Empire’s Affect on Civilization

The development of early civilizations into large scale empires in Egypt and the Ancient Near East extensively benefited their populace by providing protection from foreign invaders and by establishing justice to promote the general welfare of the people.

The establishment of vast empires brought peace across the ancient lands and finally ended the ceaseless fighting between competing city-states in Mesopotamia. When Sargon of Akkad became the first Mesopotamian king to successfully unify the city-states of Sumer, he governed the empire under a single authority and temporarily provided stability and order to the chaotic lands (Sargon of Akkad: The Idea of Empire, 34). In 3100 BC, the pharaohs of Egypt successfully united Upper and Lower Egypt. The unification maintained an advanced solidity and prominence that lasted for extraordinarily long periods of time (Palaces and Kings, 27). Due to geographic barriers, the Egyptian god kings could effectively preserve order across Egypt and establish proclamations of “Ma’at”, which emphasized truth, balance and order (Palaces and Kings, 27). These decrees accentuated the civic duty of Egyptian subjects to assist the pharaoh in assuring prosperity for Egypt (Loyalty to the King: The Egyptian Theory of Government, 27). In this symbiotic relationship the pharaoh is given the capability to “protect the Two Lands” and fill “the Two Lands with victory and life” (Loyalty to the King: The Egyptian Theory of Government, 28). The ability for empires to institute a single authority across immense lands allowed the leaders to establish justice in the empire and insure defense from violent invaders.

Ensuing a king’s principal role of defending their country, a concomitant role would be to establish order via a collection laws so that justice may be served (“That the Strong Might not Oppress the Weak, and that they Should Give Justice to Orphans and Widows”, 42). The chief duty of the Egyptian Pharaoh was the preservation and enforcement of the Egyptian Ma’at. In one of his speeches of instructions to a vizier, a pharaoh proclaims his duty of balance and justice as to “regard the man whom you know the same way as the man whom you do not know” (The Justice of the Pharaoh, 44). The legendary King Hammurabi of Babylon famously “published a collection of laws during his reign” that “promoted the welfare of the people” by offering resolutions for common disagreements and protecting the rights of orphans and women (“That the Strong Might not Oppress the Weak, and that they Should Give Justice to Orphans and Widows”, 42). The ingenious wisdom behind King Hammurabi’s Law Code benefited the public not only by rooting “out the miscreants and criminals from this land” but also by giving women the right to “initiate divorce proceedings” (Code of Hammurabi 142). Although Hammurabi was preceded by previous royal decrees and traditional law, the king set a precedent that set the stage for future empires, including the Hittites and Assyrians, to develop nationwide law codes that granted solutions to general disagreements that disrupted everyday life.

The citizens of the grand empires of the Ancient Near East and Egypt deeply benefited from the security and justice provided by gracious Kings in attempt to avoid the utter chaos of disunity.