Full Name: __________________________ Class: ________ Grade: _____ /100

Around 1790 BCE a man named Hammurabi conquered Mesopotamia.

He established an empire with a capital city at Babylon. To help unify his
empire, he collected existing Mesopotamian laws into a single code of
around 300 specific laws. The code regulated not only crime but also a
variety of other areas. He engraved the code on stone pillars and placed
them throughout his empire. The following regulations from
Hammurabi’s Code deal with marriage, family matters, property,
personal injury, and trade.
142. If a woman hates her husband and says to him “You cannot be with me,” the
authorities in her district will investigate the case. If she has been chaste and without
fault, even though her husband has neglected or belittled her, she will be held innocent
and may return to her father’s house.

143. If the woman is at fault, she shall be thrown into the river.

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

196. If a man has destroyed the eye of another free man, his own eye shall be
destroyed.

198. If he has destroyed the eye of a peasant, or broken a bone of a peasant, he shall
pay one silver 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 has knocked out the teeth of a man of the same rank, his own teeth shall
be knocked out.

218. If a physician has treated a man with a metal knife for a severe wound, and has
caused the man to die, or has opened a man’s tumor with a metal knife, and destroyed
the man’s eye, his hands shall be cut off…

229. If a builder has built a house for a man and his work is not strong, and if the
house he has built falls in and kills the householder, that builder shall be slain,

230. If the child of the householder is killed, the child of that builder shall be slain.

231. If the slave of the household is killed, he shall give slave for slave to the
householder.

232. If goods have been destroyed, he shall replace all that has been destroyed; and
because the house that he built was not made strong, and it has fallen in, he shall
restore the fallen house out of his own personal property.
Questions: Please answer in complete sentences. Each answer should be
at least 3-5 sentences long.

1. Are the codes of Hammurabi based on social classes? Given one

example to support your answer (be sure to explain your
example).

2. Why might the punishments and crimes be based on social

classes?

3. Hammurabi had these 300 laws printed on large stone pillars

and placed them throughout his empire. Why do you think
Hammurabi did this? Would you do the same if your were in
Hammurabi’s shoes?

4. What clues does the Code of Hammurabi give about Babylonian

society? How does it describe the roles of men and women?

5. Do you agree with Hammurabi’s codes? Explain why/why not.