What Are Mesopotamians Laws

* The status of women in Mesopotamia was lower then men. Women enjoyed some protection and liberties, yet not as much as men.

Social classes and hierarchies, especially patriarchy, is another common pattern in ancient civilizations. Social classes first began in Mesopotamia and Egypt when farmers who had surpluses got wealthier and more powerful then other people. As cities developed into a more urban society, social hierarchies began to appear. Mesopotamia and Egypt both had similar hierarchies. The ruling class was at the top, this consisted of royal families and wealthy landowners. Below the ruling class were merchants and craftsmen, and below them were slaves and day laborers. Patriarchy is another common pattern in these two civilizations. As societies became more urban, men became more dominant over women in all areas of society. The patriarchy in Mesopotamia and Egypt was mild at first compared to other societies, but still drastically affected a woman’s life. In Mesopotamia, females held high positions in the ruling class as priestesses, queen consorts, and even queens. A woman could only become queen though through family extensions. In Egypt, women in the ruling class also held high positions in society and were considered equal to their male counterparts. This patriarchal society is best seen in the Code of Hammurabi, law 142 states “If a women hates her husband so much that she says “You may not

Egypt developed around the Nile River, while Mesopotamia developed between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Egypt and Mesopotamia grew into complex civilizations. Politically, both Egypt and Mesopotamia had a government with one main ruler, but Egypt had a centralized government with a pharaoh, while Mesopotamia had a decentralized government with a king. Socially, both civilizations were patriarchal, but Egypt was more lenient towards women while Mesopotamia was stricter. The political and social structures of Egypt and Mesopotamia both similarities and differences.

Both societies also permitted slavery which was not based on race, but on those who were captured in battle. Both also had their own religion with their own customs and beliefs. In Mesopotamia, the priests and the king were part of the upper class, the merchants and artisans were part of middle class, the farmers and the laborers made up the lower-middle class, and the slaves were the lowest class. In Egypt, the highest class consisted of the pharaoh, the priests were part of the upper-middle, merchants and artisans were part of the middle, and the lower class consisted of farmers and laborers. The lowest class consisted of the slaves who were captured in battle. It is important to note that slavery was based on prisoners captured in battes and not on race. Thus, despite the similarities, both societies also had unique characteristics for their own religion and beliefs.

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).

They did not have the right to divorce their husbands, and almost all women were uneducated. In Mesopotamia, women were also treated very poorly. They were taught to attend to all of their husband’s needs, and could be punished severely if they did not do as their husband said. In Babylonia, during Hammurabi’s rule, there was even a law that stated that if a woman did not obey her husband or was unfaithful to him in any way, he was legally allowed to throw her in the river, ultimately drowning her.

The Mesopotamian people valued a strict, rules-oriented society. This can be seen by examining the Mesopotamian social classes, government and job specialization. In The Code of Hammurabi, created by the King of Babylon in 1780 B.C.E. it was evident that there were rules for every thing, and every thing you do has a consequence. The Mesopotamian life style was very rigid; this lifestyle can lead to disputes and outbreaks, which can have negative consequences in society.

Mesopotamia political structures were to have one king and he would control the resources and build an army to go to war he also would make laws and be in control of building projects. Once King Hammurabi became the ruler he made a set of laws call the law of Hammurabi. These laws took more on a political stance of money and war. To maintain order they would go to other neighboring cities and collect money and it would help to build a stronger army to conquer more land.

Men had privileges that woman did not have. Some laws protected the women in some ways, for example, “if a man divorced his wife because she did not bear him a son, he had to provide her with money”. (3) Other laws direct to the thought of women being way less than men. Where women’s word does not matter, only her negative actions and they are equally punished. The Mesopotamian government shows more violent solutions to their crimes and the Egyptians themselves.

Hammurabi, the ruler of Mesopotamia, invented 282 laws approximately 4,000 years ago to obtain peace. In my opinion, Hammurabi’s Code was not just; it affected many families in a negative way, there were many other ways to resolve the problems presented, and most of the victims were treated unfairly. Foremost, Hammurabi’s Code separated families. For example, in Document C Law 129 when the son strikes his father there are more other responsible ways to punish the son other than cutting off his hands.

In the Laws of Manu, the caste system was very unique in which your birth determined your class rather than skills. That meant there was no chance for you to move up nor down in society; you were stuck in that class. Each class had their own set of social duties to complete, unlike the Code of Hammurabi where the laws were for everyone. Both civilizations, however, seem to treat women the same way. Women don’t have as much power as men do in society; they are more likely to be seen as property. In page 163 of Document 2, it states that, “…a women must never be

In Babylonian society during Hammurabi’s time, women are not of equal status to men, though neither are they treated as slaves. For example, under “Property”, numbers 38 and 39, it states that a man cannot give ‘his field, or garden, or house’ to a woman, but if he writes a will that states she is allowed to have his possessions after his death, then they can be granted to her. Also, number 142 (under “Marriage and the Family”) says that if a woman is treated poorly by her husband, then she’s allowed to leave him.

Mesopotamia society under the Hammurabi code was one of many strict penalties for criminal causes with punishments, they varied according to the wealth of the individual. The code divided Babylonian society into three classes: an upper class of nobles, Lower class , & the class of freemen. A offense against a member of the Higher class was punished with more severity than the same offense against a member of a lower class. But for offenses against members of the lower classes, a money payment was required instead.

Hammurabi claimed that the god of justice, Shamash gave him these laws to deliver to the people. Throught the Code of Hammurabi you’ll begin to notice that is a bit sexist and graphic. If a woman was caught cheating on her husband then both the other man and the wife would be tied up and thrown in the river, this is a lot different than our justification system today. This code of laws punishments are only the same if two people are equal. What I mean by equal is the two people must be of same gender and social class. As most communities are the higher ups will obviously get off easier than than people in the lower class. This means if someone of a lower class strikes someone of an upper class they will get their hand chopped off or beat with an ox whip in public, but if an upper class strikes a lower class their only punishment is to pay a fine. Although today’s punishments are not that extreme we can still see the similarity. When most people think of the code they think of the famous saying “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” this quote suggests the action of equality but like i just stated equality only exists for the same gender and social

A prevalent concept of civilized society is the idea of class structure and job specialization. “Specialization of labor and the complexity of urban life encouraged the development of social classes with different kinds of training, different responsibilities, and different types of authority”(27). This idea of social order is presented through “The Standard of Ur” a double sided panel that depicts the jobs of different social classes within the Babylonian society around 2700 B.C.E. (27). The division of labor created a booming economy which lead to further development within the