Hammurabi was not the first Mesopotamian ruler to put his laws into writing, but his code is the most complete. By studying his laws, historians have been able to get a good picture of many aspects of Babylonia. What follows are five documents that provide a sampling of Hammurabi's laws. The code also tells us of everyday problems like buildings collapsing, oxen getting lose and trampling fields, and neighbors squabbling, much as they do today. Others have found them to be quite balanced, given the hard realities of ancient life. For example, we know that there were three distant social
