Assignment task:
In answering the following questions, please carefully consider the various primary sources-that is, the ancient documents themselves-for early Near Eastern law that we've read and discussed in class thus far. (Ur-Nammu's Law Code and Hammurabi's Law Code). Law began in the timeless past as oral traditional law, in other words, as sets of rules that were customarily passed down by word of mouth.
Why do you think things changed from a system of oral-traditional laws to a system of written laws, which is well established by the reign of Hammurabi in the eighteenth century BCE?
What effects would this transition to written law have had on ancient Near Eastern societies once it was implemented?