Justice is not the preserve of modern government. It certainly cannot be entrusted to modern 'Democratic' governments, for law is not justice. Law is enacted to preserve the status quo at a point in time, where as justice transcends time and government and can be identified across religion, philosophy and creed.   (George Michaelides)

Click on the name for the philosopher or person you want, page under construction.

Solon The Wise     Plato    The Prophet Mohammed     Monarchs of England      Magna Charta

Gods of the Ancients

Hammurabi was not the first king to consider the role of justice, but his code inscribed on the now famous 'stele' unearthed by a group of Frenchmen led by Jean de Morgan in 1901/2 is one of the oldest 'documents' to consider that justice has a role in the affairs of men.

The king was ruler of the old Babylonian empire, stretching from the Persian gulf almost to the waters of the mediterranean sea. Hammurabi set up the stele in a temple to be consulted by all those with a grievance. his portrait appears on the stele with the words;

Before this portrait let every man who has a legal dispute come forward, read this text and heed its precious words. The stone tablet will enlighten him in his trouble, and thus may he find justice and breathe easier in his heart, speaking these words: "Hammurabi is a king who cares for his people like a loving father".

The Akkadian script was not fully deciphered until the 19th century and archaeologists are today still coming across writings from the time of this great king. Hammurabi was a pragmatic king. He adopted secular law as opposed to religious law. Many of the laws were talonic in nature based on the principle of 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth'. Some were advanced even by our standards. Law 23 commits local councils to indemnify citizens against brigands who steal and who are not caught. There is also a commitment to equality before the law, how hollow that sounds when applied to the government in Britain today.
 
 

How many times do you hear a phrase and wonder about its origin? The above attributed to Solon, or Sol'on as it is pronounced in Greek was one of the first Athenian law givers.

An aristocrat of the higher nobility Solon's family traced an ancestry back through the last king of Athens.
Solon was eventually numbered amongst the, "seven wise men" of Athens, men whose writings and sayings most Greeks knew by heart.

Athens at the time was not yet at the height of her power or enjoying the position it was subsequently to achieve as the head of the Greek city states and a dominating power in the Mediterranean.

The people were oppressed with high taxes, (sound familiar) and political power which rested in the hands of a few families. Athens was on the brink of revolution.

Solon was not a stay at home aristocrat, he was a merchant travelling the lands of Egypt, Asia Minor and North Africa as well as the islands off the Greek mainland.

We know that in 594BC he was elected to the 'archontate' the highest office in the Athenian state, and immediately set about law reform. He introduced the 'seisachtheia' which translated means, 'the shaking off of debt or burden'. To Solon there was no point in talking about equality and democracy unless you create the economic conditions where such a situation can exist.

He realised very quickly that the creation of solutions to economic conditions and problems would need to precede the establishment of an intellectual and possibly meaningless constitution. i.e. meaningless to the mass of the people.

Solon's division of society into four classes of citizen might seem a little archaic, but he needed to operate within the social structures of the time and retain the support of the broad mass of the nobility and the people if he was to achieve anything.

The privileges of the nobility were replaced by those of ownership. The four classes were divided on the basis of income with rights and responsibilities accruing depending on class. The wealthy in return for political privileges had to do more for the state and the army.

He created three chambers, retaining the old Senate of Nobles but introducing a deliberating chamber and more importantly reviving the peoples Ecclesia which now had the power to appoint magistrates and the archon. It took the final decisions in war and peace and set Athens on the road to democracy.
 

Senate of Nobles (areopagus) the senate

Council of Four Hundred (deliberating chamber)

The Ecclesia (peoples assembly)

Solon held office for 22yrs before retiring in 575BC. His famous dictum is often quoted but rarely lived up to, "I grow old, always learning many things"

The period of Plato's life coincided with the last time that Athens and the Hellenic world would be considered as the leader of culture and the arts. While there was no immediate decline, civil wars with Sparta and threats from Persia all helped to drain the finances and change the Hellenic world.

Plato met up with Socrates during the war with Sparta, which Pericles declared in 431BC, documents relate how Plato, anxious over the threat posed to the Hellenic world by the constant wars met up with Socrates who schooled him in discovering the inner realms of the mind aware of itself.

