My response paper will be on the code of Hammurabi. I will be stating some of the most important marks made or left by the code of Hammurabi. The code of Hammurabi is a ‘’collection of 282 clauses engraved on a 7-foot-high stele’’ (create; ancient/classical humanities). In the Mesopotamian culture, the code of Hammurabi was the most valued way of life. It was also a conjunction of laws to establish and control society. For example, in civic cases, moral cases, and social cases. King Hammurabi received the law from Shamash who is the god of the sun, and we can see from history that Hammurabi was chosen by the god to enforce the law. King Hammurabi was the sixth Babylon ruler of the first Babylonian dynasty. He was also the founder of the Babylonian Empire. King Hammurabi won a lot of battles against adjoining territories. King Hammurabi’s legacy is the code of Hammurabi, such as unifying his kingdom based on common laws. These laws represented punishment for people who didn’t meet the established rules. Written law represented a landmark advance in developing human rights and protecting individuals. Hammurabi’s code covers a broad spectrum of moral, social, and commercial obligations.
According to clause 129, “If the wife of a man is found lying with another male, they shall be bounded and thrown into the water; unless the husband lets his wife live, and the king lets his servant live.” This means that the woman caught being unfaithful to her husband would be punished by being tied to the man she was unfaithful with, the punishment depended on her husband. The man that she was unfaithful to would also be punished, but his punishment would be solely dependent on the king’s rules.
A clause that falls under penalty laws would be clause 196 which states, “If a man has destroyed the eye of a free man, his own eye shall be destroyed” This phrase is used still to this day, is known as “an eye for an eye”, which is classified as the Talion law. Which is presented in both biblical and early Roman laws. In other words, this stands for whatever happens to you, happens to the other person. This can also be classified as karma.
Clause 282,” If a slave shall say to his master, “thou are not my master,” he shall be persecuted as a slave, and his owner shall cut off his ear.” This represents that slaves couldn’t go against their masters or even advocate for themselves. Slaves had no civil rights under the law and enjoyed household protection to which they belong. All of the clauses were based on social classes, even the punishments.
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We can see in detail that these laws are not only punishments but justice as well. These laws were created during the Babylonian period. In the Jewish village during the time of Moses, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments for the Jewish people.
- You shall have no other god before me.
- Make no idols.
- Don’t take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
- Keep the Sabbath day holy.
- Honor your father and your mother.
- Don’t commit murder.
- Don’t commit adultery.
- Don’t steal.
- Don’t bear false witness against your neighbor.
- Don’t desire another person’s stuff
Which are comparable to the Hammurabi code. Because they both deal with social, moral, and civic laws.
We can see that in the book of Exodus, God wrote those Ten Commandments on two tables of stone. The ones that he gave Moses in Mount Sinai. Of those Ten Commandments they resume in love God with all your heart, with all your soul and mind. The second one is loving your fellow brothers and sisters like yourself. In the long run of the story, we can observe that now a day’s laws are evolving and they have been modified for people to get justice.
Overall, we can see how laws affect our life and how from the beginning laws were established to help us be righteous. Because of these laws, there is good and out in the world and bad. People choose their path but there is a guide to what we should do to succeed. We can see that time has changed what laws were established by the Hammurabi Code, they were modified and established in a different way with overall the same category of moral, civic, and social rules.
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