*History 8 Mesopotamia Notes

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1. What is the legitimation of authority ?

2. How was it practiced in Sumer?

3. How are bureaucrats,writing and the calendar connected?

4. Define Polytheism.

5. Was there a belief in the afterlife in Sumerian religion?

6. Define law and give its three characteristics. The definition of law: (1) : -Law is written and administered retribution and conflict resolution. Law was essential in the first civilizations because it organized everything about the communities and kept records and became government eventually. King Hammurabi is famous for his early set of laws for Mesopotamia, He made 200 laws during his time. The three characteristics of law: Administration- Law is retribution that is administered by a centralized authority. Sumerian law sits half way between individual revenge and state-administered revenge Writing- Law is written; in this way, law assumes an independent character beyond the centralized authority that administers it. This produces a sociological fiction that the law controls those who administer the law and that the "law" exacts retribution, not humans. Retribution- Law is at its heart revenge; the basic cultural mechanism for dealing with unacceptable behavior is to exact revenge. Sumerian law was based on the retribution, not revenge.

7. What is Lex talonis?

8. How did the monarchy change during the Old Babylonian period?

9. Hammurabi's Code reflected a change in law. What was that change?

10. What group was forced to move from Judah to Babylon? What was their social status?

11. How was the Semitic domination of Mesopotamia ended?

12. Why are the Hittites on of the most significant peoples in Mesopotamian history?

13. How did law change under the Hittites?

14. What was the Assyrian policy toward conquered peoples and what was the result of this policy?

15. How do we know about Mesopotamian culture, myth and literature?

16. What were some of the innovations in warfare begun by the Assyrians?