The Philosophy of Government Hammurabi, Confucius, And
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The Philosophy of Government Hammurabi, Confucius, and Socrates have produced some of the most well known thoughts and ideas on government; in doing so, they influenced countries, governments, and gradually lives. 1. Hammurabi 2. Confucius 3. Socrates Sierra Jackson Mrs. Darden /Period 3 Mr. Kuhns /Period 8 May 8 , 2012 Government subsists as one of the oldest institutions created by man, and the brilliant minds of every era and time period heavily influence it. Various brilliant minds have passed through the histories of various countries, and due to these encounters, every country possesses its own ideas about government and its inter-working. Numerous historians refer to three specific men, from ancient times, as the forerunners in the race for spreading knowledge. Hammurabi, a Babylonian king, established rules on how to treat others. Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, established expectations for government officials. Socrates, a Greek philosopher, spread knowledge about government, including his own. Hammurabi, Confucius, and Socrates have produced some of the most well-known thoughts and ideas on government; in doing so, they influenced countries, governments, and gradually lives. Hammurabi created the Code, a set of ancient laws similar to the U.S Constitution in reference to context. Hammurabi, a ruler of Babylon in the area of modern day Iraq, came into the world in 1795 B.C.E. The Amorite Dynasty ruled for more than one hundred years without internal strife when Hammurabi took the throne after the death of his father, Sin-muballit. Hammurabi’s rule in the first dynasty, as the sixth king, extended from 1792 to 1750 B.C.E. (Ellis “Hammurabi” 750). The Code, which Hammurabi created through his rise to power, shares similarities with various U.S. laws. Hammurabi united Babylon and left this set of laws engraved on twelve stone tablets so that his people could govern themselves even after his death. In the winter of 1901 to 1902, French excavators discovered a black diorite sculpture depicting a Mesopotamian receiving “insignia of his office from a god”. Akkadian cuneiform below this depiction celebrated the Babylonian king, Hammurabi. Historians and scholars refer to the Code of Hammurabi as the first set of laws to predate the Bible and the best-preserved and most extensive set of laws found from the ancient Middle East. The set of laws originated with older Sumerian and Akkadian laws that Hammurabi expanded and paraphrased (Ellis 750). The Code of Hammurabi continued to govern the people through the Persian, Greek, and Parthinian conquests, well into the Syro-Roman era and the Mahommedan law of Mesopotamia (Walter- Johns). The content of The Code changed as it increased in size. The Code of Hammurabi covers matters such as false accusations, witchcraft, and military service, regulations of land/sea, domestic laws, and public finances. It lacks a majority of primitive features and tribal customs, but the few that remain include family solidarity, district responsibility, ordeals, and lex talionis. Many of the laws included in The Code follow the classic Mosaic law of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, otherwise known as lex talionis. A farmer digging an irrigation tunnel and water flooding his neighbor's crops out, then that farmer compensating his neighbor for every crop, depicts the Mosaic Law scenario (Walter-Johns). The Code of Hammurabi shares multiple similarities with the U.S. government and society. The societies of The Code and the U.S. both possess categories, which divide them into three classes, and both society classifications depend on social and financial standing in the community. The Code of Hammurabi divided the population into three classes of the amelu, the muskinu, and the ardu. These class divisions compare to the U.S. society classes of poor, middle- class, and rich/wealthy. The amelu shares similarities with the rich/wealthy and middle classes of the U.S. Like the amelu, various people included in these classes hold high power in government and business. The Code describes the amelu as the patrician or man of the family, all of whose personal information the government recorded above all other members in the family. The amelu often had aristocratic privileges, responsibilities, and heavier chastisements. Kings and their courts, higher officials, professionals, and artisans belonged to this class. The middle class shares the similarity of containing artisans, professionals, and entrepreneurs with the amelu. In ancient Babylon, the term muskinu came to mean “beggar” although not all muskinu begged on the streets. This class of people often paid less fees, fines, and sacrifices to their gods because of their financial standing but historians inferred these free men and women as homeless. Homelessness in ancient times meant that a particular person owned