Ancient Sumer vs, Ancient Egypt

“(2) The emergency is of such a nature as to induce a well-grounded apprehension of death or serious bodily harm if the act is not done;” and

The Hammurabi Code of Laws is a set of rules enacted by the Babylonian King whose name was Hammurabi. The Babylonian King created a total of two-hundred eighty-two punishments that the citizens will receive if they do not abide by the laws that were given to them. The king ruled from 1792 BC to 1750 BC. The Hammurabi Code of Laws is very violent in terms of punishments. For example, one of the laws are “If anyone breaks into a house to steal, he will be put to death before that point of entry and be buried there (walled into the house)”. This is a clear example of how violent and inhumane the punishments of the Babylonians were, to us at least. This essay will be explaining a set of laws from the Hammurabi’s Code of Laws.

While both the Egyptians and Sumerians developed a sophisticated way of life with complex religion, political system, system of writing and social classes, there are numerous differences between the two groups. The Egyptian's beliefs in gods and goddesses indicated the significance of nature in their lives and every human activity. The Egyptians thought that the power of nature were superintended by the different deities. They also believed that the gods and goddesses had the power of life and death over everyone. The ancient Egyptians thought that after death they could enjoy their lives because they believed that in the afterlife people were happy, well fed, and busy with the same activities they had done in life. This belief sometimes led

The Egyptians also worried very much about the after life and made many preparations before the afterlife. There graves were very important to them, and they also did much to keep them from decaying after they passed. That is why they had the idea of mummification to allow them to not decay long after they passed. We also pay a lot of money to allow us to keep from decaying on our burials and the coffins.

The Mesopotamian laws, in contrast, were hard and unfortunate, which were set by King Hammurabi himself during his long reign of Babylon. In Hammurabi's court, it did not matter if you were rich or poor, if you broke the law, and were found guilty, you would be punished and required to follow the laws and punishments that were clearly written in stone (the code of Hammurabi).

The Code of Hammurabi was a strict, harsh, and unequal way of punishment that focused on current attainable penalties for Mesopotamian society. The society wasn’t religious, they did not have any affiliations with spiritual beings, which is why punishments were needed for the specific moment

This law was made because Titus Oates, an unlawful man lied and many people died merely because he didn’t want to go to jail.

Hammurabi was a leader that ruled 38 centuries ago. He created “Hammurabi’s Code” which is a set of laws that he claims was given to him by Shamash, the god of justice (Document A). The code was “written in wedge-shaped cuneiform letters that have been carved into the stone” (Document A). The laws on the stone were split into three groups: family law, property law, and personal injury law. For every crime that broke the law, there was a punishment, and some punishments were harsher than the others.

From beginning to end, Hammurabi’s Law Code mentioned the divine right of the king to enact these laws and that the gods had ultimate interpretation in each case

This legal document also wanted to provide justice, here is an example how, through robbery: "if a man commits a robbery and is then seized, that man should be killed".

4.. If anyone is caught committing a robbery then they shall be put to death.

While describing the cultural among the people of Mesopotamia and Egypt, I learned the differences and similarities in culture. The birth of Mesopotamian Civilization began in c. 3000 B.C.E., in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers of Southwest Asia. Mesopotamia is a Greek word and it means ‘between the rivers.’ In contrast, the birth of Egyptian Civilization began in c. 3100 B.C.E., in a valley of the Nile River in Northeastern Africa. Egypt is a Greek word and it means ‘House of the Spirit of Ptah.’ Since there are several categories in the cultures of the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians, I decided to narrows it to three categories: Religion, Writing, and Geography. The three categories will present the basis to compare cultural differences and similarities.

Hammurabi was a ruler in Babylon around 40 centuries ago. He ruled for approximately 42 years. During the time he was a ruler, there were about a million citizens in Babylon who were divided into the following three social classes: land owners, free people who didn’t own land, and slaves. To control the people and protect the weak, Hammurabi created a set of laws called Hammurabi’s Code. Hammurabi himself and the citizens believed the god of justice, Shamash sent Hammurabi these laws and that they must obey them. While the idea of creating laws was good, it still had its downsides. These laws weren’t all fair or equal and some of the punishments were too harsh.

The laws were carefully inscribed into a very large, basalt pillar reaching over seven feet tall when standing. At the top of the stone block, there lies a statue depicting King Hammurabi receiving a gift from a sun god (Kerrigan, M. 2011), followed by the code itself beginning with the phrase, “Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince…” and continuing on to describe how Hammurabi was chosen to rule over his people by the gods themselves (ushistory.org 2016). A large majority of the laws covered the concepts of property ownerships, but they also take up other important aspects including false accusations, liability in accidents, injury, marriages, and just general treatment of people in the society. A new issue was also brought up in the laws which gave a women the ability to divorce her husband if she would so choose to, which was never allowed in any prior civilization or city (Fairservis, Jr., W. A.

Fire leaped from the dragon's jaws. He circled … the trees by the shore shone like copper and