To What Extent Was The Code Of Hammurabi Code Just Dbq

The first set of laws were written over 4,000 years ago by a king named Hammurabi. Hammurabi was a Babylonian king in around 1792 BCE. Babylon is located in modern day central Iraq. But in 1792 BCE it was the capital of a well known empire. Hammurabi claimed that Shamash, the god of justice, instructed him in the law. He also claimed that multiple gods including Shamash gave him the right to rule. The laws were displayed all over the place on humongous stone steeles which is a pillar-like structure. The question now is, was Hammurababi’s code just or unjust? Hammurabi’s code was unjust because not everyone was treated equally, it couldn’t be changed, and it was written from one perspective.

To start, Hammurabi’s code was unjust because it treated people of different social classes differently. Let’s look at laws 196 & 199. Law 196 says “If a man has knocked out the eye of a free man, his eye shall be knocked out” (Doc E). It specifically states that the victim is a free man. Now, let’s look at law 199. “If he has

In the epilogue of his laws he stated, “If this ruler does not esteem my words, … if he destroys the law which I have given, … may the great gods of heaven and earth … inflict a curse … upon his family, his land, his warriors, his subjects, and his troops” (Doc B). As we can see, it’s all about power to Hammurabi. Even in his grave he wants to have control over the people of the Babylonian empire. The epilogue also says, “through all coming generations, let the king, who may be in the land, observe the words of righteousness which I have written on my monument; let him not alter the law of the land which I have given…” (Doc B). This was just to really help make his point clear. But either way you spin it, he was still saying that his laws couldn’t be changed even if society did. He was only seeing it from one point of view. Which brings us to our last