Hammurabi Code Of Laws Essay

Introduction
Mesopotamia as ‘the cradle of civilization” was one of the first civilizations- in the modern sense of the word, to arise. It is understandable then that it set the standards for what government, religion, art and culture should be for the countless civilizations that followed it. Their system of government in particular left a huge impression on how later civilizations wrote laws judging the behavior of the people, in fact historians agree that Hammurabi’s code of law- although somewhat cruel at times, was surprisingly ahead of its times. The Mesopotamian structure of religion with its many gods and goddesses also proved very popular as it was replicated in some of the most well known civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Rome. Artists of Mesopotamia also set the standards for how generations of artists would interpret the world around them in art.

Government
The Mesopotamians where the first to establish a code of laws to govern their people by, these laws named after the famous king Hammurabi, offered a rigid set of instructions on how a variety of crimes and situations should be dealt with. These codes would influence how government in some of the world’s mightiest civilizations was set up for nearly a millennia after the fall of Mesopotamia. In fact, extremely watered down versions
In parallel to most other civilizations of the time Mesopotamians worshiped a variety of different higher gods and goddesses who were thought to be in charge of various facets of everyday life. The Mesopotamians polytheism was a little different than others though-they thought of their gods and goddesses as the same as normal humans (foolish, selfish, angry etc.) except for the fact that they were immortal and supremely powerful. The Mesopotamian afterlife was also a bit more dark and dreary than that of later