Politics and Government in the Epic of Gilgamesh

Introduction

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an instrumental literary work not only because it is one of the earliest surviving pieces of literature but also because it offers an insight into the lives of earlier societies. According to many scholars, the epic focuses on the figure of a real Sumerian king called Gilgamesh who ruled Uruk around 2700 BCE¹. While the story goes beyond the facts of his biography and is deeply rooted in religion and myths, the aspects of politics and ruling in the epic are based on the real political structure of Mesopotamia. Hence, the work encourages modern readers to look deeper into its historical context in order to understand it fully. The present paper will consider politics and government, which are central themes of the Epic and Gilgamesh. Based on historical sources, the text will explore the political background in which the story was developed.

Main body

In order to study the context of the work, it is essential to acknowledge the time period in which it was created. As noted by Sandars in the introduction to the epic, “it appears that all the most important elements of the story existed as separate poems in the older Sumerian literature, and many have been, indeed probably were, composed and recited long before they were written down”². Nevertheless, the content of the work suggests that it was composed sometime during the third millennium due to recurring situational settings³. This places the epic in Sumerian times.

Sumerians lived in Southern Mesopotamia and were its first literate inhabitants. Sumerians inhabited Mesopotamia and ruled it for a significant share of the fourth and third millennia. According to Sandars, Sumerians were likely conquerors from the north and the east who had taken over the land from its previous inhabitants⁴. Pollard, Rosenberg, and Tignor note that the Sumerian rule was characterized by the formation of cities. Southern Mesopotamia presented excellent opportunities for agriculture, which allowed the region’s population to grow significantly over centuries and migrate from country villages to centres where most of the trade occurred⁵. The cities also attracted people because they were places of worship: the temples built in cities were considered to be the best places for people to serve gods and connect with them⁶. Thus, commerce and religion both played a significant role in the emergence of first Sumerian cities. They spread throughout the region, and Sumerian kings remained in power until they were conquered by Semitic tribes in the third millennium⁷.

Uruk, which was originally ruled by Gilgamesh, was one of the largest and most important cities in Sumerian times. It was also one of the earliest, developed over about 1,000 years before 3500 BCE along with Nippur and Eridu⁸. Based on archaeological knowledge, Uruk had a population of tens of thousands of people, making it critical to Sumerians at the time⁹. The politics and government of Uruk followed the city-state model, which forms the political background of the Epic of Gilgamesh.

City-states was the primary form of government structure in early societies following population growth and urbanization. With thousands of people living together in one location, primitive local governments could not maintain order, necessitating the formation of a strict hierarchy. At the same time, the considerable distance between cities required governments to be relatively independent. A city-state evolved as an attempt to centralize the government while allowing for local decision-making and represented “a political organization based on the authority of a single, large city that controls outlying territories”¹⁰. City-states were ruled by kings who had a full military and administrative authority.

The government structure involving a single ruler evolved in Sumerian communities gradually. Bentley suggests that earlier Sumerian governments were likely composed of assemblies where communities were represented by a few prominent men. This form of decision-making, however, was not useful during crises, where people could disagree, preventing a prompt response. Therefore, in emergencies, these assemblies yielded decision-making power to a single member¹¹. Gradually, these individuals usurped the power of other members of the assembly, instituting themselves as monarchs and gaining full authority. Still, they cooperated with local nobles in order to promote unity and compliance, as well as for protection: conflicts between city-states were common and necessitated significant financial and political support¹². Hence, the politics and government of the time were similar to those of later societies.

Conclusion

On the whole, studying the Epic of Gilgamesh offers an excellent opportunity to look into the life of early societies and states. The epic was likely composed sometime during the third millennium, meaning that the government structure described there features Sumerian political characteristics. The main character of the work was based on a real king Gilgamesh, who ruled Uruk, one of the most significant city-states in southern Mesopotamia during the fourth and third millennia. Based on historical resources, the paper explains how Sumerian cities arose and turned into city-states while also commenting on the emergence of monarchy as a form of government in the region.

Bibliography

Bentley, Jerry H., Herbert F. Ziegler, and Heather E. Streets-Salter. Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past. 6th ed. New York: McGraw Hills Education, 2015.

Kline, Jim. “The Oldest Story, the Oldest Fear, the Oldest Fool: The Religious Dimension of The Epic of Gilgamesh.” Jung Journal 10, no. 2 (2016): 24-36.

Pollard, Elizabeth, Clifford Rosenberg, and Robert Tignor. Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. Concise ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Sandars, Nancy Katherine. “Introduction.” In The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by Nancy Katherine Sandars, 7-60. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 1972.

Yoffee, Norman. “Political Economy in Early Mesopotamian States.” Annual Review of Anthropology 24, no. 1 (1995): 281-311.

Footnotes

1. Jim Kline, “The Oldest Story, the Oldest Fear, the Oldest Fool: The Religious Dimension of The Epic of Gilgamesh,” Jung Journal 10, no. 2 (2016): 28.
2. Nancy Katherine Sandars, “Introduction,” in The Epic of Gilgamesh, trans. by Nancy Katherine Sandars (London: Penguin Books Ltd, 1972), 13.
3. Sandars, “Introduction,” 13.
4. Ibid.
5. Elizabeth Pollard, Clifford Rosenberg, and Robert Tignor, Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, concise ed. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company): 52.
6. Pollard, Rosenberg, and Tignor, Worlds Together, 52.
7. Sandars, “Introduction,” 13.
8. Pollard, Rosenberg, and Tignor, Worlds Together, 51.
9. Norman Yoffee, “Political Economy in Early Mesopotamian States,” Annual Review of Anthropology 24, no. 1 (1995): 284.
10. Pollard, Rosenberg, and Tignor, Worlds Together, 52.
11. Jerry H. Bentley, Herbert F. Ziegler, and Heather E. Streets-Salter, Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past, 6th ed. (New York: McGraw Hills Education, 2015): 30.
12. Bentley, Ziegler, and Streets-Salter, Traditions & Encounters, 30.