The Babylonian story of creation consists of seven tablets, one for each day of creation, found in the ruins of Ashubanipal's library at Kuyunjik (Nineveh)
in 1854; they are a copy of a legend that came down to Babylonian and Assyria from Sumeria.
Things slowly began to grow and take form; but suddenly the monster-goddess Tiamat set out to destroy all the other gods, and to make herself Chaos-supreme. A mighty revolution ensued in which all order was destroyed.
Then another god, Marduk, slew Tiamat with her own medicine by casting a hurricane of wind into her mouth as she opened it to swallow him; then he thrust his lance into Tiamat's wind-swollen paunch,
and the goddess of Chaos blew up. Marduk, "recovering his calm," says the
legend, split the dead Tiamat into two longitudinal halves, as one does
a fish for drying; "then he hung up one of the halves on high, which became the heavens; the other half he spread out under his feet to form the earth.
This is as much as we yet know about creation. Perhaps the ancient poet meant to suggest that the only creation of which we can know anything is the replacement of chaos with order, for in the end
this is the essence of art and civilization. We should remember, however,
that the defeat of Chaos is only a myth.
The Babylonians constructed myths
which have in large measure come down to us, through the Jews, as part
of our own religious lore. There was first of all the myth of the
creation. In the beginning was Chaos. "In the time when nothing which was
called heaven existed above, and when nothing below had yet received
the name of earth, Apsu, the Ocean, who first was their father and
Tiamat, Chaos, who gave birth to them all, mingled their waters in one."
If a man practice brigandage and be captured, that man shall be put to death. If the brigand be not captured, the man who has been robbed shall, in the presence of the god, make an itemized statement of his loss, and the city and governor within whose province and jurisdiction the robbery was committed shall compensate him for whatever was lost.
If it be a life, the city and governor shall pay one mina (300$) to the heirs.
What modern city is so well governed that it would dare to offer such reimbursements to the victims to the victims of its negligence? Has the law progressed since Hammurabi, or only increased and multiplied?
About Babylonian:
Approaching the city the traveler saw first- at the crown of a very mountain of masonry- an immense and lofty ziggurat, rising seven stages of gleaming enamel to a height of 650 feet, crowned with a shrine containing a massive table of solid gold, and an ornate bed on which , each night , some woman slept to await the pleasure of the god.
About the Code of Hammurabi (Babylonian Law):
Penologoy began with the 'lex talionis', or law of equivalent retaliation...
If a house collapsed and killed the purchaser, the architect or builder must die.
If the accident killed the buyer's son, the son of the architect or builder must die.
If a man struck a girl and killed her not he but his daughter must suffer the penalty if death...
A man who struck his father had his hand cut off.
A physician whose patient died, or lost an eye, as the result of an operation, had his fingers cut off.
Gradually these punishments in kind were replaced by awards of damages. A payment of money was permitted as an alternative to the physical retaliation. Later the fine became the sole punishment.
Private property in land and goods was taken for granted by the code.
There is nothing finer in the history of sculpture than the diorite statue of Khafre in the Cairo Museum; as ancient to Praxiteles as Praxiteles to us, it nevertheless comes down across fifty centuries almost unhurt by time's rough usages; cut in the most intractable of stones, it passes on to us completely the strength and authority, the willfulness and courage, the sensitivity and intelligence of the (artist or the) King.
An ancient Egyptian love poem:
The love of my beloved leaps
on the bank of the stream.
A crocodile lies in the shadows;
Yet I go down into the water,
and breast the wave.
My courage is high on the stream,
And the water is a land to my feet.
It is her love that makes me strong.
She is a book of spells to me.
When I behold my beloved coming
my heart is glad,
My arms are spread apart to embrace her;
My heart rejoices forever...
since my beloved came.
When I embrace her
I am as on in Incense Land,
As one who carries perfumes.
When I kiss her, her lips are opened,
And I am made merry without beer.
Would that I were her Negress slave
who is in attendance on her;
So should I behold the hue of all her limbs.
Our Oriental Heritage, Ch.8 Sec.7
The teachers function was to produce scribes for the clerical work of the state. To stimulate his pupils wrote eloquent essays on the advantages of education:
"Give thy heart to learning, and love her like a mother for there is nothing so precious as learning."
"Behold, there is no profession that is not governed; it is only the learned man who rules himself."
Our Oriental Heritage, Ch.8 Sect. 6
one thing I have learned over the course of this year: reading old books can be a lot of fun! any suggestions Internet?
C'mon this is a complete copy of a Norm Mcdonald bit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oseqh7SMIvo&ab_channel=AlexShifrin
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Nice Song, unfortunately posted on centralized boomer platform.🥲