Transcript The Legacy of Mesopotamia - Manasquan Public Schools

The Legacy of
Mesopotamia
Chapter 2
Section 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.