The Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest deciphered texts in human history, dating back to approximately 1700 B.C.E.; the code was a set of laws and punishments during the reign of the sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi. The code is regarded as a moral and fair set of laws that is also the oldest collection of codified law to ever exist. Throughout the Inferno, it is clear that Dante Alighieri reiterates the theme of “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” in his interpretation of hell, only retold by an Italian late Dark Age writer, and The Inferno is a supplementary piece to the concepts Hammurabi tried to impose almost 3,000 years prior. Within The Inferno, an analogy can be made with Hammurabi being replaced with God, and Hell the corresponding punishment for insubordination of his laws.
One must remember: God sent those who did not fall in accordance to his ways to Hell, and all punishments within The Inferno were that of Minos’ judgment of the Second Circle of Hell. “There Minos …show more content…
The First Circle of Hell is offers the least amount of suffering, just as Hammurabi states in Law 200 that “If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out” (Hammurabi 200). This is reasonable punishment for a minor crime, however the Second Circle of Hell and every circle following grow much greater. “Here they lie through all eternity, themselves like garbage, half-buried in fetid slush, while Cerberus slavers over them as they in life slavered over their food.” (Ciardi 44). Again, punishment is issued in a karmic manner to the gluttons of the Third Circle of Hell. The fourth circle punishes the hoarders and wasters by subjecting them to pushing massive weights which enforce order for the lack of moderation in their lives. The fifth circle, the sixth, so on and so forth, all the way down to the Ninth Circle of
One must remember: God sent those who did not fall in accordance to his ways to Hell, and all punishments within The Inferno were that of Minos’ judgment of the Second Circle of Hell. “There Minos …show more content…
The First Circle of Hell is offers the least amount of suffering, just as Hammurabi states in Law 200 that “If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out” (Hammurabi 200). This is reasonable punishment for a minor crime, however the Second Circle of Hell and every circle following grow much greater. “Here they lie through all eternity, themselves like garbage, half-buried in fetid slush, while Cerberus slavers over them as they in life slavered over their food.” (Ciardi 44). Again, punishment is issued in a karmic manner to the gluttons of the Third Circle of Hell. The fourth circle punishes the hoarders and wasters by subjecting them to pushing massive weights which enforce order for the lack of moderation in their lives. The fifth circle, the sixth, so on and so forth, all the way down to the Ninth Circle of