states, assuming the centralist political power by a single person who took charge of the temples and their economic reform.
The assembly of freemen and the council of elders continued to support the king so that the royal power was not absolute. In spite of the subjection these institutions recognized the primacy of the king to whom they assisted in decisions and supported him, the king did not decide alone. The independence of monarchical power is consolidated according to the sources. Around 2700 B.C., written documents of a royal title appeared in Sumer (En) and this title began to represent a status. Parallel to the title of 'en' appeared the first writings of the institution of the palace (Egal) that are found in the most archaic texts of Ur. From the archaeological point of view the first particularly large buildings were found in the city of Kiš and Eridu. Around 2600 B.C. a number of tombs were found in Ur, which show by their grave goods that they are kings and show the growing position of the kingship supported by a partly religious ideology.
Towards 2700 B.C. the title diversified because the title of en is joined to that of lugal and ensi. It seems that this diversification corresponds to a dialectization of Sumerian, subsequently the title of En disappeared, lugal is the king and ensi a subordinate of lugal. The degree of importance of kingship as an institution increases on the horizon of the city-states, later the king will be deified. Although at this time the kingship had not yet been deified, it was associated with a divine origin and a special relationship to the cult. These local chiefs found their location in the fact that royalty descended from heaven, was above society and resided in the palaces, strengthening their economic resources by taking advantage of the historical conjuncture and through buying and selling.
Rivalries between the city-states produced that the city of Kiš and its monarchy in the Proto-Dynastic period became the most important as the Sumerian royal list shows and the title of king of Kish becomes generalized, but despite this primacy the struggles of cities gave rise to a series of Sumerian leagues and coalitions whereby kings unite to defend common interests but the picture of political history remains largely obscured.
The documents are royal texts that provide little information. If it is known that from this protodynastic phase around 2500 B.C. a king appeared in Lagash, accepting the title of king of Kiš and hints that this king named Eannatum would have achieved a primacy in Sumer and to assert this power over other cities he had his victories recorded on various tablets. There are also economic texts that come from the palaces and mention the distribution of power on a local scale. According to these documents the best reflected are the properties of the temples that are farmland and properties of the gods and form a considerable part of the land available for exploitation. A Lagash temple controlled 50% of the irrigated territory. The royal institution was strengthened by usurping from these temples their properties and collective ownership. The absolute power of the kings was not such. The royal institution controlled from 2500 B.C. onwards the economic units of state character, the temples, the river ports and land routes. In the Protodynastic period, the palace structure was highly developed and controlled two areas:
It officially regulated irrigation and water distribution and controlled the cultivation of orchards and fields. It controlled the distribution of wool, alimentary products, fishing, farming and livestock, land leasing, commerce and the buying and selling of slaves.
Land distribution Productive lands belonged to the state organization. The distribution was tripartite:
They belonged to the temple and above all to the palace and were cultivated by specialized employees whose production was destined to the maintenance of the temples, this was controlled by the palaces. Land given to the self-sufficiency of the administrative staff of the temple and the palace. Most of the land was leased in exchange for payment of a salary in kind.