An Overview of Ancient Sumer

             A rapidly expanding population gave rise to the kind of social chaos humans hadn't experienced in the course of their nomadic lives. Social classes began to emerge, decided largely by livelihood. The largest, and the base of the pyramid that is usually employed to depict the classes, were slaves, often captured POWs, followed closely by peasants, the farmers responsible for the cities' food supply. Scholars, traders and craftsmen occupied the next level, topped by the nobility and priests, and finally the ruler on the very top of the social ladder.
             Sumer was not one united country, but broken up into many small counties, known as "city-states." City-states functioned autonomously of each other, but were ruled by one leader. The most famous of these leaders was Hammurabi, who is most remembered for creating the first documented code of law. These laws reflect the values held by the people of Mesopotamia, and give of a flavor of the life they lived.
             One value held by the people of Mesopotamia was that of harsh punishment for offenders. Many offenses carried the death penalty. For example, according to item 21 of the code, "If a man has broken into a house, he shall be killed before the breach and buried there." Or, item number 3, "If in a lawsuit a man gives damning evidence, and the word he has spoken is not justified, then, if the suit be a capital one, that man shall be slain." The system of justice seems based often based on revenge. For example, item 196, "If a man has knocked out the eye of a patrician, his eye shall be knocked out," or item 200, "if a man has knocked out the tooth of a man that is his equal, his tooth shall be knocked out.".
             Mesopotamian society was strictly divided into two class levels- patricians and plebians. Patricians were the upper class, and plebians the lower. The classes were distinctly unequal, and this is reflected in Hammurabi's Code. Item 196 is an example of this, in that a man would lose his eye for knocking out the eye of a patrician, but only a mina of silver for the eye of a plebian.