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BABYLONIA, ISRAEL & GREECE.
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Analyzes ancient civilizations' maintenance of elite class, social hierarchy, gender inequality, status quo.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Analyzes ancient civilizations' maintenance of elite class, social hierarchy, gender inequality, status quo.

Paper Introduction:
The purpose of this research is to examine ways in which the Babylonian, Israelite, and Greek states maintained a condition of inequality and assured the persistence and protection of an elite class. The plan of the research will be to set forth the context for exploring the class systems of the ancient world and then to discuss the approaches that each society took to the project of preserving the social status quo, with a view toward suggesting the impact on ancient social practices on societies of subsequent historical periods. The social order of Babylonia was derived from the Hammurabi Code, which was detailed and hierarchical in nature and which provided a rule of law in a well-defined class system. According to Pfeiffer, Babylonian society comprised three social classes. The awelum was the aristocratic class, comprising businessmen, feuda

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[18]Louise Ropes Loomis, Introduction, Symposium, in Plato (Roslyn,N.Y.: Walter J. Corbett (New York: Modern Library,1984), 123. Introduction. Wardum were slaves. The Greek philosophers may not have been able toenforce their ideas in the manner of the Hebrew priests or Hammurabi, butthe evidence of Western social organization is that the influence of Greekthought persists in the modern period at least as strongly as the formerand far more strongly than the latter. According to Pfeiffer,[1] Babyloniansociety comprised three social classes. Benjamin Jowett. [19]Aristotle, Poetics, in Aristotle, Horace, Longinus: ClassicalLiterary Criticism, trans. Rhetoric. Black, Inc., 1942._______. Trans. is even so strong that for a valid act of orthodox worship there must be present at least ten males above the age thirteen (the minyan). Norton, 1964.Loomis, Louise Ropes. [5]Ibid. The individual has no relation to God save by way of this community, or consensus.[11]Plainly, Israelite culture was first and foremost patriarchal and male-centered. The TenCommandments, for example, reinforces the concept of social and moralauthority in general. . [7]Ibid. T.S. As Campbell says, "the men who put thesebooks together . Many codeprovisions deal with land rights and restrictions, particularly formilitary men. [3]Ibid., 32. The Greek Way. . Benjamin Jowett. [2 ]Ibid., 52. Aristotle's description of tragedyas depicting people who are "better than average"[2 ] is a reference partlyto the refined sensibilities of the tragic hero and partly to the fact thattragedy focuses on royalty, theogony, and nobility; inconsequential personswould not interest Greece's intelligentsia. The absence of a priestly class at the top of society does not provethe absence of an elite or a social hierarchy, but only that Greek societywas stratified differently than other societies. [14]Ibid., 31. Above all, they must "do according to all that the priests theLevites shall teach" (Deut. [15]Ibid., 43. The story of Adam and Eve, says Campbell, "is clearly apatriarchal inversion (giving precedence to the male) of the earlier mythof the hero born from the goddess."[12] Elsewhere, Leviticus (12:2,5)explains that women are unclean after childbirth--seven days if it's a boy,two weeks if it's a girl--another example of the relative status of men andwomen. The mushkenum, or middleclass, comprised freedmen, small landowners, tenant farmers, merchants, andcraftsmen. [12]Ibid., 3 . Just as the Code of Hammurabi defined Babylonian social roles,so the books of the bible defined Israelite social roles; however, in theIsraelite case there is a spiritual component to this definition that seemsmeant to identify the Israelites by the nature of their relationship to thedivine. The code requires men to serve,[3] and refusal to serve istreason, punishable by death and deprivation of property. Ingram Bywater, ed. Trans. Black, Inc., 1942), 391. Intellectual activity represented by Plato, Aristotle, and theclassical playwrights occurred exclusively in the context of what Hamiltonrefers to as the "leisured society."