Chapter 2 The Fertile Crescent

Section 3 The Legacy of Mesopotamia

Hammurabi’s Code Code – organized list of laws Help people know rules and punishment Hammurabi – ruled Babylonia 1792-1750 B.C. Set of rules for the empire Told people how to settle conflicts Based on early Sumerian codes 282 laws Organized different categories Trade Labor Property Family

Hammurabi’s Code Code based on “an eye for an eye” Punishment should fit the crime Did not apply equally to all Harshness of punishment depended on importance of victim Example pg. 44 Person who accidentally broke law still guilty Laws important because written down Everyone knew the rules 1st recorded set of rules found

Writing 1st developed 3100 B.C. – Mesopotamia Way to keep records Record keepers – important and busy in Sumer Earliest documents – records of farm animals One of the most valuable skill – because most don’t know how Respected

Scribes Military Calculated amount of food and supplies an army would need Government scribes figured the number of diggers needed to build a canal Records Written on clay – paper not invented

Clay…where did that come from? Tigris and Euphrates – washed down from mountains Scribes shaped clay Used sharp tools to make letters When dried – hard Size and shape depended on its purpose

Where did writing come from? Before writing used: Shaped pieces of clay tokens = record keeping 1st writing symbols represented specific objects Cuneiform – scribes combined symbols to make groups of wedges and lines Could represent different languages = flexibility and useful Historians believe: Sumerians developed system of writing alone – did not borrow Symbols set in rows Rows read left to right Top to bottom

Elements www.animationfactory.com