The Legacy of Mesopotamia

Chapter 2Section 3

An Eye for an Eye, A Tooth for a Tooth…….

“If a man has destroyed the eye of a man if the class of gentleman, they shall destroy his eye. If he has broken a gentleman’s bone, they shall break his bone. If he destroyed the eye of a commoner or broken a bone of a commoner, he shall pay one mina of silver. If he has destroyed the eye of a gentleman’s slave, or broken a bone of the gentleman’s slave, he shall pay half the slaves price. If a gentleman’s slave strikes the cheek of a gentleman, they shall cut off the slave’s ear.”

A King to the South

• King Hammurabi:– King of the city-state

Babylon.– Southern Mesopotamia.– Reunited the city-states of

Sumer.– Built Dams across the

Euphrates River. – Gave him complete power

of city-sates blow him. – Controlled all of

Mesopotamia.

Hammurabi’s Code• Code:

– Organized list of Laws.

• Discovered in 1901.• 6 foot tall Pillar with

200 laws carved into it.

• 1st organized recorded set of laws to be found.

The Laws of Hammurabi• 282 laws organized into

categories.– Trade.– Labor.– Property.– Family.

• Built upon pervious Sumerian codes.

• Posted all around the City• Everyone was not equal

under the code of laws. • King Hammurabi was also

the Judge of the city.

Were they fair….• Idea based on “eye for an

eye”.• Punishment should be

similar to the crime committed.

• The harshness of the punishment depended on how important the victim and the lawbreaker were.

• Had to be careful of your actions and job duties.

• Examples:– If a surgeon performed a

major operation on a citizen with a bronze lancet and has caused the death of this citizen…his hand shall be cut off.”

– “If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn.”

Checking For Understanding

• Question:–What was Hammurabi’s code?

• Answer:– Was a set of Written

Laws created by the Babylonian ruler Hammurabi.

– These laws set down rules for the people in his empire to follow and helped settle conflicts.

Development of Writing

• Ancient Scribes:–Writing 1st developed

in Mesopotamia around 1300 B.C.

– 1st kept records were of farm animals.

– Records kept on clay tablets.

– Recorded:

• Sales and trade.• Tax payments.• Gifts for the Gods.• Marriages and Deaths.

• Types of Scribes:– Military Scribes:

• Calculated the amount of food and supplies the army would need.

– Government Scribe:• Figured out number

of diggers needed to build a canal.

• Written orders would then be sent out to local officials to provide the supplies or workers.

A Record in Clay• Tigris and Euphrates– Supplied clay from

the Mountains. • Scribes would shape

the wet clay, into a flat surface.

• Called Tablets. • Would make their

mark on it while it was wet.

• After it would dry and become permanent.

• Shape and size of Tablet depended on its purpose.– Larger tablets:• Used for reference

purposes.• Ex: Dictionary, Atlas.

– Smaller Tablets:• Size of letters,

postcards.• Used for

personal messages.

How Writing was Invented

• Before writing: Used shaped pieces of clay as tokens or symbols.

• Kept track of:– Number of Animals bought

and sold.– Amount of food grown.

• 3100 B.C. developed into writing.

• First words represented Symbols of objects.

• Symbols changed into Cuneiform: – Groups of wedges and

lines used to write several languages of the Fertile Crescent.

Checking for Understanding

• Question:

–When, Where, and How did writing first develop?

• Answer:– Writing was first

developed in Mesopotamia around 3100 B.C.

– 1st people drew symbols that represented objects.

– Symbols developed into groups of wedges and lines that were called cuneiform. Taking more of a word shape.