Hammurabi ascended to the throne of Babylon after his father Sin-Muballit. Hammurabi was the sixth king in the Babylonian dynasty, which was in central Mesopotamia c(known day as Iraq) from 1894-1595 B.C. His family were descendants from the Amorites, the Amorites were known as a semi-nomadic tribe in western Syria, and his name exemplifies a combination of cultures: Hammu, which means “family” in Amorite, combined with rapi, meaning “great” in Akkadian, the language in Babylon. In the 30th year of Hammurabi rule he began to expand his kingdom up and down the Euphrates, overthrowing Larsa, Eshunna, Assyria and Mari until all of Mesopotamia was under his control. By 1750 B.C. Hammurabi controlled all of Babylon because of his strong army. Before
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Hammurabi’s Code had a very brutal approach to justice, but the harshness of punishment mostly depended on the social class of both the lawbreaker and the victim. While one law stated , “If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out,” committing this crime to a citizen of a lower class was punished with only a small fine.
Many historians believe the laws contradicted each other. Like the famous known law "If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If one break a man's bone, they shall break his bone.” But this can’t be true if a citizen in a higher social only needs to pay a fine but someone on a lower social class has to take a harsher punishment.
Other examples are, if one destroy the eye of a freeman or break the bone of a freeman he shall pay one gold mina. If one destroy the eye of a man's slave or break a bone of a man's slave he shall pay one-half his price." If a man killed a pregnant “maid-servant,” he was punished with a fine, but if he killed a “free-born” pregnant woman, his own daughter would be killed as retribution. The Code also listed different punishments for men and women with regard to infidelity. Men were allowed to have multiple relationships with maid-servants and slaves, but if women had over relationships outside of her marriage, she was to be tied up and tossed into the Euphrates along with their
Hammurabi’s Code had a very brutal approach to justice, but the harshness of punishment mostly depended on the social class of both the lawbreaker and the victim. While one law stated , “If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out,” committing this crime to a citizen of a lower class was punished with only a small fine.
Many historians believe the laws contradicted each other. Like the famous known law "If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If one break a man's bone, they shall break his bone.” But this can’t be true if a citizen in a higher social only needs to pay a fine but someone on a lower social class has to take a harsher punishment.
Other examples are, if one destroy the eye of a freeman or break the bone of a freeman he shall pay one gold mina. If one destroy the eye of a man's slave or break a bone of a man's slave he shall pay one-half his price." If a man killed a pregnant “maid-servant,” he was punished with a fine, but if he killed a “free-born” pregnant woman, his own daughter would be killed as retribution. The Code also listed different punishments for men and women with regard to infidelity. Men were allowed to have multiple relationships with maid-servants and slaves, but if women had over relationships outside of her marriage, she was to be tied up and tossed into the Euphrates along with their