Throughout history, we usually get a concrete picture of what it was like to be an elite in different civilizations. From that information we draw out conclusions of what it must have been like for ordinary people. From 4000-500 B.C.E some of the civilizations we’re introduced to are the people of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Hebrews and the Greeks. The lives of ordinary people during this time changed because what people once valued began to evolve.
In 1792 B.C.E, Hammurabi became the ruler of Babylon (a city in Mesopotamia) and introduced a set of laws that would shape the way rulers governed their cities forever. His people would come to him when they had a problem and it would ultimately lead to a new law. Through these laws, we learn about what was important in Mesopotamian society and what everyone valued. For example, in the code it states, “If a son has struck his father, they shall cut off his hand” (Lualdi 24). This shows that they honored what the father stood for and urged that he be respected. These laws were also very specific and were intended to protect all people no matter their social status. Women, commoners and slaves in this society were protected under the law. In the …show more content…
One of them was called the “Egyptian Scribal Exercise Book” and it followed a scribe who compares his job to other jobs. He compared the life of a scribe with that of a soldier showing him how much of a burden it is. In the text he tells his apprentice, “Be a scribe, and be spared from soldering! . . . You are safe from torments” (Lualdi 32). It also says, “He dies on the edge of the desert, and there is none to perpetuate his name. He suffers in death as in life” (32). This makes me think that being in the military and being a soldier wasn't something everyone prayed to be. They did not value or appreciate it as much as other