制度としての王権の頂点(松下彰良 訳)
一個の制度としての王権(王位)は,大ビラミッド時代のエジプトとハンムラビ時代のバビロニアにおいて,その発達の極点に達していた。それ以後の王たちは,ハンムラビ大王より広い領地を持っていたが,彼以上の完全な王国統治をなしとげたものはいなかった。エジプトとバビロニアの王たちの権力は,外国(人)による征服によって初めて終わったのであって,内乱によったわけではなかった。確かに,王たちは聖職者たちと争うゆとりがなかった。というのは,臣下たちが王に服従しているのは,君主制の宗教的意義(意味合い)に依拠していたからである。しかし,この点を別にすれば,王の権力(authority 威信)には制限はなかった。 |
Chapter V: Kingly Power, n.5He recorded himself his exploits in irrigation : "When Anu and Enlil [a god and goddess] gave me the lands of Sumer and Akkad to rule, and entrusted their sceptre to me, I dug the canal Hammurabi-the-abundance-of-the-people which bringeth water for the lands of Sumer and Akkad. The scattered people of Sumer and Akkad I gathered, with pasturage and watering I provided them; I pastured them with plenty and abundance, and settled them in peaceful dwellings."Kingship as an institution had reached its utmost limits of development in Egypt at the time of the Great Pyramid and in Babylonia at the time of Hammurabi. Later kings have had larger territories, but none have had more complete rule over their kingdoms. The power of Egyptian and Babylonian kings was ended only by foreign conquest, not by internal rebellion. They could not, it is true, afford to quarrel with the priesthood, since the submission of their subjects depended upon the religious significance of the monarchy ; but except in this respect their authority was unlimited. |