One of the most important aspects of any society is the ruling system. A society simply could not function without any sort of rules or regulations. With the tremendous growth of Babylonian society came the need for law systems. Perhaps one of the most well known law systems was Babylonian ruler Hammurabi’s compilation of Mesopotamian laws known as Hammurabi 's Code. Hammurabi 's Code contained laws pertaining to trade, marriage, property, crime, social class, and more (Judge and Langdon, 25). So much can be learned about early societies through this famous artifact. Although these laws may have been accepted by the Babylonian citizens at the time, it is now clear to see that the code was extremely unjust. Hammurabi 's Code uncovers the social …show more content…
It is obvious that there was a hierarchical system, meaning some members of the society were more important than others. The most elite members of society were the king and the nobles. Following the nobles were the commoners, who were most likely farmers, merchants, or artisans. It can be noted that common class farmers played a major role in Babylonian society because of how much of the laws relate to farming and agriculture. The lowest members were slaves, who were most likely criminals or prisoners of war (Judge and Langdon, 25). The way a person was legally treated depended on their social rank. Social classes can easily be distinguished from one another when examining the laws in the code that deal with punishments for crimes. For example, one law states that if a man kills a freeborn pregnant woman, his daughter must be killed in return. However, if the woman was a servant, he would only have to pay a fine (“The Code of Hammurabi”). This suggests that a servant’s life is not as important as a freed person’s life, thus establishing a social …show more content…
A woman was not seen as being equal to a man. This is clear in the laws dealing with marriage. Women were contractually obligated to remain with their husbands only, while their husbands were permitted to have a mistress or second wife. If a woman was caught with another man, she would be drowned (“The Code of Hammurabi”). Another thing that shows that women were not equal to men is the fact that they could be sold into slavery by their husbands at any time. Women did, however, have some rights such as the right to own property and the right to inherit and pass down that property. They also played very important roles in society. Some of these roles included shop owners, bakers, or scribes (Judge and Langdon,
Ancient civilizations offer insights about their respective societies through various ways. One if those ways can be seen through the law codes of the society. The Code of Hammurabi, The Torah: Laws, and the Twelve Tables were the law codes of the Babylonian law code of ancient Mesopotamia, the Hebrews, and the Romans, respectively. These documents were written for their respective civilization and was publicly displayed. Although these law codes span from 1754 BC to 449 BC, these three law codes offer insights about the similarities and differences of each civilizations. From these documents, one can reflect and determine many things about religion, social class, the legal proceedings, and family
Hammurabi’s Code was unjust because of the harsh punishments. From the documents provided, there were about three topics of his laws. Those topics included family and marriage laws, property damage laws, and laws about harm to others.
Ancient Babylonian society followed a strict set of laws set in place by their king, Hammurabi. “The Code of Hammurabi” was set in place to unite the cities and legitimize his rule. The 282 laws are a good representation of the values the ancient Babylonians shared. Some laws are much harsher than others and even punishable by death. Property and ownership was a serious matter which came up in many of the laws. If property was stolen, it could be punishable by death. Code 6 states, “If a man steals valuables belonging to the god or to the palace, that man shall be killed, and also he who received the stolen goods from him shall be killed.” Also, ownership required receipts or contracts to be legitimate. Women did
The Code of Hammurabi was written by King Hammurabi, who began ruling the Babylonian Empire in about 1800 BC. Hammurabi came to power using his strengths as a military leader, conquering many smaller city-states to create his Empire. Hammurabi believed that the gods appointed him to bring justice and order to his people, and he took this duty very seriously. Not long after his ascent to power, he created his Code, 282 laws written to define all relationships and aspects of life in the kingdom. The laws were displayed in a public place so that all the people could have the opportunity to study them. The laws applied to everyone, though application of the laws and punishment differed according to social class. The punishments for disobeying the laws were swift and harsh, further encouraging compliance.
Hammurabi’s Code communicates the barbaric nature of Babylonian society to historians today. The Babylonians had a lack of jails and had excessive punishments. The punishment for an illegal act could be death, slavery, or amputation. Being jailed was not a punishment in Babylonia. An example of this injustice is the law that states, “If a man has broken into a house he shall be killed before the breach and buried there” (Hammurabi’s 21). If a man has stolen bread, he has no trial he is simply put to death. In today’s sophisticated world, we have jails to punish felons, so they have hope for redemption.
