Characteristic of Kingship in Ancient Sumerians - Free Essay Example

Introduction The entire story of Gilgamesh can be described as the one that embodies a lot of characters that makes Gilgamesh to be seen as a bad ruler. Basically, it is the tyrannical tendencies which makes his folk to seek intervention from their gods for a relief, and they send Enkidu in a bid of acting as the Gilgamesh’s foil. Bot of their friendship and also the adventures are some of the significant aspect that lead to the transformation of the Gilmaresh. In this essay, we will discuss the features of the kingship among the ancient Sumerian society. Discussion The ancient Sumerian society, kings were highly placed people and they represented the will of gods. In Uruk which was the city located among the river Tigris and Euphrates, Gilgamesh was their fifth king and he is portrayed as possessing divine privileges and also responsibility as the king. The king was a revered person and often seen as a god and because they possessed divine privileges, they could sleep with their bride before the husband was permitted to do so. They also had slept with the virgins as they were accorded this right as the kings, and also due to their higher status as the god and also the old-birthright granted to them. Thirdly, kings were able to enforce the harsh work mandate uncensored. Kings also were granted human responsibilities as the ruler of the people. It was their duty to build and maintain the city. In most of the political meeting, the King’s Counsel was highly valued by the council of elders and the king was not subjected to the senate. For instance, there is an illustration when Gilgamesh talks about ‘the wise of the Uruk’. Conclusion We can conclude and say that the roles of a king was a divine one, it exhibited the significance placed to the religions and gods by the Sumerian people. Despite the fact that Gilgamesh was trusted to be a custodian of the will of the people, there was much exploits of the citizens by the king. The code of law for Hammurabi As far as the social structure Babylonians is concerned, they were governed by code of laws. These were a group of Semites who majorly communicated in Hammurabi dialect. The code of law was authored by Marduk their god. Under this code, men were granted powers over their families. In severe instances, men were given rights to sell their wives and also the children to such activities such as slavery in order to pay off their debt. Secondly, they had power to disinherit their son if they wished to do so. But for them to carry out these extreme cases, the laws provided that they have to prove their cases in a court of law so that they can be granted a go-ahead. The law never protected women and children enough. For instance, a son could have his hands cut off if he ever struck his father. When a child did a wrong once under the code, she or he was not punished but in the instance that the child made a second error, the code provided that the father was able to punish her or him as he wi shed. It can be drawn that the father was the center of the Babylonians life as the code gave them extensive powers over their families as far as the social structure was concerned. Features of pre-historic phase According to the pre-history notes, the term pre-history basically refers to ‘the time before civilization or the history itself’ which is in other word the period before the emergence of cities, before writing at around 3000 BCE just before the growth and development of ancient cities such as Mesopotamia. Let us examine some of the characteristic that were predominant in this time. Scientist such as Mary Leakey can be credited with working to provide the missing link concerning the evolution of human being from a certain period to another. One of the feature in this period was the domestication of specific animals and development of agriculture. This were what led to the growth of cities in the later stages as people were concentrated on similar locations. The author states that this was the ‘the transition from the Paleolithic to the Neolithicthat did not happen all at onceand that transition was traditionally dated as 3000 BCE.’ Secondly, in the Paleolithic duration, the discovery made by scientist in the caves of Gobekli in Turkey have shown the early man was very religious. In this site, they were able to discover religious shrines where the ancient man used to worship their gods. This has indicated ‘would push back the dating of how early mankind was engaged in any kind of formal, ritualistic religious observations.’ Also these co mmunity used to get their food majorly from being hunters and gatherers and lived in caves and trees. In this stage, man was just but an advanced ape that was bi-pedal and upright. The presence of an opposable thumbs was key for them being able to grasp and also manipulate things in a better way. Thirdly, his brain size has greatly increased making them to start coming up with new innovations so as to make their life better such as the discovery of fire. It can be concluded that man has come from a long way to the modern day human being.

