An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life. This was often the moral that guided and created the Code of Hammurabi, one of the most famous inscriptions and one of the first set of the laws written down. Hammurabi was the ancient Babylonian king who was most famous for inventing the Code of Hammurabi. He inherited the throne around the time period of 1792 BCE and governed his kingdom for about 40 years. At first he only ruled over 50 square miles, but as he slowly conquered other parts of the Fertile Crescent his city - state grew and expanded. Eventually he was king of the entire Southern Mesopotamia. In 1750 BCE he saw the urgency to monopolize his city-states. He invented the 282 laws that administered and installed justice…show more content… For example, in Source A look at the difference between law 218 and 219. Law 218: If a physician make a large incision with the operating knife, and kill him, or open a tumor with the operating knife, and cut out the eye, his hands shall be cut off. 219: If a physician make a large incision in the slave of a freed man, and kill him, he shall replace the slave with another slave. Where a free man’s death would be compensated for the doctor’s hands, slaves were simply compensated for another slave. This was clearly another inexcusable facet in Hammurabi's code, because these flawed laws clearly relied on people’s social structure to guide them. His laws may have applied to everyone, but not equally. According to Source B, members of the upper class often receive harsher punishments, than commoners, meaning that people of a wealthy or politically high standing position, would receive more brutal punishments than a simple commoner who committed the same mistake. This once again, is another example why Hammurabi's Code was so unethical because if you're rich, you pay the price of more callous punishments! Therefore, his laws not applying to everyone played a major role of his code’s
