Religious Impaces on Ancient Civilization

Traveling as far back as the very first traces of civilization, there was law to establish order among the people. In Mesopotamia lived a man named Hammurabi who established the law of the land. Hammurabi, as many other leaders we will discuss, was appointed by a God. Because of this fact alone we can describe his leadership as divine authority. He was given the title of “exalted prince” because he was sent by a God named Murdok to protect the weak from the strong and assure that true justice prevails through out the land. The reasons why it is so hard to govern people with the absence of religion is because there is no one to determine what is indeed right from wrong, just from unjust, and moral from immoral. When there is consent on a higher power or a God, then what ever the God says is normally what determines these values. Divine authority means that you have been given that power to govern people from a ev

Some religions incorporated more of a philosophical approach as we will see in Hinduisms. Early Indian civilization practiced this religion around1500 BCE. This religion required people to strive for three main goals; pleasure (Kama), wealth (Ortha), and law or duty (Dharma). These three goals are similar to the present desires of citizens of the United States now in that, most immigrants travel to our country for financial opportunity, the freedom guaranteed by our US Constitution, and finally the pleasures we offer to adhere to physical desires. The morals of this ancient society in India was focused on living a good life now so when you come back to live your second life, it will be rewarding as a result of your first life. This practice was known as reincarnation, and is still a firm belief by Hindus and Indians today. Because of this, people would follow three paths to free themselves from this after their death. The first was the continuance I in performing religious action that was prescribed to you (Karma), the second was to obtain knowledge (Jhana), which consisted from contemplating the universe and one’s self until they could see God as omnipresence and also within himself. Through this process alone, it is clear to see this religion is cosmic as opposed to ethical, mainly because they focus on the universe and not just man. The third and final stage is known as “Bhakt”, which can basically be interpreted as one’s complete devotion to God. The values of this religion was also present in the culture of the Indian people as well, they spent a lot of time meditating and attending church. Even Hinduism evolved from a previous religion called Brahmanism; it was still considered a religion that imposed a male God, which met that the Indian society was patriarchical. John P. McKay states,” Like most nomadic tribes, the Aryans were patrilineal and patriarchical. Thus women in Aryan society probably had more subordinate roles than did women among Dravidian population, many of whom were matrilineal.” 3

With Hammurabi’s code, we can easily see the hierarchy amongst people illustrated by the reduced amount of severeness for a criminal infraction committed by a person of higher status in that society. An example of this can be found in the actual code where it states,” If he destroys the eye of a common man, or break the bone of a common man, then he shall pay one mana of silver.” 1 The following passage states,” If he destroys the eye of a man’s slave, or break the bone of a man’s slave, than he shall

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