The Importance of Hammurabi Code Essay Sample

The Hammurabi Code is one of the most important pieces of literature from Mesopotamia. This piece of literature had a very significant impact on Mesopotamia’s society and government as well as religion.  The Hammurabi Code was implemented during Hammurabi’s reign which began in 1792 B.C.E and lasted till 1750 B.C.E.  After the end of the Third Dynasty Ur  The Amorites settled down and Over the course of time one of their kings named Hammurabi managed to establish enough power to create a new empire. After the new empire was created Hammurabi began ordering a well-disciplined army that was later used to take control of Sumer and Akkad in order to reunify Mesopotamia.   However Hammurabi is well known for his impact which is seen by his own order of law which is the Hammurabi Code. The Hammurabi Code is a collection of laws which Hammurabi himself considered to be justifiable. The Hammurabi Code was inscribed on a piece of stone stele or a pillar which  contained 282 laws. The Hammurabi Code had to be followed by Babylonian society at the time, if not followed punishment was placed. These punishments varied and depended on how severe the crime was. Some may argue that the Hammurabi Code was made in order to create a sense of law and order in society but others believe its development was made only for Hammuarbi to portray himself as the source of Justice for him and his people. Nonetheless the Hammurabi Code was a very important aspect of early Mesopotamian life. 

The Code of Hammurabi is a very important piece of literature not only did it affect early Babylon life it also can explain many key aspects of Mesopotamia. The Hammurabi Code was a piece of text written during this time. Considering the fact that literature is present that alone can give us a lot of information about Mesopotamia at the time.  For instance it can show us that Mesopotamia had an established language. Language in these times is extremely important because it allows society to keep record of important ideas and events that may or may not occur during early civilization. Of course considering the time period Mesopotamia literature was mainly practiced in a certain form. This was called cuneiform which consisted of a more wedge shaped writing style that allowed people to inscribe text on stone. Nonetheless writing was very significant because this of course led to the Epic of Gilgamesh, a very important piece of literature that had a major impact on Babylonian religion. Another great idea that can be found out by viewing the Hammurabi Code is the pure fact that this civilization had a sense of enforcing obedience and law. The Hammurabi Code was followed by many in order to avoid severe punishment, but how did they enforce it? To put it simply, city officials were in charge of enforcing these laws and catching people who commit the crime. This is very important because it shows a system of enforcement which during these times is very difficult to see in other later civilizations having this level of enforcement. Another important detail that can be said about the Hammurabi Code is the code itself. Basically certain laws that are stated within the code that are very interesting and have common ideas that can be seen as relevant to our society today or even later societies in western civilization. For example it states in the Hammurabi Code law 196 “If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye.”  This is very important considering this similar statement can be seen in the religion of Christianity specifically the bible which is ahead of Mesopotamian times. Another law that can show us how life was is, The Hammurabi Code law 129, “If the wife of a man be taken in lying with another man, they shall bind them and throw them into the water. If the husband of the woman would save his wife, or if the king would save his male servant (he may).” This is very important considering that like most early civilizations women usually had fewer rights and privileges then men would. This of course explains the privileges that males had compared to females. This is very important to note considering the same common inequality that is seen in future civilizations. However women did have some rights according to the Code of Hammurabi, for instance a husband who divorced his wife without good reason had to return her dowry. Furthermore the Code of Hammurabi was respected among many Babylonians and to this day is still being examined in order to find more connections and deeper meaning to Early Mesopotamian civilization.  

Of course there is much more that the Hammurabi Code can explain for historians and tell us how their society functioned. Some of these important ideas can include privilege, social class, literature and much more. It isn’t a secret that the Hammurabi Code is filled with more interesting information about Mesopotamia especially considering the possible fact that there could have been much more to the Hammurabi Code. I personally believe that the Hammurabi Code was pretty fair except for certain parts such as the idea of giving women little to no privilege compared to men. However the Hammurabi Code is an ancient text explaining the laws that a society must follow or else punishment will be placed. And considering the fact the code may or may not have been fair it still was followed by many and may have had a great impact on how other future civilizations functioned.