Nearly 4,000 years ago, a man named Hammurabi became king of a small city-state known as Babylon. We known very little about Hammurabi’s personal life, we aren’t even sure what he looked like. However, we do know that Hammurabi developed a system of justice carved on a large pillar brick containing 282 laws. What are these laws for and just have it affected it’s people? Even though we know very little about Hammurabi, archaeologists have found a tablet containing details on Hammurabi’s military campaigns and his dealing with surrounding city-states. The tablet tells us that Hammurabi ruled for 42 years. For the first 30 years, Hammurabi’s control was limited to mostly the city of Babylon. Beginning around 3500 BC, the Sumerian people had developed the Mesopotamia into the world’s first civilization.
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The many farm and irrigation laws tell us that Babylonian depended on their crops for survival.
The code of laws was arranged in orderly groups, so that all who read the laws would know what was required of them. While Hammurabi’s Code tried to achieve equality, biases still existed towards those categorized in the lower end of the social spectrum and some of the punishments and justice could be gruesome. Punishments for someone assaulting someone from a lower class were far lighter than if they had assaulted someone of equal or higher class. Some students of Babylonia have found the laws overly harsh. Other found them to be quite balanced, given the hard realities of ancient life. Although there were 282 laws and the harsh punishment that followed if you committed a crime, it was needed in order to retain order and justice. Even today in our society, we have different laws in place to punish people who have committed a crime. It may not be as harsh as Hammurabi’s code, but the basic principle of bringing justice and order is still
The many farm and irrigation laws tell us that Babylonian depended on their crops for survival.
The code of laws was arranged in orderly groups, so that all who read the laws would know what was required of them. While Hammurabi’s Code tried to achieve equality, biases still existed towards those categorized in the lower end of the social spectrum and some of the punishments and justice could be gruesome. Punishments for someone assaulting someone from a lower class were far lighter than if they had assaulted someone of equal or higher class. Some students of Babylonia have found the laws overly harsh. Other found them to be quite balanced, given the hard realities of ancient life. Although there were 282 laws and the harsh punishment that followed if you committed a crime, it was needed in order to retain order and justice. Even today in our society, we have different laws in place to punish people who have committed a crime. It may not be as harsh as Hammurabi’s code, but the basic principle of bringing justice and order is still