Abstract
In the spirit of the PCEHM project, which articulates the notions of power and written culture by studying the reciprocal influences of these two phenomena in Upper Mesopotamia of the XVIIIth century BC, it seemed interesting to consider the organization of worship as one of the fields in which power is manifested. Religious activity produced texts, both in the palace and in the temple. These texts are circulated, consulted, used and finally archived. They carry information and enable decisions to be taken and the most concrete aspects of worship to be organized. The monthly or annual liturgical ordo is written down and used to plan activities, expenses for worship are recorded by the administration in the same way as any other expenditure, and the divine will emanating from the temples is relayed by local administrators in their correspondence with the Palace, which in turn makes known its decisions in religious matters. At first glance, these texts reflect a centralized organization where all important decisions are taken by the king. But this is a bias in our documentation: while the royal archives of Mari naturally emphasize the role of the king, they also document the existence of a large and autonomous religious staff, temple administrators, priests, nuns, prophets and prophetesses, all of whom took part in religious activities and were able to relay the temple's interests to the political authorities. Here too, the written word was a permanent feature.
