The Code of Hammurabi
Hammurabi was the chief priest and sixth king of the first Amorite dynasty of Babylon from 1792-1750 B.C. During his rule, he wrote a code of law, which was the best known and most complete of the ancient pre-Roman law codes. The code was written on several stone tablets so that all people could see them. While Hammurabi’s own dynasty collapsed following his death, the code of laws which he instituted endured. The law code is significant because it teaches much about the way of life of the Babylonians and the development of civilization as a whole by examining this record. The Code of Hammurabi shows many aspects of the civilization such as social stratification, gender discrimination through marriage life, and commercial development.
Through the Code of Hammurabi, it was clear that there was social stratification in the Babylonian society. Hammurabi's code was based on the saying ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' This meant that the retribution for the crime would roughly fit the severity of the crime. However, in fact, the laws in the code differed based upon a person's social class. Babylonian society consisted of three classes. They are the awilu, a free person of the upper class; the mushkenu, a free person of low estate; and the wardu, or slave (“Babylonia”). In laws 196 and 197, it says ‘If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out,’ ‘If he break another man's bone, his bone shall be broken’ respectively. These are the examples that fit into the saying ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ On the other hand, in law 199 and 201, it says ‘If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's slave, he shall pay one-half of its value,’ ‘If he knock out the teeth of a freed man, he shall pay one-third of a gold mina’ respectively. Ironically, these codes are far from the saying. The upper class people were generally protected by laws of equal retaliation; however, lower...