Hammurabi Code Essay

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Running Head: HAMMURABI’S CODE

Hammurabi’s Code: Laws of Mesopotamia

Grace Lasarsky

Lincoln Charter School

October 21, 2014

Mr. Thomas

Honors World History

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Hammurabi was the king of Babylon from 1792 BC until his death in 1750 B.C. Hammurabi’s Code was the first set of laws that all of Mesopotamia obeyed, that were established by Hammurabi. There was two hundred and two laws influenced all of Mesopotamia in many ways. Hammurabi’s Code was one of the most influential creations of the Middle East.

Hammurabi had a good life and was taught by many people around him, including his father. He was was born in 1810 B.C. To explain,

He became the first king of the Babylonian Empire following the

abdication of his father, Sin-Muballit, extending Babylon's control over Mesopotamia by winning a series of wars against neighboring kingdoms. Although his empire controlled all of Mesopotamia at the time of his death, his successors were unable to maintain his empire (“Hammurabi”, n.d.).
Hammurabi was known as a great king by many because he unified all of Mesopotamia.
Since Hammurabi did not like the idea of everyone in his empire following different rules, he came up with a solution. When everyone was following different rules, they did not know the rules for every city-state. Therefore, when they went to another area, they went against the rules and were unaware of it. If they got caught, they got punished. Hammurabi put a quick end to this by giving all of the people the same rules in his empire. Hammurabi made these statutes and engraved into all of the laws he wanted to implement. For example, “The Code of Hammurabi is inscribed on this seven-foot basalt stele” (Jarus, 2013). He placed one statue in the middle of each city-state square, in every area he had control of. For example, “At the top of it is a bas-relief image that portrays Shamash, the Sun God in the Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian pantheons, handing the code of laws to the king, pointing out in this way (as it was the trend in pretty much every culture back then) that it had divine

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origins. The code is inscribed in the Akkadian language, using cuneiform script carved into the stele” (“Code of Hammurabi”, 2014).
Over the Middle East as a whole, many rules still are alive today.

Most would say the most well-known of these is Hammurabi’s Code. Even though everyone knows about these rules, no one actually follows them. People see Hammurabi’s Code more as a piece of art than a set of codes. The laws have been decoded and it was obvious that people obeyed the rules and it was an important part of politics. One of the stone structures of Hammurabi’s Code was discovered in 1901. French archaeologists were the ones who made this unique discovery. They saw that the cuneiform was written very clearly and it was easy to understand. When people first saw his statues being put up they did not know what to think. The Akkadian’s were very surprised and unsure of what was going to happen. Many people got punished because they went against some of the rules set by Hammurabi. No excuses could have been used because everyone was required to know the rules since they were the same everywhere, and they were in the middle of every area. Hammurabi’s system was unfair, and everyone knew that. The laws favored males and the rich his can still be found in todays systems and

economy.
Hammurabi’s code made everyone become very strict with each other as well. Parents had punishments for their children, and husbands had punishments for their wives. People were built around the laws during this time, and their everyday actions were the side effects of these laws. Sadly, the life people lived was never too exciting and did not include any leeway. Even though people liked having the same rules and the fact that everything was not wild; many citizens did not want to be held accountable for everything that they were. Altogether, there was a variety of thoughts on Hammurabi’s
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Code. Most people did not know what to think about it and therefore followed along with the rules, and sometimes slipped up.
Punishment is penalizing someone or something that has done wrong. Hammurabi did not believe in jail. Even though sometimes he used it, jail was a last resort for him. This is a very smart idea because it costs citizens lots of money. Hammurabi used three other main methods. He used bodily harm, expensive fines, and death. Hammurabi was very smart to use these methods. They scared everyone so much that he did not have to worry about people acting up. This made things hard for the people because to pay fines, you have to have money. To get something cut off, you have to get it covered up so it does not get infected. And if you die, then you die and that is the end of your life. To restate, jail was not a formed of punishment used by Hammurabi. Even though it was sometimes a last resort, people did not find it an effective way to punish. Jail cost a lot of money to run and it is often nicer than other places.
The punishment given to you depended on the rule you broke.

If you broke a rule that was more strict, for instance killed someone, then you would most likely be killed. Men and the rich could get out of punishments more easily. The rich could bribe someone or pay heavy fines and nothing would happen to them. Men were just favored, so they got paid more and had less harsh punishments. This also meant there were more men in the world during this time. There was also mostly rich people. The

poor people and the women ended up dieing younger because they did not have enough to sustain them, or they were severely punished.

Hammurabi’s Code is 282 laws. These laws were very specific and important. Some of laws could not be implemented into everyday life in 2014, but back then these were very well

intertwined.
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Once again, these rules applied to everyone, even slaves had to follow the rules. Hammurabi’s Code also unified the people. This caused several conflicts and advancements in their cities. Including
To sum it up, Hammurabi was an influential man who created a large list of laws to unite Mesopotamia. Though there were consequences, Hammurabi’s Code was a better form of rules and regulations. Hammurabi did not use jail as a punishment, but rather bodily harm, high fines, and death. Hammurabi’s Code was a large part of Mesopotamia.

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References
n.d.Code of Hammurabi. Code of Hammurabi - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
October 17, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabn.d.
n.d.Code of Hammurabi: Ancient Babylonian Laws. Code of Hammurabi: Ancient Babylonian
Laws. Retrieved October 19, 2014, from http://www.livescience.com/39393-cod
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(2014, May 28). The King’s Law – The Code of Hammurabi.The King's Law - The Code of
Hammurabi. Retrieved October 19, 2014, from http://www.todayifoundout.com/in dex.php/2014/05/kings-law-code-hammurabi/
(2014, May 28). The King’s Law – The Code of Hammurabi.The King's Law - The Code of
Hammurabi. Retrieved from http://www.todayifoundout.com/in dex.php/2014/05/kings-law -code-hammurabi/
n.d.The Avalon Project : Code of Hammurabi. Retrieved October 19, 2014, from http://avalon
.law.yale.e du/ancient/hamframe.asp
"Chapter 2." Glencoe World History. By Jackson J Spielvogel. New York, N.Y.: Glencoe/McGr
aw-Hill, 2005. 41. Print.
n.d.Hammurabi. Hammurabi - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammurabi
n.d.Retrieved October 21, 2014, from http://www.biography.com/people/hammurabi-9327033