"And if you, my vassal, disobey or break this treaty, may the god Adad, the canal inspector of heaven and earth, put an end to all vegetation in your land. May his waters hit your land with a severe destructive downpour. May locusts devour your crops. May there be no sound of grinding stone in your houses. May the wild animals eat your bread, and may your spirit have no one to take care of it and pour offerings of wine for it?" Excerpt from a treaty between an Assyrian king and the ruler of a subject city-state in northwestern Iran, circa 670 B.C.E. The particular consequences invoked in the ritual curse in the treaty most strongly support which of the following statements about ancient Mesopotamia? (A) States' legitimacy was based on claims to secular authority. (B) Ongoing environmental degradation occurred as a byproduct of the spread of pastoralism. (C) Maintaining and expanding agricultural production was seen as a core task of governments. (D) The domestication of plants occurred before the domestication of animals.

"And if you, my vassal, disobey or break this treaty, may the god Adad, the canal inspector of heaven and earth, put an end to all vegetation in your land. May his waters hit your land with a severe destructive downpour. May locusts devour your crops. May there be no sound of grinding stone in your houses. May the wild animals eat your bread, and may your spirit have no one to take care of it and pour offerings of wine for it?" Excerpt from a treaty between an Assyrian king and the ruler of a subject city-state in northwestern Iran, circa 670 B.C.E. The particular consequences invoked in the ritual curse in the treaty most strongly support which of the following statements about ancient Mesopotamia? (A) States' legitimacy was based on claims to secular authority. (B) Ongoing environmental degradation occurred as a byproduct of the spread of pastoralism. (C) Maintaining and expanding agricultural production was seen as a core task of governments. (D) The domestication of plants occurred before the domestication of animals.