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The government was the most influential characteristic. The government created a system of laws which helped keep this civilization organized and gave it a structure.

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According to Document 5: Government it states, “It is important because it created a set of rules that helped to govern a civilization while trying to protect people even if they had little political power”.

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In the Government article it states that “The Sumerian people were not the only ones to settle in the Fertile Crescent. As they developed city-states in the south, the Akkadian people settled in the north. The Akkadians watched and learned how the Sumerians thrived. Over time, they became rivals.”

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This suggests that Hammurabi was trying to make his rules equal and fair for everyone no matter if they had a lot or little to no political power. The punishments for some laws would be based on the class of the person who committed the crime or the lawbreaker and the victim of the crime. Before Hammurabi’s Code was put in place this civilization must have been very chaotic. Hammurabi’s goal was to grow his civilization and he did this by making these laws.

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This suggests that the Sumerian people influenced how other people in the region lived. The Akkaidian people learned how the Summerian’s lived. This gave them an advantage because they just got to follow or watch how they lived. Over time the Akkaidian people were threatened by the Summerians and wanted to defeat them. Later they became rivals. This shows how one civilization can affect many other civilizations and can influence them. Those civilizations can end up being so powerful that they can take over other civilizations.

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This suggests that the Code of Hammurabi was made to fix the harm that the people of this civilization have made. This shows that his goal might have been to make this society less chaotic and to give it more structure. King Hammurabi wanted to make his laws as fair as possible. Even though your punishment was involved with your social class.

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According to the Government Article it says “He created a centralized government, tax system, and most famously, the Code of Hammurabi”

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The code of Hammurabi is a system of laws that were put in place to keep the civilization under control. This made it so whatever harm that you have made will be fixed by looking at the laws and seeing what your punishment shall be. But, your punishment will be determined by your social class. He tried to make it as fair as possible even if you had no political power. But, he did involve your social class to your punishment which made it less fair.

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Although government is important I believe that Social Structure is the most important. Social Structure is what makes a civilization thrive and grow. Social Structure is important because it keeps the civilization organized and it guarantees that every job gets done.

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According to the Social Structure article it states, “Many social structures are based on a hierarchy in which some people are valued more than others. People in Mesopotamia believed that a king was the link between the earth and the heavens. A kingdom would only prosper if the king pleased the gods. Next in Mesopotamia’s hierarchy was the upper class: the priests, priestesses, and educators. There was a big middle class, made up of common people like merchants, artisans, and builders. Enslaved people were the lower class, at the bottom of the hierarchy”.

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this shows that there are many components involved within a Social Structure and if they all aren’t complete then the civilization will be very chaotic and unorganized. Social Structure provides a framework to a society and how the citizens interact with each other.