Socrates was Plato's spiritual father and Plato was distraught when Socrates was impeached and committed suicide in 399BC. For the 29 year old Plato this determined the rest of his life. Plato's two major works:- Politeia, (in English Republic) of which there are 10 books was conceived at this time. His other work:- Nomoi, (in English Laws) was written towards the end of his life.

The significant thing about Plato's writings and what distinguishes them from other philosophers is that they are in the form of fictitious dialogues between friends of his. Each friend taking a part in turn. This makes the works eminently readable, almost after the form of a novel. Socrates features prominently in the discussions, even after his death.

In his first book of the Republic Plato espouses the necessity for boys and girls to be educated equally if the state is to flourish. He also was the first to recommend that women should not be barred from any political office and they should have real and absolute equality with men throughout society. His academy in Athens has been depicted on mosaics, while he also taught in Sicily, Egypt and Libya.

It is significant that the Romans, Christians, Moslems and others see Plato as a guide for human existence. He believed in the beauty of the soul, truth and goodness and as such deserves his rank in history as one of the fathers of human thought.

Mohammed the man
Abdul-Kasim Mohammed ibn abd Allah, was born in Mecca of the old Quraish line of Hashemites. He was orphaned at an early age and brought up by his uncle, Abu Talib. He was an educated child and developed into a great traveller. The name 'Mohammed' literally means, the praised one.

His first wife, Khadija, who he married at around the age of 25yrs was the widow of a rich merchant in whose caravan Mohammed was travelling.

Using his new found wealth and being an intelligent and religious man Mohammed quickly became interested and learned in the new religion of Christianity and the old Judaism. Both Christians and Jews impressed Mohammed as "People of the Book" and as monotheists.

It was not until his late thirties, early forties that Mohammed began to put together the many thoughts and writings into a coherent philosophy/religious code. At this time the Arab religious world consisted of many hundreds of gods in the Temple of the Kaaba, or holy stone. Poverty was rife, co-existing at the same time with great wealth from Meccas centre as a great trading city filled with rich merchants and aristocrats. Mohammed himself a wealthy man was upset at the plight of the poor, the sick and the other underdogs of society.

Frequently withdrawing for meditation into the desert it was on these meditations that the "Tremendum", translated as great thrill or vision came upon him.
Mohammed believed in the wrath of God and the sinfulness of mankind. He also believed man could be saved only if he believed in the one God and Goda power and mercy to save.

Like all religions Mohammeds followers were at first persecuted. Around 622AD his wife died as did his uncle and Mohammed left Mecca to live in Yathrib, now called Medina, the city of the prophet. This event in Mohammeds life is known as the 'Hegira'.

Mohammed now began organising the 'war' against Mecca. He triumphed in 630AD and returned to his native city, destroying the many Gods and announcing,"Truth has come and error is gone, (dispersed)". The followers of Mohammed were known as 'Moslems', which translated means,'those devoted to the will of Allah'.

Just before his death in 632AD Mohammed led almost 100,000 pilgrims from Medina to Mecca to observe the Islamic rites at the Kabba in Mecca. It was here that he implored all Arabs to stay united in the faith of Islam. He preached this last sermon near Mount Arafa.

After his death his son in law, Ali, took over the  religious leadership of the Moslem world. It was Mohammeds doctrine of uniting Arabs with Islam that led to the rise of Arabia and the Arab world and set it on a road to conquest which engulfed southern Spain, Southern Italy and Poitiers in France.

What is the Koran
This is Islams holiest book and used to propagate one of the great religions of the world in the same way that other great texts are used, eg the bible.

Mohammed received his visions between 610AD and 632AD. Mohammed preached the visions to his followers but it was not until the year 650AD that it took the form we know today.

It comprises 114 Suras, chapters and not all of similar length, some are very short. Each Sura has a heading, eg 'The Daybreak', 'Men', 'The opening of the book'. These headings are obtained and derive from a key word in each Sura.

Every Sura begins the same way, "In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful", this beginning is called the 'Basmala'. There is one Sura, No. 9 called 'Remorse' which does not begin this way.