Code of Hammurabi

The Code of Hammurabi was one of the earliest and most complete written legal codes and was
proclaimed by the Babylonian king Hammurabi, who reigned from 1792 to 1750 B.C. Hammurabi
expanded the city-state of Babylon along the Euphrates River to unite all of southern Mesopotamia. The
Hammurabi code of laws, a collection of 282 rules, established standards for commercial interactions
and set fines and punishments to meet the requirements of justice. Hammurabi’s Code was carved onto
a massive, finger-shaped black stone stele (pillar) that was looted by invaders and finally rediscovered in
1901.

What Is the Code of Hammurabi?

The black stone stele containing the Code of Hammurabi was carved from a single, four-ton slab of
diorite, a durable but incredibly difficult stone for carving.

At its top is a two-and-a-half-foot relief carving of a standing Hammurabi receiving the law—symbolized
by a measuring rod and tape—from the seated Shamash, the Babylonian god of justice. The rest of the
seven-foot-five-inch monument is covered with columns of chiseled cuneiform script.

The text, compiled at the end of Hammurabi’s reign, is less a proclamation of principles than a collection
of legal precedents, set between prose celebrating Hammurabi’s just and pious rule. Hammurabi’s Code
provides some of the earliest examples of the doctrine of “lex talionis,” or the laws of retribution,
sometimes better known as “an eye for an eye.”

Did you know? The Code of Hammurabi includes many harsh punishments, sometimes demanding the
removal of the guilty party’s tongue, hands, breasts, eye or ear. But the code is also one of the earliest
examples of an accused person being considered innocent until proven guilty.

The 282 edicts are all written in if-then form. For example, if a man steals an ox, then he must pay back
30 times its value. The edicts range from family law to professional contracts and administrative law,
often outlining different standards of justice for the three classes of Babylonian society—the propertied
class, freedmen and slaves.

A doctor’s fee for curing a severe wound would be 10 silver shekels for a gentleman, five shekels for a
freedman and two shekels for a slave. Penalties for malpractice followed the same scheme: a doctor
who killed a rich patient would have his hands cut off, while only financial restitution was required if the
victim was a slave.
Hammurabi, the ruler of Babylon, is best known for the development of a code of laws known as the
Code of Hammurabi, which was used to regulate Mesopotamian society.

Who Was Hammurabi?

Hammurabi was born circa 1810 BCE, in Babylon, now modern-day Iraq. He transformed an unstable
collection of city-states into a strong empire that spanned ancient Mesopotamia. Hammurabi’s lasting
contribution to western society was his set of laws written on twelve stones and displayed publicly for
all to see, the most common being, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth." The laws are generally known as the
Code of Hammurabi.

Code of Hammurabi Summary

In approximately 1771, BCE, Hammurabi, king of the Babylonian Empire, decreed a set of laws to every
city-state to better govern his bourgeoning empire. Known today as the Code of Hammurabi, the 282
laws are one of the earliest and more complete written legal codes from ancient times. The codes have
served as a model for establishing justice in other cultures and are believed to have influenced laws
established by Hebrew scribes, including those in the Book of Exodus. The codes were originally carved
into a massive monolith of black diorite, eight feet high. Lost for centuries after the fall of Babylon in
1595 BCE, the pillar was rediscovered in ruins of the Elamite city of Susa in 1901.

The Hammurabi Code is not a complete set of laws, but more a series of enactments addressing specific
cases and subjects such as slavery, debt, commercial regulations, marriage and inheritance. There are
many codes that prescribe varying degrees of punishment for crimes, compensation for specific injuries,
fees for surgeons, barbers and veterinarians. Below are a few examples.

Hammurabi Laws

# 18. If the slave will not give the name of the master, the finder shall bring him to the palace; a further
investigation must follow, and the slave shall be returned to his master.

# 48. If anyone owe a debt for a loan, and a storm prostrates the grain, or the harvest fail, or the grain
does not grow for lack of water; in that year he need not give his creditor any grain, he washes his debt-
tablet in water and pays no rent for this year.

# 50. If he give a cultivated corn-field or a cultivated sesame-field, the corn or sesame in the field shall
belong to the owner of the field, and he shall return the money to the merchant as rent.

#161 - If a man marry a woman, and she bear sons to him; if then this woman die, then shall her father
have no claim on her dowry; this belongs to her sons.
# 196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.

#209. If a man strike a free-born woman so that she lose her unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels for
her loss.

# 221. If a physician heal the broken bone or diseased soft part of a man, the patient shall pay the
physician five shekels in money.

#224. If a veterinary surgeon perform a serious operation on an ass or an ox, and cure it, the owner shall
pay the surgeon one-sixth of a shekel as a fee.

Hammurabi Facts

When Hammurabi ascended to the throne, circa 1792, BCE, his small kingdom was composed of the city-
states of Babylon, Kish, Sippar and Borsippa. By the end of his rule in 1750 BCE, he controlled all of
ancient Mesopotamia. One of the major goals of his father and grandfather was to control the waters of
the Euphrates River, running northwest to southeast in Mesopotamia. Civilizations built along the river
were heavily engaged in agriculture and trade. The idea was to control the flow of the river from as far
upstream as possible to control the communities downstream.

In the first few decades of his rule, Hammurabi focused his attention on the internal development of the
kingdom, including the construction of temples, public buildings and infrastructure projects. Written
documents from Hammurabi to officials and provincial governors showed him to be an able
administrator who personally supervised nearly all aspects of governing. To better administer his
kingdom, he issued a set of codes or laws to standardize rules and regulations and administer a universal
sense of justice.

So begins the Law Code of Hammurabi, a list of nearly 300 laws etched into a two and one-half meter
high black diorite pillar, discovered in 1902 but dating back to the time of Hammurabi himself (1792-
1750 B.C.E).

Some laws were quite brutal, others rather progressive. Members of the upper-class often received
harsher punishments than commoners, and women had quite a few important rights.

Most of the nearly 300 laws written on the pillar pertain to property rights of landowners, slavemasters,
merchants, and builders.

Here are some of the more unusual laws that seem very foreign to a modern society:
If any one finds runaway male or female slaves in the open country and bring them to their masters, the
master of the slaves shall pay him two shekels of silver.

If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death.

If a tavern-keeper (feminine) does not accept corn according to gross weight in payment of a drink, but
takes money, and the price of the drink is less than that of the corn, she shall be convicted and thrown
into the water.

If a son of a paramour or a prostitute say to his adoptive father or mother: "You are not my father, or my
mother," his tongue shall be cut off.

If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off.

If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out.

If a man strike a free-born woman so that she lose her unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss.

If a barber, without the knowledge of his master, cut the sign of a slave on a slave not to be sold, the
hands of this barber shall be cut off.

If a slave says to his master: "You are not my master," if they convict him his master shall cut off his ear.