Select two civilazations or nations you leanred about during the semster. Write an essay in which you conpare and contrast a) their governent structures, b) the roles of goverment in their ecomomies and socities, and c) the effectiveness of their methods of rule. Be sure to probide examples as evidence to support your ideas. Also, make sure that you consider to be a measure of their effectiveness

it took two men to wrestle rome back from chaos and turn a republic into an empire. in the first century bc, rome was a republic. power lay in the hands of the senate, elected by roman citizens. but the senators were fighting for power between themselves.

when we think of a­ncient paga­n kings, the ideas of justice and fairness probably aren't the first things to come to mind. we moderns may be more likely to imagine fickle, power-hungry despots who were ready to put someone to death on a whim. but king hammurabi, who ruled a prosperous and thriving babyloniaalmost four millennia ago, doesn't quite fit that mold. he claimed to have protect the weak from oppression, and scholars believe he fostered an atmosphere of justice and righteousness for his people.

this belief is based on an object that was discovered only a century ago. it has already earned a place alongside the rosetta stone as one of the most important artifacts of the ancient world. this stela (stone pillar) bears the inscription of the code of hammurabi, and it has shed light on the laws, culture and life in babylonia.

read more on -