Sumer Research Paper

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

In the time from 1792 to 1750 B.C., King Hammurabi established the capital of Babylon. He gained control over Sumner and Akkad which helped him to reestablish Mesopotamia. Hammurabi saw himself as a man of war and a man of peace. He took strong interest in state affairs, which you can see in the Code of Hammurabi. Hammurabi built temples, defensive walls, and irrigation canals as well as encouraging trade and brought about an economic revival (Spielvogel).

Mesopotamia has changed so much through each king/leader of their time. Later Mesopotamia during Hammurabi was changed significantly in many ways. The economic activity was good causing trade to grow and benefit the people in Babylon, and social status was restored. Hammurapi, or Hammurabi, centralized state authority using diplomatic and military skills to become one of the strongest kings in Mesopotamia (textbook pg 94). During this time, culture was very important to the people because they valued the oral tales and written records of earlier Sumerians and Akkadians. Therefore, scribes would copy the ancient texts and preserve their traditions for generations to come (textbook pg 95). Also, during Hammurabi’s time, there was a rise in the economy because people were able to pay taxes in form of commodities such as grains, vegetables, and wool, which the entrepreneurs exchanged for silver through trades (textbook pg 95). This was a great idea because the people were able to pay with their agricultural products, and the entrepreneurs can sell or trade it for silver. This had significantly create more revenues for the state causing trade to flourish during Hammurabi’s time. The

Mesopotamia, “the Land between Rivers,” was one of the greatest and the oldest ancient civilizations of the world. This civilization flourished around 3000 B.C. on the piece of fertile land, now known as Iraq, between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Before 1792 B.C., the city-states of ancient Mesopotamia were not united and constantly clashed in turmoil and warfare. In 1792 B.C., King Hammurabi conquered and merged the neighboring city states of ancient Mesopotamia, creating a Babylonian empire and becoming the sixth king of its capitol city, Babylon. During his reign, Hammurabi established law and order and funded irrigation, defense, and religious projects. He personally took care of and governed the administration. In

Nearly 4000 years ago, a man named Hammurabi became King of Babylon. He ruled for 42 years. During that time, he became the ruler of much of Mesopotamia, which had an estimated population of 1,000,000 people. Hammurabi was no normal King, in his 38th year he made a set of 282 laws which he called a code, this code was the most complete set of laws any ruler of Mesopotamia had ever made. He had engraved these laws onto a stele. A stele is a clay tablet that has been written into by a sharpened reed. This writing form was called cuneiform. He created this code to bring order and fairness to all. There has been a debate over the years about whether his code is just or not. In my opinion, Hammurabi’s code was just because of its family law, its property law, and its personal injury law.

For 1,200 years Sumer was a land of peaceful city states, until Sargon and the Akkadians conquered the land. Sargon was a great and strong leader to all of the empire. He was the first to do many things but one thing that he was specifically known for was the formation they used in army. It was called the turtle because it had in the front, the shields, in the middle, spears and in the back archers. This helped them defeat many city states. Once they defeated the king of Uruk, Sargon had control over all the parts of Mesopotamia. One of the other things he was best known for was that he was a great ruler that was able to control Mesopotamia after conquering it. In the end, Sargon had created the turtle formation, conquered Mesopotamia and controlled Mesopotamia. Sargon and the Akkadians were the first to create an empire.

Hammurabi was the king of ancient Babylon who saw a need for laws in his land. His written laws, or Hammurabi’s Code, as they are known today, are what made Babylon such a successful kingdom. The Code was used to issue justice in all situations regarding the people of Babylon by the method of retaliation.

The code of Hammurabi is the most remarkable and complete code of ancient law that we have. The code can be found on a stele, a stone slab usually to commemorate military victories in the ancient world. His code, a collection of 282 laws and standards, stipulated rules for commercial interactions and set fines and punishments to meet the requirements of justice. Most punishments resulting of death or loss of limb if a law was broken. The edicts ranged from family law to professional contracts and administrative law, often outlining different standards of justice for the three classes of Babylonian society. The Hammurabi Code was issued on the three classes of Babylonian Society, property owners, freemen and slaves. It was important as it organized the most civilized empire at that times , and Hammurabi made many copies of it and distributed them in the most important cities of the empire , so it represented a great progress to the human

Ancient Sumer is an amazing blend of legends and elaborated rituals. Most scholars agree on the importance of various artifacts found in Sumer. Cemetery and graves are among the most important sites which provide the most crucial evidence about everyday and multiple aspects of Sumer.

