Hammurabi's Code

Gi Kim

Michaele Smith

History 111-02H

22 October 2014

Hammurabi’s Code

There are numerous ways to record history, however, written records can impact the world powerfully and can spread throughout the world effectively. The Hammurabi’s Law is one example that people could use to understand history of earlier culture, belief, role of men and women, and society. The code of law powerfully influenced throughout southwest Asia because of its efficiency. Hammurabi’s code helps to give in-depth view of life in Mesopotamia in Ancient history.

The most famous legal code of Hammurabi created Babylonian king named Hammurabi who spoke Akkadian. He reigned from 1792-1750 B.C.E. He called himself “king of the four quarters of the world.” At the beginning,

ancient Mesopotamia was divided into many city-sates and they all had their own laws and pattern of punishments. When Hammurabi was able to bring the entire region under his control and gathered laws from the various city-states. By depending on centralized bureaucratic rule and taxation, he improved administrative methods of Sargon.
The Code of Hammurabi was written using cuneiform in the Akkadian language, Hammurabi allowed the codes to be a matter of public knowledge which helped to spread the rule of law faster to society. Since he proclaimed that gods chose him “to promote the welfare of the people, … to cause justice to prevail in the land, to destroy the wicked and evil,[so] that the strong might not oppress the weak, to rise like the sun over the people, and to light up the land,” the wanted the law to be legacy, which came true.
Hammurabi also linked himself Shamash, the god associated both the sun and with law. The most famous copy of Hammurabi’s law features an image of Hammurabi and Shamash. It is easy to tell he is Shamash because of the head cover he is wearing, it shows rays of light and he is seated on a throne, showing his authority. This scene shows how Hammurabi claimed favor from the gods and it commanded the people’s obedience to these laws.
The code of Hammurabi plays an important role for organizing the society.

Hammurabi’s laws reflect with issues of taxes and trade, death and murder, and most importantly, marriage and divorce, because it came to signify important business and economic connections between families. As Mesopotamians built a patriarchal society, the Code of Hammurabi sex and gender relations demonstrate that women occupied a lesser legal and social position. However, because the society of Mesopotamian represented marriages and families as important business, Hammurabi’s laws protected children, marital partners and families by setting fair rules. As the law states, “128: If a seignior [a lord or a man of property] acquired a wife, but did not draw up the contracts for her, that woman is no wife.”2 And “138: If a seignior wishes to divorce his wife who did not bear him children, he shall give her money to the full amount of her marriage-price [money or goods that the husband paid to the bride’s family in exchange for the right to marry her] and he shall also make good to her the dowry [money or goods that the bride brought to the marriage] which she brought from her father’s house and then he may divorce her.” 2 These laws restrict husbands from doing unreasonable treatment against women. His law became the outline of actions and punishment for the societies, and it lead cultural unity for the

empire.
This laws took account of social standing when applying this principle. Even though local judges did not always follow the exact prescriptions of the law, it still established high standards of behavior. The reasons why this code was successful and lasted for long time can be explained by its strictness and harshness of punishments for violations. Through this primary source, people could recall ancient life style, culture, language, role of women and men, and, beliefs. As the patriarchal practices from Mesopotamia enshrined, it was protected both in customs and laws, and became a way of life for urbanized peoples, and still exists today.