[26] It was from the ranks of thissegment that intellectual discourse emerged to shape and maintain attitudestoward social roles. [23]Plato, Republic, trans. According to Hamilton, citing the difference between Greek andEgyptian thought, the distinguishing feature of Greek society and culturewas its attachment to rationality and the discourse of thought instead ofthe priestly class.[13] "What marked the Greeks off from Egypt," she says,"was not an inferior degree of spirituality but a superior degree ofmentality."[14] Hamilton's view is that Greek values were defined by humanreason and that evidence of this can be found in its art and discourse.Greek architecture in general and the Greek temple in particular are to her"the perfect expression of the pure intellect illumined by the spirit."[15]The overriding point is that Greek values and expressions have a humanscale, although the leisure to appreciate the finer points of that scalewas undoubtedly confined to the upper class. The awelum was the aristocraticclass, comprising businessmen, feudal lords, large landowners, militaryleaders, palace bureaucrats, and temple priests. This would explain why a soldier who mortgaged land orassigned it to women would forfeit the proceeds of the sale and why fieldcommanders who send men to battle in the expectation that they will notreturn and later try to appropriate their estate, may be executed.[9] The manner in which the Israelites maintained social inequality isconnected to the texts of ancient Jewish culture, which have survived tothe modern period. The social order of Babylonia was derived from the Hammurabi Code,which was detailed and hierarchical in nature and which provided a rule oflaw in a well-defined class system. T.S. [25]Aristotle, Rhetoric, in The Rhetoric and Poetics of Aristotle,trans. Babylonian society appears to have beenorganized around issues of property and military activity, which suggeststhat the protections and obligations of the law mainly concerned the elite.However, the introduction to the Code describes Hammurabi as the championof the downtrodden.[2] Warriors were of special significance in Babylonia. Norton, 1964), 18-19. Matrons may manage aabsent husband's land on their sons' behalf, but only until the sons reachtheir majority,[5] and may only inherit property if they have no sons.Indeed, a soldier may neither mortgage his property nor sign over hisfields to his wife or daughters,[6] and a soldier is forbidden to sell hisland for cash. Black, Inc., 1942.----------------------- [1]C.F. Theculture was distinguished its special relationship with God: [W]hereas elsewhere the principle of divine life is symbolized as a divine individual (Dumuzi-Adonis-attis-Dionysos-Christ), in Judaism it is the People of Israel whose mythic history thus serves the function that in other cults belongs to an incarnation or manifestation of God. Poetics. Black, Inc., 1942), 158. Additionally, the development of Israelite society can be seen as adeliberate project of culture. [4]Ibid. Plato. The Biblical World. Edward P.J. London: Penguin, 1965._______. [26]Hamilton, 7 . The Rhetoric and Poetics of Aristotle. Indeed, Socrates wascondemned to death for impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens[16]; hisdeath can be interpreted as a strategy of social control, so threatenedwere his accusers by his constant challenges to the reasoning of youngAthenians, with a view toward "the great improvement of their soul."[17] One feature of Greek society that resembled other ancient societieswas the inferior social status of women, reinforced chiefly though notuniformly by Greek discourse. Trans. [16]Plato, Apology, trans. The Masks of God: Occidental Mythology. Conversely, thosewho do serve acquire royal protection and incur obligations toward theland. [2]Chilperic Edwards, ed., The Hammurabi Code and the SinaiticLegislation, with a Complete Translation of the Great BabylonianInscription Discovered at Susa (Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press,1971), 23. Aristotle, Horace, Longinus: Classical Literary Criticism. Limitations on women are embedded in the Code. Plato. The concept of the consensus is no less powerful than patriarchy,for a society organized around consensus above all can be explained. Roslyn, N.Y.: Walter J. Plato. Corbett. [21]Plato, Symposium, trans. Curiously, in the SymposiumSocrates fairly astonishes his friends when he explains that he learned thetruth about love, not from a man but rather from a woman, Diomita ofMantinea.