Hammurabi's Code: Ancient Babylon's First Written Laws
The scribe Enu crouches at the base of a tall black stone pillar in a busy Babylonian marketplace, his reed stylus tracing cuneiform symbols as he reads the carved laws aloud to a small crowd of merchants and farmers gathered around him.
- Explain why King Hammurabi created a written law code for Babylon around 1754 BCE.
- Identify at least two specific laws from Hammurabi's Code and their consequences.
- Describe how punishments in the Code differed depending on a person's social rank.
- Compare the idea of written laws in ancient Babylon to how rules work in communities today.
Key terms
- law code
- An organized, written collection of laws that applies to everyone in a society
- stele
- A tall stone pillar carved with writing or images, often set up in a public place
- lex talionis
- The 'eye for an eye' principle that a punishment should match the harm that was done
- social class
- A group people belong to based on rank, such as noble, free person, or slave
One Code for a Kingdom
Before Hammurabi, each Babylonian city followed its own customs, and the powerful often decided disputes as they pleased. By carving nearly 300 laws onto a public stele, Hammurabi created a single written standard that merchants, farmers, and builders could all see and know in advance. Publicly written law was a major step toward predictable, shared rules across a whole kingdom.
Justice Tied to Rank
Many laws followed 'an eye for an eye,' but the penalty depended heavily on social class. Harming a noble brought a harsher punishment than harming a free commoner or a slave. This was structured justice, not the equal justice we expect today. Reading the Code carefully shows that its idea of fairness was built around a person's rank in society.
Worked examples
Was Hammurabi's Code equal justice for all?
- State the claim to test: that the Code treated everyone the same.
- Examine the evidence: penalties changed depending on whether the victim was a noble, commoner, or slave.
- Compare cases: harming a noble was punished more harshly than harming a slave.
- Judge the claim: differing penalties by rank means the Code was class-based, not equal.
Answer: No. The Code applied different punishments based on social class, so it was structured justice rather than equal justice.
Activity
Drag each action on the left to its correct consequence from Hammurabi's Code on the right.
Practice
Explain why carving the laws on a public stele was important to Hammurabi's goal.
Describe how a person's social class could change their punishment under the Code.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Hammurabi's Code gave everyone equal punishment.Punishments differed by social class, so the Code was class-stratified rather than equal for all.
Check your understanding
Why did King Hammurabi have nearly 300 laws carved onto a large stone pillar?
A noble and a slave both commit the same offense in Hammurabi's Code. What does the Code say about their punishments?
Recap
Hammurabi's Code was one of the earliest written law codes, carved publicly on a stele around 1754 BCE so all Babylonians knew the rules, though its punishments followed 'an eye for an eye' and varied by social class.
Reflect
How is the idea of laws being written down and public still important to us today?