Hammurabi’s laws reflect with issues of taxes and trade, death and murder, and most importantly, marriage and divorce, because it came to signify important business and economic connections between families. As Mesopotamians built a patriarchal society, the Code of Hammurabi sex and gender relations demonstrate that women occupied a lesser legal and social position. However, because the society of Mesopotamian represented marriages and families as important business, Hammurabi’s laws protected children, marital partners and families by setting fair rules. As the law states, “128: If a seignior [a lord or a man of property] acquired a wife, but did not draw up the contracts for her, that woman is no wife.”2 And “138: If a seignior wishes to divorce his wife who did not bear him children, he shall give her money to the full amount of her marriage-price [money or goods that the husband paid to the bride’s family in exchange for the right to marry her] and he shall also make good to her the dowry [money or goods that the bride brought to the marriage] which she brought from her father’s house and then he may divorce her.” 2 These laws restrict husbands from doing unreasonable treatment against women. His law became the outline of actions and punishment for the societies, and it lead cultural unity for the
During the second millennium, Babylon was ruled under Hammurabi. He was a powerful king who reestablished a central government throughout his kingdom. In 1780 BCE Hammurabi created approximately 282 laws to govern and rule over the Babylonians. Two earlier Sumerian codes of conduct existed in parts; however, this was the first complete set in history. Thanks to the tall black basalt stele artwork that displays Hammurabi’s laws we know of his ruling in elaborate detail. These rules became known as “The Code of Hammurabi”. These guidelines were written in Akkadian, a popular language in the region at the time. Hammurabi claimed that a very prominent god wrote the code and instructed him to rule under his name. This is a large component when
This set of laws within the document was created by King Hammurabi during his reign as Babylonian King (1792 BCE - 1750 BCE). Hammurabi is the most memorable Babylonian King because of these set of laws that he put into place. Hammurabi produced these set of laws in order to install a sense of righteousness and justice in Babylonia. To create an ideal society in which no crime goes unpunished, Hammurabi needed this code of law to remind every one of his subjects (the high class, low class, and slaves) how a proper Babylonian should live. Knowing that anyone, no matter the class, could be punished under this law, this would make it seem that Hammurabi’s Code is an ‘equal’ set of laws. However, the severity of the punishments varied between the classes, so although everyone could be charged with a crime, the punishments distributed were not equal between citizens. After finding this code of law in the modern times, we can know see the standards that were upheld by the Babylonians to ensure that they did not get punished by King Hammurabi’s Code. To govern
He has developed the set of written law codes in his time called Hammurabi’s Code. Hammurabi’s codes are the first greatest single source that was created on the nature of human law and society in Mesopotamia; it is inscribed on a seven-foot stele and enshrined in the temple of murduk. The Hammurabi’s code of laws is about prices, wages, slavery, payments, loans, laws concerning in theft, land tenure and contracts, marriage laws and rights of married persons, concerning violent crime and injury and concerning the regulation of professions. This code was created to provide community with basic source of fairness, their duties and their individual rights as a human. His laws are great, although, punishments are little harsh comparing to today’s
In 1754 B.C., Hammurabi conquered and united all the cities of Mesopotamia under his rule. Although he was a brutal warrior, his greatest achievement was his code of laws, which he had engraved on a towering stone monument. Hammurabi’s Code was not the first, but it was the most complete set of laws that has survived. It is important because it created a set of rules that helped to govern a civilization while trying to protect people even if they had little political power. It called for different punishments based on the class of the lawbreaker and the victim of the crime. In the Code, punishments often fit the crime by demanding and “eye for and eye” or a “tooth for a tooth”. Hammurabi ordered his collection of laws to be written to promote the welfare of the
One of the greatest things about artifacts is that you can learn about past people and their lifestyle. Artifacts can tell you what kind of houses certain people lived or even what type of material was used for their clothes. One artifact that tells us a lot about a past society is The Code of Hammurabi. The Code of Hammurabi was a set of laws created by Hammurabi, a native of Mesopotamia. After evaluating the laws, I concluded that Mesopotamia was an ancient patriarchal society that domesticated animals and had slaves. The vast amount of laws allowed me to draw this conclusion.
Mesopotamia had a patriarchal society. The Law Codes of Hammurabi accounted men more valuable than women, mainly for war. Mesopotamian society was based on the belief that kings, warriors, priests, and government officials were more important than people in the lower class such as slaves and merchants. In 1792 B.C.E. this belief was set into play and highlighted in a text from Mesopotamia known as The Law Codes of Hammurabi, or the Code of Hammurabi, or even the Hammurabi Code as it is also known
A final cause of the switch from hunting and gathering to farming is government. Its original purpose was to resolve the conflicts between the classes. If it started to side too much with the upper class it became corrupt. Once a government is unable to keep the balance between the classes it is overthrown and replaced by a different one. Governments also create rules that benefit the society as a whole. The first example of a written code of laws is The Code of Hammurabi, written in 1790 BCE from the time of Babylon. It consisted of 282 laws and incorporated all aspects of life from commerce to inheritance to crime. These laws were very comprehensive and eliminated human interpretation. Laws were consistent versus judges, whom were not bound
The Mesopotamian people valued a strict, rules-oriented society. This can be seen by examining the Mesopotamian social classes, government and job specialization. In The Code of Hammurabi, created by the King of Babylon in 1780 B.C.E. it was evident that there were rules for every thing, and every thing you do has a consequence. The Mesopotamian life style was very rigid; this lifestyle can lead to disputes and outbreaks, which can have negative consequences in society.
Religion and law seem like they are two drastically different ideas. One is the moral code that you choose to believe in, while the other is something that must abided by without much debate or suffer the consequences. Two drastically different concepts they may seem but are more closely related than meets the eye. When it comes down to it, throughout history it shows to follow one means to follow the other. Throughout history, to abide by the laws of the land meant to abide by the morals created in the religion popular to the area.