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The Law of the Land

How did Hammurabis Code impact life in Mesopotamia?

Hammurabi was a Babylonian king who is believed to have reigned in the 1700s BCE. Not only
was he a powerful military leader who greatly expanded the size of his kingdom, but he was also
a shrewd and "hands-on" ruler. Hammurabi built a strong central government and personally
supervised tasks such as building, irrigation, and tax collection. However, he is most well known
for the code of law he created.

Mesopotamians believed that the Code of Hammurabi was not created by the king, but rather that
it was given to him by Shamash, god of the sun, who was associated with justice.

Many historians believe that Hammurabis Code was created by recording a number of the legal
decisions he had made throughout his reign. His decisions were based on old Sumerian laws that
had existed for centuries. No written record of those laws has been found.

It is believed that the copies of the law code were placed in important locations throughout
Babylon, so that people would know the law and be aware of their rights. Most aspects of life
were covered by parts of the code.

A New Sense of Justice


How did the Code of Hammurabi change the idea of justice?
The Code of Hammurabi not only influenced the daily lives of Babylonians, but it also changed
the way people thought about justice. This change would impact how later civilizations viewed
the legal system. Hammurabi's Code changed the idea of justice in two very important ways.
First, although the code has a divine origin story, the code explicitly says that Hammurabi was
chosen by the gods to bring the laws to his kingdom. There is no reference to punishment from
the gods. All of the rules are written with a focus on human life, and the punishment for breaking
them comes from the human legal system. The code moves the burden of justice from the divine
world to a place of human control.

Clear Rules, Clear Punishment

Hammurabi's Code lays out a clear and specific structure of laws and punishments. These laws
not only protected innocent people who had been harmed, but they also prevented criminals from
being given a punishment that did not fit their crime. For instance, under the code, a thief might
have his own property taken away instead of being put to death. The idea of having the
punishment match the crime, both in type of punishment and severity, is known today as the
principle of "an eye for an eye." Even though the code standardized laws throughout the land, a
persons social status made a difference in how the laws were applied. For example, there was a
greater penalty for striking a man of a higher social class than there was for striking a man who
was equal to you.
The code also protected the Babylonian people from unfair rulers and judges. Prior to the code,
there were no set systems or punishments. Rulers and judges decisions were often inconsistent,
and there was no alternative for people who believed they had been treated
unfairly. Hammurabis Code provided stability to the system. Rulers and judges could no longer
make unfair or arbitrary decisions, or else they, themselves, would be punished. Because these
laws were written in stone and displayed in several locations, anyone who could read could
understand the laws.
The rule of law, or the idea that all people were bound by one common set of laws established
by the government, was a new concept in Mesopotamian society. Hammurabi was not just
interested in gaining power, but in seeing that his people lived in peace and
prosperity. Hammurabi's Code specifically spoke about protecting the weak and helpless:
orphans and widows, the oppressed and downtrodden, those who could not help themselves. Like
many other innovations in Mesopotamian society, this new legal code had significant influence.
This new way of thinking about justice can even be seen in our modern laws.
Mesopotamia was a rich and fertile land. The civilizations that lived there were also responsible
for a number of technological and cultural advances. These factors combined to make
Mesopotamian societies powerful, and with that power came the ability to influence surrounding
nations as well as future civilizations.

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