Hammurabi Continuity

Hammurabi, King of Babylon was the first person to create laws that would unite his empire. He created two-hundred and eighty-two laws that dealt with private matters/rights and criminal activity. The majority of the laws for private matters was put in place to protect the slaves and women, people that did not have a sufficient amount of power. The law for criminal activity covered offenses against others that included murder, assault, robbery and etc.There were specific punishments for crimes, this law prevented wrath towards one another. Hammurabi's Code set the standards for justice and social order throughout Mesopotamia. His code taught us about how life in Babylon and Mesopotamia changed from what is was like before the laws got set in

Mesopotamia, “the Land between Rivers,” was one of the greatest and the oldest ancient civilizations of the world. This civilization flourished around 3000 B.C. on the piece of fertile land, now known as Iraq, between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Before 1792 B.C., the city-states of ancient Mesopotamia were not united and constantly clashed in turmoil and warfare. In 1792 B.C., King Hammurabi conquered and merged the neighboring city states of ancient Mesopotamia, creating a Babylonian empire and becoming the sixth king of its capitol city, Babylon. During his reign, Hammurabi established law and order and funded irrigation, defense, and religious projects. He personally took care of and governed the administration. In

Hammurabi improved on the measures implemented by Sargon through his idea of “centralization”. Instead of controlling trade routes and resources like Sargon, Hammurabi institutionalized regular taxation for all the territories. Hammurabi also ruled from within Babylon while extending his authority to other territories through the use of deputies placed in each territory. (Bentley and Zeigler, p. 29)

Southern Mesopotamia had no government. The people of Southern Mesopotamia needed a ruler, someone to lead them through tough times as the population grew. Hammurabi started as their ruler, and then appointed himself King. The King also had people who worked for him, because he wouldn’t have been able to do all the jobs himself. He had people who built temples, settled disputes, maintained the complicated system of canals, and irrigated farms. He was also the lead priest at Ziggurat, the main temple. He had lots of rules that everyone in Mesopotamia had to follow. For example, “If a judge try a case, reach a decision, and present his judgment in writing; if later error shall appear in his decision, and it be through his own fault, then he shall pay twelve times the fine set by him in the case, and he shall be publicly removed from the judge's bench, and never again shall he sit there to render judgment.” (Hammurabi Codes 5) This just on example of how detailed the 282 rules could be. This shows us that Hammurabi was very strict and liked rules.

The Law Code of Hammurabi is a native Babylonian text that served as the basic law code of society. The way of life was of the former Babylonians culture is totally different than what we are used to today. The text gives readers a vision of how ancient societies lived in these times. This law code gave society a diverse arrangement for citizens to follow. The social structure isn’t about wealth, they are judged by different standards (such as trial by ordeal). The husband is the dominant role of the house. The family structure is a patriarchal household and the power of the father is absolute. The Law Code of Hammurabi gives readers a clear thought of how unfair the earlier civilization of Babylonians existed through class structures, gender relations, and family structures.

Mesopotamia was a decentralized civilization, and resulted with many rulers leading the many city-states within the empire. Due to the many wars occurring within, kings were originally war leaders, and the function of defense and war, including leadership of a trained army, remained vital. Due to being many rulers within the empire, there were many internal conflicts, let alone the outside ones, which resulted in Mesopotamia further advanced its empire by developing ideas for a bureaucracy and laws, by using Hammurabi’s code. It laid down the procedure for law courts and regulated property rights and duties of family members, setting harsh punishments for crimes. This focus on standardizing a legal system was one of the features of early civilization. Also, the political structure there was enforced by none other than the Sumerians, which can be seen in many similar ideas and traits passed on today’s modern

Hammurabi ruled the city of Babylon for 30 years, after many fights with other kings he became the ruler of most of Mesopotamia. By his 38th year of rule, Hammurabi had carved all of his 282 laws out onto steles. He made his laws to create order and fairness throughout Mesopotamia (BGE). But were his codes just or unjust? They were unjust, due to the cruel punishment that they provided for the laws on family, property, and personal injury.

