Hammurabi

Hammurabi’s Code I believe that there are some that need a harsh punishment to learn their lesson. Others need to be shown justice and mercy. Hammurabi’s Code provided a little bit of both almost 4,000 years ago. It was 1792 B.C.E, when Hammurabi rose to power as the ruler of Babylon. After ruling for 30 years, he created a set of laws. These laws were called the “Hammurabi’s Code”. He created this code with 282 laws because he was concerned about keeping order in his kingdom. They were carved on a stele made black diorite and placed three of them around his kingdom. Hammurabi's code has been called the first set of laws. But were these laws just and fair or were they too harsh? Looking at the three sets of laws; family law, injury law and property law we see that Hammurabi's code was a just and fair set of laws for the most part although there were many extreme laws that were very violent and could be considered harsh, severe and unjust. In the United States our Constitution forbids such cruel and unusual punishment. Hammurabi will be remembered as a smart and organized ruler who was the first one to establish a set of laws for a civilization.

Hammurabi had a set of laws that dealt with family, marriage and children. Some of the family laws in Hammurabi’s Code were just but many were unjust. Law #195 for example stated that if a child struck their father their hands would be cut off. That seems like an extremely harsh punishment but it also taught children to respect their fathers. Hammurabi considered the father to be the head of the home and someone who should be respected by everyone in the family. Law #129 stated that if a woman was caught in adultery with another man they would be bound together and thrown into the water. This was Hammurabi’s attempt to keep marriages together and keep husbands and wives faithful. It was a harsh punishment but I’m sure it made people think twice before