The Comparison of Ancient and Modern Greece and Iraq
...anch. In Mesopotamia, the government depended on which social class a person was a part of. There were three different social classes; the free landowning class, the dependent farmers and artisan’s class, and the slaves’ class. The first class consisted of royalty, high ranking officials, warriors, priests, merchants, and shop keepers while the second class included farmers and artisans that were legally attached to land that was owned by the elite. The last class had slaves and domestic employees (Bulliet et al, 35). For each class there were different legal and political rights. They followed a set of rules called “the Law Code of Hammurabi.” There were certain punishments for those who committed the crimes that were mentioned in the Code of Hammurabi. Although each class could be punished, the most severe punishments were saved for those of the lower class. Today there is no specific government type, but recently in December 2003 the president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was captured and his reign ended. Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is now in control until the January 2005 elections (www.msnbc.com). His government is due to leave office after the elections and a second national ballot will be held by December 2005. The change in government can raise the possibility that a national policy on the prosecution of Saddam could change depending on the makeup of the government (www.msnbc.com, Saddam says….). Former Iraqi President Hussein has seven broad charges against him, but specific charges will be filed against him later says an Iraqi official (www.msnbc.com, Saddam says…). Although there were not many differences between ancient and modern Iraq, there are a few with ancient and modern Greece. Even though it is still the same country today, there are still details that separate the ancient Greece from the modern Greece. In ancient times Greece was known as Mesopotamia, but is known as the Hellenic Republic in these modern times. The geography of Greece has not changed throughout history’s time. It is still located in Southern Europe, bordering the Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. It sits right next to Anatolia, which is today known as Turkey, occupying the southernmost part of the Balkan Peninsula (CIA Factbook, Greece). The most important city-states in ancient times were Athens and Sparta; Athens is the capital of Greece today. Recently the U.S Embassy in Athens warned Americans in Greece to exercise caution and strengthen their level of security. This is because Washington has made a formal recognition to call Athens, Macedonia (www.msnbc.com, U.S. Embassy Warns….). Another aspect of Greece that did not change was the terrain. It is still dry and rocky land with small plains extending into the sea as a chain of islands. Orthodox Christianity was the most dominant religion in the ancient era, but today Greek Orthodox rules the population with 98%. The ancient Greek religion encompassed a wide range of cults and beliefs (Bulliet et al, 33). Earlier Greek religion dealt with many gods, mostly known as sky-gods. The typically male gods stood for something. Zeus sent storms and lightening and Poseidon who was the master of the sea and earthquakes (Encarta, Mesopotamia). To honor their gods, they would perform a sacrifice. During this sacrifice the Greeks would give their gods gifts in hope that the gods would favor and protect them. Ancient Greek farmers on the mainland had to depend on rainfall to water their crops. Grain, olive trees, and grapevines were mostly planted. However, today in Greece, corn, sugar beets, tomatoes, wine, tobacco, potatoes, and of course olives are still are grown today. The cultivation of wheat and barley began around 6000 B.C.E. and still continues today. Greece is very poor with the natural resources that they have today, however there were...