EARLY CONCEPTIONS OF KINGSHIP AND RELIGIOUS RITES IN CONNECTION WITH A KING’S ACCESSION Kingship is one of the most ancient institutions of civilisation. At the very dawn of history the king is not only already existent, but is regarded with a reverential awe that shews that the institution must have had its beginnings in very remote times. His functions are twofold, civil and religious; not only is he set apart from those over whom he rules, but by virtue of his other function, that of mediator between God and his people, we find him invested as it were with a halo of quasi-divinity. And so in early times we find the king possessing certain priestly prerogatives. Pharaoh was not an ordinary man but the son of Horus, and almost as one of the Gods. The kings of the Semites were priest-kings. In Homer the king is Θεῖος[1], he is set upon his throne by Zeus, he is invested with the divine sceptre as in the case of Agamemnon[2] and stands in a very special relation to the Deity. In ancient Rome it was the same; and when in Rome and Athens kingship was abolished, still it was necessary to have an ἄρχων βασιλεύς or a Rex Sacrorum to perform the special priestly functions hitherto belonging to the king. In view then of the sacred character of the king it is only natural to expect to find some religious ceremonial accompanying his accession to his office, and although in the West there is little or no direct evidence of this, in the East there is found in very early times a solemn religious ceremony consecrating the king to his office. The first actual reference to the consecration of a king occurs in the Tel-el-Amarna correspondence. In one of the letters Ramman-Nirari a Syrian king writing to Pharaoh speaks of the consecration of his father and grandfather, and that by unction with oil[3]. In the Old Testament there are a number of instances of the consecration of a king by anointing with oil, a rite parallel to the consecration of a priest or prophet. In the parable of the trees of Lebanon in the Book of Judges (ix. 15), the consecration of a king by anointing with oil is regarded as the general and accepted custom. Accordingly we read (1 Sam. ix-xi) of the first Israelitish king Saul being solemnly anointed by the prophet Samuel on his election as king. In the account of the inauguration of Saul, if we may use the term, three distinct features are noticeable— (1) He is anointed with oil, and so is endowed with special gifts, for the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him. (2) There is a ‘Recognition’ or acceptance of him as king by the people. (3) King and people make a joint covenant with God.