HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"count": 459,
"next": "https://seshat-db.com/api/rt/moralizing-enforcement-of-rulers/?format=api&page=7",
"previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/rt/moralizing-enforcement-of-rulers/?format=api&page=5",
"results": [
{
"id": 256,
"polity": {
"id": 145,
"name": "jp_kofun",
"long_name": "Kansai - Kofun Period",
"start_year": 250,
"end_year": 537
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "\"While these gods were not morally concerned in the sense of explicitly caring for human welfare, they were clearly offended by certain moral violations and willing to inflict disaster upon society in response. It was the duty of clan leaders and the emperor to perform the correct rites in order to placate the kami; if they failed in this duty to society, collective punishment would result.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPNFBIVN\">[Stanford_et_al 2024, p. 235]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 257,
"polity": {
"id": 151,
"name": "jp_azuchi_momoyama",
"long_name": "Japan - Azuchi-Momoyama",
"start_year": 1568,
"end_year": 1603
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "\"From the sixteenth century onward, neo-Confucian ideas were diffused among a large proportion of the populace for the first time, aided by the publication of large numbers of texts in the vernacular and the founding of Confucian academies throughout Japan (Paramore 2016: 44–5). The concept of Heaven and the Way of Heaven—known in Japanese as tendo—became widespread, including the idea that improper conduct not in accord with tendo would result in negative consequences either for oneself or for one’s descendants. This formed a fertile basis for political critique in a time of great instability, suggesting even that rulers might be legitimately overthrown because their immoral behavior was not condoned by Heaven. It fused too with both Buddhist and Shinto ideas.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPNFBIVN\">[Stanford_et_al 2024, pp. 241-242]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 258,
"polity": {
"id": 152,
"name": "jp_tokugawa_shogunate",
"long_name": "Tokugawa Shogunate",
"start_year": 1603,
"end_year": 1868
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "\"From the sixteenth century onward, neo-Confucian ideas were diffused among a large proportion of the populace for the first time, aided by the publication of large numbers of texts in the vernacular and the founding of Confucian academies throughout Japan (Paramore 2016: 44–5). The concept of Heaven and the Way of Heaven—known in Japanese as tendo—became widespread, including the idea that improper conduct not in accord with tendo would result in negative consequences either for oneself or for one’s descendants. This formed a fertile basis for political critique in a time of great instability, suggesting even that rulers might be legitimately overthrown because their immoral behavior was not condoned by Heaven. It fused too with both Buddhist and Shinto ideas.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPNFBIVN\">[Stanford_et_al 2024, pp. 241-242]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 259,
"polity": {
"id": 139,
"name": "jp_jomon_2",
"long_name": "Japan - Initial Jomon",
"start_year": -9200,
"end_year": -5300
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 260,
"polity": {
"id": 140,
"name": "jp_jomon_3",
"long_name": "Japan - Early Jomon",
"start_year": -5300,
"end_year": -3500
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 261,
"polity": {
"id": 138,
"name": "jp_jomon_1",
"long_name": "Japan - Incipient Jomon",
"start_year": -13600,
"end_year": -9200
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 262,
"polity": {
"id": 141,
"name": "jp_jomon_4",
"long_name": "Japan - Middle Jomon",
"start_year": -3500,
"end_year": -2500
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 263,
"polity": {
"id": 142,
"name": "jp_jomon_5",
"long_name": "Japan - Late Jomon",
"start_year": -2500,
"end_year": -1200
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 264,
"polity": {
"id": 143,
"name": "jp_jomon_6",
"long_name": "Japan - Final Jomon",
"start_year": -1200,
"end_year": -300
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 265,
"polity": {
"id": 148,
"name": "jp_kamakura",
"long_name": "Kamakura Shogunate",
"start_year": 1185,
"end_year": 1333
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "“Especially noteworthy is the swearing of oaths to kami and Buddhist divinities, a practice widespread among the population (Hardacre 2017: 154–6). Such oaths were sworn for a wide variety of reasons, including affirming the truth of a testimony and making interpersonal commitments. Both the kami and the Buddhist divinities were seen as capable of enforcing them. They were believed to know the truth of people’s actions and motives and to display a wrathful readiness to punish wrongdoing. In this period, these beings came to be seen as rewarding good behavior and punishing transgressions generally; this was now referred to as shobatsu, “reward and punishment,” as opposed to the older, but still current, term tatari, that is, causing misfortune as a result of pollution.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPNFBIVN\">[Stanford_et_al 2024, p. 240]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 266,
