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    Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia
    Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia
    Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia
    Ebook181 pages5 hours

    Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia

    By Dominique Charpin and Jane Marie Todd

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    About this ebook

    Ancient Mesopotamia, the fertile crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now western Iraq and eastern Syria, is considered to be the cradle of civilization—home of the Babylonian and Assyrian empires, as well as the great Code of Hammurabi. The Code was only part of a rich juridical culture from 2200–1600 BCE that saw the invention of writing and the development of its relationship to law, among other remarkable firsts.

    Though ancient history offers inexhaustible riches, Dominique Charpin focuses here on the legal systems of Old Babylonian Mesopotamia and offers considerable insight into how writing and the law evolved together to forge the principles of authority, precedent, and documentation that dominate us to this day. As legal codes throughout the region evolved through advances in cuneiform writing, kings and governments were able to stabilize their control over distant realms and impose a common language—which gave rise to complex social systems overseen by magistrates, judges, and scribes that eventually became the vast empires of history books. Sure to attract any reader with an interest in the ancient Near East, as well as rhetoric, legal history, and classical studies, this book is an innovative account of the intertwined histories of law and language.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
    Release dateNov 15, 2010
    ISBN9780226101590
    Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia

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    • 5/5
      Excellent !

      Lecture agréable autant qu'un sujet clair, concis et passionnant. Dominique Charpin, à chacun de ses ouvrages introspectifs à l'aube de notre civilisation, nous permet de mieux comprendre notre place à l'autre bout de l'Histoire... et de constater que rien n'a bien changé depuis.

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    Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia - Dominique Charpin

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