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GENERAL
OUTLOOK OF NEAR EASTERN CULTURES |
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FUNDAMENTAL
QUESTIONS
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What is the relationship of humans to
nature? to the gods? to other humans?
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| HUMANS AND NATURE |
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No separation between humans and nature or
even between animate creatures and inanimate objects.
 | Humanity
was part of a natural continuum.
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| All
things partook of life and spirit.
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The universe was dominated by gods
in the shape of humans.
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world they ruled was irregular and unpredictable, subject to divine whims.
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gods were capricious because nature seemed capricious.
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| Humanity's
function was to serve the gods.
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Human existence was precarious.
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| Natural
disasters were the product of divine will.
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| Humans
were helpless in the face of irrational divine powers.
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Humans could not hope to
understand nature, much less control it. At best they could try by magic to use some
mysterious forces against others.
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| HUMANS AND
THE GODS, LAW, AND JUSTICE |
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Human relationships to the gods were
equally humble.
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gods could destroy humankind and might do so at any time for no good reason.
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gods ere bound by no laws and no morality.
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best behavior and the greatest devotion to the cult of the gods were not defenses against
the divine and cosmic irrationality.
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The earliest civilizations were
guided by laws, often set down in written codes.
Why, apart from the lawgiver's power to coerce, should anyone obey the law?
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Egyptians, the answer was simple: The law came from the king and the king was god.
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| For the
Mesopotamians, the answer was almost the same: The king was a representative of the gods,
so the laws he set forth were equally divine.
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| TOWARD THE GREEKS AND WESTERN
THOUGHT |
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Greek ideas had much in common with the
idea of earlier peoples:
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Greek gods had most of the characteristics of the Mesopotamian deities.
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| Magic
and incantations played a part in the lives of most Greeks.
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law, like that of earlier peoples, was usually connected with divinity.
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| Many,
if not most, Greeks in the ancient world lived their lives with notions similar to those
held by other peoples.
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BUT some Greeks developed ideas
that were strikingly different and, in so doing, set a part of humankind on an entirely
different path.
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their speculations, they made guesses that were completely naturalistic and made no
reference to supernatural powers.
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| By
putting the question of the world's origin in a naturalistic form, Thales (the first Greek
philosopher) initiated the rational investigation of the universe and, in so doing,
initiated both philosophy and science.
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rationalistic, skeptical way of thinking carried over into practical matters as well and
gave rise to the study of medicine and history.
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same absence of divine and supernatural forces characterized the Greek view of law and
justice.
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This pattern of thought marked the
beginning of Western Civilization and its most important concerns:
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| What is
the nature of the universe and how can I control it?
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| Are
there divine powers and, if so, what is humanity's relationship to them?
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| Are law
and justice human, divine, or both?
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| What is
the place in human society of freedom, obedience, and reverence?
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