Architectural historian Spiro Kostof channels ERB and Howard.
How religion and the state are inevitable bedfellows as methods of maintaining social order.
Or, rather, Gilgamesh leaves long footprints.
Architectural historian Spiro Kostof channels ERB and Howard.
Published
Tattered Remains of Tartary 
omitted: a bunch of scattered references to how the ziggurat temple tended to be flanked by workshops and stores and other machine-like paraphernalia, all of which remind me strongly of Barsoom’s air machines.
You see the temple guarantees continued life and fertility, with its marriage of earth and sky. Also a handy landing pad, of course.
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It seems like the king got rid of the middle men priest to me
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Paolo Greco or anyway the priest and king roles merged.
God-king strikes me as a less stable role than priest-king because you remain accountable for failure. When things go wrong it’s harder to say “oh no, dad is mad at us. It must be the fault of the malcontents!” You can say “it’s dark forces working against us” and then beat up your weaker neighbours or send people on a quest for the Magic Stone or whatnot, but that means admitting weakness in the marketplace of city-gods. Your peeps might choose someone else.
Have you seen The Man Who Would Be King yet?
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Sigh, no
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