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Hammurabi Code Of Law Analysis

Decent Essays

Hammurabi’s Code of Laws, The Great Hymn to the Aten, and The Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet XI depicted various gods as omnipotent, omniscience, and omnibenevolent. In polytheism, followers upheld that the gods ruled on good and evil and so, people lived to obey their gods. Leaders of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia depended on the gods’ guidance and order because they believed they respected that their capabilities exceeded humans. Therefore, ancient civilizations relied on god and goddesses to dictate their actions and beliefs.
In Mesopotamia, Hammurabi equated accomplishments and prosperities to the gods’ intentions. Around 1755 B.C.E., Hammurabi created a law code that dealt with social, economic, and judicial conventions. According to Hammurabi, …show more content…

Although the world experiences periods of darkness, which indicate death and possibly evil, Aten reappeared each day to guide and protect the people. Besides, this text indicates that when Aten was present, citizens participated in productive activities. As stated in the text, “… Everyone had his food, and his time of life is reckoned.” Since Aten supplied the citizens with items to survive, this text suggests that survival depends on the gods, not humans. Consequently, the gods played a significant role in humans’ lives in ancient societies.
Moreover, the gods intercepted humans’ activities in order to assure that they abided their rules. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, attempted to transform from a mortal being to an immortal being. In the poem, Anu, a god, advised Gilgamesh to build a wall and a boat because the gods planned to produce a flood to destroy people. As a result, Gilgamesh tried to overpower the gods and change their ruling. However, the poem states, “… all the human beings had turned to clay!” Gilgamesh’s failure indicates that humans could not change religious leaders’

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