"polity": {
"id": 149,
"name": "jp_ashikaga",
"long_name": "Ashikaga Shogunate",
"start_year": 1336,
"end_year": 1467
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "“Especially noteworthy is the swearing of oaths to kami and Buddhist divinities, a practice widespread among the population (Hardacre 2017: 154–6). Such oaths were sworn for a wide variety of reasons, including affirming the truth of a testimony and making interpersonal commitments. Both the kami and the Buddhist divinities were seen as capable of enforcing them. They were believed to know the truth of people’s actions and motives and to display a wrathful readiness to punish wrongdoing. In this period, these beings came to be seen as rewarding good behavior and punishing transgressions generally; this was now referred to as shobatsu, “reward and punishment,” as opposed to the older, but still current, term tatari, that is, causing misfortune as a result of pollution.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPNFBIVN\">[Stanford_et_al 2024, p. 240]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 267,
"polity": {
"id": 263,
"name": "jp_nara",
"long_name": "Nara Kingdom",
"start_year": 710,
"end_year": 794
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "\"In the early part of this period, Buddhism was dominated by a number of aristocratic clans, who placed emphasis on practice rather than doctrine, building temples apparently largely as a symbol of clan dominance. Religious practice largely revolved around practical concerns—chanting sutras and performing other Buddhist rituals in the hope of curing diseases, protecting one’s family, or averting natural disasters (Deal and Ruppert 2015: 31). Abstract concerns of enlightenment do not appear to have been given particular emphasis. This continued after the mid-seventh century CE, when Buddhism was adopted as a state religion.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPNFBIVN\">[Stanford_et_al 2024, p. 236]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 268,
"polity": {
"id": 146,
"name": "jp_asuka",
"long_name": "Asuka",
"start_year": 538,
"end_year": 710
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "\"In the early part of this period, Buddhism was dominated by a number of aristocratic clans, who placed emphasis on practice rather than doctrine, building temples apparently largely as a symbol of clan dominance. Religious practice largely revolved around practical concerns—chanting sutras and performing other Buddhist rituals in the hope of curing diseases, protecting one’s family, or averting natural disasters (Deal and Ruppert 2015: 31). Abstract concerns of enlightenment do not appear to have been given particular emphasis. This continued after the mid-seventh century CE, when Buddhism was adopted as a state religion.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KPNFBIVN\">[Stanford_et_al 2024, p. 236]</a>",
"description": null
},
{
"id": 269,
"polity": {
"id": 68,
"name": "gr_crete_classical",
"long_name": "Classical Crete",
"start_year": -500,
"end_year": -323
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "The following excerpt suggests a decrease in belief in moralizing enforcement among elites, but not necessarily its disappearance. \"[...] increasing rationalism of educated elites in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE and their skepticism about the traditional gods [...]\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DIRZ999P\">[Larson_et_al 2024, p. 28]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 270,
"polity": {
"id": 66,
"name": "gr_crete_geometric",
"long_name": "Geometric Crete",
"start_year": -1000,
"end_year": -710
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "\"Homer’s Iliad represents the viewpoint of the aristocratic chieftain, who rules over a group of settlements in a warrior culture. In the world of the Iliad, the gods rarely pay attention to the behavior of lowly people. Zeus’s moral concern is usually limited to enforcement of the warrior code and the norms of behavior between elite males in three domains: guest friendship, oaths, and supplication. While violations of these norms reliably draw his attention, the ways of Zeus are difficult to know, and he does not always punish those who deserve it. Where moral transgressions lie outside Zeus’s specific domains of moral interest, a wronged person must pray for justice and persuade Zeus or other gods to get involved (Saunders 1996: 38).\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DIRZ999P\">[Larson_et_al 2024, p. 22]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 271,
"polity": {
"id": 67,
"name": "gr_crete_archaic",
"long_name": "Archaic Crete",
"start_year": -710,
"end_year": -500
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "\"Homer’s Iliad represents the viewpoint of the aristocratic chieftain, who rules over a group of settlements in a warrior culture. In the world of the Iliad, the gods rarely pay attention to the behavior of lowly people. Zeus’s moral concern is usually limited to enforcement of the warrior code and the norms of behavior between elite males in three domains: guest friendship, oaths, and supplication. While violations of these norms reliably draw his attention, the ways of Zeus are difficult to know, and he does not always punish those who deserve it. Where moral transgressions lie outside Zeus’s specific domains of moral interest, a wronged person must pray for justice and persuade Zeus or other gods to get involved (Saunders 1996: 38).\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DIRZ999P\">[Larson_et_al 2024, p. 22]</a> \"Most Greek literature of the Archaic period is fragmentary, but emergent genres of poetry clearly recapitulate ideas found in Homer and Hesiod.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DIRZ999P\">[Larson_et_al 2024, p. 25]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 272,
