2. Hammurabi’s Code
Code- organized list of laws
Hammurabi- ruled Babylonia from 1792 B.C. to 1750
B.C.
Written law helps people know what is expected of
them and what punishment they will receive if they
break the law.
Hammurabi’s Code was created to help people settle
disputes in all areas of life. 282 laws total in the code.
3. “If a man has destroyed the eye of a man of the class of gentlemen, they
shall destroy his eye. If he has broken a gentlemen’s bone, they shall break
his bone. If he has destroyed the eye of a commoner or broken a bone of a
commoner, he shall pay one silver. If he has destroyed the eye of a
gentleman’s slave, or broken a bone of a gentlemen’s slave, he shall pay
half of the slave’s price. If a gentlemen’s slave strikes the cheek of a
gentlemen, they shall cut the slave’s ear off.” -from Hammurabi’s Code
4. Eye for an Eye
Hammurabi’s code based on “eye for an eye”.
(Punishment should fit the crime committed.)
Code was not equal to all people, based on Social
Class.
Higher the class of the victim, greater the
punishment was.
Even if the law was broken by accident, punishment
was still the same.
5. “Sorry Doc!”
“If a surgeon performed a major
operation on a citizen with a
bronze knife and the citizen dies,
his hand shall be cut off!” – from
Hammurabi’s Code
6. More Laws…
If anyone steal the minor son of another, he shall be
put to death.
If anyone is committing a robbery and is caught, he
shall be put to death.
If a son strikes his father, his hands shall be cut off.
If you disrespect Mr. Epifano, you shall be thrown in
the Westridge Dungeon (Oops how did this get
here!)
7. Why are written laws
important? ( answer in your
Cornell notes)
8. Art of Writing
Writing first developed in Mesopotamia around 3100
B.C.
Writing met the need to keep records, hence why we
know so much about Mesopotamia.
Scribes kept records of farm animals, government
workers, military supplies, and important events.
9. How was Writing
Invented?
At first, written words were symbols that represent
certain objects.
Symbols changed over time into cuneiform, which
are symbols that make groups of wedges and lines. (
Like our alphabet)
Cuneiform served a variety of people.
10. QUIZ
What was Hammurabi’s code, and what was its
purpose in ancient Babylonia?
What does the expression “eye for an eye” mean?
How was Hammurabi’s code fair and how was it
unfair?
Why was the development of writing of writing an
important step in human History?
