An Eye For an Eye
Early Government
Mesopotamia was the first region with laws and a government. At first Mesopotamia was governed by a democratic assembly, to carry out all the laws the assembly ended up appointing an en. The en was sort of like a king, except that he or she needed the assembly to carry out laws.The en had religious tasks like conducting ceremonies as well as political work, and the en’s power was thought to grow with time until the government became a monarchy.
Kingship
The early kings were aided by advisors and an assembly. The first king was usually a rich landowner or a government official, after that kingship was passed down to the next generation. During a war a military leader might take over the throne and never give it back. Some kings declared war on other city-states to take over their land and form an empire, one of those empires was called Babylon and the king was named Hammurabi.
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Hammurabi's Code
Hammurabi was the first king to have just laws, his motto was an eye for an eye. An example of that was if a poorly built house collapsed and killed its owner the builder would be put to death. Also all people had rights, even slaves and women, though they had very little, like if a woman wanted to divorce from her husband she could, and if they had children the children would live with her. An eye for an eye was a great motto for that time, though it might seem a little harsh nowadays. Mesopotamia built the foundation for most early governments, and you can still see some similarities in modern governments.
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Works Cited
http://online.infobase.com/HRC/LearningCenter/Details/7?articleId=226313
https://classroom.google.com/c/MTkzNDU3Mzc0Nlpa
https://classroom.google.com/c/MTkzNDU3Mzc0Nlpa
https://classroom.google.com/c/MTkzNDU3Mzc0Nlpa
https://classroom.google.com/c/MTkzNDU3Mzc0Nlpa