Who was Hammurabi? What’s so important about him? Well, Hammurabi was the last ruler in the Fertile Crescent to unite most of Mesopotamia. His kingdom was called Babylonia, and during his rule he created the first written law code during his reign between 1792-1750 B.C. Hammurabi’s Code was the first written law code ever known. He created it because he wanted to bring peace and justice to Babylonia.

After the Neolithic Revolution people had the opportunity to settle as they pleased. This allowed for the development of civilizations. These civilizations had rulers, during the 18th century BCE Hammurabi was the King of Babylon. He ruled over ancient Mesopotamia and established a set of rules for his nation. Hammurabi claimed that Shamash, the god of heaven and earth, had given him these rules and the authority to carry them out. Hammurabi’s Code included two hundred and eighty-two laws that set a structure for the city-state of Mesopotamia. Family matters, property law, and even personal matters were ruled unfairly under Hammurabi’s Code.

Hammurabi became the ruler of Babylon, which is located in central Mesopotamia, in 1792 B.C. He created a set of laws with punishments known as the Code of Hammurabi. The basis of these laws came from the god Marduk whom Hammurabi said empowered him. The main purpose of the code of Hammurabi was to govern the population and to have a system where people knew their place in society.

Imagine hitting your parents and having your hands cut off because you will never make a mistake again. Can you imagine that from the rules of your king? Well let's find out if you would like Hammurabi as a king that told everyone the laws from a God. The year he began ruler was 1707 B.C.E. and ended in 1750 B.C.E. He ruled babylon and created the first ever written laws. He made the laws and he made 282 of them! The laws are called Hammurabi’s code. Mostly if you disobeyed the code you will die or get punished for your actions even if you make a mistake. He was born in the year 1811 B.C.E. Were Hammurabi's laws fair to everyone in Babylonia? No the laws were not fair for everyone in Babylonia because if you make a

Farmers are usually less fortunate than the land owners, so Hammurabi protects the

Another great ruler was King Hammurabi of Babylon. He set up the Code of Hammurabi, which includes 300 sections of carefully organized codes that ruled the Babylonians. Hammurabi was the first example of a lawgiver. He provided one of the greatest written documents of his time: a stone column with a long series of legal judgments published with his name. Hammurabi even designed codes for the family life. He took care of the women and children in his society. He regulated marriage with care to secure a stable life for future generations. He combined both law and religious belief to create an ordered society. The Mesopotamians built on foundations laid by the Sumerians using their sexagesimal system. They had multiplication tables, exponents, tables for computing interest, and textbooks with problems for solution. They also developed systems of astrology and astronomy, and even created a lunar calendar.

King Hammurabi grew up with an extensive knowledge of how to run a political kingdom thanks to taught politics at an early age. He used religion to his advantage and influenced people into thinking that the Gods chose him to rule. In his testimony, he claims, “At that time, to give happiness to the people, Anum and Enlil pronounced my name “Hammurabi,” me, the pious and god- fearing ruler, to decree equity in the land, to eradicate the wicked and the evil so that the powerful might not oppress the powerless, to rise like Shamash and illumine the land for the black-headed (people)” (). A young Hammurabi began his reign in 1792 BCE after the transition of power from his dying father, Sin-Muballit. During his rule, he succeeded his expected goal of expanding the kingdom to conquer all off ancient Mesopotamia. After his successful achievement, he made

Nearly 4000 years ago, a man named Hammurabi became King of Babylon. He ruled for 42 years. During that time, he became the ruler of much of Mesopotamia, which had an estimated population of 1,000,000 people. Hammurabi was no normal King, in his 38th year he made a set of 282 laws which he called a code, this code was the most complete set of laws any ruler of Mesopotamia had ever made. He had engraved these laws onto a stele. A stele is a clay tablet that has been written into by a sharpened reed. This writing form was called cuneiform. He created this code to bring order and fairness to all. There has been a debate over the years about whether his code is just or not. In my opinion, Hammurabi’s code was just because of its family law, its property law, and its personal injury law.