The Creation of The Code
Although creating the code of laws he created was an accomplishment, Hammurabi insisted that the god Marduk bestowed the laws upon him so that he could share them with the Babylonians. The laws were written on twelve diorite rocks, each eight feet tall. That is ninety six feet of writing. The steles, as they were called, were placed in a public temple. Hammurabi did this because he wanted every citizen to have access to them.
The laws were specific and simple, so that they could be used by all different cultures. Each law included a punishment. There were specific punishments for breaking different laws. The most common punishments were.......
1. Fines- Fines were usually the least harsh punishments for breaking a law. Fines were more commonly given to upper class citizens if they disrespected a citizen of lower class. Citizens of lower class might be given a harsher punishment in the same situation.
2. Payback- Though not called payback in the code, people who broke a certain law might be punished by having the same thing they did to someone else, done to them. It was kind of the "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" thing. (That common saying was actually a law from Hammurabi's code that is one of the most popular of his laws)
3. Death- Citizens who broke important laws would be punished by being put to death. This was actually a common punishment, although now extremely rare in our society. People today would say that this was an extremely harsh punishment, although it probably made sure that nobody tried to break those laws.
Laws in Hammurabi's code were especially tailored to fit the society they were meant for. We can tell because of how religion ties into law. One of the first laws, in their original form, prohibit witchcraft. Most people today believe that magic is not real. The same things can not be said for Mesopotamians. It must have taken a bit of studying for Hammurabi to create a code of laws that work for millions of people after Babylon fell, and to invent new ideas that would still be used thousands of years later.
The laws were specific and simple, so that they could be used by all different cultures. Each law included a punishment. There were specific punishments for breaking different laws. The most common punishments were.......
1. Fines- Fines were usually the least harsh punishments for breaking a law. Fines were more commonly given to upper class citizens if they disrespected a citizen of lower class. Citizens of lower class might be given a harsher punishment in the same situation.
2. Payback- Though not called payback in the code, people who broke a certain law might be punished by having the same thing they did to someone else, done to them. It was kind of the "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" thing. (That common saying was actually a law from Hammurabi's code that is one of the most popular of his laws)
3. Death- Citizens who broke important laws would be punished by being put to death. This was actually a common punishment, although now extremely rare in our society. People today would say that this was an extremely harsh punishment, although it probably made sure that nobody tried to break those laws.
Laws in Hammurabi's code were especially tailored to fit the society they were meant for. We can tell because of how religion ties into law. One of the first laws, in their original form, prohibit witchcraft. Most people today believe that magic is not real. The same things can not be said for Mesopotamians. It must have taken a bit of studying for Hammurabi to create a code of laws that work for millions of people after Babylon fell, and to invent new ideas that would still be used thousands of years later.