Oh, Tigris and Euphrates, how you remind me of my college girlfriend. So I mean, given that the region tends to yo-yo between devastating flood and horrible drought, it follows that one would believe that the gods are kind of random and capricious, and that any priests who might be able to lead rituals that placate those gods would be very useful individuals. But about 1,000 years after the first temples, we find in cities like Uruk a rival structure begins to show up, the palace. The responsibility for the well-being and success of the social order was shifting from gods to people, a power shift that will see-saw throughout human history until probably forever, actually. But in another development we'll see again, these kings, who probably started out as military leaders or really rich landowners, took on a quasi-religious role. How? Often by engaging in sacred marriage, specifically scoodily-pooping with the high priestess of the city's temple.