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A god is the source of the justice dispensed by the king. Uruinimgina of Lagaš claimed to make dwell in the country the word pronounced by his lord Ningirsu. Ur-Nammu made justice reign according to the equitable laws of the Sun-god Utu. Išme-Dagan of Isin prayed, ‘May Utu place justice and equity in my mouth!’ Lipit-Ištar, in the prologue and epilogue of the law-code promulgated in his name, claimed to establish justice in Sumer and Akkad in accord with the commands in accord with the commands of Enlil, his father. And the best known lawgiwer wrote in the epilogue of his laws, ‘Hammurapi, the king of justice, on whom Šamaš bestowed just judgements, am I’. This is represented pictorially in the relief at the top of the stele, where the god is shown dictating laws to Hammurapi, who stands before him in an attitude of reverence.
The Hebrew kings likewise drew their justice from a heavenly source: ‘O God, give your judgements to the king and your righteousness to the king’s son. Let him judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.’ (Psalm 72:1-2) Even in a pre-monarchic setting the judge is treated as having a ‘hot line’ to God (Exodus 18:13-16). Hammurapi’s stele relief shows the king receiving his instructions in a face-to-face privat encounter with the god of justice, who sits on his throne on a stylized mountain. Similarly Moses, the Hebrew lawgiver, gets his laws from Yahweh in private interviews on Mt. Sinai.
In Greek tradition, there is a parallel in the legend of the just Cretan king and lawgiver Minos. In the Odyssey he is remembered as ‘great Zeus’ intimate interlocutor’ (19.179). Later authors explain that he went to the Idaean cave to converse with Zeus and to receive instruction from him, upon which he based his laws (Plato, Laws 624a-b). Some passages in Homer’s epics make it clear that Zeus is also the source of the justice dispensed by the king, e.g. Iliad 2.204-206, “There must be a single marshal, a single king, he to whom the son of Kronos has given sceptre and themistes, so that he may take counsel for them.” Also Nestor tells Agamemnon that Zeus has given sceptre and themistes into his hand for that same purpose (Iliad 9.97-99). The themistes - “norms, established by tradition or case-law” are given to rulers by Zeus together with their sceptres, and a ruler guards them.
Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Exodus 18:13-16
Homer, Iliad 2.204-206
Homer, Iliad 9.97-99
Homer, Odyssey 19.179
Plato, Laws 624a-b
Psalm 72:1-2
Bibliography
| West 1997, 134-136 | West, Martin L. The East Face of Helicon. West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1997. |
Amar Annus
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