Over a thousand of years ago, there was a very unique story that becomes a history today. It was about a well-known city that has always been the “talk of the town” today which is known as the city of Babylon. It was then transformed into the central power of Mesopotamia since the city was given hegemony over Mesopotamia by the sixth ruler, the very efficient one named Babylonian king Hammurabi, who reigned from 1792 to 1750 BC. Since the renaissance of literary, a code of laws was established under the instruction of Hammurabi. This phase was also called as “First Dynasty of Babylon”.

Law is one of the most basic institutions and one of the most necessary for a society to be upheld. They implement rights and obligations, and set penalties and consequences for those who break them (AllHistories). The first set of laws date back to Ancient Mesopotamia, or Babylon, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates River also identified as modern day Iraq. The sixth Babylonian king Hammurabi ruled from 1792 to 1750 B.C (B for Babylon). He was universally known for his establishment of the wall code, otherwise known as the Code of Hammurabi. Inscribed on steel, it is known to be the oldest and longest set of laws in history. It makes up of a fascinating 282 set of laws (Horne). This is the first time historians see the concept of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. Written laws were not seen in pervious civilizations to Babylon. Hammurabi was the first to believe in just consequences. He says the purpose of the code is “to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land…so the strong should not harm the weak” (Thompson). The laws cover a vast portion of Babylonian’s daily lives. There are laws that discuss taxes and trade, to marriage and divorce, and even theft and murder (Horne). Similar laws are enforced in the 21st century. Although the consequences of the Hammurabi Code are known to be harsh and inhumane, the basic concepts of the laws are implemented in today’s justice system. The Code of Hammurabi regulates women’s rights and family, murder and

My investigation begins in Mesopotamia were two large states had formed around 2300 B.C. The Sumerian cities in the area were very wealthy and this wealth “attracted non-Sumerian conquerors from the north.” (“Empires

Hammurabi believed in an open and transparent contract of law for citizens and residents of Babylon along with what today leaders call and ‘open door policy’ by making himself available to his people. Leaders were held to the highest moral and ethical standards, it was one of the first known openly use of equality in law so much so that justice was blind to your position in society, race or sex. Under Hammurabi’s leadership organization and strategy were key factors in unifying Mesopotamia. Hammurabi understood in order to effectively maintain control of newly conquered city-states he had to rebuild and improve the city-state. This took considerable organization in order

Babylonian civilization is considered as one of the most important civilizations in the ancient world. The Babylonians took and developed everything after the Sumerians civilization especially in the spiritual realm and in the field of building an integrated civilization. The earlier civilizations had big role in the Babylonians civilization period when Babylonians took all the cuneiform writing, mathematical and astronomical knowledge, in addition to that the method of building cities, dams and etc. they improved all of them. The development of knowledge continued by Babylonian where the Sumerians stop, and the Babylonian built an empire for themselves on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the southern part of Sumer (Iraq). "The first Amuriyahian family has ruled over Babylon in the period (1830- 1530 BC), when Babylon was a mini-states at the time." Then the greatest king of Babylonian Hammurabi appeared in the seventeenth century BC. He established a famous group of laws known by (Hammurabi code).Also he was the king who united this petty States and achieved an important architectural movement in the city of Babylon.

Sumer, the first recorded civilization, was established in about 3300 b.c. No notable rulers have been recorded, but there is no way of being totally sure of that. Because of the location of Sumer which was in the Fertile Crescent near the Persian Gulf, flooding had to be controlled. Irrigation ditches channeled floodwater into crops, and dikes prevented water from flooding towns. Sumerians utilized wheels, which made ground transportation much more efficient. They also invented mathematics and the first form of writing, called cuneiform. The social hierarchy consisted of 3 classes. The upper class included ruling family, leading official, and high Priest. A small middle class consisted of lesser Priests, scribes, merchants, and artisans. Finally, the lower class was made up of peasant farmers and slaves. The government in Sumer enforced laws and taxes. Sumerian religion was a polytheistic religion, which means they believed in many gods. It was believed that there was an afterlife which was a very negative place. Ziggurats were built to show the gods respect. After