Enhanduana of Sumer

Enhanduana was the daughter of King Sargon who rulde from 2334 to 2279 B.C. Along with her he had twin sons named Rimush and Manishtusu. Her wather grew up from being a farmers child to being a cup bearer to being King. No one knows how he became king. When Enhanduana was a teenager she became the high priestess. She is most famous today for being the first credited writer who wrote both stories and poetry. When her father died the eldest of the twin  brothers took over and ruled cruel. He had a lust for blood. So the people rebelled. They overthrew her brother and her nephew took over, exiling her and placing his daughter as high priestess. But she had the last laugh because we know next to nothing about her nephew but we know tons, because of her writing, about her.

Hammurabi's Babylonia

Hammurabi became king of Babylonia in around 1792 B.C. He is famous for inventing the 280 different laws varying from topics like  marriage and divorce to slaves and surgery. He was and still is famous for coming up with the phrase "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth".  He united all of the Mesopotamian city states into one Empire., and was the king during one of the most successful times in Babylonia. Their trading flourished as farming improved when he created more dams for irrigation. Some of his laws I found fair whereas some others not so fair, for example: one of his laws states that if a house collapses and kills the owner the builder should die. OK, even though this is horrible it still has some sense in it because the builder did a poor job but then it also says that if the son of the owner is killed the builders son is killed too. How fair is that? Another example is with a surgeon if he kills a patient whilst operating he may have his hand cut off even though the medical equipment in those was was unclean and basic. 

A Day In The Life of a Bronze Age Trader

Hello, I’m Hamish. I’m a very well known trader in Mesopotamia and since the discovery of bronze my fame has increased dramatically. Today I am going to go up to the Tigris River to meet a friend, Drake. He is not the cleverest of traders and is easiest to fool. I think it should be even easier now that my people have discovered a new type of metal, Bronze. Everyone wants bronze now because it lasts a long time, it’s very hard and of course, it’s shiny. The way was relatively easy because of another great invention, the wheel. Well actually the cart. To bring all of my stuff with me I simply throw it all into the cart sit on top and whip my mule into motion.

When I arrived after travelling many miles the trades had already started. I spied my friend Drake at the corner of the market place trading slingshots for food. I pushed throught the crowd of bodies and shouting voices until my friend could see me. I waved to him gleefully and he waved back. This was the first time we had seen each other in years. As I walked through the crowd people stared at the bronze in my bag. They had never seen it before and I have to admit it is pretty amazing.

But when I got closer I realized that had actually come for food so we said hello and then I walked away. The main reason why I came was for food so when I saw man trading venison I went right over to him, along with my bag of bronze. But when I was talking to him a young boy stole a golden shield, and then fled. I ran after him but it was no use. That was hours of craftsmanship wasted. I gave up, I’m getting too old. Anyway after that calamity I showed the man my bronze tools he asked him if I could give him the whole bag for the deer. But I thought otherwise. I haggled and after ten minutes we agreed that I would give him a necklace and a spear made of gold for the deer. Now that’s what I call a day’s work!