Today’s Goal is to understand; The Code of Hammurabi Today’s Goal is to understand; how law can be a stabilizing factor for a society. how laws inform our understanding of the society under investigation.

Hammurabi’s Code Inscribed below the carved image at the top of the monolith are the 282 laws established by King Hammurabi Hammurabi felt as though it was his duty to write these laws to please the gods. It shows rules and punishments if those rules are defied. It focuses on theft, farming (or shepherding), property damage, women's rights, marriage rights, children's rights, slave rights, and murder, death, and injury. The laws do not accept excuses or explanations for mistakes or fault - the Code was openly displayed for all to see, so no man could plead ignorance of the law as an excuse. However, few people (mainly scribes) could read.

Hammurabi’s Code (Detail) This image from the top of Hammurabi’s Code of Laws (stone monolith) The carving depicts King Hammurabi receiving the symbols of authority, a rod and ring, from the god Marduk. This form of relief carving typifies much of the art that adorned city and palace walls throughout the Mesopotamian civilization. Relief Carving = carving into a large block of a solid substance (usually some form of rock). Mesopotamian carvings were usually quite shallow. They had not yet learned to support statues that were more intricate or deeply carved.

Hammurabi’s Code (Detail) The cuneiform writing here explains each of the 282 laws. (This is an etching done from the surface of the original monolith)

Here’s what you have to do… In pairs, review one page of laws that are covered in Hammurabi’s Code. Classify each of the laws on that page into the following categories; (label next to each law) theft farming (or shepherding) property damage women's rights marriage rights children's rights slave rights murder, death, and injury 3. What are some of the trends that you notice? Summarize some of the basic ideas represented in these laws. 4. How do these laws help us to understand the Mesopotamian society better?

After that… 5 a) Why does a society need laws? What are the advantages of a written code of laws? On what do we base our laws? b) In groups, develop and record a code of ten basic laws for our class (Mr. Papadopoulos’ code). Decide first on the principles that will inform your laws and the major issues the laws should deal with. Record and present your laws on the sheet provided.