*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?

The Assyrian empire was taken over by the Babylonians. After a few years, the new king for the Babylonians was a loyal Assyrian. This king over threw the Babylonian God and replaced it with his Assyrian God. The Babylonians rebelled against the king by bringing Cyrus the Conqueror of Persia into their city. Cyrus the Conqueror of Persia was the head of the powerful Persian empire. The Babylonians decided to welcome a conqueror into their city knowing that it was better to be under control of the Persian empire than the Assyrian king. This ended the Semitic domination of Mesopotamia. Unfortunately for the Babylonians, they never became independent again like they were hoping.

Josie Russ

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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?

The Assyrians were very harsh in their policy toward conquered people to assure control over them. They Assyrians would force the people they conquered to migrate in large numbers to other areas of the empire. This helped expand their empire and populate more of their own cities. As a result of this, the cultures of Assyria became a giant mixing pot of religions, beliefs, race, and languages. This empire was called an "experiment in cultural mixing".

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

Thirty thousand tablets still remain of Ashurbanipal's great library in the city of Nineveh. These tablets serve as our single greatest source of knowledge of Mesopotamian culture, myth, and literature.

Helpful website: http://www2.sjs.org/beniretto/Mesopotamia/textcomputerexercise.html#AssyriaReligion (Religion)

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

Some innovations in warfare by the Assyrians were iron swords, lances, metal armor, and battering rams. Mathematical advances were made while trying to make better wepons such as the 360 degree circle and latitude and longitude lines for navigation. During the war medical aid was needed, so they bettered their medical science which had a huge range of influence. One place one can find is on the Benniretto website: [[1]] Another is in the Mesopotamia section of the manual on page 56.