

Nearly half of the code focused on contracts, such as wages to be paid, terms of transactions, and liability in case of property damage. The prologue of the Code features Hammurabi stating that he wants “to make justice visible in the land, to destroy the wicked person and the evil-doer, that the strong might not injure the weak.” Major laws covered in the Code include slander, trade, slavery, the duties of workers, theft, liability, and divorce.

Nevertheless, the Code was studied, copied, and used as a model for legal reasoning for at least 1500 years after. Some of the provisions may have been codification of Hammurabi’s decisions, for the purpose of self-glorification. Intent was often recognized and affected punishment, with neglect severely punished. Some have seen the Code as an early form of constitutional government, and as an early form of the presumption of innocence, and the ability to present evidence in one’s case. The laws were arranged in groups, so that citizens could easily read what was required of them. 1930 BCE) and the codex of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin (c. Other forms of codes of law had been in existence in the region around this time, including the Code of Ur-Nammu, king of Ur (c. It is most famous for the “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” ( lex talionis) form of punishment.
HAMMURABI CODE EYE FOR AN EYE FREE
It consisted of 282 laws, with punishments that varied based on social status (slaves, free men, and property owners). Written in about 1754 BCE by the sixth king of Babylon, Hammurabi, the Code was written on stone stele and clay tablets.

The Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest deciphered writings of length in the world, and features a code of law from ancient Babylon in Mesopotamia. © 2003 Stan Rummel.\( \newcommand\)Ī stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected as a monument. The Law Code of Hammurabi currently resides in the Louvre Museum, Paris. The Law Code of Hammurabi provides incredible insight into the civil laws and customs of the ancient world, and shows similarities to the laws contained in the Torah (first five books) of the Bible. The Law Code of Hammurabi shown below is preserved on a seven-foot-tall, black diorite stele, which depicts the king himself receiving the law from Shamash, the Babylonian god of justice. lower class, middle class, upper class, clerical, nobility, etc.). In the Hammurabi Law the "eye for an eye" principle only applies if both parties are of equal status (i.e. For example, in the Mosaic Law, the "eye for an eye" principle is universal. The similarities are limited and often superficial. This has led some scholars to speculate that Moses, who lived around three centuries after Hammurabi, borrowed his law from the Babylonian monarch. Instances of correspondence include the famous "eye for an eye" principle.

The Code of Hammurabi is of special interest to biblical archaeologists because of the similarities between it and the Mosaic Law. His own dynasty collapsed following his death, but the code of laws which he instituted endured. Hammurabi was the Babylonian king who conquered the Sumerian dynasty of Isin, thus bringing an end to the centuries-long Sumerian domination of Mesopotamia. It dates back to around the 18th century B.C. Why was the Hammurabi Code of Law such an important archaeological discovery? The Law Code of Hammurabi is significant because it is one of the oldest set of laws yet discovered by modern archaeologists. Hammurabi Code of Law QUESTION: Hammurabi Code of Law
