King Hammurabi's Babylon: The Birthplace of a Historic Set of Laws - Essay Sample

Introduction

The city of Babylon is located along the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. Babylonians were people who lived in an area called Mesopotamia and were part of a group called the Semites. King Hammurabi ruled Babylon from 1792-1760 BCE and made the city an empire. During his tenure, he wanted a set of laws that would govern the people of Babylon and make them have good values. King Hammurabi ordered the writing of the set of laws and they were written on a large stone of stele. The set of laws were referred to as the code of Hammurabi, which is one of the oldest laws that governed ancient society. By examining these laws, they provide insights into the Babylonian society. This essay discusses what the code of Hammurabi tells about the Babylonian society.

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Hammurabi's code revealed that the laws promoted equality. This is evident with the "an eye for an eye" phrase which meant that a person who injured someone would be punished according to the crimes committed. Kruger mentioned some of the punishments. They included, "If a person has put out the eye of a man of the free class, they put out his eye." "If a person has knocked out the teeth of a free man, they shall knock out some of his teeth." "If a man's slave has struck the cheek of a man of the free class, they shall cut off his ear." In his article, Kruger discussed Hammurabi code and its success in the Babylonian society. He inscribed few of the 282 laws of the Hammurabi. As he mentioned, fair judgment was stressed even though penalties were severe. The Hammurabi codes emphasized on fairness. Regardless of one's status in society, they received punishment for their crimes. This provides insights on the social structure of the Babylonian society. No crime would go unpunished.

The Hammurabi code tells revealed the importance of family and relationships in the Hammurabi law. The law protected every member of the family in the family system. The Lapham quarterly discussed the set of laws that protected the family system. They included that If a man's wife, who lives in his home, wishes to leave it, dives into debt, attempts to ruin her home, disregards her husband, and is judicially indicted, if her significant other offers her discharge, she may go on her way, and he gives her nothing as a gift when leaving. If her husband does not wish to allow her to go, and if he takes another spouse, she will stay as a servant in that house. Also, another part of the code stated that If a wife fights with her husband and says, "You are not friendly to me," the purposes behind her unfairness must be introduced. If she is guiltless and there is no fault on her part but he leaves and disrespects her, at that point no blame attaches the wife, and she will take her dowry and return to her father's home. The code emphasized the preservation of a family structure. Separated was disallowed and if a man or woman decided to leave their home without any legitimate reason, then they would suffer the consequences. Considering the examples of the laws mentioned in this paragraph, it is clear that the laws focused on the importance of a family system.

The Hammurabi code revealed that Babylonians were religious people. The top of the stone contains a portrait of Hammurabi himself posing before the sun god, Shamash, who is responsible for ensuring justice prevails. King Hammurabi wrote the laws through the powers of the sun god. Tignor et al. articulated, "Whereas the god's role in ordering the world was distant, the king was directly in command of ordering relations among people." Hammurabi was chosen by Shamash to bring the laws to the people. Seemingly, king Hammurabi had to be a religious person to be chosen by the gods to bring the laws to his people. Because he was chosen by the gods, people had to follow the laws religiously. This is evident from the top of the craving, which shows Hammurabi receiving the laws from the god. This shows the religious nature of the Babylonian society who respected the gods. The Babylonians prayed, offered sacrifices, and appeased their gods regularly. The code puts a sufficient amount of emphasis on religion. The stone, which the codes are inscribed into has a god handing over the code to Hammurabi. The image reflects the importance of religion to Babylonians since they believed that the laws were god-given and breaking them would be disrespectful to the gods. Kruger indicated. "The Babylonians believed that the gods bestowed justice and that kings were the gods' earthly agents."

Overall, the code of Hammurabi reflected upon the values of the Mesopotamian society in regards to integrity, religion, and social status. They did not live how they wanted to but by the laws of the Hammurabi. Based on research about the Babylonian society and the Hammurabi code, it is notable that it was a legal system based on punishments that equated the offense. From a personal perspective, the code of Hammurabi was a major contributor of civilization in Babylonian society. Notably, the code reflected many things about the Babylonian society. Without a doubt, laws play a huge role in expanding a nation. The code of Hammurabi helped to shape up the city to make it more civilized and a better place to live in. even in modern society, laws are made to govern a country.

Bibliography

C. 1750 b c : Babylon. Lapham's Quarterly, vol. 10, Issue 1, p. 108-108, 2017.

Kruger, Chaddie. Hammurabi and his Code for Success. Calliope, vol.11, Issue 3, 2000.

Tignor, Robert et al. Worlds Together, Worlds Apart (Fifth Edition) (Vol. 1). New York: W. W. Norton & Company. 2017.