"polity": {
"id": 69,
"name": "gr_crete_hellenistic",
"long_name": "Hellenistic Crete",
"start_year": -323,
"end_year": -69
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "Rulers were considered gods. \r\n\r\n\"The superimposition of Hellenistic monarchies on the older system of polis governance wrought few fundamental changes to the ritual component of Greek polytheism, except that ruler worship became an important part of the ritual observances, and funding for sanctuaries and cults increasingly relied upon patronage by monarchs, together with the elites created by their rule. Ruler cult does not seem to have involved an expectation that rulers exert supernatural scrutiny or administer punishment by supernatural means, although their roles in administering justice were surely enhanced by the perception of their divinity (Mikalson 2010: 190).\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DIRZ999P\">[Larson_et_al 2024, p. 29]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 273,
"polity": {
"id": 510,
"name": "eg_badarian",
"long_name": "Badarian",
"start_year": -4400,
"end_year": -3800
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 274,
"polity": {
"id": 473,
"name": "iq_ubaid",
"long_name": "Ubaid",
"start_year": -5500,
"end_year": -4000
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "Iconographic and archaeological data from the Ubaid period strongly suggests belief that gods primarily rewarded those who provided them with correct ritual worship and suitable offerings. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/9TDGABWZ\">[Hole_Carter_Philip 2010, pp. 228-238]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7SJIX8HS\">[Peasnall_Peregrine_Ember 2002, p. 381]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 275,
"polity": {
"id": 474,
"name": "iq_uruk",
"long_name": "Uruk",
"start_year": -4000,
"end_year": -2900
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "Evidence from the Uruk period strongly suggests belief that gods primarily rewarded those who provided them with correct ritual worship and suitable offerings. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/U43PKNTU\">[Cunningham 2013, pp. 41-48]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 276,
"polity": {
"id": 515,
"name": "eg_dynasty_2",
"long_name": "Egypt - Dynasty II",
"start_year": -2900,
"end_year": -2687
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "A~P",
"comment": "Earliest written attestations of the concept of ma'at (meaning order, including in a moralising sense) date to the Second Dynasty, in the early third millennium BCE. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VWKRCV7X\">[Goebs_Wilkinson 2011, p. 276]</a> “The presence of the strongly ethical concept of ma’at by the Second Dynasty opens up the possibility that deities could have had a role in enforcing human morality and punishing transgressions.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZQ2347BZ\">[Cioni_et_al 2025, p. 71]</a> However, the earliest clear attestations of belief that kings were also subject to supernatural moralizing enforcement may be found in texts such as The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant and The Teaching for King Merikare, which date to the Middle Kingdom. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/H49CNR9Q\">[book_The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient...]</a> Therefore, we consider this as a long transitional period from a time when kings may not have been thought to receive supernatural moralizing enforcement to one where they definitely were.",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 277,
"polity": {
"id": 516,
"name": "eg_old_k_1",
"long_name": "Egypt - Classic Old Kingdom",
"start_year": -2650,
"end_year": -2350
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "A~P",
"comment": "Earliest written attestations of the concept of ma'at (meaning order, including in a moralising sense) date to the Second Dynasty, in the early third millennium BCE. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VWKRCV7X\">[Goebs_Wilkinson 2011, p. 276]</a> “The presence of the strongly ethical concept of ma’at by the Second Dynasty opens up the possibility that deities could have had a role in enforcing human morality and punishing transgressions.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZQ2347BZ\">[Cioni_et_al 2025, p. 71]</a> However, the earliest clear attestations of belief that kings were also subject to supernatural moralizing enforcement may be found in texts such as The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant and The Teaching for King Merikare, which date to the Middle Kingdom. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/H49CNR9Q\">[book_The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient...]</a> Therefore, we consider this as a long transitional period from a time when kings may not have been thought to receive supernatural moralizing enforcement to one where they definitely were.",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 278,
