The rise of blood sacrifice and priest-kingship in Mesopotamia: A ‘cosmic decree’?

The first stage of civilization appeared in the Bronze Age with templecentred urban settlements. It is not known why priest-kings were suddenly accepted as hierarchically superior rulers entitled to provisions by their fellows who thereby turned themselves into mankind's first commoners. Sophisticated blood rituals became the most prominent activities of the first permanent lords. The origin of these sacred procedures remained equally enigmatic. Though well documented, the textual and archaeological sources, which point to catastrophic preconditions for the emergence of a sacrificial élite, are only rarely taken into consideration by students of religion. This paper tries to show the essential correctness of Mesopotamian myths, which claim the first ‘cult places’ and their priestly personnel to have emerged as institutions for ‘beclouded’ people in need of ‘counselling’ after natural disasters had inflicted ‘destructions’ on their habitats.