City-dwellers were dependent upon rural residents for buying surplus crops for their food. Trade was mutual, as residents of cities were often specialized artisans that could offer their skills. "Mesopotamian cities controlled the agricultural land and collected crop surpluses from villages in their vicinity. In return, the city provided rural districts with military protection against bandits and raiders and a market where villagers could acquire manufactured goods produced by urban specialists (16). But society was highly stratified because of this rural-city divide. Class divisions were sharply evident in Mesopotamian society -- the infamous law code of Hammurabi meted out different punishments according to class. Even within religious structures, this inequality was tolerated by the Babylonians. The gods were conceptualized as anthropomorphic and not necessarily beneficent. The gods showed favor to some but not to all. Although all members of the society seemed to participate in some sort of religious rituals and superstitions, it is unclear how much the official temples were open to the general public. "Scholars similarly debate whether common people had much access to temple buildings and how religious practices and beliefs affected their everyday lives" (19). But even members of the elite subscribed to the belief that humanity was placed on earth...
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