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What can we learn about Babylonia from Hammurabi’s code? essay
The code of hammurabi social class
What can we learn about Babylonia from Hammurabi’s code? essay
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The Strict Society of Mesopotamia The Mesopotamian people valued a strict, rules-oriented society. This can be seen by examining the Mesopotamian social classes, government and job specialization. In The Code of Hammurabi, created by the King of Babylon in 1780 B.C.E. it was evident that there were rules for every thing, and every thing you do has a consequence. The Mesopotamian life style was very rigid; this lifestyle can lead to disputes and outbreaks, which can have negative consequences in society. There were three social classes in Mesopotamia. There was the aristocracy, the working class, and the slaves. The aristocracy was made up of the rich and powerful who owned much land. The working class was made up of high priests, counselors, and generals in the army. The slaves were made up of very poor people who owned houses, gardens, and fishery farms. The Code of Hammurabi included many rules about slaves. The fact that there are so many rules regarding slaves tells us that they like to be in control and have lots of rules in which they use to control people. Having so ma...
Imagine a world without the wheel. Picture a world without math. Now, without knowing time. Well, these are some of the many contributions that the Mesopotamians made to society.
According to Norman Yoffee, individuals and groups in ancient complex societies exploited the transformative nature of power through the manipulation of the three domains of power, political, economic, and ideological power. Economic power refers to the ability to create more specialized production and to organize the production of food and its storage as well as develop trade. Ideological power is found in the use of symbols to create political or cultural unity or congruity. Political power is correlated with a ruler expressing authority through coercion or administrative measures.
The code of Hammurabi was the first set of written laws to have been created. There were a collection of 282 laws which were recorded. Hammurabi states in his codes the reason for his laws. As stated in The Making of the West by Hunt, "to show Shamash that he had fulfilled the social responsibility imposed on him as a divinely installed monarch" (p.16). This meant that Hammurabi clearly felt that he was accountable for the justice and morals of his people, and that they should abide by them. One of the major points of the moral code included equal punishment under the same class. Code 196 states "If a noble man puts out the eye of another noble man, his eyes shall be put out." This clearly implies that the equal punishment law was severely followed by the Babylonians. Another important point was how woman were of lesser importance compared to men. Code 132 states how if a woman is not caught sleeping with another man she should jump in the water for the sake of her husband. This shows how woman were expected to be faithful and follow by their husbands side. While, if a man was to create adultery with his daughter he would only be exiled. The making of the West by Hunt states "A wife could divorce her husband for cruelty; a husband could divorce his wife for any reason" (p.16). This evidently shows how indisputably biased Hammurabi was towards woman in that society. Slaves' conducts and rules were also listed in the codes. They had absolutely no rights at all, even if they were to be killed by another being.
The capital of this civilization was the city of Babylon. To keep peace among people living so closely together, they needed rules. King Hammurabi, who ruled around 2000 BCE, drew up the first recorded set of laws. The Code of Hammurabi, as these laws were called, set down harsh penalties for those who broke the laws like, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” You might question why and how did they come up with that type of code? That’s a good question! The creation of “the Code” was a tremendous achievement for not only Babylonian society but for the entire Mesopotamian region as King Hammurabi was ruler over all of that area. Its conception can be considered to be the first culmination of the laws of different regions into a single, logical text. Hammurabi wanted to be an efficient ruler and realized that this could be achieved through the use of a common set of laws which applied to all territories and all citizens who fell under his rule. But how and where did put these codes at? This is when the writing system came
In Mesopotamia, each Sumerian state had its own aristocracy. There was a king, from which priests were drawn under him. Half of the population was independent or owned their own land, leaving the rest dependent or slaves. All citizens were expected to serve their rightful god and do what was necessary for him and their society. However, the outcome was much different. Each state served its own god, which meant every state wanted to glorify their city above all the others. This inevitably caused a conflict between the people of Mesopotamia and lead to the constant violence in their society. To instill some order in their society, Hammurabi introduced his code of laws. Hammurabi states in Hammurabi’s Code of Laws, “When the god Marduk commanded me to provide just ways for the people…to attain appropriate behavior, I established truth and justice as the declaration of the land.” In his eyes Marduk entrusted him to corral his people into a social structure that would maintain balance between the classes and to ensure justice accordingly. Therefore, the people were to be serving their god through Hammurabi by following his code, which integrated a proper social class system with actions, and consequences of those
What similarities and differences did Egypt and Mesopotamia have and why was Egypt more politically unified than its neighbor, Mesopotamia? I think in order to answer these questions it is important to look at how both societies lived. Egypt and Mesopotamia were two civilizations existing during the time period of 2000-1200 BCE.(text, 97) These civilizations were shaped by their environment, involved with trade, and faced changes in government after the 100 year drought; however, they differed in that Egypt was shaped by the Nile, traded goods for goods and changed their outlook on the pharaoh who was ruler of all; whereas, Mesopotamia was shaped by the Tigris and Euphrates, traded money for goods, and had a ruler over rulers. The governed harmonic life style of Egypt led this society to be more politically unified; whereas, Mesopotamia’s government led to many different ways of structure, thus creating a less unified society.
