2. The Hammurabi Code Gift of the Mesopotamians (Here to picture drawn from your textbook)

3. Inventions of the Mesopotamians: Wheel Writing Mathematics Irrigation Written Law

4. Hammurabi 1795-1750 BCE Height of the Babylonian Empire Most famous king: Hammurabi Created a unified kingdom covering most of Mesopotamia

5. What did the Code Cover? Family Relations Marriage Inheritance Adoption

6. What did the Code cover? Family Relations Land Tenure Land from king to soldiers Individual rights against officials

7. What did the Code cover? Family Relations Land Tenure Commerce Contracts Debt Interest Rates Security Default

8. What did the Code truly provide? Predictable and lasting rules. A consistent framework within which society could develop.

10. "I am indeed the shepherd who brings peace, whose scepter is just. My benevolent shade was spread over my city, I held the people of the lands of Sumer and Akkad safely on my lap... May any wronged man who has a case come before my statue as king of justice, and may he have my inscribed stele read aloud to him.

11. May he hear my precious words and my stele clarify his case for him. May he examine his lawsuit and may he calm his (troubled) heart. May he say: 'Hammurabi... provided just ways for the land." Hammurabi, King of Babylon, Stele of Hammurabi from Susa. Quoted from Marc van de Mieroop, A history of the ancient Near East. Blackwell 2nd edition (Malden MA: 2007), 113. Harmansah, O. (2007) The Rise (and Demise) of the State in the Near East, Arch 2300. Providence, RI: Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown University. http://proteus.brown.edu/riseofstate/4442. Accessed September 14, 2008.

12. Questions about text: What is the tone of the quote you just read? Based on your reading of the text, what might you think Hammurabi’s purpose is in his words and in his chizzling them into stone?

13. What if the Code: Is not a literal code of conduct, But instead is symbolic, Or even propaganda?

14. Stele of Hammurabi

15. Law and Prophets: in Context The quotes I provided lack context. Refer to pages 62-67 in your text.