"polity": {
"id": 517,
"name": "eg_old_k_2",
"long_name": "Egypt - Late Old Kingdom",
"start_year": -2350,
"end_year": -2150
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "A~P",
"comment": "Earliest written attestations of the concept of ma'at (meaning order, including in a moralising sense) date to the Second Dynasty, in the early third millennium BCE. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VWKRCV7X\">[Goebs_Wilkinson 2011, p. 276]</a> “The presence of the strongly ethical concept of ma’at by the Second Dynasty opens up the possibility that deities could have had a role in enforcing human morality and punishing transgressions.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZQ2347BZ\">[Cioni_et_al 2025, p. 71]</a> However, the earliest clear attestations of belief that kings were also subject to supernatural moralizing enforcement may be found in texts such as The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant and The Teaching for King Merikare, which date to the Middle Kingdom. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/H49CNR9Q\">[book_The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient...]</a> Therefore, we consider this as a long transitional period from a time when kings may not have been thought to receive supernatural moralizing enforcement to one where they definitely were.",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 279,
"polity": {
"id": 165,
"name": "tr_neo_hittite_k",
"long_name": "Neo-Hittite Kingdoms",
"start_year": -1180,
"end_year": -900
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "“The small polities that occupied the south and southeast of the peninsula during the Early and Middle Iron Age are known as “Neo-Hittite” because they preserved certain aspects of the older Hittite culture, especially the iconography and rhetoric of kingship, but the degree of religious continuity after 1200 BCE remains unclear in many cases.” Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to infer a degree of continuity in this case. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NDGF9JRC\">[Cioni_et_al 2025, p. 136]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 280,
"polity": {
"id": 344,
"name": "tr_urartu_k",
"long_name": "Urartu Kingdom",
"start_year": -1200,
"end_year": -710
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "“Overall, iconography and epigraphy suggest that Urartian religion primarily served to bolster royal legitimacy rather than promote proper moral conduct (Smith 2000). The king occupied a divinely legitimated position like the monarchs of both Ḫatti and Mesopotamia (Kravitz 2003: 90–92; Zimansky 1995: 1144). Haldi, the supreme god, was a warlike deity who supported the king’s conquests; both he and the lesser gods required regular animal sacrifices and festivities in their honor (Taffet and Yakar 1998; Zimansky 1995). However, as in the Hittite case, it should be kept in mind that the surviving sources are heavily biased toward elite ideologies.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NDGF9JRC\">[Cioni_et_al 2025, p. 137]</a> Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to infer some continuity with Hittite religion, which was lightly moralizing; in particular, it seems reasonable to infer the persistence of the belief in supernatural punishment for oath-breakers.",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 281,
"polity": {
"id": 167,
"name": "tr_tabal_k",
"long_name": "Tabal Kingdoms",
"start_year": -900,
"end_year": -730
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "“Phrygian religion is even less well understood than Urartian religion because of the very small corpus of textual evidence.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NDGF9JRC\">[Cioni_et_al 2025, p. 137]</a> Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to infer some continuity with Hittite religion, which was lightly moralizing; in particular, it seems reasonable to infer the persistence of the belief in supernatural punishment for oath-breakers, widespread in the region at the time.",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 282,
"polity": {
"id": 168,
"name": "tr_lydia_k",
"long_name": "Kingdom of Lydia",
"start_year": -670,
"end_year": -546
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "“Though current impressions of Lydia are colored by Greek authors’ stereotypes of Eastern decadence and tyranny, it must be admitted that, again, there is little evidence of any belief in [supernatural moralizing enforcement].” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NDGF9JRC\">[Cioni_et_al 2025, p. 137]</a> Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to infer some continuity with Hittite religion, which was lightly moralizing; in particular, it seems reasonable to infer the persistence of the belief in supernatural punishment for oath-breakers.",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 283,
"polity": {
"id": 115,
"name": "is_icelandic_commonwealth",
"long_name": "Icelandic Commonwealth",
"start_year": 930,
"end_year": 1262
