Posted: September 16th, 2017

must be understood by now that I’ve allowed my own imagination t o fill in the gaps in human development; but my observations and

must be understood by now that I’ve allowed my own imagination t o fill in the gaps in human development; but my observations and related imagination was based on

artifacts and the learned opinions of anthropologists. However, it was necessary to establish a human pattern, the human footprint in organization,

resulting laws and

statutes, within an overarching governmental system. Rather than being a straightforward march toward ever-improving methods, the road toward effective and efficient

development took detours, which are still ongoing today. Maslow’s hierarchy of human need and motivating factors that seems to indicate a unidirectional development

pattern, is everything but. What appears to have happened, is that each civilization, and its incorporation of hundreds of related sub-cultures, fashions itself,

sometimes independent of how other civilizations and sub-cultures have fashioned their system of laws and statutes.

As we found with Hammurabi and with Moses, deities

were credited with having a role in their systems of laws and punishments. In a theocracy, the deity is the supreme law giver. In a civil system, even if influenced by

deities, there is in place a civil body that makes laws and devises ways to enforce those laws. Moses served in a theocracy, while Hammurabi served in an autocracy. In

order for either system to survive,

each had to defend its way of life. Hammurabi and Moses would each fight many wars and make many alliances in order to preserve

each government, making survival an ongoing concern, even if other levels of Maslow’s hierarchy were achieved.

Activity
Find Maslow’s hierarchy on your laptop, tablet, notebook, or smart phone. Draw the diagram and be prepared to discuss the importance of each level.

Having established the basis for law, and having described its ancient development,

as pertains to future Western perceptions of law, we will go deeper into two

ancient

civilizations that made substantial contributions to how we define and understand law. Enter the Greeks and the Romans. From a purely Western perspective, most of the

philosophical features of government and law come from the Greeks, while much of the administrative nature of government and law comes from the Romans.

The Greeks of

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle’s time ruled by intelligence and then strength, while the Roman Caesars ruled by strength first, then intelligence, until both

civilizations decayed, eventually failing to live up to the standards of their empires at their height. We will concern ourselves with those things that endured the

test of time and which became useful to us in our time.

Ancient Greek Influence
As people groups mingled and shared ideas,

there emerged a common system of government and a similar form of law enforcement by region. Clan chieftains competed with

each other until super powerful leaders established themselves over cities and then city states. Power was either based on physical domination or superior intellect.

One civilization that refined both the warrior class and the philosopher class was ancient Greece.

Civilizations that grew up along navigable rivers or near natural

seaports, or had the ability to safely travel overland developed much faster; however, ease of access posed its own threat. If a nation can travel away from home, then

other nations can visit uninvited. Greece was exposed along its long coast, and had to defend itself from those wishing to plunder.

And yet there seemed to be more of

an advantage with increased trade then threats from rivals, because like Greece, other civilizations were composed not of entire regions, but of small city state

within the region. To conquer a city state did not necessarily mean that the entire region would be subjugated. The famous rivalry between Troy and the Achaeans is a

good example of limited access. But if the chief city, because of which there would be protected trade and the establishment of regional law and order, should fall to

a rival, the rest of the mostly unpopulated region would be overtaken. Competition around the Mediterranean became fierce, if cities wished to flex their military

muscle. But during peaceful times, trade