Hammurabi's Law Code Essay

Roughly around 1800 B.C.E. in ancient Mesopotamia, Hammurabi, the ruler of Babylonia, issued a law code. This law code, known as the Code of Hammurabi, was the oldest law code to survive in Western Civilization. It consisted of 282 laws which attempted to regulate Babylonia society and provided a glimpse of this First Civilization’s social and economic life. Hammurabi’s reasoning for providing these laws was “to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evildoers; so that the strong should not harm the weak…, to further the well-being of mankind (PAGE #).” Not only were these laws inscribed on a large eight foot high stone monument, but this document sheds light on the period of the ancient Babylonians and brings fourth the socio-economic relationships and religious sentiments.
The laws …show more content…
Babylonians had to change their way of living once these law codes were created and had to obey them. Thinking about these laws today, it is hard to imagine living in a world with very specific stringent regulations. It could be possible that the Babylonians actually feared living during these times, since one wrong move could be life threatening as these laws followed the principle of “a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye.” Although these laws may seem to come off punitive, they show concern towards the protection of the weak from injustice by the strong. Historians believe that there were probably fewer vendettas as a result for this codification. Laws are written to keep the people of society protected, but the Babylonians were stratified and in the end were not treated equally. This document teaches us about the ancient Mesopotamian society and the legal codes that were made in the lives of the Babylonians. Because of this document, structure was given to the people and people began to be