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "“In the Eddic poem “Grímnismál,” the god Odin withdraws his protection from King Geirrödr, who was known for being unkind to guests and confirmed his reputation by torturing the god himself when he appeared at his court disguised as a traveler. The withdrawal of Odin’s protection causes the king’s accidental death by his own sword (Raffield, Price, and Collard 2019: 11).” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2HE5UMUT\">[Cioni_et_al 2025, p. 65]</a> Conversion to Christianity in 1000 CE. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SRW2NM9E\">[Durrenberger 1988, p. 239]</a> “The creeds did nothing else than repeat Jesus’ announcement that he would come in glory at the end to judge all people—the Final Judgement on both humankind as a whole and each individual. What we said above about the particular judgement applies even more to the Final Judgement. Rather than God the judge passing sentence on each and every individual at the general judgement, the whole of humanity and all creation will definitively experience the truth about themselves in the presence of God.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WVP9QISX\">[O'Collins_Farrugia 2015, p. 245]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 284,
"polity": {
"id": 243,
"name": "cn_late_shang_dyn",
"long_name": "Late Shang",
"start_year": -1250,
"end_year": -1045
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "“Nowhere in the texts do we see clear indication that the Powers are beneficent …. The Shang rulers seek advance approval for their actions - sometimes, it seems, obsessively - but there is no suggestion that the basis for approval will be anything other than the arbitrary inclinations of the Powers”. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HRDEVGKT\">[Eno_Lagerway_Kalinowski 2009, p. 100]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 285,
"polity": {
"id": 244,
"name": "cn_western_zhou_dyn",
"long_name": "Western Zhou",
"start_year": -1122,
"end_year": -771
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": true,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "Tian and the Mandate of Heaven may mark the earliest known appearance of belief in supernatural moralizing enforcement in China. However, there is some scholarly debate and question on the nature of Tian. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5RG5R4P7\">[Clark_Winslett 2011]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/25FF647C\">[Nichols_et_al 2017, pp. 165-166]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/62ZUUPPT\">[Nichols_et_al 2021]</a> Robert Eno points to a 998 BCE Western Zhou bronze inscription that quotes a ruler named King Kang claiming the Shang had lost the Mandate of Tian because of its king’s acceptance of poor behavior like drunkenness and overall bad governance; based on this inscription, Eno infers that Tian had “taken onthe role of ethical guardian” and was concerned with moral standards and correct rule. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HRDEVGKT\">[Eno_Lagerway_Kalinowski 2009, p. 101]</a> However, the inscription could also be interpreted ascritiquing drunkenness at sacrificial rituals involving wine and the inscriptioncould be referringto correct rites and rituals rather than moral behavior. The first Zhou king received de (merit) from Tian, which was earned by subsequent kings through “military and ritual performances as well as through prescribed sacrifices to the earlier Zhou kings.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/B2ZKMSYY\">[Cook_Childs-Johnson 2020, p. 443]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 286,
"polity": {
"id": 358,
"name": "sa_rashidun_dyn",
"long_name": "Yemen Hijaz",
"start_year": 632,
"end_year": 661
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "\"The fact that Allāh is omniscient and omnipotent makes Him a very effective agent for implementing MSP. [...] He is capable of imposing deserved punishment on the mightiest individuals and communities (e.g., Pharaoh, the people of Thamūd, the Quraysh) (see Qurʾān 7:73–9, 79:24).\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A9X3RAQW\">[Nakissa_et_al 2024, p. 136]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 287,
"polity": {
"id": 710,
"name": "tz_tana",
"long_name": "Classic Tana",
"start_year": 1000,
"end_year": 1498
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "\"The fact that Allāh is omniscient and omnipotent makes Him a very effective agent for implementing MSP. [...] He is capable of imposing deserved punishment on the mightiest individuals and communities (e.g., Pharaoh, the people of Thamūd, the Quraysh) (see Qurʾān 7:73–9, 79:24).\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A9X3RAQW\">[Nakissa_et_al 2024, p. 136]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 288,
"polity": {
"id": 669,
"name": "ni_hausa_k",
"long_name": "Hausa bakwai",
"start_year": 900,
"end_year": 1808
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "\"The fact that Allāh is omniscient and omnipotent makes Him a very effective agent for implementing [supernatural moralizing enforcement]. Since He knows everything, He can keep track of every moral and immoral act, no matter how small. His unlimited power ensures that He can dispense proper rewards and punishments for these acts.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A9X3RAQW\">[Nakissa_et_al 2024, p. 136]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 289,
