The "Gracchi"

You're probably familiar with the "Ides of March" -- a grim anniversary (Mar.15) marking the murder of Julius Caesar by the Roman Senate (44BC). But did you also know that the Roman Senate, in mob-like fury, murdered two other Roman leaders?

The "Gracchi" family was rich, powerful, and well-connected in Roman politics (ca 160BC). Two brothers, TIBERIUS and GAIUS, would pose a very real threat (like Caesar) to the Roman Senate. Tiberius was a proponent of land reform in a time when the Roman peasantry was truly suffering. The poor had become impoverished, and with Roman land in the hands of the wealthy "Elites" (many of whom were Senators) there was little farming to be had. The Roman people were starving. Tiberius proposed a limitation on the amount of land the Elites could own, and he wanted parcels of excess land given to the poor. For his efforts, he was clubbed to death in 132BC by angry Senators. It was the first time a dispute in the Senate would be settled by bloodshed.

Tiberius' brother, Gaius, was also a proponent of land reform. However, Gaius had the backing of an army of followers, making his threat to the power of the Senate very real and immediate. He had his own angry mob of followers ready to take back the excess lands of the rich by force. There was, indeed, a need for land reform and redistribution... but the wealthy Elites would have none of this. The Senate was responsible for murdering Gaius in 121BC, only eleven years after they had murdered his brother. They would go even further and demand the deaths of Gaius' followers... and it is likely that almost 2500 people were murdered on command by the Senate.

Caesar's assasination is more vivid, and it is probably because he was more famous. The "Pater Patria," 80 years later, was more like a "King" inside Rome. He had himself named "Dictator for Life." Here was the man who had defeated Pompey, who had conquered the Gauls, and who had embroiled himself in controversy with Cleopatra in Egypt (the two had a son together). When the Senate conspired to murder him it was done in the same way as they had dispatched Tiberius and Gaius -- a mob moved against Caesar, clubbed him, and then drew their daggers to stab him almost thirty times.

Lawrence has asked about Hammurabi's Code in relation to what I wrote about earlier, with the Sumerians and their first writings on law.
The Sumerians existed much earlier (ca. 3500 BC) than Hammurabi, and their cuneiform writings appeared during their early dynastic period (ca. 3100 BC). Their concepts of law tended toward their own business dealings with other peoples in the Mesopotamia region. They did recognize "morality" in their writings, and as such, their notions of "Law" are more comprehensive. They dealt with "right" and "wrong" -- and this is remarkable in such an early society.
Hammurabi was the sixth king of the Babylonian Empire, and he lived from 1792 - 1750 BC.
He was, indeed, more harsh in his approach toward his people (he had endured a series of wars with neighboring peoples), and the famous "Hammurabi Code" involved "retaliation" over any legal or moral truths. Because of this, it was really more a "codification" of harsh penalties for wrongs committed. These included things like mutilation, drowning, and sometimes even impalement. Things like theivery or false accusations were dealt with in severe extremes. For example, a man who accuses another might be forced to jump into a river... if he did not drown, the accusations were assumed to be true.
Hammurabi's Code makes for a long and detailed text, and as king he was able to excercise great control over the people in his realms. It is interesting that his codes (nearly 300 of them) were inscribed in stone and then put on display for his people -- many of whom could not read.
So, LK, what I will say is that the Sumerians came first, and their notions of "Law" were far more advanced than Hammurabi's "Codes." I do have a soft-spot in my heart for the Sumerians, but I won't let that taint my historical approach or judgement (ha!). I find the Sumerians fascinating... and Hamm's Code, well, not so much.

The "Sumerian" civilization is credited with the invention of writing... but did you know they are also responsible for many of the stories we find in "Genesis," as well as man's first concepts of "time" and "law" ?
Little is known of the earliest Sumerians, but the hot, harsh climate of Mesopotamia would cultivate settlements that were flourishing as early as 3000 B.C. They were perhaps nomadic wanderers who made their way from the mountains into the valley regions, but little is known of their origin because they were simply unrelated to any other people or language of the time (ca. 3500 B.C.)
I always found them interesting because they give us our first glimpse of "historical" writings. They used a pictographic language and their texts were written by pressing the end of a reed or thin animal bone into wet tablets of clay. The tablets were baked, and this produced a wedge-shaped form of writing we know as "Cuneiform." It was a difficult and time-consuming, and as such, there were only a few scribes working on documents in this era.
The Sumerians had a complex government and society, despite the fact that they lived in a region of extreme heat, sweeping sandstorms, a white-hot sun, and very little rain. When the rains did come they were in the form of sudden flash-floods, and farming soil was left damp, marshy, and untendable.
What these people DID have was a very good form of trade. They were masters in metals, glass, textile-weaving, and they worked with the precious items of bronze, copper, gold, and iron. This trade brought them in touch with many different cultures -- and it's very probable their contact with the early Hebrews gave rise to many of the stories used in the Old Testament, particularly the first book of "Genesis." For example, the Sumerians were the first to have a story of the "Tree of Knowledge" and they spoke of a "Paradise" that had been lost to man. This is paralleled in the later Hebrew texts and the Biblical "Garden of Eden." The Sumerians also told a story of a "Great Flood" and the "Tower of Babylon," too, was theirs.
It is interesting that the "Great Flood" shows up in one of the earliest works of literature, the Babylonian "Epic of Gilgamesh." I have not read this (someday I will find time!) but it is based on a series of older Sumerian stories about the mythical king "Aggas" of Kish.
The Sumerians also provided the earliest concepts of "divine law" and a "divine justice." It can be argued that the Hebrews, likewise, developed a strong sense of these two elements in their religion -- although they focused on one "God" while the Sumerians had many different gods.
We also take our notion of the "foot" having 12 inches from them.
And the fact that minutes and hours each have units of "60."
And also that a "Day" has 24 hours.