ABSTRACT
Some communities even had their own governments; there were for example self-governing communities of Egyptians, Syrians, Phrygians, Lydians and Judeans. Throughout almost the entire history of the ancient Near East, kingship was the normal form of government. According to Mesopotamian tradition, kingship, like other expressions of human civilisation, had come down to earth from heaven. The king administered justice, either in person or via judges who pronounced legal decisions on his behalf. Many codes of law set up by Near Eastern kings have survived. Some scholars maintain that kingship came into being with the appointment of the first military commander. The history of the Roman empire presents excellent examples of such a development. In the Near East, this development was greatly encouraged by the mass deportations that generally took place whenever a state was transformed into a province.
