Hammurabi’s Code: An Insight Into Ancient Babylon

From Law 9 and later laws, modern day historians can see that belief in the god’s, reverence of them, and belief in their power to affect the lives of Babylonians, was an important ingredient in the creation of such laws. Without gods universally accepted and feared by Babylonians, such a standard of proof would be hollow, as witnesses and defendants could easily lie. If the existence and power of a god was so unilaterally accepted, then the values and customs of such a society too would be associated with a belief in a god.

‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’, this principle, also known in Latin as Lex Talionis, is another key aspect of the Hammurabi Code. What this common ancient principle revolves around is the notion of equality between victim and perpetrator. Law 229 is an example of this principle; it says “If a builder constructed a house for a seignior, but did not make his work strong, with the result that the house which he built collapsed and so caused the death of the owner of the house, that builder shall be put to death.”

These kinds of laws which the Code contains show that the Babylonians at that time period felt that justice was only marked with an equal repayment of the loss incurred. Many of the laws which involve sums of silver or measures of grain were often paid back and a certain sum was added on top of this as compensation.

Hammurabi’s Code also gives vast primary reference to the use of clay tablets in Ancient Babylon. In Law 18, when discussing circumstances of losing slaves, the law mentions a “place of records” to which those who found slaves could go and find out who the slave belonged to. Also, in Law 105, when describing situations of lending of goods, the law mentions “if the trader has been careless and has not obtained a sealed receipt for the money which he paid to the merchant…” This indicates the importance of record taking in Ancient Babylon.

In Law 23, an interesting circumstance in which a robbery occurs and the robber is not identified, the law recognizes the state as being liable to repay the lost amount. Such state liability is demonstrated in several other laws pertaining to both material and animal or human losses. This key understanding indicates how wide the jurisdiction of these laws was, making them unique for the time period.

Laws 42 through to 48 discuss the key area of those “lazy in their work”. The Babylonians, demonstrated through their laws, that they felt no sympathy for those who did not work. These laws demand that rent be paid for houses and fields, even if the harvest from them is unproductive, and in fact incur penalties for those who do not use the land productively. Fields then had to be returned to the owner in the state in which they were originally let.

The Code of Hammurabi holds reams of information about the values, customs and society of Babylon. The laws show overall, however, how the Babylonians were an extremely civilized, literate and law-abiding nation. In his book Social Thought, Rollin Chambliss concludes his assessment of the Laws in saying “The Code of Hammurabi is important not for its originality, but for its detailed presentation of some of the prevailing ideas in Ancient Babylon”.