The Society is Defined by Media - Free Essay Example

Introduction The media is a common aspect of the modern world. It intended purpose is to reach and address a large audience or target group. The first media source was print media that comprised of books and newspapers but at the moment the media encompasses various aspects including television, films, the radio and the internet. The media today has played a great role in the creation and shaping of public opinion. The media has played a great role both at society level and at individual level. Therefore media personalities have a great impact on what they present to the public thus they should accept accountability. The media has played great achievements towards democracy. The content that the media usually airs is greatly related to the material and spiritual development of the entire society. The media also operates within the political, economic and cultural level in the society. Promoting of Democracy in the Society In most societies the prevalence of democracy is based on the coverage of media personalities on political issues in the nation. The media acts as a watchdog that protects the public interest against malpractices through creating awareness. In the modern world politicians take full advantage of their positions. Evils in the society such as theft of public property, corruption cases are some of the pillars of malpractices that politicians are involved in. The taxpayers money I siphoned out for personal gain without taking into consideration the individuals that gave you authority to rule over them (Dahlgren, p 28). The media plays a great role through informing the public of such cases for instance a scandal in the South Korea resulted to a re-shape of the South Korea politics. The out casted South Korean President Park Geun-Hye was sentenced for five years on bribery and corruption charges. The corruption charges were based on Samsung funds finding the threshold into Confidants of Park. The media played a great role in informing the general public on the nature of leadership that was eminent that resulted to riots followed by impeachments of the president. He was later booked for trial and was convicted for 5 years in prison (Griffins). In the instant the media has played a great role in shaping the ethics of the society through conveying the message that corruption and bad leadership in the society is an offence. This indicates the role of the media in upholding values such as good leadership and democracy in the society. Human Civilization The media has played a great role in human civilization. Throughout the history the media has produced and agitated worst possible cases of committed crimes against humanity. After war has ended the media portrays a significant role in searching for the truth and reconciliation as well as creating a public mindset where the victims of the war should be shown respect. In addition to releasing determined and confirmed facts, the media also plays a great role in rectifying and amending mistakes that were done previously that are greatly related to spreading hate and instigating animosities. It also provides information about the suffering of the opposite side which is a significant step towards development of general empathy in the society (Dahlgren, p 28). For instance during the segregation regime where the African Americans could not share the same resources as the Americans. The African Americans were viewed as slaves thus they did not have the freedom of enjoying the resources of the main helm in the society. Most of the African American did not have the ability to complete their educations since they could not gain scholarships. The film Black Magic reflects the nature of social injustices that were present at that time. Most of the African Americans were subject to slavery and they were seen as property rather than individuals with equal rights. These is reflected in the documentary where most African families lived in plantations and they led a poor life. The entire household was a subject of ownership even their children. This is displayed in the documentary during the period of cotton harvesting where most of the children could not attend school in order to harvest. The film displays the aspect of slavery, segregation and the experiences which African American athletics underwent. The formulation of such a film is an aspect of the media where the content aims at showing how one side was oppressed. Public Education of the Society The media also plays a great role towards public education of the society. Most of the programs that are aired in the media are aimed at entertaining the viewers but there are certain programs that are aimed at educating the general public. The media shapes and has a great impact on the new generation about their opinions concerning certain events in the society (Oshaughnessy Jane, p 15). For instance most of the children might ask their parents about certain aspect in life where their parents might feed them with wrong information. There might be programs that are aired which might place great focus on the aspect at hand through revealing the truth about certain aspect. Another instance in which the media educates is when certain events such as election is characterized with voter education. The media is therefore tasked with ensuring that the public is informed at what time the polling station would be opened, how to conduct themselves at the polling station and how to select the candidate of choice in the ballot paper. Another aspect of education is the programs such as fitness programs that aired, documentaries pertaining certain researches or inventions that have been made in the society and healthy living programs which are some of the programs that the media airs with an aim of educating the general public. Flow of Information The media also plays a great role in the society through ensuring that information is conveyed. Flow of information is an important aspect in the society and the media plays a great in this. Without a great array of information, peoples opinion and views would be limited and their impressions and conclusions of the world around them would be stunted. From a historic perspective the most common for that was used in distribution of information was word of mouth. In the modern society, word of mouth is also the most important tool in the sharing of information (Oshaughnessy Jane, p 18). Technology has enabled this exchange through various inventions such as television, radios and the internet. If an organization wants the public to know about their products they conduct various advertisement campaigns where they place great emphasis on the quality of their products. The media enables the organization to share with their consumers information concerning their products with an aim of inc reasing sales of the product. This is also indicated when a leader wants to make a public statement, the leader is tasked with calling a press conference who record the conveyed information of the leader or broadcast it live with an aim of ensuring that the information passed reaches the general public thus indicating an aspect of flow of information. Interpretation of Information The media is also tasked with interpreting information. Most of the researches that we are supposed to report makes one to cover piles and piles of information to support his or her thesis or to simply explain an event or situation. Journalist in the media houses also undergo the same. They dont provide pages filled with facts and statistics that the average individual in the society cant understand. Instead they are tasked with weeding out the important issues and points and placing them in a context in which the average reader and listener can understand in order to establish their opinion. Journalist are tasked with covering the six basic areas of information that is: what, where, why, how and who (Oshaughnessy Jane, p 19). Through covering this array the media is able to keep the general public focused on issues that are of great essence in the society. Employment The media is also a source of employment in the society. Most of the media houses require professional journalist. Journalism is a career in which journalist are able to get their remuneration based on the tasks they perform. Journalism also requires training most of the professors have taught journalist in order to become equipped in the areas of expertise. The lecturers are able to gain their remuneration through teaching of journalist. Conclusion Media is a part and parcel of the society. Most of the information that the society enjoys now is based on the great role that the media plays in the role. Despite playing a great role in the society it also has its negative society. Imagine a society without any form of media. Media can be attributed as a joinery factor in the society since it enables us to receive conveyed information. Works Cited Dahlgren, Peter. Media and political engagement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Griffiths, James. The Sprawling Corruption Scandal That Rocked South Korea. CNN, 2017, https://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/25/asia/south-korea-corruption-scandal-park-samsung/index.html. Oshaughnessy, Michael, and Jane Stadler. Media and society. Oxford University Press, 2012.