Political System of Ancient Mesopotamia
By: Sofia Malamazian, Alyssa Moncrief, Marc Lagestee, Michael Boleyn, & Brooke Mendelsohn.
Wars Government Laws Rulers Codes
In many wars there was chariots used to fight against the other lands of Mesopotamia. The first war of Mesopotamia was the war between the Sumar and the Elam soldiers. For protection the Mesopotamian people made walls called the Shield Wall. It was 13 feet high and 10 feet thick. The Mesopotamian soldiers used bow and arrows, battle axes and helmets and defense armor. They would make chariots in war for invading and escaping.
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Ancient Mesopotamia's government was a mixture of a monarchy and a democracy.
Three important jobs in the government were the king, assembly, and the lugals. The kings job was to rule people. A similar job to the king was lugals. Lugals ruled people in times of crisis (more used with the Sumerians). Lastly, one important job in the government was the Assembly. An Assembly was elected officials. In conclution, the Mesopotamian government was very advanced for their time. |
The laws in Mesopotamia were fair. Everyone was treated fairly. Judges were not paid so they could not be dishonest and give special treatment to the rich so they could get more money.
In Sumer, the laws would be considered humane. If you did something illegal or injured someone there was a fine, but the fine varied to who was injured. If you hurt someone of a lower rank, you would be charged less than if you hurt someone of the same rank. There was equality in the law for all citizens in Sumer, however the fairness did not apply to everyone. Fact-a trial in Sumer about 4,000 years ago is very similar to a trial today. |
In ancient Mesopotamia they had many different kinds of rulers from Persian empires, to Babylonian empires, to Akkadian empires and many others! Some of the Persian empires were Cyrus the great, Cyrus rose to power and a made many great accomplishments he also believed in human rights and allowed the nations to conquer their religions, he was one of the greatest empires! Another great empire was an Akkadian empire was Sargon the great, or Sargon of Akkad founded the world first empire and he also conquered some of Sumerian city-states. And last but, not least the famous Babylonian empire, Hammurabi, he was the sixth king and was most famous for his code of laws the, Hammurabi code those were some of the rulers of Mesopotamia.
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Hammurabi's code was the first set of written laws. It did not matter if you were rich or poor. If you were found guilty, you would be punished. The laws were very clear, therefore everyone was expected to obey the Hammurabi's law. Hammurabi's was the ruler from 1792 to 1750 B.C. There were 282 laws written by Hammurabi and others.
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Quiz!
1. What were the three types of kings we talked about?
2.What type of government did Mesopotamia have?
3.True or False, Ancient Mesopotamia use chariots for war.
4.Which king invented code of laws?
Answers to the quiz
1.Persian, Babylonian, and Akkad
2. A mix of a democracy and monarchy.
3.True
4.Hammurabi
2. A mix of a democracy and monarchy.
3.True
4.Hammurabi