Chapter 2 Section 3

“The Legacy of Mesopotamia”

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.

Hammurabi’s Code

“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

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.

Eye for an Eye

“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

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!)

More Laws…

Why are written laws important? ( answer in your Cornell notes)

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.

Art of Writing

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.

How was Writing Invented?

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?

QUIZ