Stealing

6. If a man has stolen goods from a temple, or house, he shall be put to death; and he that has received
the stolen property from him shall be put to death.
8. If a patrician has stolen ox, sheep, donkey, pig, or ship, whether from a temple, or a house, he shall
pay thirtyfold. If he be a plebeian, he shall return tenfold. If the thief cannot pay, he shall be put to death.
14. If a man has stolen a child, he shall be put to death.

Slavery
16. If a man has harbored (hidden) in his house a male or female slave and has not caused the
fugitive to leave that householder shall be put to death.
17. If a man has caught either a male or female runaway slave in the open field and has brought him
back to his owner, the owner of the slave shall give him two shekels of silver.
Marriage & Divorce
141. If a man's wife, living in her husband's house, has persisted in going out, has acted the fool, has
wasted her house, has belittled her husband, he shall prosecute her. If her husband has said, "I divorce
her," she shall go her way; he shall give her nothing as her price of divorce. If her husband has said, "I
will not divorce her," he may take another woman to wife; the wife shall live as a slave in her husband's
house.
142. If a woman has hated her husband and has said, "You shall not possess me," her past shall be
looked into... If she has been discreet (not doing wrong) and her husband has gone out, and has greatly
[done her wrong], that woman has no blame, she shall [go home] to her father's house.

143. If she has not been discreet, has gone out, ruined her house, belittled her husband, she shall be
drowned.
Violent Crimes
196. If a man has knocked out the eye of a patrician his eye shall be knocked out.
197. If he has broken the limb (arm or leg) of a patrician, his limb shall be broken.
198. If he has knocked out the eye of a plebeian (ordinary person) or has broken the limb of a plebeian,
he shall pay one mina of silver.
200. If a patrician has knocked out the tooth of a man that is his equal, his tooth shall be knocked out.
201. If he has knocked out the tooth of a plebeian, he shall pay one-third of a mina of silver.

209. If a man has struck a free woman with child, and has caused her to miscarry, he shall pay ten
shekels for her miscarriage.
210. If that woman die, his daughter shall be killed.
211. If it be the daughter of a plebeian, that has miscarried through his blows, he shall pay five shekels
of silver.
OVERARCHING: Does the Code of Hammurabi strike you as fair?

PHASE 1
General understanding
1) What are you thinking
after reading a section?
What in the text makes
you say that?

2) Describe what happened
after [section]. Does it
say that explicitly, or do
we infer?
Summary, Central Idea, Theme

3) What do the terms
patrician and plebian
indicate about
Mesopotamian society?

4) Rank the central ideas
from most obvious to
most hidden.
Key Details, Text Organization

5) Which laws would have
had the most impact on
peoples lives?
Vocabulary, Words
6) Are there any old
words or expressions?
What do you think they
show?

7) What tone does the
author create? What
words contribute to that
tone?
Genre, Text structure, Syntax

8) How could this
information help
someone? Why would
someone read this text?

9) Are the sentences easy or
hard to understand?
Point of View, Authors Purpose,
Perspective

10) What does the author want us
to believe about what is just and
fair? (Is that realistic for different
groups?

11) What were the authors
intentions or motivations in
writing this?
Visual Features

12) How does the village of a
giant stone in the middle of a
town add to or clarify the
message? How do they aid your
understand? (Imagine if we
didnt learn about laws in school
but instead from a giant statue
outside the police station)
Text Quality, Author Credibility

13) Does the author present the
laws fairly?

14) Does the information change
your perspective about what is
just + unjust?
Text-to-Text Connections

15) How does the way the Code
deals with law compare to how
current state law in Wisconsin
operates in 2014? (Project on
overhead: some kind of law)