Law and Rights in the Ancient World

(Cross-listed w/ CLS 73 & CLS 173) Introduction to the complex and intersecting practices of law and conceptions of personal rights in the ancient world from the organization of states in the Near East to the end of antiquity: c. 3,200 BCE to 800 CE; exploration of the role of social ideology and religion in recursively shaping how the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Chinese and others negotiated the formulation and practice of law and concepts of social rights: status, morality, social duty, religion, gender, and civic/personal identity. Extensive and intensive examination of primary evidence and secondary scholarship involving the close reading of ancient texts and material culture to investigate the role of law and rights in the ancient world: civil law, customary law, contract law, statutory law and decrees, constitutions, criminal process, treaties, oratory, and legal training. No prerequisite. Cross-listed as HIST 0016. Lower level of dual level course.