Enheduana of Sumer

Enheduana of Sumer was outrageously different, strong in character, intellectual, intelligent, and the first author of history, from both sexes (male and female). She was the daughter of one of the greatest kings of Akkad in Sumer, his name was Sargon. Her father was born the child of a farmer and he worked his way up to the cup bearer of the king and in the end he became king. He had two twin sons and a daughter names Enheduana. Her two brothers had the blood to be king, but they were not strong enough, smart enough or ready to be king. So Sargon put a lot of energy into his daughter. Sh learned how to both read and write (in cuneiform) and later on made her high priestess. While she was high priestess she had to leave Akkad and move to Ur. The people there believed in many gods and goddesses not like today where we believe in one God. She constantly told prayers and did rituals on the zigurats. And at the top of Ziguartes she made sacrifices. To please the gods and goddesses she also burned insets. The most important ritual she had was the annual new year in spring. The people during that time did not celebrate new year when we do because they believed it should be celebrated at a time when everything was new, the crops, the live stock, the animals being born. Almost all her writing had to do with her religious beliefs. She was a high priestess for almost 25 years! Originally she was the high priestess for the moon ogd but she connected more with the noon goddess and because of her the moon goddess Inanna rose to her peak of popularity. Because of her writings we know a lot about Sumer, her and the Sumerian religion. Later on one of her brothers became king and then the second and finally they both died and then her nephew became the leader of Sumer and exiled her into the desert making his own daughter high priestess. But today we know about her and the fact she was the first author this world ever had.

Leon, Vicki. "Enheduana of Sumer." Women of Ancient Times. By Vicki Leon. New York: Hold, 2010.

49-53. Print. 

Hammurabis Laws Fair vs Unfair

Hammurabi I think had an equal share of fair and unfair laws, and most of the unfair laws were not necessarily completely unfair but mainly very harsh. Some examples of unfair laws are:

• a builder who sells a poorly constructed house that collapses and kills its owner may be put to death. If the owners son rather than the owner is killed in the collapse, the builders son may be put to death

I think this law is unfair for a few reasons. One, it may not always be the builders fault if the house collapses, it could be a natural disaster, or a flood that causes leaking and the softening of a house to collapse, or it could be the fact that the owner did some changes and caused it to fall. Also if the owners son is killed I think it is unfair for the builders son to be killed, even if it is because of poor construction because the son had nothing to do with the building of it, therefor he is innocent.  

• If a wife's poor behavior publicly disgraces her husband, he can rid of her with no penalty to himself. However, he must first prove this claim in court. Once his claim is recognized he can either divorce her or marry another woman, reducing the statues of his first wife to that of a household slave girl 

I do not think this law is fair. It is fair up until a certain point, then it becomes unfair. It is obviously understandable that he can divorce and marry again, but then I do not think that he should have the right to make her social statues a household maid.  


Some laws that I think are fair are....

• If a woman is disgraced by her husband, she can also go to court. If her accusations are adequately proven she can leave her husband and take her dowry with her. 

I think this is a fair law because she is simply divorcing her husband for good reasons and moving on with her life like it never even happened. She is not doing anything to harm him. Unlike the fact if he divorces her, she does not move on and instead becomes a household slave which is unfair. 

• If, due to crop failure resulting either from a flood or drought, someone is unable to pay interest on debt, he may b excused from the interest payment that year. 

I think this is a perfectly fair law because something happens that is not his fault he is not forced to pay for something because he cannot, instead he government give him that year off.
So, obviously as you can see Hammurabi has some fair and unfair laws. They can also be very harsh.

Landau, Elaine. "Hammurabi's Babylonia." The Babylonians: 39-44. Print 

Cuneiform Writing/Reading Reflection

The experiences I had in writing in Cuneiform style was a lot more artistic and complicated over regular English. It took me a couple of minutes of painting just to write one cuneiform letter, while in English I write a whole world in a few seconds. For me English is easier than Cuneiform because, number one, the obvious, I already know the language and have many years practicing this form of writing, and  also because the letters are much simpler and easier to read and faster to write, also all the letters have something that separates them in cuneiform some letters are a lot more similar and can sometime be mistaken for another letter. I am glad that I got the chance to write in Cuneiform, but i much prefer to write in English. it was a very fun activity and used my time efficiently. Also reading in Cuneiform, however is even harder than writing. Because it can be a challenge to keep it neet and tidy and lie i said before, it is very easy to mistake one letter for another, makes the words confusing and it takes much longer to read. The reasons are because one you can so easily mix up the letters and it can be a challenge to find the write one and you have to look at the sign and then look back at the translation so it takes a lot of time. The worst part is that who ever wrote it determines if you can read it or not, you have to be really patient so the person can read it.

A Day at the Market in Mesopotamia

Lets say that at the beginning of civilization, you are an artisan, a worker who is specially skilled in crafting items by hand, and you are at the market one day to get the crops and meat that you need. What are the things that you need to have access to them and be able to take them home with you? In Mesopotamia was when trade first started and so during that time many different villages and cities came together to other places to trade their things, so in order to take something you would need to bring something for the switch of items or food. You could bring anything you like, but there is no guarantee that what you want is what the other person needs. At the market you would see new things that your city does not have. That is how ideas and foods spread through cultures, cultural diffusion. Lets Say a village has a surplus of food, that means they can take it to the market and risk giving it away for a smaller value, or raise it higher because they can. It also depends on the village or city that you are taking things from how much or what you would have to give, they will only take what is useful to either them or the village. Obviously there is no complete rule about how the trade worked back then, but there were still laws made by the government and king. So really trade was actually a very universal thing....