1. HAMMURABI’S CODE

2. AGENDA Quiz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who’s ready?
Grade quiz as a class
Hammurabi’s Code discussion!
THREE DAY WEEKEND THREE DAY WEEKEND!

3. After you’ve finished the quiz…
Turn it in to the front table and grab a “Hammurabi’s Code” class set
As you read through excerpts of Hammurabi’s Code:
On a separate sheet of paper, take note of 10 laws that stick out to you and why they stick out to you

4. TIMELINE AND DATING

5. WHY BC AND AD TO BCE AND CE?

7. 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?

8. Relief of Hammurabi and the god Shamash
WHO WAS HAMMURABI?
King of Babylon from BCE
United all of Mesopotamia under the Babylonian Empire
Image retrieved from
Relief of Hammurabi and the god Shamash

9. 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

10. What does it look like?
Image retrieved from

11. ESSENTIAL QUESTION
What can we learn about Babylonian society from Hammurabi’s Code?

12. Hammurabi’s Code Discuss: What 10 stuck out to you? Why?
Is the law code fair? Why or why not?
What does this law code show about society? About how men and women and slaves were treated? What are important values of Babylonian society based on this law code?
Predict: what would society be like if we had laws as strict as that?
Share what stuck out to you
Discuss: is the law code fair?

13. CREATE YOUR OWN!
Your group has just terraformed a new planet in the year It is up to you to organize a code of laws that dictates how your society should act. Create a list of five to ten laws that must be followed by everyone in your society, keeping in mind:
What are your values? How will you express that?
Are your punishments based on the crimes committed?
Will you be gracious and kind or cruel and ruthless?
Is justice the most important? Or forgiveness?