"polity": {
"id": 454,
"name": "fr_la_tene_b2_c1",
"long_name": "La Tene B2-C1",
"start_year": -325,
"end_year": -175
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "Comparisons of oath formulas across a broad range of Indo-European families suggest that belief in supernatural moralistic enforcement against oath-breakers has deep roots in Indo-European culture. Part of this inheritance is the understanding of the oath as a conditional self-curse in which harm will come to the individual perjurer. The common Celtic vocabulary for swearing and oaths is strong evidence that the practice existed in the prehistoric common ancestor of the Celtic languages. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/J5XD38NE\">[Koch 2021]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/549RFFCJ\">[Koch_Fernández 2017]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IBVJZDPD\">[Koch 1992]</a> Much historical evidence from adjacent cultures points to the ancient use of oaths in treaties, and thus by rulers. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZVX6DWD6\">[Torrance_Sommerstein 2014]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 290,
"polity": {
"id": 455,
"name": "fr_la_tene_c2_d",
"long_name": "La Tene C2-D",
"start_year": -175,
"end_year": -27
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "Comparisons of oath formulas across a broad range of Indo-European families suggest that belief in supernatural moralistic enforcement against oath-breakers has deep roots in Indo-European culture. Part of this inheritance is the understanding of the oath as a conditional self-curse in which harm will come to the individual perjurer. The common Celtic vocabulary for swearing and oaths is strong evidence that the practice existed in the prehistoric common ancestor of the Celtic languages. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/J5XD38NE\">[Koch 2021]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/549RFFCJ\">[Koch_Fernández 2017]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IBVJZDPD\">[Koch 1992]</a> Much historical evidence from adjacent cultures points to the ancient use of oaths in treaties, and thus by rulers. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZVX6DWD6\">[Torrance_Sommerstein 2014]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 291,
"polity": {
"id": 475,
"name": "iq_early_dynastic",
"long_name": "Early Dynastic",
"start_year": -2900,
"end_year": -2500
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "A~P",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 292,
"polity": {
"id": 476,
"name": "iq_akkad_emp",
"long_name": "Akkadian Empire",
"start_year": -2270,
"end_year": -2083
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "A~P",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 293,
"polity": {
"id": 216,
"name": "mr_wagadu_2",
"long_name": "Middle Wagadu Empire",
"start_year": 700,
"end_year": 1077
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 294,
"polity": {
"id": 110,
"name": "il_judea",
"long_name": "Yehuda",
"start_year": -141,
"end_year": -63
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "[T]he key moral ideals of the Torah, the prophets, and further books on their way to canonization []… were already ostensible in prerabbinic Judaism (Early Judaism, Late Second Temple Judaism, or “Common Judaism”). The reward and punishment system enforcing them originated in Deuteronomic theology (see Jokiranta, Part III, Chapter 3, this volume), most clearly appearing in Deuteronomy 11:\r\n\r\n“’So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul—then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain, and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you. Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.’ (Deut. 11:13–21)” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/D6RSSBZ4\">[Biró_et_al 2024, p. 73]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 295,
"polity": {
"id": 647,
"name": "er_medri_bahri",
"long_name": "Medri Bahri",
"start_year": 1310,
"end_year": 1889
},
"year_from": 1310,
"year_to": 1750,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": "“Although the Orthodox do not adhere to a belief in inherited guilt for Adam’s sin like Western Christians (the concept of ‘oruginal sin’), they do maintain that the unity of humanity is such that what happened to Adam and Eve somehow affects us all. As a result of this first sin all humanity became subject to sickness and death, consumed by a self-love that separates us both from God and from one another.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BKXCW9SQ\">[Siecienski 2019, p. 54]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 296,
"polity": {
"id": 103,
"name": "il_canaan",
"long_name": "Canaan",
"start_year": -2000,
"end_year": -1175
