I Pledge to not Text and Drive because Essay

Part I

In the story of the epic Gilgamesh they described the city of Uruk was a place of walls even calling the city strong-walled Urnk. There was a temple of blessed Eanna for the God Aua and for Ishtar who is the God of love. Copper was also used on the inner walls of the temple. The people of Uruk were described as beautiful and well-dressed people. They dressed as if everyday was a holiday. The people even smelled good.

The two worlds that Enkidu and Gilgamesh represented are nature and civilization. Nature seems to represent the innocents of people and civilization represents the corruption of the worlds. The reason for the harlot was to remove the innocence of Enkidu. Making him see the naked woman and wanting to engage with her will remove his innocence and will no longer be "accepted" by the beasts and he will no be a part of the "nature" world. According to the book Enkidu wanted to test the strength of Gilgamesh after hearing how strong he is.

As a king he is supposed to be or provide military protection, he is the political chief, chief judge, and to monitor the economy. The Gods who are worshiped their orders need to be followed in order for society to work. Gilgamesh was made in the image of the Gods. According to the text they made his god and one third man. According the people Gilgamesh was big headed because he was the ruler of the city. Because of his lust he left no virgin, no daughter or wife. He often abused his power and was seen as arrogant to the city people.

According the listeners city life is better than the country because they don't have to work as hard compared to living the in the wild. The city life is already set up. Everyone works together as a team to better society. The city is too demanding. People in the city are not equal. Everyone does not have the same amount of shared goods as for example their neighbor. The hunters of Enkidu life don't really have structure. Life is simple. If they are hungry, they find food. If someone wants to find they fight. They live more of the simple life. People make society hard with all the rules and regulations they make up. As discussed in class the early cities-built walls, had soldiers, and had rules they had to follow.

The life in ancient Mesopotamia was cut and dry. If the Gods told them to do something that is what needed to be done in that way and when it is told to be done. He was told in a dream that mankind was about the be exterminated and why wouldn't he believe the Gods who knew everything. This is why they may think it is possible. The gods decide to eliminate mankind because there are too many of them and they are extremely loud and the Gods cannot sleep. The Gods are described as people the city needs to continue to thrive as a city. In the text they are described as the Gods of the sky, the warrior, a helper, a person to watch over their canals (page 46).

Part II

The laws tell me that there is a clear distention of who is in charge and making the rules and who have to follow them. Society was split into social classes. Their job was considered when their position in society is reviewed. As discussed in class there was single power and others would follow.

The roles of the men are to be the leaders of their family. Women cannot be in charge. Being in power in not their position. As far as being equal to men they aren't equal. They have some of the same basic rights as the men but has far as marriages men still have the upper hand and can make more decisions if he is crossed.

Some unusual laws I saw was if you build a house and the house falls and the home owner dies then they will be put to death. If a slave owner says to the slave master, I am not your slave then that slaver owner can prove he is his slave by cutting off his ear. These laws are not as normal. The slave law is unusual because he didn't physically do anything, he just said something. The homeowner law was different because what if it was an accident. Most of the laws in general the consequence is death. Do they always have to die? In modern society death is not always the result and we have jails so remove people from society as a form of punishment for the crime.

The only laws that seem to concern women are the laws of family and marriage. They seem not to view women as they view men meaning, they do not view women as a threat they way they men as a threat. The ultimate goal of their laws where to keep order. It seemed to me when things came up the would make a law for that matter.

According to the text the Hammurabi's Code was written by King Hammurabi of Babylon and this was the "people's sense of justice and how they would give the proper punishment". I do not think their laws were as advertised as it is now. The people may have been aware that they could receive punishment but not knowing what that punishment may have been. These laws were meant to protect people who had important jobs and to children who cannot protect themselves. Their goal seems to want to protect men and their valuables.

Part III

Hominids are mammals with no cousin species. Bipedal is an upright walking creature. The remains of this creature had a pelvis. The homo habilis stood upright using sophisticated tools and it leaves Africa. Hominids walked on two legs used simple and complex tools they had advanced communication and language skills. They had bigger brains compared to other species and where inmoves.

Hunting and gathering did not take as much work as farming. If you needed food you went to find food and maybe you brought some back for other or later. Faming caused for settlement. The environment is the biggest factor when farming. The advantages of farming were settled lifestyles as we learned in class pre-women and children do not move well. The population needed to be large and craft special. The downside to farming was it took a lot of work. Pottery made it easy to transport food and goods and copper and gold became elite. These settled lifestyles developed into cities and territories.

In Mesopotamia they used stamps. Stated in class tokens represented a type of records kept. China used writing to ask questions to the Gods. Less then 5% of ancient Egyptians could read. In modern time we use the alphabets for everything. We for words with it, this is how we speak to each other. It is even used in math. Only the important people used writing. they used it for accounting, inventory, transaction records and property. They used writing for cultural and ideological information, rituals and interactions with Gods, and it helped establish ownership.