#ancient law

[er-cryptid]

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[haggishlyhagging]

In a period in which there were major changes taking place in property and political relations, the shifting importance of certain issues for lawmakers and compilers can tell us something about an attendant shift in values. The increasing emphasis in Mesopotamian law codes on the regulation of property crimes, the rights and duties of debtors, the control of slaves, and the regulation of the sexual conduct of women tells us that issues of gender, class, and economic power were problematic and demanded definition and that such definition linked these subjects in quite specific ways. Similarly, the severity of punishment for specific crimes is an indication of the values held by the community at the time of the codification of the laws. The Codex Hammurabi exacts the death penalty for: certain kinds of theft; housebreaking; connivance in slave escapes; faulty building construction which results in fatal accidents; black magic; kidnapping; brigandage; rape; incest; for causing certain kinds of abortions; and for adultery committed by wives.

-Gerda Lerner, The Creation of Patriarchy

[lady-plantagenet]

“But there is still the question, Why did Primogeniture gradually supersede every other principle of succession? The answer, I think, is, that European society decidedly retrograded during the dissolution of the Carlovingian empire. It sank a point or two back even from the miserably low degree which it had marked during the early barbarian monarchies. The great characteristic of the period was the feebleness, or rather the abeyance, of kingly and therefore of civil authority; and hence it seems as if, civil society no longer cohering, men universally flung themselves back on a social organisation older than the beginnings of civil communities. The lord with his vassals, during the ninth and tenth centuries, may be considered as a patriarchal household, recruited, not as in the primitive times by Adoption, but by Infeudation; and to such a confederacy, succession by Primogeniture was a source of strength and durability. So long as the land was kept together on which the entire organisation rested, it was powerful for defence and attack; to divide the land was to divide the little society, and voluntarily to invite aggression in an era of universal violence.

We may be perfectly certain that into this preference for Primogeniture there entered no idea of disinheriting the bulk of the children in favour of one. Everybody would have suffered by the division of the fief. Everybody was a gainer by its consolidation. The Family grew stronger by the concentration of power in the same hands; nor is it likely that the lord who was invested with the inheritance had any advantage over his brethren and kinsfolk in occupations, interests, or indulgences. It would be a singular anachronism to estimate the privileges succeeded to by the heir of a fief, by the situation in which the eldest son is placed under an English strict settlement.”

- Sir Henry Maine, ‘Ancient Law’

[theancientgeekoroman]

Hey y'all, I'm reading Seneca's Medea in translation for my Roman Drama class and going to compare it with the Euripides (in translation) version, but the paper I'm writing is going to focus on marriage law, citizenship law, and custody of children in ancient Greece versus ancient Rome. Does aaaaaanyone have any recommendations for articles relevant to this (preferably for ones I can access or a PDF y'all can share would be awesome!) or any primary sources (in translation) about laws during the times the plays were written suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you all in advance! (I'm going to be hunting for some stuff on my own, of course, but if anyone wants to suggest things, I would appreciate it! I already have "Roman Marriage Law and the Conflict of Seneca's 'Medea'" by Laura Abrahamsen, so I'm going to delve into some other stuff and re-read Euripides's Medea today).

[liliths-den]

An Unspoken Name in the Fog - A Nordic-Celtic Horror Folk Tale

Before you continue reading this, here is your warning: ⚠ Content Warning ⚠ This story contains elements of dark folklore and supernatural themes, which some readers may find unsettling. These include:• Themes of death, particularly involving children• Unsettling imagery and eerie atmospheres in melancholic, haunting tone I. The Omen The winter was long that year, stretching beyond memory like…

An Unspoken Name in the Fog - A Nordic-Celtic Horror Folk Tale

[bibleblender]

New article has been published on https://www.bibleblender.com/2023/biblical-lessons/biblical-history/ancient-texts/jewish-babylonian-talmud-tract-sanhedrin-rules-and-regulations-concerning-a-stubborn-and-rebellious-son-at-what-age-and-what-has-he-to-do-to-be-charged-as-such

Jewish Babylonian Talmud – Tract Sanhedrin–Rules and regulations concerning a stubborn and rebellious son, at what age and what has he to do to be charged as such…

p. 201 CHAPTER VIII. RULES AND REGULATIONS CONCERNING A STUBBORN AND REBELLIOUS SON. AT WHAT…

[bibleblender]

New article has been published on https://www.bibleblender.com/2023/biblical-lessons/biblical-history/ancient-texts/jewish-babylonian-talmud-tract-yomah-regulations-concerning-the-he-goats-of-the-day-of-atonement-and-the-sending-to-the-desert-and-the-confession-threat

Jewish Babylonian Talmud – Tract Yomah–Regulations concerning the he-goats of the Day of Atonement and the sending to the desert, and the confession threat.

p. 87 CHAPTER VI. REGULATIONS CONCERNING THE HE-GOATS OF THE DAY OF ATONEMENT AND THE…

[bibleblender]

New article has been published on https://www.bibleblender.com/2020/biblical-lessons/biblical-history/ancient-texts/jewish-babylonian-talmud-tract-baba-kama-the-first-gate-the-four-principal-tort-feasors-the-different-modes-of-restitution-vicious-and-non-vicious-animals-appraisement-before-the

Jewish Babylonian Talmud – Tract Baba Kama (The First Gate) – The four principal tort-feasors, the different modes of restitution, vicious and non-vicious animals, appraisement before the court.

p. 1 TRACT BABA KAMA (THE FIRST GATE). CHAPTER I. THE FOUR PRINCIPAL TORT-FEASORS; THE…