One of the first characteristics of civilization is a written law code. The presence of a law code demonstrates that the society has writing, a governmental structure, a bureaucracy, a means of...

One of the first characteristics of civilization is a written law code. The presence of a law code demonstrates that the society has writing, a governmental structure, a bureaucracy, a means of enforcement, and a structured society. Additionally, the laws themselves can tell us a great deal about the society that created it. People make laws to protect what they deem important, to restrict what they see as undesirable, and to encourage what they see as beneficial. Naturally, this means that each civilization's law code will look very different from another, much like the laws of one nation are different from another today. In the United States it's against the law to drink before age 21, while in some European countries that age is 18, and in others there is no drinking age. At the same time the US allows it's citizen to own firearms, while many of those same European countries don't. This obviously says a lot about how each nation views alcohol and firearms.

For this assignment, let's analyze two of the most famous law codes of the ancient world:

Hammurabi's Code of Laws


Download Hammurabi's Code of Laws


, and the

Mosaic Law


Download Mosaic Law


practiced by the Hebrews.

Assignment Instructions

Part I:

Read each code of laws and then answer the following questions (one paragraph for each question):

• Describe one similarity and one difference you see between the two law codes.


• How do religion and deity factor into each law code (both generally and in specific laws)?

Part II:

Project Practice - Instead of a final exam you are going to complete a research project. The first step when doing historical research is to develop a research question and identify primary sources. For this part of the assignment do the following:

• Think about what we covered in this module (not just this assignment) and come up with a research question that you'd be interested in answering. This is just practice, you aren't picking your actual research topic yet. Just come up with a historical question about something involving early civilization.


• Then using theInternet History Sourcebook,Links to an external site.
  
  theAvalon ProjectLinks to an external site.
  
  , or another reputable repository of sources, find twoprimarysources that might provide information to answer your question. Since these websites are databasesit's ok, for example, to have two sources from the same website (like the Internet History Sourcebook). You don't have to read the source in detail yet, just get an idea if the source is related to your question.


• Once you've got your question and two sources, include them in your submission. You just need to put down your question and your sources, nothing else. Use theChicago Manual of StyleLinks to an external site.
  
  (bibliography entry for website content) as your model.


• For example:
  
  
  • Question: How much did religion influence laws in the ancient world?
    
    
    • Hammurabi's Code of Laws: Avalon Project at Yale. "Hammurabi's Code of Laws." Accessed January 3, 2023.https://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/hamframe.aspLinks to an external site.
      
      
      
    
    
    • The Mosaic Law: KJV Online. "Exodus 20-25." Accessed January 3rd 2023.https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Exodus-Chapter-20/Links to an external site.
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

For Part II you'll be graded on how reasonable/applicable your question is, whether your sources are primary, how reasonable and reliable your sources are, and how well you follow the Chicago style when listing your entries.

https://avalon.law.yale.edu/

https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/