King Hammurabi ruled Babylonia from 1792-1750 B.C.E. During his ruling, Hammurabi claimed he received laws from the sun god, Shamash. King Hammurabi soon declared a set of laws which would be known as "The Code of Hammurabi." The Code of Hammurabi was one of the first written codes of law in history. The people during this time were sure to follow the codes because they didn 't want to face the harsh punishments. Each person, including those who could not read, easily understood the laws. Hammurabi 's codes were made to equalize society, establish justice and fairness, bring about the rule of righteousness, and protect the weak from the strong. (Hammurabi 's Code, 2012-2013) The society in which Hammurabi lived in was chaotic! The society
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If a person of a higher social class did wrong to a person of a lower class, he has to pay a fine. If a person did wrong to another in the same class, he suffered the same wrong. If one of a lower social class wronged a person in the highest social class, he was killed. By having different punishments, many conflicts were created. The codes created a very uneven balance in rank and in power. Hammurabi 's codes were considered to be "an eye for an eye" but this was only true if the accused people were of the same social …show more content…
As I 've mentioned before, people who harmed a person of another social class would get a harsher punishment. What type of punishment would a king get if he harmed someone? What if Hammurabi broke a law? Did he get punished for his wrong doing? The Codes of Hammurabi seem very harsh, too harsh in a lot of ways. The law "If a man break another man 's bone, his bone shall be broken" could be viewed in multiple ways. One way being if a man randomly walked up to another man and broke his bone for no apparent reason, then he himself does deserve a broken bone. But what if a man was helping another man out by carrying a heavy object and he accidentally dropped it. The heavy object broke the partners bone. The man who accidentally dropped the object did not deserve a broken bone. It wouldn 't be fair if both men suffered from broken bones. The accident was neither of their faults. Making the man who dropped the object do the other man 's job would be enough punishment. Breaking bones and taking eyes was severe punishment. Surely the people of that society were not as bad as the people in the society in which we live in
If a person of a higher social class did wrong to a person of a lower class, he has to pay a fine. If a person did wrong to another in the same class, he suffered the same wrong. If one of a lower social class wronged a person in the highest social class, he was killed. By having different punishments, many conflicts were created. The codes created a very uneven balance in rank and in power. Hammurabi 's codes were considered to be "an eye for an eye" but this was only true if the accused people were of the same social …show more content…
As I 've mentioned before, people who harmed a person of another social class would get a harsher punishment. What type of punishment would a king get if he harmed someone? What if Hammurabi broke a law? Did he get punished for his wrong doing? The Codes of Hammurabi seem very harsh, too harsh in a lot of ways. The law "If a man break another man 's bone, his bone shall be broken" could be viewed in multiple ways. One way being if a man randomly walked up to another man and broke his bone for no apparent reason, then he himself does deserve a broken bone. But what if a man was helping another man out by carrying a heavy object and he accidentally dropped it. The heavy object broke the partners bone. The man who accidentally dropped the object did not deserve a broken bone. It wouldn 't be fair if both men suffered from broken bones. The accident was neither of their faults. Making the man who dropped the object do the other man 's job would be enough punishment. Breaking bones and taking eyes was severe punishment. Surely the people of that society were not as bad as the people in the society in which we live in