Civilization in the West Term Paper

Total Length: 796 words ( 3 double-spaced pages)

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Western Civilization

Hammurabi is well-known for the code of laws which he created. What is significant about this code of laws is that it was the first body of laws that was publicly announced to the people of the city. It was arranged in a fashion where it could be understood easily. The trick to understanding the code's relation to the people's values and culture is to look at the stone upon which the code was delivered. The code was carved into a black stone around eight feet in height. The large size was designed for accessibility in the city.

This stone upon which the code lay was found in 1901 in a city in the Persian mountains. When looking at the text, one skilled in ancient texts will note that the code begins and ends with proclamation to the gods. This shows a link between the people's culture, religious beliefs, and their law. For those who would break the law, the prayers on the stone would guarantee swift punishment and curses. As we travel further down the stone, we see the code transform into an outline for the organization of society.

Some of the provisions which are quite unique and very strict in their punishment are for example, a code that details how a judge who fails to try a case correctly must step down from judgeship and be heavily fined.
Most crimes were punishable by death, including one where if a house builder built a house that fell on the owner and killed him, the builder must be executed. The son of the owner being killed would result in the son of the builder being killed. Faith is of supreme importance as we not how some of the remedies for the laws are actually takes we've seen in history before on "if a man is innocent, throw him in water, and if he drowns he was innocent" which often occurred in medieval times, and even in colonial times in the United States.

The primary interests derived from a study of the Funeral Oration of Pericles are generally composed of a great love for the warrior class. The warrior class in Athens, Greece was highly respected, and they themselves saw their class as one that strived to unite a city, and therefore a people. The Funeral Oration was divided into prescribed parts, and the standard oration would….....

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