Hammurabi’s Code 1700s BCE

How did King Hammurabi contribute to the rise of Babylon? Essential Question How did King Hammurabi contribute to the rise of Babylon?

Evaluation of Evidence We must evaluate all evidence To evaluate evidence, we ask: Why is a document useful? What are its limitations? What other information do we need?

Conquering and Changes After Sumer declined, the City-state of Ur rose to glory By 2,000 BCE Ur was in ruins and invaders began to gain control of Mesopotamia The Babylonians

The Rise of Babylon Located on the Euphrates River (modern day Baghdad, Iraq) Once was a Sumerian town By 1792 BCE Hammurabi became Babylon’s king

Relief of Hammurabi and the god Shamash Who was Hammurabi? Member of the Amorite dynasty King of Babylon from 1792-1750 BCE United all of Mesopotamia under the Babylonian Empire Ur was not the only famous city in Sumer. Babylon, located north-west of Ur on the Euphrates River, also rose in power. One of its greatest rulers was named Hammurabi. When Hammurabi too control of Babylon in 1792 BCE, Mesopotamia was made up of separate, warring city-states. Hammurabi’s goal was to conquer all of Mesopotamia and unite the city-states into one country. He spend the first 31 years of his reign building his military power and making allies. In 1761 BCE, he began a military campaign to conquer the surrounding city-states and within 5 years he controlled all of Mesopotamia. Relief of Hammurabi and the god Shamash

Hammurabi’s Code Laws for Babylonian society Tool to unify expanding empire “That the strong might not injure the weak” Allowed everyone to know the rules Once he had brought peace to the region, Hammurabi turned his attention to law and order. He collected all existing codes of laws and set down a detailed document known as the “Code of Hammurabi.” Written in 1750 BCE, it contained 300 laws on such topics as false accusation, witchcraft, military service, land and business, famil, taxes, wages, loans, and debts. The main message throughout the code was that the strong should not hurt the weak. The code states the rights of the individual and was the model for many law systems in later years.

What does it look like? Various copies of Hammurabi’s Code have been unearthed. Most are inscriptions on baked clay tablets. The most well known surviving copy is an inscriptions on a stone slab called a stela. It is about 7 feet high, 2.5 feet across, and 1.5 feet thick. At the top there is a relief, or image, of Hammurabi and the god Shamash. The laws are written on the stela vertically and read from right to left.

Loss and Unearthing In the 12th century BCE, the king of another country took the stela. Like many artifacts, it was eventually lost. In 1901, French archaeologists unearthed the stela in Susa, Iran. They then took it to France. It is now housed in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Central Historical Question What can we learn about Babylonia from Hammurabi’s Code?