Words: 753
The importance of the role of religion on leadership cannot e overlooked and religion seemed to mingle with and govern the lives of the leaders. One of the most powerful deductions that can be made about Bronze Age Mesopotamia is the constant struggle between a tyrannical ruler and a just ruler. In fact one can go as far as claiming that the entire document highlights the need for a leader who rules well over his people. In the end of the tale we see Galoshes, a tyrannical barbaric ruler, repent by pledging to become someone who loves the people he rules (Kvass).
This shows that perhaps corrupt tyrants who thrived at the expense of the common people marred the Bronze Age Mesopotamia. Similarly another key deduction on leadership is the apparent divine mandate to rule. The Persian Empire is known to have solidified the ‘divine mandate to rule’ and it seems that the Bronze Age Mesopotamia wasn’t too far off from the same notion. In the story we see Galoshes as a ‘hero’ mandated by the Gods to rule and after he displeases the Gods we see the birth of another ‘hero’ once again mandated by Gods to challenge Galoshes (Kvass).
This intricate relationship between heroes and Gods is something that seems to be a key feature of adhering as no ordinary person could simply become a leader. The Bronze Age Mesopotamia society had somewhat unique expectation from their leaders. The most important expectation dealt with courage and strength, which is to clear from the numerous incidents during the ‘Woe unto Galoshes who slandered me and killed the Bull of Heaven! ” We see Inside and Galoshes fight off ‘the bull of heaven’ as well as fight each other with courage, passion and determination.
A leader who did not have the courage to fight and the strength to win was considered no leader at all during the Bronze Age Mesopotamia (Kvass). Similarly, the leaders were also expected to have a sense of adventure to test out their courage. During the ‘Epic of Galoshes’ we see Galoshes and Inside travel to the dark cedar forest to fight the great monster called Humble. There seemed to be no reason for both these leaders to fight this monster but in order to prove their worth and win over the love of their people they had to embark upon this journey and prove their courage as seen in this quote, “l am Galoshes, I killed the Guardian!
I destroyed Humble who lived in the Cedar Forest… I slew lions in the mountain passes! ” (Kvass) . During the course of the ‘Epic of Galoshes’ we also find out about interesting and intricate relationship between Gods and leadership. The Bronze Age Mesopotamia notion of God was very different from our modern notion and God’s often had physical form and interacted with men and other beings. Its clear from the tale that Gods were deeply concerned about who rules and it what manner. As seen in tablet VI, after Galoshes rejected Sitar’s proposal to her father, ‘the god of creation, brings about a curse upon the city of Rusk (Kvass).
Even though the Gods do not have complete control over how the leaders behave they seem to be the ones who ultimately decide their fate as is evident from the death Unkind. The Gods also seem to decide the creation of leaders and their qualities. The leaders can be seen as ‘appointed officials’ and whenever a leader is doing what the Gods would have him do the God’s can create a new one to bring about balance and harmony. To conclude, the ‘Epic of Galoshes’, one of the few surviving works of the ancient literature, provides with wonderful insights into the hidden world of leadership in the Bronze Age Mesopotamia.
From this tale we find out that the Mesopotamia society had experienced tyrannical rule but at the same time people seemed to have realized a way forward where rulers needed to be just. We also find out that Bronze Age Mesopotamia culture recognized courage, passion and a sense of adventure as important virtues in their leaders. Similarly a lot can be said about the close connection between leaders, Gods and the ultimate power of the Gods over the leaders. Works Cited Kvass, Maureen. The Epic of Galoshes. N. P. , n. D. Web. 14 Seep 2012. <http://www. Streetlamp. Org/epic. HTML>.