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "The following summary—based on admittedly meagre evidence—suggests a belief system that did not feature moralizing supernatural enforcement. “Syro-Canaanite religion can be best summed up as a belief in a group of deities or supernatural beings that were immanent in the natural world, although generally hidden from human view. Their powers were manifested through natural phenomena and in political and military acts of the rulers or kings whom they chose and supported. The gods and humans related in a master-servant relationship. The gods provided blessing and support to the people, and the people were expected to serve the deities, with various gifts and lavish praise. Offending the deities could anger them and bring catastrophe to humans.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A3BCAWIE\">[Wright_Iles-Johnson 2004, p. 179]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 297,
"polity": {
"id": 104,
"name": "lb_phoenician_emp",
"long_name": "Phoenician Empire",
"start_year": -1200,
"end_year": -332
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "The following summary—based on admittedly meagre evidence—suggests a belief system that did not feature moralizing supernatural enforcement. “Syro-Canaanite religion can be best summed up as a belief in a group of deities or supernatural beings that were immanent in the natural world, although generally hidden from human view. Their powers were manifested through natural phenomena and in political and military acts of the rulers or kings whom they chose and supported. The gods and humans related in a master-servant relationship. The gods provided blessing and support to the people, and the people were expected to serve the deities, with various gifts and lavish praise. Offending the deities could anger them and bring catastrophe to humans.” <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A3BCAWIE\">[Wright_Iles-Johnson 2004, p. 179]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 298,
"polity": {
"id": 660,
"name": "ni_igodomingodo",
"long_name": "Igodomingodo",
"start_year": 900,
"end_year": 1450
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 299,
"polity": {
"id": 665,
"name": "ni_aro",
"long_name": "Aro",
"start_year": 1690,
"end_year": 1902
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 300,
"polity": {
"id": 668,
"name": "ni_nri_k",
"long_name": "Ọ̀ràézè Ǹrì",
"start_year": 1043,
"end_year": 1911
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "TRS",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "present",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 301,
"polity": {
"id": 664,
"name": "ni_proto_yoruboid",
"long_name": "Proto-Yoruboid",
"start_year": -300,
"end_year": 300
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "SSP",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 302,
"polity": {
"id": 655,
"name": "ni_proto_yoruba",
"long_name": "Proto-Yoruba",
"start_year": 301,
"end_year": 649
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "SSP",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 303,
"polity": {
"id": 657,
"name": "ni_formative_yoruba",
"long_name": "Late Formative Yoruba",
"start_year": 650,
"end_year": 1049
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "SSP",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "unknown",
"comment": null,
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 304,
"polity": {
"id": 19,
"name": "us_hawaii_3",
"long_name": "Hawaii III",
"start_year": 1580,
"end_year": 1778
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "The following passage suggests that rulers were seen as exceptional, including in terms of their relationship with the gods. \"As in other Polynesian societies, the status of the Hawaiian chiefly class was based on the quality called mana. The fundamental principle of traditional Hawaiian religion, “mana manifests the power of the gods in the human world” (Shore 1989: 164). The mana of chiefs was manifest in sexual potency and in the growth and abundance of the society’s crops and other food resources (Shore 1989: 138–142). The chiefs’ intercession with the gods was believed to bring the blessings of agricultural abundance, internal order, and success in war. It was in recognition of the potency of chiefly power over both spiritual and earthly matters that commoners supplied the chiefs with material necessities and wealth.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/UVG4PEED\">[Hommon 2013, p. 19]</a>",
"description": ""
},
{
"id": 305,
"polity": {
"id": 20,
"name": "us_kamehameha_k",
"long_name": "Kingdom of Hawaii - Kamehameha Period",
"start_year": 1778,
"end_year": 1819
},
"year_from": null,
"year_to": null,
"tag": "IFR",
"is_disputed": false,
"is_uncertain": false,
"name": "Moralizing_enforcement_of_rulers",
"coded_value": "absent",
"comment": "The following passage suggests that rulers were seen as exceptional, including in terms of their relationship with the gods. \"As in other Polynesian societies, the status of the Hawaiian chiefly class was based on the quality called mana. The fundamental principle of traditional Hawaiian religion, “mana manifests the power of the gods in the human world” (Shore 1989: 164). The mana of chiefs was manifest in sexual potency and in the growth and abundance of the society’s crops and other food resources (Shore 1989: 138–142). The chiefs’ intercession with the gods was believed to bring the blessings of agricultural abundance, internal order, and success in war. It was in recognition of the potency of chiefly power over both spiritual and earthly matters that commoners supplied the chiefs with material necessities and wealth.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/UVG4PEED\">[Hommon 2013, p. 19]</a>",
"description": ""
}
]
}