Showing posts with label middle-east. Show all posts
Showing posts with label middle-east. Show all posts

27 September 2015

Is the present European Refugee Crisis comparable to flight from the Axis during WWII?

How does the present response to the European Refugee Crisis compare to the response to those fleeing Axis regimes in WWII? The comparison is of two very different situations. Think in terms of who was fleeing what.
 

Axis regimes during World War 2

Who: Well-educated, poor, middle and upper class Europeans who were fluent in one or more western languages; many were highly skilled professionals, academics or tradesmen. Many were wealthy.[1] Most were Jewish or Roman Catholic. Demographically, they were men, women, children and the elderly. 

What: Flight from the most highly developed nation in the world, Germany, then radiating outward to include flight from Italy, France, The Netherlands, Scandinavia, Poland and Eastern Europe to anywhere that would take them. Refugees gladly adopted the customs and social norms of those few countries that gave safe harbor.

06 October 2013

Why would it have been important to emphasize Hammurabi's connection to divinity?

Hammurabi was the sixth king of the Amorite Dynasty of Old Babylon, in the 18th century B.C. The Code of Hammurabi is one of the most famous legal codes surviving from the ancient Middle East.

It would have been important for Hammurabi to emphasize his connection to divinity primarily for reasons of credibility. He needed credibility to establish the legitimacy of his seminal Code of Law to gain acceptance by the people of Babylon. This concept is referred to as divine election[1]:

While there is no doubt that these claims represent royal self-promotion in an attempt to increase legitimacy, the general population of a given country presumably gave some credence to this brand of political theology.

Divine election in the context of the reign of King Hammurabi has received relatively little attention. Better known ancient and modern instances of divine election are the Pharaonic dynasties of ancient Egypt, the Emperor of Japan, and Queen Elizabeth II of England as head of the Anglican Church.

The Code of Hammurabi consisted of laws that had evolved over generations[2].

Hammurabi standing before the seated god of justice as a stone engraving from antiquity
Hammurabi receives his Code directly from the god of justice at the Louvre 
Photo: Christian Larrieu, Réunion des Musées Nationaux via Art Resource, New York.