Hammurabi History

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First Forms of Law and Justice The introduction of the Hammurabi Code represents the idea that all men and women, in order to co-exist in a civilized manner, must have a guideline and rules of what is expected of them. Hammurabi, the sixth king of the Babylonian Dynasty, reigning from 1792 BC to 1750 BC. Hammurabi is most famously known for the writing the Code of Hammurabi, one of the earliest surviving codes of law recorded in history. Hammurabi inherited the throne of the city-state of Babylonia from his father. Babylon was located in central and southern part of the Mesopotamian plains. Although many different cultures coincide with in Mesopotamia, Babylon gained fame through literacy. The records of Hammurabi’s codes was carved on a …show more content…
In it, it’s explained many different rules a male could dishonor and get little to no punishment, but when a female did, she could face ultimately the worst punishment of all, death. For instance, if a wife had been accused of adultery with another man, he husband would send her away, if she could not prove her case to judges, she was sentence to death by drowning. But if a man was accused, no punishment would follow, instead it was encouraged. The inequality between the classes was also a major issue. Slaves were often treated inhumane and did not have a fair chance against free people. In The Code it states that if a man takes the eye of another man's slave, or break the bones of the slave, he would only pay one-half of its value. The Codes were also very outrageous at times. It states that if a man catches his with and another man together, they would both be killed, but he could forgive his wife and still kill the other …show more content…
For most of previews civilization, there was not specific regulations that had to be honored. Hammurabi’s code showed preceding societies what need it to be established to have a successful city. To this day, some form of written laws and codes are used to maintain the well-being of the community in every country. Many of these current laws are very similar or the same in every different location. For example, by law the United States requires some kind of compensation for any injuries caused while on the job, otherwise a terrible lawsuit could be on its way. Like Hammurabi’s code, this compensation if often money. Throughout civilization more laws continue to make an appearance, usually following a tragic event. Hammurabi realized that if he did not settle a code for his kingdom it could have potentially collapse in a tragic way. Hammurabi’s Code was definitely not fair to all people, inequality among the classes and genders was certainly a big dilemma. But through history as humans come to realized what is going wrong, and the lower classes and oppressed genders gain equality, the problems with Hammurabi’s Code being to change for the positive. Hammurabi’s Code also integrated social norms that are used to this day. For example, women are shamed for having multiple sexual partners but men are praised. And the horrible idea that wives are supposed to serve their husband every