The Code of Hammurabi - Essay Example

After it was studied it became clear what it was: a set of laws expounded by the Babylonian king Hammurabi. It revealed the end of the time of tribal custom and the beginning of a new period of history (Johns). Indeed, as a well-preserved artefact, there is much we can gain from its study. It shows us about the development of cities and kingdoms, how power is used and preserved, how commerce and wealth are created. It is a magnificent record of human development. Why was this code of laws important?

Why were people excited to discover it? The answer must lie in the role that laws and rules play in our society and in our evolution. In the distant past, people organized themselves in small groups of hunter-gatherers. Perhaps a few families worked together. It was easy to impose order when everyone knew each other. For example, even today most family disputes never leave the house. The mother or father is in charge and imposes discipline. When agriculture was developed, people began to settle in larger groups.

Small towns developed. It became much harder to impose rules and disciplines. What was required was an objective set of standards that was widely known. Property disputes and acts of violence needed to be resolved otherwise they would fester and lead to acts of violence, order would be destroyed. Rules and laws were required to maintain the peace. It is hard to know if the code itself was written in response to serious disorder in Hammurabi’s kingdom at the time. What is more likely is that these were rules that were generally accepted and unwritten for many years before it was decided to write them down.

Actually inscribing them has some benefits. It gave more certainty to the system; the rules were written down and could not be changed too easily. However, it is doubtful that the average person would have been able to read at this time. It was more likely for the benefit of those in the court and to leave a lasting legacy regarding the strength and order of the kingdom. Perhaps most significantly, we see here the protean version of the Ten Commandments that would become the basis of our own laws and jurisprudence.

There are those who suggest that Moses was inspired by the code of Hammurabi too (Cook, 30). More scholarship may be required to prove this idea, but it is an interesting one that may shed even more light on the development of laws. The Code tells us many important things about Hammurabi’s kingdom. While some of the laws may seem a little harsh to us today, for example, plucking out eyes and teeth, they nevertheless show a high degree of sophistication. The also show the Hammurabi was willing to give up a significant amount of his own discretion as king which other kings might normally use to punish people depending on how they felt that day.

These rules provide certainty and clarity. They show that Hammurabi was confident in the strength of his kingdom and willing to give up some power to those who would enforce the laws of the land. None of the laws seem to be especially unfair (though the punishment may seem violent to us) and that further proves that these rules were the work of a lucid mind and not a product of a crazed dictator. The recognition of private property is also a major shift away from communal property holding and may even signal the very beginning of the capitalist order (John).

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