The following items span a
wide period of time and encompass a wide range of topics. Many sites
are archaelogical in focus; some address specific projects while
others are more general. All provide additional information on one or
more aspects of topics covered during the course and can be used to
provide up-to-date information on research projects.
Ancient
Near East:
ABZU (Ancient Near East resources) GUIDE TO RESOURCES
FOR THE STUDY OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET from
the Research Archives of the Oriental Institute, Chicago.
Outstanding.
ABZU
AUTHOR INDEX This is an author
index to resources relevant to the study and presentation of the
Ancient Near East. It includes, in general, only documents for which
a human author is listed. A number of other resources, where
authorship is less clear can be found in the Project Index.
AKKADIAN. A great cultural language of world history.
These pages are about the cuneiform writing system on clay tablets,
the language, the grammar. Some texts examples with transliteration
and explanation are presented. Excellent.
Code
of Hammurabi: A translation of
this circa 1780 B.C. code by L. W. King
Code
of Hammurabi: A useful photo of
the stone on which the code was written.
The
Epic of Gilgamesh, selections.
The flood story from the Epic of Gilgamesh which comes from a
collection of stone tablets found at Nineveh, a city in ancient
Mesopotamia. The tablets date to around 2700 BCE. Also includes a
list of useful sites with additional information about the
Epic.
Assyro-Babylonian
Mythology. A useful and
comprehensive site maintained by a physicist at the University of
North Carolina.
Ancient
Near East (map) Very useful map
with clickable focus feature.
Cuneiform
Writing. From John Heise's work
on the `Akkadian language' and the origin and development of
cuneiform, comprehensive and useful.
Laws
of Eshnunna (excerpts)
Ma'at (image)
Deir
el-Medina Database Deir el-Medina
is the modern name of an ancient Egyptian village situated on the
west bank of the Nile opposite Luxor, the site of ancient Thebes. The
village was inhabited by workmen who were responsible for the
construction and decoration of the royal tombs from the New Kingdom.
The exploration of Deir el-Medina has yielded a huge quantity of
artefacts and texts written on ostraca or papyri, which offer a
unique view into the daily life of an ancient Egyptian community. For
a very interesting recreation of the original village see
Deir
el-Medina (image).
Greece (1):
Athenian
Constitution (traditionally
attributed to Aristotle) Can be activated under Aristotle on the
Internet Classics Archive.
Rome:
The
Twelve Tables: Translated copy of
the code on a site maintained by Dr. Thom Thibeault. of Southern
Illinois University at Carbondale
Basilica
Julia. Interesting reconstruction
of the Basilica Julia: the basilica is the old Basilica Sempronia,
one of the first buildings of this type at Rome intended to house
public meetings and trials; originally constructed in 170 BC by the
father of the Gracchi, it was rebuilt under Caesar and Augustus,
hence its new name.
Cicero
Home Page A heavily used and very
comprehensive site on the Roman orator and politician. Texts provided
by Chris Mitchell, Emanuele Narducci, and various contributors to the
Wiretap archive (see invididual texts for attributions). Created and
maintained by Andrew M. Riggsby of Classics at the University of
Texas, Austin. Includes some images and an extensive
bibliography.
Roman
Empire (map) Basic overview from
the University of Michigan.
Roman
Law: A project dedicated to
creating an internet representation of important parts of the Corpus
Iuris Iustiniani and the corresponding medieval comments. Organized
by Thomas Rüfner at the University of Tübingen .
Roman
Law, Family, and Daily Life.
Bibliography from Diotima: Materials for the Study of Women and Gender in
the Ancient Society.
Comparative:
Islamic
Law and Justice. The sacred law
of Islam, the Shari'a.
Race
and Slavery: 19th Century Middle
East.
Tyburn
Tree : (Executions in Early
Modern England)
The
Magna Carta
Salem
Witch Trials Chronology
The
Iroquois Constitution.
Democracy
in America by de Tocqueville
(1831). See Especially
Principle
of the Sovereignty of the People of America, Chap IV, Volume 1
Judicial
Power in the United States, and its Influence on Political
Society, Chap VI, Vol 1
For additional US materials of potential
interest see:
Law,
Women and America (1820-40).
Selected
Authors.
Useful discussion and Contemporary
Comparison US 1831 and
1997.
Alexis de Tocqueville's America.
Political
Archives includes on-line copies
of constitutions and treaties world-wide.
Archiving Early
America. Documents from the 18th
Century. Useful search feature.
Modern
Studies on Ancient Law
ANCIENT LAW by Henry
Maine:
Chapter
1 Preface
The chief object of the following
pages is to indicate some of the earliest ideas of mankind, as
they are reflected in Ancient Law, and to point out the relation
of those ideas to modern thought. Much of the inquiry
Chapter
2 Legal Fictions When primitive law has
once been embodied in a Code, there is an end to what may be
called its spontaneous development. Henceforward the changes
effected in it, if effected at all, are effected deliberately
..
Chapter
3 Law of Nature and Equity The theory of
a set of legal principles, entitled by their intrinsic superiority
to supersede the older law, very early obtained currency both in
the Roman state and in England. Such a body of ...
Chapter
4 The Modern History of the Law of
Nature It will be inferred from what has been said that the theory
which transformed the Roman jurisprudence had no claim to
philosophical precision. It involved, in fact, one of ...
Chapter
5 Primitive Society and Ancient Law The necessity of submitting the subject
of jurisprudence to scientific treatment has never been entirely
lost sight of in modern times, and the essays which the
consciousness of this ...
Chapter
6 The Early History of Testamentary
Succession If an attempt were made to demonstrate in England the
superiority of the historical method of investigation to the modes
of inquiry concerning Jurisprudence which are in ...
Chapter
7 Ancient and Modern Ideas Respecting
Wills and Successions Although there is much in the modern
European Law of Wills which is intimately connected with the
oldest rules of Testamentary disposition practised among men,
...
Chapter
8 The Early History of Property The
Roman Institutional Treatises, after giving their definition of
the various forms and modifications of ownership, proceed to
discuss the Natural Modes of Acquiring Property. Those who
..
Chapter
10 The Early History of Delict and Crime
The Teutonic Codes, including those of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors,
are the only bodies of archaic secular law which have come down to
us in such a state that we can form an exact ...
For bibliographical
materials: see Select Bibliographies
for Ancient Law
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