The Ancient Near East

There are many essential characteristics in ancient civilizations. If we take a look at the first primary source that we have, The code of Hammurabi talks about “Hammurabi,” who was the ruler who chiefly established the greatness of Babylon, the world's first metropolis. In this ancient civilization, we can see that Hammurabi was one of the firsts, id not the first law-giver in our history. As we read through this primary source, we can see that this civilization had some remarkable characteristics, one of them being the Babylonian law which, according to the code of Hammurabi, consisted of the so-called "contracts," which included a great variety of deeds, conveyances, bonds, receipts, accounts and, most important of all, the actual legal decisions are given by the judges in the law courts, exist in thousands. This primary source describes this civilization as the first one to include laws that gave them political and military structures, development in academics, and complexity in social structures. Ultimately, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, "The Flood," Gilgamesh traveled the world searching for a way to escape death. A story about Utnapishtim was told to Gilgamesh by an old man on one of his journeys centuries past. The gods brought a flood that swallowed the earth. The gods were angry at humankind, so they sent a flood to destroy him. When talking about specific characteristics of civilizations, I believe the code of Hammurabi goes more in-depth.