1. Sumerians, Babylonians, Minoans, Mycenaeans and Barbarians
Law and Disorder
Sumerians, Babylonians,
Minoans, Mycenaeans
and Barbarians

2. The First Known Law Codes
Hunter-gatherers and Pastoralists have Tribal Law. We know that Sumerian cities had codes of law before 2000 BC when Ur-Nammu the ruler of the Sumerian city of Ur, made the oldest known surviving Written Code of Law His Code was in an If-then form If Crime then Punishment “If a man commits murder, then that man must be killed.”

3. A written code of law was an important improvement because:
It was public…you knew what the law was!
It provided consistency
Of Justice
All authorities must follow the law
Of Punishment
The same crime gets the same punishment
Over Time
A new ruler often left much if not all of the law code as it was

4. Hamurabi and Babylonian Law
One Empire that controlled much of the Fertile Crescent was the Old Babylonian Empire.
About 1780 BC one of its rulers, Hamurabi, made the oldest Code of Law to survive complete:
“Hamurabi’s Code”
Since his empire so large many copies have survived and..
It influenced many Law systems that followed including Jewish and Greek

5. The Minoans and the Mycenaeans
About the time of Hamurabi on Crete and the surrounding islands
the Minoan civilization grew up. It…
Did not speak Greek
Was the first great sea-faring people
Had its own writing system
central heating and indoor plumbing including flush toilets!
On the mainland the Greek speaking Mycenaeans created a copy-cat culture.

6. The Fall of Nearly Everyone
ca BC a volcanic eruption weakened the Minoan Civilization which the Mycenaeans then conquered…
But the Mycenaeans didn’t last long.
ca BC – 1000 BC Barbarians invade everywhere all civilizations the Fertile Crescent Asia Minor and Europe are destroyed, only Egypt survives.