Why do civilizations have laws?

I am here for another debate! My question this time was 'Why do civilizations have laws?' My simple answer to that would be: because civilizations need laws to have civilizations work properly and to protect their people, sources, land and heritage.

For example, if there wasn't a law that said something like 'you cannot murder people' than many humans in the civilization would die. Or if a civilization didn't have traffic lights, there would be many accidents that could seriously injure people and possibly kill them. But the people's physical protection also ties inn with the protection of sources and land.

People need food to live. It is as simple as that. If you cut of people's recources, (for example, food)you are putting humans in physical danger. And to grow things, you need land to grow it on.

Heritage is a very important aspect in a civilization. It makes it so the civilization has something special and in some way is unique. Heritage is an important part in any civilization and that is why laws protect it.

Another good question is: 'what I think about Hammurabi's Code.' If you guys don't know what Hammurabi's Code code is, I will explain. Hammurabi was this king in Babylon. He ruled from 1796 BC – 1750 BC. He was a very strict man and carved on a seven foot, four inch tall basalt slab. On it, he inscribed laws.

Below are a few of the laws: (translated)


195. If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off.


200. If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out.

202. If any one strike the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in public.


205. If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a freed man, his ear shall be cut off.


229. If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.

230. If it kill the son of the owner the son of that builder shall be put to death.

I don't think that Hammurabi's laws were correct because they weren't fair at all! Some things can be accidents and I don't agree with punishing an innocent person. For example, 230: It says that the son of the builder shall be put to death. Why is that fair? The son didn't do anything! If anyone had to die, it should be the builder.


Information from:
http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/d/267/whm.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi
http://www.phillipmartin.info/hammurabi/hammurabi_law251-282.htm

The Ancient Timeline- Today vs. Tomorrow (Part 2)

If you have read my last post, you will know what has happened recently and what I had to write about. My teacher went online and read everyone's blog who are in my Humanities class. He had a question about my last post and I am here going to answer it. His question was: 'Is strength in this case a positive? Could it be a negative? How?'In my last post I mentioned that different civilizations need different things in order to be strong. I think that in my post I meant strength in a positive way. It would be positive because without strength, how will a civilization work properly and have great resources to run successfully plus work together? For example, I think that a place with no good land to grow food on isn't going to be nearly as strong as a place that has great soil for food and an efficient society.I honestly don't think that there can be a negative thing. It would be a harder life if you weren't be able to get your groceries for dinner in 15 minutes. You would have to work harder and harder until you successfully have your meal. If you have great land and area than I think that your civilization will be stronger and you would have an easier atmosphere to live in. But another argument could be that the people who can get their groceries easily and everything, they still have to work too! On both sides people have to work.

To sum everything up, My answer is 'yes, strength is a positive and not a negative.'

The Ancient Timeline- Today vs. Tomorrow

In Humanities today, we watched a movie called Guns, Germs, and Steel. It discussed and compared different civilizations and talked about what civilizations need. Overall it was a generally interesting film. We had to make an interesting headline that sort of describes what we learnt about and mine is the title above. (The Ancient Timeline- Today vs. Tomorrow.)I hope that the title made this piece interesting. I didn't want to state the obvious when I wrote it.

update below/Revised:

Just to make it clear, I am making a revised version because I think that I could have expanded on my thoughts and added more details and connections to my writing. Here it goes! In Humanities class, we watched a movie called Guns, Germs, and Steel. The movie is actually based on a book! It discussed and compared different civilizations and talked about what civilizations need in order to be strong. Overall it was a generally interesting film. The main aspect that it talked aboutw as farming. It talked about how men changed from hunting to farming a long time ago. They settled down so they could work on their farms and such. It also talked about animals. Did you know that there are 14 domesticated animals that weigh over 100 lbs? I thought that was an interesting fact because I had no idea. The movie also mentioned lifestyles. I realized that the lifestyle in New Guinea is significantly different that the lifestyle in the Middle East. It turns out that people who live in New Guinea still have to hunt and work very hard for food. Did you know that it takes roughly two days for them to get food that is only 40 pounds? (From a tree.) Also that isn't enough protein to feed a group of people. This made me think about my home place- North America. When I am in my hometown I can just bike down to a supermarket and pick up a gallon of milk. These people have to actually milk an animal and then go through a whole process of getting the milk good so everyone can drink it. My lifestyle sure is different than others. The movie held alot of interesting historical information. If you really enjoy learning about civilizations and lifestyles of different people, I would recomend seeing the movie. I have not read the book but I am guessing it would be similar to the movie so that would also be good to read.
Another thing we did was make an interesting headline that sort of describes what we learnt about and mine is the title above. (The Ancient Timeline- Today vs. Tomorrow.)I hope that the title made this piece interesting. I didn't want to state the obvious when I wrote it.