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CRITICAL MISSION IN HISTORY:
Creating a System of Law
INTRODUCTION TO YOUR MISSION
For hundreds of years, rival city-states have battled for control of the fertile valleys of Mesopotamia. By 2300 BCE, Babylon rose in prominence under the rule of
Sargon of Akkad, as his armies consolidated power into a single empire. Babylon became one of the most important cities in Mesopotamia and home to the beautiful hanging gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
In 1792 BCE, Hammurabi is crowned king of Babylon. Under his rule, Babylon has conquered all of the surrounding city-states in the Fertile Crescent. And by 1750
BCE, his empire is comprised of ten different city-states – all with their unique customs and ways of life.
The majority of Hammurabi‘s subjects are farmers who feel little connection to city life in Babylon. Hammurabi needed ways to peacefully bring his empire together.
During his reign, he has built irrigation systems to control the unpredictable Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, formed a centralized bureaucracy for more efficient governing, and established Babylonian temples throughout the empire. Now
Hammurabi has received a code laws, handed down to him from the gods. And the gods have instructed him to disseminate the code throughout the kingdom.
The new code offers strict rules on how society should behave. It identifies three social classes, and makes the punishment for a crime dependent on accused party‘s social position. But will the code bring the empire together? Will everyone in
Hammurabi‘s kingdom accept it? How would you disseminate the codes and ultimately justify the laws to those within Hammurabi‘s realm. It is up to you, as
Hammurabi‘s trusted envoy, to explain why a written code of law should be accepted by everyone within the Babylonian empire.
REVIEW YOUR MISSION
I, your king, have received a message from the great god Marduk. He has given me laws to govern all the people of this empire.
Marduk
Creating a System of Law
INTRODUCTION TO YOUR MISSION
For hundreds of years, rival city-states have battled for control of the fertile valleys of Mesopotamia. By 2300 BCE, Babylon rose in prominence under the rule of
Sargon of Akkad, as his armies consolidated power into a single empire. Babylon became one of the most important cities in Mesopotamia and home to the beautiful hanging gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
In 1792 BCE, Hammurabi is crowned king of Babylon. Under his rule, Babylon has conquered all of the surrounding city-states in the Fertile Crescent. And by 1750
BCE, his empire is comprised of ten different city-states – all with their unique customs and ways of life.
The majority of Hammurabi‘s subjects are farmers who feel little connection to city life in Babylon. Hammurabi needed ways to peacefully bring his empire together.
During his reign, he has built irrigation systems to control the unpredictable Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, formed a centralized bureaucracy for more efficient governing, and established Babylonian temples throughout the empire. Now
Hammurabi has received a code laws, handed down to him from the gods. And the gods have instructed him to disseminate the code throughout the kingdom.
The new code offers strict rules on how society should behave. It identifies three social classes, and makes the punishment for a crime dependent on accused party‘s social position. But will the code bring the empire together? Will everyone in
Hammurabi‘s kingdom accept it? How would you disseminate the codes and ultimately justify the laws to those within Hammurabi‘s realm. It is up to you, as
Hammurabi‘s trusted envoy, to explain why a written code of law should be accepted by everyone within the Babylonian empire.
REVIEW YOUR MISSION
I, your king, have received a message from the great god Marduk. He has given me laws to govern all the people of this empire.
Marduk