" The most important aspect of the role of cities is to be found in their relationship to the temples and the gods. The patron deity of a city was typically considered the one who founded, built, and sustained the city. So the prominence and prosperity of the city and its god were inextricably intertwined. “Each Mesopotamian city was the home of a god or goddess, and each prominent god or goddess was the patron deity of a city.”[9] In Mesopotamia the gods were attached to cities, and temples were only in cities.[10] Worship as we know it therefore took place in cities. The archaeological record shows no evidence of sanctuaries in the mountains or plains, and no rivers or trees with cultic significance.[11] Likewise in Egypt there was an integral relationship between cities and gods. “The sum of landowning temples and deities embodied the state. . . . Just as the totality of deities embodied the political concept of ‘Egypt,’ the individual landowning local deity embodied the concept of ‘city.’ An Egyptian city was always the city of a deity.”[12] "
― , Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible
![quote : The most important aspect of the role of cities is to be found in their relationship to the temples and the gods. The patron deity of a city was typically considered the one who founded, built, and sustained the city. So the prominence and prosperity of the city and its god were inextricably intertwined. “Each Mesopotamian city was the home of a god or goddess, and each prominent god or goddess was the patron deity of a city.”[9] In Mesopotamia the gods were attached to cities, and temples were only in cities.[10] Worship as we know it therefore took place in cities. The archaeological record shows no evidence of sanctuaries in the mountains or plains, and no rivers or trees with cultic significance.[11] Likewise in Egypt there was an integral relationship between cities and gods. “The sum of landowning temples and deities embodied the state. . . . Just as the totality of deities embodied the political concept of ‘Egypt,’ the individual landowning local deity embodied the concept of ‘city.’ An Egyptian city was always the city of a deity.”[12]](/image/2860764.jpg)