The Political System of the Government and the Code of Hammurabi
The Political System consists of subjects such as government, laws and punishments, organizations, leaders, the military, and other political institutions such as buildings. In the next couple of paragraphs, I will be expanding on the comparison between the Mesopotamian society and a civilization.
There are several rules under The Code Of Hammurabi that fall under political subjects such as laws and punishments. Some of these rules fall under the category of robbery. Robbery is illegal in all parts of the world and there are rules and punishments for it everywhere. If a man committed highway robbery in a Mesopotamian society than he would be put to death. If a man broke into a house, than he would have been killed before the breach and buried at that location. A civilization consists of a government; a government develops these types of laws and punishments. Also, there are laws under The Code Of Hammurabi that deal with the leaders during this time, such as the King. The King lives in a temple, and it is known that if a man was to steal goods from a temple, than he shall be put to death.
In addition, the man who receives the stolen goods from the temple will be put to death as well. This rule has relation to a monumental building because it deals with the Kings home and his personal belongings, which is another reason for us to believe the Mesopotamian society was a civilization. There is a rule in the Code of Hammurabi that discusses the punishments of a man who, in a capital trial, bares false witness, or does not establish the statement that he has made. This rule goes to show that in the Mesopotamian society there was a court system and most likely a building of some sort that would represent, what we would call today, a courthouse. Another point would be that when a builder has built a house for a man, and that house falls, consequently killing someone in the home, that builder would be put to death. If the owners son is killed when the house falls, than the builders son will be put to death. This example allows us to believe that there was organized labour in the Mesopotamian society.
Organized labour is another point that leads us to believe it was a civilization. There is a rule in the Code of Hammurabi that deals with the business of a surgeon and the technology he uses. It is said that if a surgeon operates with a bronze lancet on a patrician for a serious injury and ends up causing death than his hands will be removed. This gives us an idea of the type of business they had in the Mesopotamian society, such as medical workers, and the technology that they used throughout this time period. The last subject I am going to touch on is currency. When a life has been lost, the city or district governor pays the family of the deceased person one mina or silver. This informs us that the Mesopotamian society had a form of currency.
In the last paragraph I went through eight different laws on the Code of Hammurabi and came to the conclusion that the Mesopotamian society was a civilization, not a culture. The Mesopotamian society had laws and punishments, leaders living in monumental buildings, organized labour, forms of business and technology, and a form of currency. These are all strong reasons to believe that it was a civilization. Although these reasons have relations with the political end of the society, there are also associations with the economic portion of the Mesopotamian society.
