Trading Aspect Of The Kassite Economy example essay topic

The ancient orient covers a large area of land that includes several different empires over thousands of years. I have narrowed down this broad topic to help me determine which ancient civilization I would most like to live in. I have examined three main aspects of three different empires. The three groups are the Hittites, Assyrians, and the Kassites. In each of these empires I have looked at their legal standings, the economical state, and their social status with surrounding groups. With this information I hope to make an educated decision on which group I would want to live in.

The first aspect I will look at is the government and laws of each empire, starting with the Hittites. The Hittite governance was totally dominated by the king, who was also the supreme priest, military commander and chief judge. There was also a council of nobles, known as p ankus, below the king. Territorial control over the core of the kingdom was administered by provincial governors who answered directly to the king. As far as the laws go the Hittites were one of the most lenient groups of the time.

Their punishments for some of the most severe crimes was hardly a slap on the wrist. The punishment for crime as extreme as premeditated murder was punished with only a large fine. A very small amount of their crimes were punishable by death. The Assyrians were know for their well-ordered society. They were the first to develop strong laws regulating the life in the royal household. The magnificent palaces in well planned cities were paid by the riches from trade, war, and taxes.

They had an intricate system of road built throughout the Empire. In the government, the king appointed several governors to oversee the provinces. At Nineveh the Assyrians created the first known library, it contains more than 22,000 tablets, including folktales, proverbs, fables and information on law, magic, religion, and science. The Kassite government was more democratic than most of the time. They were, like most governments, ruled by an King, but in the Kassite government the King ='s rule was limited. The empire was divided into several Squads@ each lead by an elder called the Officer@.

The officers of all squads meet in a council with the King, should the need arise. Important decisions can be only made with a majority vote of the officers, which are representing their squad. Though the King can demand the officers to follow his or her honor, which means the King asks for the officer ='s loyalty and trust in his / her own decision. Should the King abuse this right the only punishment known is death. Other than that, the different squads govern their family businesses alone with everyone having their own right to speak, and to share their opinion to the officer. The next characteristic of daily life I will look at is economics.

As with most other ancient kingdoms, agriculture was the foundation of Hittite economy. The main crops were wheat and barley, and the livestock was dominated by cattle and sheep. The lands of the Hittites were rich, and there were strong mineral reserves of copper, lead, silver and iron. The Hittites were one of the first people to work iron. It is believed that trade with other countries was limited. This is mainly because the kingdom so often found itself in a state of war.

So when the Hittites needed special resources, conquest was often the first option, then foreign trade second. The Assyrian economy was very similar to that of the Hittites. Agriculture was the main aspect of the economy. They had a very intricate system of irrigation that fed the agriculture, of wheat, barley, and emmer. There were few larger cities, and these served as trade and craft centers. As the Assyrian Empire grew other trades like mining and forestry also became present.

Often trade was not as important to the Assyrians as it was for other Empires, because they too acquired many resources from conquest. The economy of the Kassites was much different than that of the other two groups. Their economy was based more on ranching and trading than farming and conquest. Among the Kassites everyone does any job necessary for the ranch. The children usually tend the sheep while the adults care for cattle and horses. While growing up the responsibilities increase for the kids and slowly they grow into the community of the ranch.

The only exception to this are the smiths. They usually live isolated in towns along the trade lanes or near iron mines to produce tools and weapons. As far as trade the Kassites produce mainly leather wares and meat which they sell to the nearby towns or settlements for grain or other goods. They traded cheese along with several kinds of milk products, they even knew how to brew an alcoholic drink from mare milk. They would also sometimes sell wool and hide. The trading aspect of the Kassite economy was much more important than that of other the Hittites and Assyrians.

The final aspect I have looked at is the social status of these empires with their surrounding neighbors. The Hittites were a warrior people noted for their ferocity. They were feared by many, and for good reason. They were one of the first civilization to invent iron, which was used to forge weapons. This gave them a huge advantage over their enemies. With their strong weapons they were able to conquer even the largest empires.

The Hittites were also rather successful in the use of a three-man chariot. They developed many other siege tactics which were used by other nations that followed. The Assyrians were noted for heir high knowledge in warfare even more so than the Hittites. Once they learned how to create iron weapons from the Hittites, the Assyrian used their organization skills to become a very strong force. The Assyrian army consisted of chariots, mounted cavalry, and sophisticated siege engines, it was the most powerful army seen in the ancient world. They had experienced a thousand years of constant warfare, in which they had learned a few tricks of the trade.

They used fear to help them conquer. The Assyrians had a policy of terrorization, a system in which they would attack with such brutality that no army would dream of battling the Assyrians. Often there was no need for war, when an opposing empire saw the Assyrians marching in they would simply surrender in fear of what terrible things the Assyrians would do to them. The Kassites were not as well known for their army. Many Empires knew them as the cavalrymen or the horse breeders. If the Kassites did go to war it was for good reason, not just for the purpose of conquest.

In war they relied heavily on their cavalry, which was very strong. The Kassites main interest was not in war, it was in trade. To keep all of their trading fronts open it was sometimes to the Kassites advantage to stay away from war. They tended to be more friendly to surrounding Empires than the Hittites and the Assyrians.

Now that I have thoroughly looked at these three ancient empires it is time to decide which one I would most like to live in. As far as the governments go I would definitely prefer the some what democratic government of the Kassites over the totalitarian governments of the Hittites and Assyrians. Even though the Assyrian were very well organized and ahead of their time I would favor the freedoms of the Kassites. In the area of economy I believe I would rather ranch than farm. Ranching seems like it would require less work and would be more reliable, so I will again go with the Kassites in this category. As far as social reputation goes, the adventurous warrior life of the Hittites and Assyrians sounds like it could have it ='s benefits, but it might be a little too thrilling for my liking.

I would not mind the less eventful life of the Kassites. So in the end if I were to go back in time to live with any ancient civilization, my choice would have to be the Kassites.