Did the king have all the power and the scholars all the knowledge?
- Patronage model presupposes that the king uses scholarship to support his hold on power
- King uses scholars to interpret messages from the gods, thereby allowing discussions on decision-making without undermining his absolute authority (e.g., SAA 10: 76, 276)
- How could the king judge the scholars' trustworthiness? (e.g., SAA 10: 72)
- Scholars depend on king for livelihood, in competition with other scholars - and other courtiers - for the king's attention and favours (e.g., SAA 10: 173)
- What were the benefits of such a precarious existence? (e.g., SAA 10: 171)
Scholarly kingship: royal literacy
- The kings (and other royal family members) were taught the scribal arts by scholars, e.g., Assurbanipal's tutor Balasi PGP (SAA 10: 39)
- The king was able to read scholarly works to some extent (e.g., SAA 10: 60) (or at least the scholars flattered him that he could)
- The scholars seek royal consent and input for editing scholarly works (e.g., SAA 10: 103, 373)
- The king reads and seeks advice on scholarly works (e.g., SAA 10: 295)
- The scholars liken certain royal family members to the ancient sage TT Adapa PGP (e.g., SAA 10: 174, 244, 380)
Powerful scholarship: Mar-Issar PGP and Babylonian politics
- When Esarhaddon's father Sennacherib PGP captured Babylonia in 689 BC he sacked and destroyed Babylon PGP , commanding it should be abandoned for 70 years
- Esarhaddon used scholarly techniques of omen manipulation to change that duration to 11 years
- The astrologer Mar-Issar oversaw the rebuilding of Babylon and related matters – 24 extant letters:
- Straightforward discussion of celestial TT omens TT (e.g., SAA 10: 347, 362, 363)
- Reports on Babylonian substitute king TT ritual TT (e.g., SAA 10: 350, 351, 352)
- Reports on rebuilding sanctuaries in Babylon, Borsippa PGP , and Uruk PGP (e.g., SAA 10: 49, 354, 355)
- Reports on local and international political affairs (e.g., SAA 10: 348, 367, 369)
Balancing scholarship and power: addressing Esarhaddon
- Scholars are generally deferential and responsive to the king's needs, e.g. the astrologer TT Nabu-ahhe-eriba's PGP prescription of apotropaic TT rituals against a field struck by lightning (SAA 10: 69)
- But Balasi is confident enough to dismiss the king's worries (SAA 10: 42)
- Esarhaddon confides in the king's exorcist TT Adad-šumu-uṣur PGP (e.g., SAA 10: 187)
- And Adad-šumu-uṣur sometimes gives quite forceful instructions to the king (e.g., SAA 10: 196; cf. SAA 10: 43)
- But ultimately the king can call Adad-šumu-uṣur to account (e.g., SAA 10: 314)
Mar-Issar's case shows that scholarly trustworthiness could lead to substantial political roles in the Assyrian court – and presumably great wealth. But the system of multiple, parallel reporting to the king, together the king's own (limited?) scholarly ability, both acted as limiting factors in scholarly power over the king while encouraging a culture of careful documentation and justificatory explanation for scholarly decisions and interpretations.
Further reading
- Porter, Images, power, and politics, 1993
Content last modified: 05 Apr 2024.