Taken in part from: The Human Record Vol. I, Andrea & Overfield

Mesopotamian Primary Sources:
Mesopotamia was confronted with two main geographical challenges: 1) the sporadic flooding of their rivers, and 2) their open terrain, constantly invaded by forces from both Asia and Europe.
Because of these realities, their myths reflect uncertainty in life and the desire to explain the upheaval and tenuous hold on life in their world. Myths helped explain life in pre-scientific societies: a raging river is the result of an angry god, not a response to scientific physical laws.
Gilgamesh is the epic myth of Mesopotamia that best explains the world-view of these ancient peoples. Based on a real historical ruler of the city-state of Uruk, he lived between 2800-2700 BCE. Around 1700 BCE, this memorable king’s stories were compiled together with others to form this epic tale, which explore both humans’ talents as well as their limitations. In this section, Gilgamesh’s friend, Enkidu is about to die, because of an insult he and Gilgamesh earlier gave to Ishtar, goddess of fertility.

The Epic of Gilgamesh

“As Enkidu slept alone in his sickness, in bitterness of spirit he poured out his heart to his friend. “it was I who cut down the cedar, I who leveled the forest, I who slew Humbaba and now see what has become of me. Listen, my friend, this is the dream I dreamed last night. The heavens roared, and earth rumbled back an answer; between them I stood before an awful being, the somber-faced man-bird…he was a vampire face, his foot was a lion’s foot, his hand was an eagle’s talon. He fell on me and his claws were in my hair, he held me fast and I smothered…and he led me away to the palace of Irkalla, the Queen of Darkness, to the house from which none who enter ever returns…

There is the house whose people sit in darkness; dust is their food and clay their meat…they see no light, they sit in darkness. I entered the house of dust and I saw the kings of the earth, their crowns put away forever; rulers and princes, all those who once wore kingly crowns and ruled the world in the days of old…”

Hammurabi’s Law Code:
Mesopotamia’s characteristic sense of insecurity resulted in its producing not only great philosophical myths but also detailed legal codes. Discovered in 1901, this Babylonian text from the 1700s BCE is inscribed on a stone pillar (a stele) that measures over seven feet high and six feet in circumference. In actuality, it isn’t a law code at all, but a collection of rulings that the king made in response to specific cases of perceived injustices.

“When Marduk (chief god of Babylon) had instituted me governor of men, to conduct and to direct, Right and Justice I established in the land, for the good of the people…to promote the welfare of the people…to cause justice to prevail in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil, that the strong might not oppress the weak.

39. A soldier may bequeath in writing to his wife or daughter a field, a garden, or a house…
109. If rebels meet in the house of a wineseller and she does not seize them and take them to the palace, that wineseller shall be slain.
110. If a priestess who has not remained in the temple, shall open a wine-shop, or enter a wine-shop for drink, that woman shall be burned.
117. If a man has contracted a debt, and has given his wife, his son, his daughter for silver or labor, three years they shall serve in the house of their purchaser…in the fourth year they shall regain their original condition…
129. If the wife of a man is found lying with another male, they shall be bound together and thrown into the water.
134. If a man has been taken prisoner, and there is no food in his house, and his wife enters the house of another, then that woman bears no blame.
137. If a man has decided to divorce…a wife who has presented him with children, then he shall give back to that woman her dowry.
142. If a woman hates her husband, and says “you shall not posses me,” the reason for her dislike shall be inquired into. If she is careful, and has no fault, then that woman is not to blame…she shall go back to her father’s house.
195. If a son has struck his father, his hands shall be cut off.
196. If a man has destroyed the eye of another free man, his own eye shall be destroyed.
198. If he has destroyed the eye of a peasant, he shall pay one mina (eighteen oz.) of silver.
202. If a man strikes a man who is superior in status, he shall publically receive sixty lashes with a cowhide whip.
209. If a man strikes the daughter of a free man, and causes her fetus to abort, he shall pay ten shekels (3 oz.) of silver for her fetus.
210. If that woman dies, his daughter shall be slain.

Egyptian Primary Source:
Civilization appears to have arisen in Egypt shortly after it did in Mesopotamia. Egypt’s civilization was largely self-generated, with their own history and cultural patterns. An integral element of Egyptian myth was the belief that Egypt was the land of divine harmony ruled by a living god-king, or pharaoh, who balanced all conflicting cosmic forces. As the embodiment of the union of Upper and Lower Egypt, the king was the personification on Earth of the goddess Ma’at, whose name meant “what is right.” In other words, the god-king of Egypt WAS truth, law, and justice. With their isolated geography and the beneficial predictability of the flooding of the Nile, Egyptians enjoyed about 3,000 years of unparalleled prosperity and stability.

Mortuary Text

“The dead speaks:
‘I shall shine and be seen every day as a dignitary of the All-Lord, having given satisfaction to the weary-hearted. I shall sail rightly in my bark (boat), I am lord of eternity in the crossing of the sky. I am not afraid in my limbs, for Hu and Hike overthrow for me that evil being. I shall see lightland, I shall dwell in it. I shall judge the poor and the wealthy. I shall do the same for evil-doers; for mine is life, I am its lord, and the scepter will not be taken from me…’”