Continuing through my reading of The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer, I just finished Chapters 22-24.
Chapter 22 introduces us to King Hammurabi, ruler of Babylon. Hammurabi was able to extend Babylon's rule and empire to the entire Mesopotamia area. His Code is the oldest surviving complete set of laws to survive from the ancient times.
Chapter 23 brushed upon the helter-skelter left behind by Amenemhet III, the last powerful ruler of Egypt. Having ruled for forty-five years his heir was older and died shortly after taking the throne, he however was childless, leaving his wife to become ruler, Queen Sobeknefru. The instability left behind from no blood-heir entity of the royal family sent the 13th, 14th and 15th dynasties into a world of shadowy figures. These dynasties over-lapped ruling different parts of Egypt until the 15th dynasty when Hyksos was able to over-throw the remaining pieces of the 13th and 14th dynasties.
Chapter 24 brings us to the Greek island of Crete and the tale of King Minos and his greed. Minos was said to ruled Crete and many of the Aegean islands in the surrounding area. His greed is said to have upset Poseidon, who retaliated by cursing Minos wife, Pasiphaeto, with a lust for bulls, she produce an offspring with a bull. This human body with a bull head was condemned to a Labyrinth under the palace never to be escaped, it is said he was fed with the flesh of sacrifices. Minos was a powerful ruler (or likely string of) and stopped piracy in the seas surrounding Crete. This gave the people a sense of stability and allowed them to flourish and build up the cities. The area was devastated by earthquakes and volcanic eruption, believed at the time to have been Minos' inability to keep Poseidon appeased. The city of Akrotiri (city on modern day Cyprus), was preserved with ash until its discovery in the 1960's. The ash from the eruptions likely caused crop problems causing the downfall of surviving cities due to the loss of trade abilities.
Follow the jump for more information on Hammurabi's code.
Hammurabi's code included the famous "eye for an eye" punishment. With almost 300 rules his code covered all aspects of daily life for the people of his empire. He wanted his subjects to feel that his protection was justice and fair. Following is a sample of some of his laws:
Law 14. If any one steal the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.
Law 23. If the robber is not caught, then shall he who was robbed claim under oath the amount of his loss; then shall the community, and ... on whose ground and territory and in whose domain it was compensate him for the goods stolen.
Law 130. If a man violate the wife (betrothed or child-wife) of another man, who has never known a man, and still lives in her father's house, and sleep with her and be surprised, this man shall be put to death, but the wife is blameless.
Law 148. If a man take a wife, and she be seized by disease, if he then desire to take a second wife he shall not put away his wife, who has been attacked by disease, but he shall keep her in the house which he has built and support her so long as she lives.
Law 196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.
Law 221. If a physician heal the broken bone or diseased soft part of a man, the patient shall pay the physician five shekels in money.
Law 229: If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.
The things covered are a fascinating read; you can read more at the University of Evansville's page where I found the above translations of the code.
Stele picture:
Image from Louvre Museum, Middle East antiques, found on Wikimedia Commons
Photographer: Rama
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 France license.
Link: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Code-de-Hammurabi-1.jpg
Minotaur picture:
Image from National Archaeological Museum of Athens, found on Wikimedia Commons
Photographer: Marsyas
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Link: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Minotauros_Myron_NAMA_1664_n1.jpg
[Notice: Original posting 2014-01-30 at Plethora of Books Blog: http://bookchallenges.weebly.com]
Tags: General, History, Updates
Law 14. If any one steal the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.
Law 23. If the robber is not caught, then shall he who was robbed claim under oath the amount of his loss; then shall the community, and ... on whose ground and territory and in whose domain it was compensate him for the goods stolen.
Law 130. If a man violate the wife (betrothed or child-wife) of another man, who has never known a man, and still lives in her father's house, and sleep with her and be surprised, this man shall be put to death, but the wife is blameless.
Law 148. If a man take a wife, and she be seized by disease, if he then desire to take a second wife he shall not put away his wife, who has been attacked by disease, but he shall keep her in the house which he has built and support her so long as she lives.
Law 196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.
Law 221. If a physician heal the broken bone or diseased soft part of a man, the patient shall pay the physician five shekels in money.
Law 229: If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.
The things covered are a fascinating read; you can read more at the University of Evansville's page where I found the above translations of the code.
Stele picture:
Image from Louvre Museum, Middle East antiques, found on Wikimedia Commons
Photographer: Rama
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 France license.
Link: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Code-de-Hammurabi-1.jpg
Minotaur picture:
Image from National Archaeological Museum of Athens, found on Wikimedia Commons
Photographer: Marsyas
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Link: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Minotauros_Myron_NAMA_1664_n1.jpg
[Notice: Original posting 2014-01-30 at Plethora of Books Blog: http://bookchallenges.weebly.com]
Tags: General, History, Updates