NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
The Code for Babylon As a civilization develops it experiences a constant growth of the knowledge which increases skills of its people. When the civilization develops and progresses far enough, artisans, merchants, and traders form to help advance the community. As the population grows, so does the need for a single orderly rule. In 1792 BC when Hammurabi, King of Babylon, was presented with power he, with his god s help, devised a rule known as the Code of Hammurabi. When the seven foot stele of black diorite was discovered, it changed the way we thought about one of our most important history. In January through December, 1901 - 1902, M.
de Morgan and his French excavation team discovered a column (figure A) containing 282 laws written by Hammurabi. At the time it was the oldest recorded written document of law ever discovered. When archeologists studied the code they instantly found almost parallel similarities between it and the laws given to us by Moses in Exodus. As time progressed, other archeologists discovered other, even older, codes of law from older, extinct civilizations. When studied, the codes revealed the knowledge of when Hammurabi lived and how the other cultures lived.
After what came to known as the Code of Hammurabi and other earlier codes were examined, certain similarities presented themselves, suggesting that they might have been the basis for earlier collections of Sumerian and Akkadian laws. This adds up to the possibility that the laws from the Sumerian emperors were the basics of a later code which Hammurabi of Babylon gathered and proclaimed as his laws. Recorded on the stele the Code lasted in Susa, the ancient capitol of Elam, of Persia ever since it was placed there, by order of Hammurabi, a couple thousand years ago. The Code has helped our understanding of history.
The Amorites settled in a small up-river town pg. 134 Bab. named Babylon. After a few hundred years of warfare, growth and governing they resolved the conflict, between the northern city-state Larsa and themselves. Then around 1700 BC, a single empire emerged, conquered under Hammurabi.
He then became the founder and ruler of the first Babylonian empire. Hammurabi was more than just a great military leader, he was an expert organizer and a wise statesman as well. Hammurabi also unified on the Euphrates River, to the Dial and the Examine, along with a number of other surrounding city-states. From 1792 BC, he continued to reign for approximately 42 years to 1750 BC.
As king, Hammurabi reorganized the administration of justice and established an orderly arrangement of written laws. He did this to retain respect for his gods, as well as to keep his people in mind. In the introduction of his code he says that the gods Anu and Bel called upon him to bring rule for the well-being of man-kind, as well as to destroy the wicked. Hammurabi speaks of himself as the father of his people, their pastor, savior, and good protecting shadow Code of Hammurabi. The 282 different laws of the stele were the foundation of all law making in Babylon from its first proclamation until the fall of the Babylonian Empire.
The stele of black diorite is seven feet, six inches high. At its top (figure A) is Hammurabi telling about the law to his god Shamash. It was fully described in journals by assyriologists who completely translated all 282 laws. Dr. Hugo Wiclkler s translation furnished the basis of the version presented to us today. The stele has a autobiographic preface telling of Hammurabi s accomplishments including how the gods gave him the laws.
After the preface are listed the 282 sometimes, brutal laws telling of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. common saying Lastly, an epilogue concludes the code. When Dr. Wiclkler translated the stele, almost immediately did similarities were seen between the laws of Hammurabi and those of the Old Testament, attributed to Moses. The laws brought to us by Moses and our God, in Exodus, were borrowed from the ancient laws of Babylonia. The laws controlled almost all aspects of Babylonian life.
Agriculture was carefully arranged. Some laws concerned commerce, and industry, and considered wages, hours and the conditions of work. Some of these dealt with property, contracts, personal rights and bankruptcy. Others dealt with divorce, and marriage.
All of these were neatly put together and organized into categories. The laws were rather severe. For example, law number 229, If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill it s owner, then that builder shall be put to death Code, and number 230 If it kill the son of the owner the son of that builder shall be put to death. Code One instance told of the King of Larsa who met his death through the collapse of a temple staircase. Even rituals were designed to prevent such things from happening, omens foretold of death through an accident of this kind. Each law simply put the expression an eye for and eye, which we derived from the basis of these laws, into total use.
Unfortunately the expression did not apply equally to the rich; so if the a rich man took out the eye of a servant accidentally, he would just have to pay a fine, but not loose his eye. Oddly enough, condemning a man to death is one thing, but throughout the entire 282 laws, not one relates to murder. The looting of property from a burning house is included, but not arson. Capital crimes are included such as adultery, cowardice in the face of the enemy (though they would be dead anyway), theft, incest, kidnapping, false witness, and malfeasance in public office. The majority of the laws resulted in a body part being lost or the death sentence. The power over the people, no matter what their opinion of the sentence, was always maintained by the authority of the gods and the state.
The crimes that require a death penalty were required to have a trial with a bench of judges to decide if the man should be condemned. The judges always were forced to have the trial under the supervision of the king s advisors and officials. The legal actions were initiated under the code by written pleadings. The testimony was first taken under oath. Witnesses could have been subpoenaed. The code then guided such principles through a trial.
The point of the legal trial was so that those with power, the strong, could not injure the weak, and so the punishment would fit the crime having been committed. The administration at the time was highly centralized in the heart of the empire. Therefore, surprisingly enough, no matter was too small to merit the king s personal attention to the matter at hand. The administration in Babylon is know and will always be known for it s laws, and for it s record of business documents and a volume of correspondence between the king and his officials spread throughout their empire. The administration, coordinated with the laws were in charge of the timaru, or the merchants. It said that the trading was not to be confined to their own homelands, or a single item.
Temkarus were organized to trade in such commodities such as food, wool, timber, garments, textiles, grain, wine, ale, metals, reeds, bricks, cattle and horses, and even slaves. Many tablets have been discovered portraying pictures of merchants buying or selling slaves within Babylonia. Hammurabi gave to the world not only a set of laws that ruled society and business, but also a tradition of the importance of justice under the laws. This ideas are often discussed in the current news of today. Bibliography 1.
Johns C. H. , Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts, and Letters, Men of Law, See, William, 1977 2. Major, Anatole G. , Peoples, John M. , Men and Nations: a World History Harcourt Brace Jovavovich Inc, 1975 3. Oxford, Arnold J, Study of History, Oxford University press, New York, and London, 1957 4. Sales, H.
W. E. , The Greatness the was Babylon, Hawthorn Books Inc. New York, New York, 1962 5. Wells, H. G. , The Outline of History, Part I, Garden City Books. , Garden City, New York, 1956
Free research essays on topics related to: garden city, code of hammurabi, babylon, put to death, hammurabi
Research essay sample on Code Of Hammurabi Put To Death
