The Code of Hammurabi Quiz

The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed between 1755-1750 BC. It is the longest, best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East and is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian. The primary copy of the text is inscribed on a basalt stele 2.25m tall, which was rediscovered in 1901 at the site of Susa in present-day Iran. The top of the stele features an image in relief of Hammurabi with Shamash, the Babylonian sun god and god of justice. The laws are casuistic, expressed as "if ... then" conditional sentences, and are broad in scope, including criminal law, family law, property law, and commercial law. Modern scholars admire the perceived fairness and respect for the rule of law in the Code, as well as the complexity of Old Babylonian society. There is much discussion of its influence on the Mosaic Law. Hammurabi was the sixth king of the Amorite First Dynasty of Babylon, ruling from 1792 to 1750 BC. He secured Babylonian dominance over the Mesopotamian plain through military prowess, diplomacy, and treachery. Hammurabi had an aggressive foreign policy, but his letters suggest he was concerned with the welfare of his many subjects and was interested in law and justice. The Code was not the first written Mesopotamian law collection to be discovered, but it was the first to be widely known. The first copy of the text found, and still the most complete, is on a 2.25m stele. The stele is now displayed on the ground floor of the Louvre, in Room 227 of the Richelieu wing. The prologue and epilogue of the Code occupy one-fifth of the text, and both are written in poetic style. The prologue begins with an etiology of Hammurabi's royal authority, and he then lists his achievements and virtues.The Code of Hammurabi: A Summary

• The Code of Hammurabi is a legal text from ancient Mesopotamia, dating to around 1754 BCE.

• The text is divided into a prologue, laws, and an epilogue.

• The prologue describes Hammurabi's accomplishments and portrays him as a just ruler who restores and maintains temples and is peerless on the battlefield.

• The epilogue explicitly relates to the laws and exalts Hammurabi's laws and magnanimity. It expresses a hope that any wronged man who has a lawsuit may have the laws of the stele read aloud to him and know his rights.

• The Code of Hammurabi is the longest and best-organized legal text from the ancient Near East, as well as the best-preserved.

• The purpose and legal authority of the Code have been disputed since the mid-20th century, with theories falling into three main categories: legislation, law report, and abstract work of jurisprudence.

• The Code may be more of a scholarly treatise than a code of laws, with its entries arranged according to the principles of opposition and pointillism.

• The Code reflects the principle of lex talionis, or "eye for an eye."

• Persons were not equal before the law; social class and gender dictated the punishment or remedy they received.

• The laws recognized the importance of the intentions of a defendant and the value of written evidence.

• The Code is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian and is a standard set text for introductory Akkadian classes.

• The cuneiform signs themselves are regular and repetitive.Summary of "Code of Hammurabi"

• The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text from the 18th century BCE.

• The laws are arranged in bands, side by side, from right to left and are conditional sentences with the case detailed in the protasis ("if" clause) and the remedy given in the apodosis ("then" clause).

• The Code upholds the "one crime, one punishment" principle.

• The Code bears strong similarities to earlier Mesopotamian law collections and features prologues and epilogues.

• The Code bears strong similarities to later Mesopotamian law collections, including the casuistic Middle Assyrian Laws and the Neo-Babylonian Laws.

• The relationship between the Code of Hammurabi and the Mosaic Law is subject to debate, but they share similarities in the casuistic format and principles such as lex talionis.

• The influence of the Code of Hammurabi on later law collections is difficult to establish.

• Law 238 stipulates the general average principle of marine insurance.

• The Code is often referred to in legal scholarship, where its provisions are assumed to be laws, and the document is assumed to be a true code of laws.

• Hammurabi leads Babylon in five of the six Civilization video games.

• There is a relief portrait of Hammurabi over the doors to the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol.

• Replicas of the Louvre stele are found in institutions around the world, including the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City and the Peace Palace in The Hague.