[21] Ancient Greece was not a classless society. Plato. Black, Inc., 1942.Pfeiffer, C.F. . [6]Ibid., 34. Dorsch (London: Penguin, 1965), 51. While the soldier is on a military campaign, for example, his wifeand sons may manage his farm fields, but only on his behalf[4]; in otherwords, a soldier's land cannot be sold out from under him while he is away. New York: Modern Library, 1984, 19- 218.Campbell, Joseph. Roslyn, N.Y.: Walter J. 24:8), a clear indication that the priests arethe Israelite elite and that their authoritative status is protected by aneven higher authority. The purpose of this research is to examine ways in which theBabylonian, Israelite, and Greek states maintained a condition ofinequality and assured the persistence and protection of an elite class.The plan of the research will be to set forth the context for exploring theclass systems of the ancient world and then to discuss the approaches thateach society took to the project of preserving the social status quo, witha view toward suggesting the impact on ancient social practices onsocieties of subsequent historical periods. Roslyn, N.Y.: Walter J. . [24]Ibid., 335. . Ingram Bywater. Black, Inc., 1942), 192. Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press, 1971.Hamilton, Edith. Roslyn, N.Y.: Walter J. BibliographyAristotle. [11]Ibid., 138-9. Pfeiffer, The Biblical World (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker BookHouse, 1966), 276. These texts are its principal legacy to history, andthey provide clues to strategies of social engineering among theIsraelites. . And the force of this Jewish principle of identification, not with God, who is transcendent, but wit the People of God . [17]Ibid., 48. Benjamin Jowett, in Plato (Roslyn, N.Y.:Walter J. [1 ]Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God: Occidental Mythology (New York:Penguin, 1964), 95. knew precisely what they were doing--as the evidenceof their manner of work reveals at every turn."[1 ] Campbell develops theview that the Hebrew priestly class undertook, by means of carefullyselected and compiled texts, to codify and describe Jewish culture. Ed. [9]Ibid., 33-4. Thisin turn explains the development of formal, written theological systems andmoral rationales for those systems, as well as ceremonial rules and thereinforcement of institutional memory by authoritative texts that emphasizethe special relationship between God and God's People. Benjamin Jowett, in Plato (Roslyn, N.Y.:Walter J. Benjamin Jowett, in Plato (Roslyn, N.Y.:Walter J. Access to land isaccess to status, and control of land transfers implies control of socialorganization, including the judgment of how the privileges of the elitecould be guaranteed. The Hammurabi Code and the Sinaitic Legislation, with a Complete Translation of the Great Babylonian Inscription Discovered at Susa. Hamilton cites the"aristocratic creed" of the Greeks, which held that "power was to be heldby men who alone were immune to the temptations that beset, on one hand,those struggling to be powerful and, on the other, those struggling tosurvive."[22] Plato's formulation of the philosopher king as the properhead of the republic is one example of the aristocratic ideal,[23] as isthe judgment by both Plato[24] and Aristotle[25] that high-born boys shouldbe carefully trained in the art of leadership. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1966., p.276Plato, Symposium. Benjamin Jowett. Black, Inc., 1942), 4 et passim. Nor may a soldier sell land or property granted him by theking.[7] He may, however, sell his property to government officials orbusinessmen.[8] The fact that regulations surround land use and transfersuggests that land policy is a social construction. Black, Inc., 1942._______. Republic. Trans. New York: W.W. New York: Viking, 1962.Edwards, Chilperic, ed. [13]Edith Hamilton, The Greek Way (New York: W.W. . Edward P.J. [8]Ibid. As Loomis says of Plato's Symposium, thefamous discourse on love, that to Socrates and the gentlemen of Athens lovereaches noble meaning and sensibility between two men: "Women were keptsecluded at home and their relationship to men was on a lower planealtogether."[18] From Aristotle's offhand mention of the inferiority ofwomen and the insignificance of slaves,[19] part of a larger point aboutthe need for credible characterization in tragedy, the reality of socialroles in ancient Greece can be inferred. [22]Hamilton, 57. Trans. Dorsch. Apology. Deuteronomy is nothing less than a comprehensivedescription of what the People of God may and may not do every day of theirlives. Symposium.

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