no land or dwelling of their own, which resulted in muskinu renting or living off others. Historians describe the ardu as being slaves that possessed the possibilities of owning their own property and slaves and buying their freedom (Walter-Johns). People who “stole” or harbored runway slaves received the same chastisement as those who stole property. The Code often refers to slaves as property, similar to the slaves in America, which masters sold, bought and traded without thought. The Code of Hammurabi, like countless other collections of laws, provided punishments for wrong doers, ranking from mild to rash. The most reoccurring punishment for a crime, no matter the size, derived from death. The Code punished both wrong doers and their accomplices, equivalent to that of the U.S. Court system. If a man stole and received the death penalty, then the person who received the stolen goods received the same charge. Many fines in the Code depended on a particular person class, which meant the higher the class of the person, the more expensive the fines they received. If law officials failed to capture a thief, the community held the obligation to compensate the robbed person for all the possessions stolen from him. Communities possessed the obligation to compensate because the robbery occurred on the community’s domain, not the government’s domain, making it their responsibility (King). This portrays how the Code, like the U.S. law system, used the terms of possession to determine responsibilities. The terms of possession explain that the possessor of a substance, material, object, etc., may not always own the substance in question. In law, possessing a substance depends on how close in proximity the person’s position is to the substance; the closer the position, the more the chance the court considers the person as a possessor (The Free Dictionary). The Code also punishes thieves if any variety, whoever they stole from, with severe chastisements, including death. Hammurabi thought crime as unacceptable, and he showed it through his set of laws. As in the fourth amendment of the Constitution, the Code of Hammurabi also required that for someone to face legal action for a crime, the court required evidence to prove his or her guiltiness. “9. If anyone lose an article, and find it in the possession of another: if the person in whose possession the thing is found say "A merchant sold it to me, I paid for it before witnesses," and if the owner of the thing say, "I will bring witnesses who know my property," then shall the purchaser bring the merchant who sold it to him, and the witnesses before whom he bought it, and the owner shall bring witnesses who can identify his property. The judge shall examine their testimony--both of the witnesses before whom the price was paid, and of the witnesses who identify the lost article on oath” (King). The Code of Hammurabi also features a series of checks and balances for government officials who held large quantities of power. "The king is a benevolent autocrat, easily accessible to all his subjects, both able and willing to protect the weak against the highest-placed oppressor. The royal power, however, can only pardon when private resentment is appeased. The judges are strictly supervised and appeal is allowed” (Walter-Johns).The kind and the majority of the members of his court possessed the power to judge wrong doers despite their status in the community. However, they could judge and prove a suspected wrong doer innocent only after they settled their own internal strife. If the court powers refused to reach a compromise about their decisions and opinions, then they lacked the potential to deliver their judgment soundly, resulting in their judgment possessing no respect. This part of the Code of Hammurabi shares similarities with the Constitution's Checks and Balances between the branches of government and their powers, insuring that no branch overpowers the other. As in the Constitution, The Code of Hammurabi penalizes judges. If a judge presented his judgment in writing and later found errors in it, by his own fault, the judge would have to pay a sufficient fine, and his position would then face permanent revocation (King). People with high power faced consequences under the Code, just as commoners. Although the U.S. Constitution and the Code of Hammurabi creations occurred during different periods, they share various laws and consequences. The creators of both these documents created them solely for the purpose to govern their people once they died. Each document addresses the common needs of the people as a primary focal point. Unlike the Constitution, the Code of Hammurabi is not a living document. This makes the Constitution several times better than the ancient set of laws with its numerous strict rules and laws. As Hammurabi represented the brilliant mind of Babylon, Confucius represented the brilliant mind of China; he encouraged generation after generation of Chinese citizens and youth.