The first civilization to rise was the Mesopotamia, located in present day Iraq, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and Egypt, along the Nile River. It’s split in two ecological zones. In the south Babylonia (irrigation is vital) and north Assyria (agriculture is possible with rainfall and wells). By 4000 B.C.E., people had settled in large numbers in the river-watered lowlands of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Archaeologists have shown that large-scale irrigation appeared only long after urban civilization had already developed, meaning major waterworks were a consequence of urbanism (population). Mesopotamia cities were made of people called the Summerians in the land of Sumer located on the south of Babylonia. The Summerian city was one of
The Code of Hammurabi was written by King Hammurabi, who began ruling the Babylonian Empire in about 1800 BC. Hammurabi came to power using his strengths as a military leader, conquering many smaller city-states to create his Empire. Hammurabi believed that the gods appointed him to bring justice and order to his people, and he took this duty very seriously. Not long after his ascent to power, he created his Code, 282 laws written to define all relationships and aspects of life in the kingdom. The laws were displayed in a public place so that all the people could have the opportunity to study them. The laws applied to everyone, though application of the laws and punishment differed according to social class. The punishments for disobeying the laws were swift and harsh, further encouraging compliance.
In contrast to Egypt, where there were no money as such, there was a higher, more developed level of commodity-money relations. The legal system drew a clear boundary between the slaves and slave-owners, while the slave labor was not prevalent in any of branches of economy. The law stipulated not so much the powerlessness of a slave, but rather a restriction of his rights (for example, if a slave married a free woman, their children would be considered free citizens). Along with slaves, there were other servile persons, deprived of their ownership of the means of production. During the period of the New Babylonian Empire slaves were beginning to gain economic independence. The slaves also acquired the right to appeal in
In other words, their lifestyle. In Ancient Egypt, the egyptians think of their kings as a pharaoh. According to Document 3 on the Mesopotamia and Egypt DBQ, an explanation of what a Pharaoh found on a tomb reads “A pharaoh is a god by whose dealings one lives, the father and mother of all...without an equal.” By using this quotation, I think that the ancient Egyptians believed that there was no one equal to the pharaoh, which made the pharaoh such a special person. The type of power that the pharaoh possessed in Egypt was that this god had the power of a mother and a father over all, just like the power that a mother and a father has over their children. In the meantime, in Ancient Mesopotamia was the Code of Hammurabi. In Document 4, it stated that Hammurabi’s goal was “to render good to the people, to make justice shine in the land, to destroy the evil and wicked, that the strong do not oppress the weak.” Along with the strict laws are harsh punishments. An example of a harsh punishment would be to be put to death for committing a crime of stealing. Although, from my knowledge, majority of the countries in this world do not have severe laws and punishments similar to the Code of Hammurabi, they still follow the idea homologous to Hammurabi’s goal. The Sumerians and Akkadians respected and honored the pharaoh so much because they relied on them for the life they desire. This will be explained more
The Egyptian and Mesopotamian religion and society were similar, but their government system was different. The religions in Egypt and Mesopotamia were similar because both were polytheistic, had beliefs of an afterlife, as well as priests who were part of the upper levels of the social hierarchy. Social similarities between Egypt and Mesopotamia included: rigid social structure, dependence on slavery, and authoritative religious structure. However, the system of government was different because Egyptian society was governed by a theocratic monarchy, while Mesopotamia was ruled by a traditional monarchy.
A consistent characteristic among the first civilizations was social stratification. In most of the first civilizations, social hierarchies included kings, the elites, the working class, and slaves. Social stratification was evident in the Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies based off of the documents from the Babylonian Empire, The Law Code of Hammurabi, and the Egyptian student text, Be a Scribe. In the document The Law Code of Hammurabi, soldiers, farmers, salves, and other jobs are mentioned (96-97). In the document Be a Scribe, farmers, cobblers, soldiers, and various other jobs are mentioned (100-101). It is significant that these jobs are mentioned in both documents because it illustrates the similarities in these civilization’s social hierarchies. But, the similarities in their social structures do not end there. Special treatment based off of social standing was a consistent factor in both of these civilizations as well. This is clearly exemplified in Mesopotamia with the harshness of punishments for crimes being dependent on class (97). In Egypt, evidence of special treatment based off of social stratification is insinuated in the document Be a Scribe. This document delves into the negatives of having low class jobs and encourages people to become educated to grow in class rank (101). Despite these similarities, these two civilizations still held vastly different values and
After the Commercial Law came the Penal Law. This had to do with the issue of crime. The laws were unusually harsh do to their ineducation. Despite this the wealthy class usually enjoyed more freedom from the law than the lower classes. There was no jury in the court back in the times of Babylon. The code of Hammurabi was like an eye for an eye punishment. If you killed someone than you would be killed.
It is undeniable that the natural environment of ancient Mesopotamia had a profound effect on the earliest civilizations known to the world. Humankind’s ability to control irrigation waters directly correlates with the rise of mass agriculture. With this mastery of their river environment, early farmers were capable of supporting large urban populations. However, in Mesopotamia the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were both a source of life as well as destruction for early societies. In many ways, the geography of ancient Mesopotamia fostered a sense of catastrophic determinism within the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Babylonians. The scarcity of resources as well as the untamable nature of their deluge environment led these early people to believe their futures veered on a harsh predetermined course. This essay will demonstrate that many prominent sources in ancient literature, law codes, and archaic Sumerian religion reflect the rigorous geographic and natural conditions which caused this deterministic mindset.
First, we will discuss their cultures. Hierarchy ruled Mesopotamia society. Generally, in Mesopotamian society, there were three main social classes. The first, and highest class, was the nobility. Nobility included priests and priest-kings. These were the city 's tax collectors. If you were of nobility, you were in charge of maintenance,