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Standard 6.14 Lesson
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C HAPTER
Chapter 1. Standard 6.14 Lesson
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Standard 6.14 Lesson
Standard 6.14 Lesson: Write an informative piece explaining the significant contributions of Mesopotamian
leaders, including Hammurabi and Sargon and explain the basic principle of justice in Hammurabi’s
Code.
***EXTENDED RESPONSE LESSON
Mesopotamia: The Development of Writing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VroX-_thMLg
Ducksters - The Akkadian Empire http://www.ducksters.com/history/mesopotamia/akkadian_empire.php
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Chapter 1. Standard 6.14 Lesson
About 2371 B.C., a powerful leader took control of the whole region of the Fertile Crescent. He was
named Sargon of Akkad and he created the first empire in the world. An empire brings people and
cultures of many lands together under the control of one ruler. His empire was known as Sargon’s
Empire or the Akkadian Empire.
FIGURE 1.1
As you can tell by the map, Sargon’s Empire stretched from the Persian Gulf, along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers,
to the Mediterranean Sea. This empire covered much of the Fertile Crescent. The Akkadian Empire lasted only
about 200 years. Attacks from outsiders weakened the empire. Around 2000 B.C., a group of people known has
the Amorites, took control of the southern part of the Fertile Crescent and chose the city-state of Babylon as their
capital.
One of the Babylonian kings, Hammurabi, created a Code of Law to help him govern more effectively. A Code of
Laws was a set of written down laws that the people had to obey. Hammurabi drew up a set of 282 laws that all
people were to follow or obey.
Hammurabi wanted to bring justice to to everyone in his empire. He identified wrongdoings and punishments for
those wrongdoings. Hammurabi had the laws written on a pillar so that his people could see and read the laws and
know the punishments for breaking them.
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Hammurabi’s Code: An Eye for an Eye
"Hammurabi, the king of righteousness, on whom Shamash has conferred the law, am I."
"An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth."
This phrase, along with the idea of written laws, goes back to ancient Mesopotamian culture that prospered long
before the Bible was written or the civilizations of the Greeks or Romans flowered.
"An eye for an eye ..." is a paraphrase of Hammurabi’s Code, a collection of 282 laws inscribed on an upright stone
pillar. The code was found by French archaeologists in 1901 while excavating the ancient city of Susa, which is in
modern-day Iran.
Hammurabi is the best known and most celebrated of all Mesopotamian kings. He ruled the Babylonian Empire
from 1792-50 B.C.E. Although he was concerned with keeping order in his kingdom, this was not his only reason
for compiling the list of laws. When he began ruling the city-state of Babylon, he had control of no more than 50
square miles of territory. As he conquered other city-states and his empire grew, he saw the need to unify the various
groups he controlled.
A Need for Justice
Hammurabi keenly understood that, to achieve this goal, he needed one universal set of laws for all of the diverse
peoples he conquered. Therefore, he sent legal experts throughout his kingdom to gather existing laws. These laws
were reviewed and some were changed or eliminated before compiling his final list of 282 laws. Despite what many
people believe, this code of laws was not the first.
Oldest Code Known
The oldest known evidence of a law code are tablets from the ancient city Ebla (Tell Mardikh in modern-day Syria).
They date to about 2400 B.C.E. — approximately 600 years before Hammurabi put together his famous code.
The prologue or introduction to the list of laws is very enlightening. Here, Hammurabi states that he wants "to make
justice visible in the land, to destroy the wicked person and the evil-doer, that the strong might not injure the weak."
The laws themselves support this compassionate claim, and protect widows, orphans and others from being harmed
or exploited.
The phrase "an eye for an eye" represents what many people view as a harsh sense of justice based on revenge. But,
the entire code is much more complex than that one phrase. The code distinguishes among punishments for wealthy
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Chapter 1. Standard 6.14 Lesson
or noble persons, lower-class persons or commoners, and slaves.
The Laws
Don’t mess with the serpent-headed, scorpion-tailed mythical dragon of the god Marduk!
"Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of
righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the weak; so
that I should rule over the black-headed people like Shamash, and enlighten the land, to further the well-being of
mankind ..."
So begins the Law Code of Hammurabi, a list of nearly 300 laws etched into a two and one-half meter high black
diorite pillar, discovered in 1902 but dating back to the time of Hammurabi himself (1792-1750 B.C.E). Some laws
were quite brutal, others rather progressive.
Most of the nearly 300 laws written on the pillar pertain to property rights of landowners, slavemasters, merchants,
and builders.
Here are some of the more unusual laws that seem very foreign to a modern society:
If any one finds runaway male or female slaves in the open country and bring them to their masters, the master of
the slaves shall pay him two shekels of silver.
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If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death.
If a tavern-keeper (feminine) does not accept corn according to gross weight in payment of a drink, but takes money,
and the price of the drink is less than that of the corn, she shall be convicted and thrown into the water.
If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off.
If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out.
If a man strike a free-born woman so that she lose her unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss.
If a barber, without the knowledge of his master, cut the sign of a slave on a slave not to be sold, the hands of this
barber shall be cut off.
If a slave says to his master: "You are not my master," if they convict him his master shall cut off his ear.
King Hammurabi
YouTube - The Code of Hammurabi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnAdQFB5eX8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_TVeU-xQo0
http://www.ducksters.com/history/mesopotamia/code_of_hammurabi.php
Additional Information
TABLE 1.1:
figure*
A stone statue depiction of King Hammurabi.
King Hammurabi was the sixth king of Babylon, ruling from 1792-1750 BCE. As a ruler, he oversaw a great
expansion of his kingdom. He pushed Babylon from a city-state to the Babylonian empire, and at the time of
Hammurabi’s death, Babylon controlled all of Mesopotamia.
• King Hammurabi is best known for creating the first set of written laws in recorded history .
• The set of laws, known as Hammurabi’s Code was a series of judgments and rules for the Babylonian Empire
and were inscribed on a large stone slate.
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Chapter 1. Standard 6.14 Lesson
TABLE 1.2:
*
This map shows the Babylonian kingdom during King Hammurabi’s rule. The empire was located between the
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and today would be a part of modern day Iraq.
Hammurabi’s Code and “An Eye for an Eye”
“An eye for an eye” is the idea that a punishment should be equal to the crime committed. The code did not apply
equally to all people. The harshness of the punishment depended on the societal importance of the victim and the
lawbreaker . The higher the class of the victim, the greater the penalty was.
Hammurabi’s Code contained 282 laws organized in different categories, including trade, labor, property, and family.
The code had laws for adopting children, practicing medicine, hiring wagons or boats, and dangerous animals. The
code essentially governed the people of Babylonia, and helped settle conflicts in all areas of life, and therefore is an
important reflection to Babylonian Society.
Click here for the text of the laws in the code
TABLE 1.3:
*
The Code of Hammurabi can be found in The Louvre in Paris, France.
The most complete example of Hammurabi’s Code can be found in the Louvre in the country of France. The Code
is inscribed in the Akkadian language on a diorite stele approximately 7.5 feet tall and is carved using cuneiform
script.
See also the video Law Code Stele of King Hammurabi from the website SmartHistory.
You’re the King of Babylon: You Be the Judge!
Assignment: After the students have researched Hammurabi’s Code have them debate whether they were fair or not.
Principles of Justice
A person who accidentally broke a law was just as guilty as someone who meant to break the law. People who could
not always control the outcome of their work, such as doctors, had to be very careful. “ If a surgeon performed a
major operation on a citizen with a bronze lancet and has caused the death of this citizen. . . his hand shall be cut
off.”
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Additional Resources:
Hammurabi’s Code - http://edsitement.neh.gov/launchpad-hammurabis-code
Hammurabi’s Code of Laws - http://www.phillipmartin.info/hammurabi/hammurabi_codeindex.htm
Quizlet - The Legacy of Mesopotamia https://quizlet.com/15448670/chapter-2-section-3-legacy-of-mesopotamia-flash-cards/
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