The Code of Hammurabi

Some of my favorite laws in Mesopotamia circa 1792 BC are as follows:


110. If a nun open a tavern, or enter a wineshop to drink, then shall this woman be burned to death.

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

196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.

197. If he break another man's bone, his bone shall be broken.

198. If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina.

199. If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.

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

201. If he knock out the teeth of a freed man, he shall pay one-third of a gold mina.

202. If any one strike the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in public.

203. If a free-born man strike the body of another free-born man or equal rank, he shall pay one gold mina.

204. If a freed man strike the body of another freed man, he shall pay ten shekels in money.

205. If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a freed man, his ear shall be cut off.

206. If during a quarrel one man strike another and wound him, then he shall swear, "I did not injure him wittingly," and pay the physicians.

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

210. If the woman die, his daughter shall be put to death.

211. If a woman of the free class lose her child by a blow, he shall pay five shekels in money.





Discussion

The law that describes "the nun being burned to death for entering a wineshop to drink" always struck me as odd but that particular law is an eye-opener. It makes you realize just how much you don't know about Ancient Mesopotamia. Perhaps nuns weren't allowed out of the temple, so just being out was a violation. Or maybe wineshops were really brothels and a nun entering this kind of place implied something else.

Here is another law that seems crazy to me: "If a man strike a free-born woman and she die, then his daughter shall be put to death." The punishment is that his daughter shall be put to death, not himself but his daughter. That would never fly nowadays. Men and women had different values back in Mesopotamia, actually, that's no big surprise.

Eye for an eye/ tooth for a tooth laws always seemed brutal to me but really these laws are quite civil. They impose limits upon revenge. If a man of your same status takes out your eye or makes you lose a tooth, you can't kill him and his whole family or burn down his house as you might like. No, you are limited to just taking out his eye or breaking his teeth.

When I taught Sixth Grade Social Studies, we had a lot of fun with this code of laws. The students broke into small groups and reenacted the laws bringing their situations before the king. Certainly, having to choose and then act in an improvised scene based upon a chosen law would have the effect of making the laws worth reading, understanding and remembering. Acting is a great way to instill learning.

As a follow-up activity, we would make our own code of laws for our class which we would use and amend throughout the rest of the school year.