Their Legacy

Many could argue that Near Eastern Literature was written for a society so distant and different from ours, that it is no longer relevant to us today, and therefore bears no real significance. Moments where this is true can be seen in texts such as the Code of Hammurabi. Its countless laws on agriculture and trading for instance, are no longer relevant in contemporary society because our technology, currency, and economy are so different, that they’re system is no longer compatible with ours. In that sense, studying the Code of Hammurabi in hopes of becoming a better economist would be absurd – unless of course you could travel back in time and live in their period. Yet, judging this ancient literature based solely on its immediate relevance to society would be unwise. Truth is, Near Eastern literature is significant, because it better allows us to understand how we came to be.

No one could have portrayed mankind’s obsession with knowing our true origins better than Oedipus Rex. We are intrigued with knowing where we came from, and resort to history and family lineage to appease our appetites. That being said, Near Eastern literature serves as another source of information that provides us with more incite on some of the earliest humans who could write. Their stories, letters, and laws serve as a reference point that we can compare with our own society as a means of seeing how much we have developed and matured (or in some cases, became more immature) as a species. This is important because somewhere down the line, we know some of the developments and breakthroughs that they came up with influence the way we live today. Whether that notion be that women are inferior to men, or that there is some celestial being(s) that watch over us, those ideas must have come from somewhere, and now we have a better idea of where that might have been.

Stating that Near Eastern literature is no longer significant would be improvident. Not only does it allows us to know a little bit more about ourselves, but it can help us avoid the mistakes that past generations had made. In essence, Near Eastern literature adds on to the biography of the human race.