How Did King Hammurabi Impact The Modern World

History will always have a long-lasting impact on the future and the first Babylonian emperor, King Hammurabi, proves this. He had new military advances and were able to conquer the Akkadians and all of Mesopotamia and established the very first Babylonian Empire which he ruled from 1792 BCE through 1750 BCE. One of his other most famous achievements was his Code of Laws that he created for his kingdom to follow which is currently still having a long-lasting impact on all of our modern laws. This was the first known time in history for someone to write down the laws, when he published all of his 282 laws for all to see on a seven-foot tall basalt stele, even though a lot of people at the time were illiterate. His rulings dealt with all aspects

“An eye for an eye” and “a tooth for a tooth” satisfies the feeling of revenge, not justice. Justice is blind and with that, punishments do not change and do not become more lenient just because of someone’s socioeconomic status, gender and etcetera. The difference between retaliation and fairness is clear; vengeance has a certain sense of bitterness and anger involved and it is selfish while, justice is based on fairness and equality to the people. However, Hammurabi’s code treats men and women, and elites and commoners differently under the law, and unfortunately, some modern legal systems share this trait such as, the United States where the higher the socioeconomic status of someone, the more lenient the punishment, and in this way, our legal system is way too similar to Hammurabi’s

Hammurabi’s laws 200-205 state, "200. If a patrician has knocked out the tooth of a man that is his equal, his truth shall be knocked out. 201. If he has knocked out the tooth of a plebeian, he shall pay one-third of a mina of silver. 202. If a man strikes the cheek of a man who is superior to him, he shall be beaten sixty times with an oxtail whip in the assembly. 203. If a member of the aristocracy has struck the cheek of another member of the aristocracy who is of the same rank as himself, he shall pay one mina of silver. 204. If a commoner has struck the cheek of another commoner, he shall pay ten shekels of silver. If a man’s slave has struck the cheek of a member of the aristocracy, they shall cut off his ear," (McDougal Littell 1-2). Basically, if an upperclassmen were to harm a person of an equal status, he shall be equally harmed. However, if a commoner were to harm an elite, he/she will be more severely punished and if it is vice versa then, it is not against the law. Comparable to a modern day courtroom situation in the United States of America, where if the accuser comes from a poorer and more disadvantaged background than the accused, the defendant in this situation is more likely to win in this case because he or she can probably hire a better lawyer and he or she can probably extend their court cases for a longer