Punishment In Hammurabi's Code

Hammurabi’s code is composed of a set of rules set forth by a man named Hammurabi. He is known as Babylon’s most prominent ruler; his reign lasting from 1792 to 1750 B.C.E. Hammurabi’s Code reflects the harshness of the social structure in a Mesopotamian society by basing the code on the law of retaliation, not treating all members of the society equally and fairly, and not letting women be full members of the community. The law of retaliation, which is the basis of Hammurabi’s code, displays the harshness of the social structure. It is a law where everyone gets what they deserve. A noble or a person of a higher social class has the right to retaliate to a fellow in his social class or pay a small fee to someone of a lower class. In Hammurabi’s …show more content…
If a man’s slave is killed, then he has to pay one-third of a mina to the salve’s owner (“The Code of Hammurabi”). A slave’s life is worth a small fee according to Hammurabi. He treated the slaves worse than any other social class. Law 205 states that if a slave of a freed man strikes the freed man, then the salve’s ear shall be cut off (“The Code of Hammurabi”). They got the more abominable punishments. If a merchant cheats an agent, then the merchant has to pay 6 times the sum to the agent (“The Code of Hammurabi”). Merchants and commoners get the lighter punishments. They only have to pay fees for their consequences. The nobles do not have any laws to show their consequences for their actions. They get the best treatments. The social structure was set up by Hammurabi in this way in order to keep the rich people at the top of the …show more content…
Females during this time period were only allowed a limited amount of rights as a result of the code. They could only buy and sell goods, own property, and have certain jobs; in order to get these rights, a woman had to be of a high social class (Judge and Langdon, 25). Women of any social class did not get to marry for love during Hammurabi’s reign. The parents of the bride and groom would arrange the marriage (Judge and Langdon, 25). The wives did not get to express their true desires and emotions due to this law. They had to learn to love their husband, but some could not; the wives would cheat on their husband or leave him, and the consequence would be to drown in the river. Women who cheated knew the outcome was to die; they thought drowning was better than dealing with their husbands. Even if the wife did not cheat on her husband but got accused by him of it, then she would still have to drown in the river for him (“The Code of Hammurabi”). She would have to act like she did it in order to not make him appear detestable; rule number 132 states that women in any social class had to adhere to this law (Judge and Langdon, 26). During this time, females did not get as many laws as the men and were held accountable for their husband’s