Mesopotamia Dbq Essay

With governmental machinery that brought political and social order to their territories, effective political and military power enabled them to build regional empires and expand their authority to neighboring people. Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia were two great civilizations among the earliest to emerge in the Middle east and North Africa. Both made significant contributions in areas such as mathematics, medicine, agriculture, astronomy, technology, architecture, art and writing. They had differences as well, including their political structures. Most importantly is that Egyptians were under a centralized government, and the Mesopotamians had self-controlled city state governments.

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).

Southern Mesopotamia had no government. The people of Southern Mesopotamia needed a ruler, someone to lead them through tough times as the population grew. Hammurabi started as their ruler, and then appointed himself King. The King also had people who worked for him, because he wouldn’t have been able to do all the jobs himself. He had people who built temples, settled disputes, maintained the complicated system of canals, and irrigated farms. He was also the lead priest at Ziggurat, the main temple. He had lots of rules that everyone in Mesopotamia had to follow. For example, “If a judge try a case, reach a decision, and present his judgment in writing; if later error shall appear in his decision, and it be through his own fault, then he shall pay twelve times the fine set by him in the case, and he shall be publicly removed from the judge's bench, and never again shall he sit there to render judgment.” (Hammurabi Codes 5) This just on example of how detailed the 282 rules could be. This shows us that Hammurabi was very strict and liked rules.

Mesopotamia was a decentralized civilization, and resulted with many rulers leading the many city-states within the empire. Due to the many wars occurring within, kings were originally war leaders, and the function of defense and war, including leadership of a trained army, remained vital. Due to being many rulers within the empire, there were many internal conflicts, let alone the outside ones, which resulted in Mesopotamia further advanced its empire by developing ideas for a bureaucracy and laws, by using Hammurabi’s code. It laid down the procedure for law courts and regulated property rights and duties of family members, setting harsh punishments for crimes. This focus on standardizing a legal system was one of the features of early civilization. Also, the political structure there was enforced by none other than the Sumerians, which can be seen in many similar ideas and traits passed on today’s modern

This change in food production also supported Sumerians, Persians, and other people to settle down in one place. This helped them to set their minds on other things which led to the invention of the wheel and many other improvements

Have you ever wondered what made Egypt and Mesopotamia successful civilizations? Ancient Egyptians developed their civilizations by the Nile River around 3000B.C. Ancient Mesopotamia developed their civilizations between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers around 3100B.C. Their location, government, and rules have helped Egypt and Mesopotamia to be successful civilizations. Rivers were an essential part of the development of the civilizations. Rivers provided transportation, food, and water to them. For example, document one is a song.

After the Neolithic Revolution people had the opportunity to settle as they pleased. This allowed for the development of civilizations. These civilizations had rulers, during the 18th century BCE Hammurabi was the King of Babylon. He ruled over ancient Mesopotamia and established a set of rules for his nation. Hammurabi claimed that Shamash, the god of heaven and earth, had given him these rules and the authority to carry them out. Hammurabi’s Code included two hundred and eighty-two laws that set a structure for the city-state of Mesopotamia. Family matters, property law, and even personal matters were ruled unfairly under Hammurabi’s Code.

Hammurabi became the ruler of Babylon, which is located in central Mesopotamia, in 1792 B.C. He created a set of laws with punishments known as the Code of Hammurabi. The basis of these laws came from the god Marduk whom Hammurabi said empowered him. The main purpose of the code of Hammurabi was to govern the population and to have a system where people knew their place in society.

The achievements of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley included technological advancements and increased government direction and organization. These civilizations had lasting impacts on humanity by being the building blocks for later societies’ structures, both architectural and legal. One of the accomplishments of the three aforementioned ancient societies was the increased development of technology. In southern Mesopotamia, the technological innovations were majorly centered around the building of cities. Document 1 states that “... they used mud bricks to build walled cities, temples, and palaces.

Egypt and Mesopotamia were successful civilizations because they were able to adapt to their harsh surroundings because of the influence of their powerful leaders. This is first example of this when it mentions that their only building tool was mudbrick due to their lack of resources(document 1). They were able to brilliantly adapt to their surroundings and were able to invent things like the arch and the dome out of hardened mud. Mud brick was also used to create the ziggurat(document 7). Mud brick was their only resource because they were so isolated from everything else. They also could really only inhabit the euphrates river because the Tigris river would flood a lot, so that’s why all of the cities are on the Euphrates (document 2).

Mesopotamia was an ideal place to start civilization. It has natural barriers as well, which are rivers and mountains. Because the rivers surrounded Mesopotamia, it was suitable for farming. With the Map of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent seen in document 2, it can be proven that the area of Mesopotamia is located in the Fertile Crescent. In Mesopotamia, farming

Mesopotamia is credited for inventing the first written language and the first written laws. Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia needed an efficient way to keep track of their business dealings with other people who lived thousands of miles away. The people often could not remember or agree upon what they had traded; this led to nasty disputes. As a result,the Sumerians created Cuneiform, the first written language. It was quickly accepted and widely used throughout Mesopotamia.

Part 2: The Law Code of Hammurabi tells historians that there was a strong emphasis on achieving a controlled civilization. Although Hammurabi's Code seemed to be a fair code of law, most of the rules only benefited those of property and high position. Also, only the literate people could read Hammurabi's code which posed a disadvantage to the

Hammurabi was the first king of Babylon empire and the true founder of Babylon. He was born in 1810 BC, and was one of the first ones to conquer all ancient Mesopotamia. He was one of the best-known rulers reigning between 1792-1750 BC. He was recognized to be the dominant power in his era. He was acknowledged as a lawgiver, for his military and administrative skills, and most importantly, for the Code of Hammurabi. They were the first set of laws that included punishment, and crime, within many other codes totaling 282 laws, and written in Akkadian language. A seven-foot steel stele was placed publicly because he wanted every citizen to have a right to read the laws that corresponded to them. Keeping in mind, that every code applied to all groups and social classes that were part of his empire.

Another great ruler was King Hammurabi of Babylon. He set up the Code of Hammurabi, which includes 300 sections of carefully organized codes that ruled the Babylonians. Hammurabi was the first example of a lawgiver. He provided one of the greatest written documents of his time: a stone column with a long series of legal judgments published with his name. Hammurabi even designed codes for the family life. He took care of the women and children in his society. He regulated marriage with care to secure a stable life for future generations. He combined both law and religious belief to create an ordered society. The Mesopotamians built on foundations laid by the Sumerians using their sexagesimal system. They had multiplication tables, exponents, tables for computing interest, and textbooks with problems for solution. They also developed systems of astrology and astronomy, and even created a lunar calendar.