The Code of Hammurabi (c. 1754 BCE)¶

Author: Hammurabi, King of Babylon (written by royal scribes) Type: Primary Source Source: Yale Avalon Project — public domain Era/Period: Era 1 — Civilizations and Religions WH Standards: WH.6_12.2 · WH.6_12.3

What This Text Is About¶

Stele of Hammurabi — Louvre The Stele of Hammurabi (c. 1754 BCE), carved in diorite, now in the Louvre. 282 laws inscribed in cuneiform.

The Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest written legal codes in recorded history, carved into an 8-foot stone stele around 1754 BCE in ancient Babylon. It contains 282 laws governing everything from trade and wages to family life, slavery, and punishment — organized around the principle that the strong shall not oppress the weak.

Read It¶

L.W. King translation (1910) — public domain. Full text at Yale Avalon Project.

Prologue — The Divine Mandate¶

When Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunaki, and Bel, the lord of Heaven and earth, who decreed the fate of the land, assigned to Marduk, the over-ruling son of Ea, God of righteousness, dominion over earthly man, and made him great among the Igigi, they called Babylon by his illustrious name, made it great on earth, and founded an everlasting kingdom in it, whose foundations are laid so solidly as those of heaven and earth; then Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the weak; so that I should rule over the black-headed people like Shamash, and enlighten the land, to further the well-being of mankind.

Note: The Code uses three tiers for calculating punishment — "awilum" (nobleman or free man), "mushkenum" (freedman or commoner), and "wardum" (slave). The same injury receives different punishment depending on the victim's social status.

Law 1. If any one ensnare another, putting a ban upon him, but he cannot prove it, then he that ensnared him shall be put to death.

Law 3. If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death.

Law 8. If any one steal cattle or sheep, or an ass, or a pig or a goat, if it belong to a god or to the court, the thief shall pay thirtyfold therefor; if they belonged to a freed man of the king he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay he shall be put to death.

Law 22. If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death.

Law 23. If the robber is not caught, then shall he who was robbed claim under oath the amount of his loss; then shall the community, and... on whose ground and territory and in whose domain it was compensate him for the goods stolen.

Law 48. If any one owe a debt for a loan, and a storm prostrates the grain, or the harvest fail, or the grain does not grow for lack of water, in that year he need not give his creditor any grain, he washes his debt-tablet in water and pays no rent for this year.

Law 109. If conspirators meet in the house of a tavern-keeper, and these conspirators are not captured and delivered to the court, the tavern-keeper shall be put to death.

Law 128. If a man take a woman to wife, but have no intercourse with her, this woman is no wife to him.

Law 129. If a man's wife be surprised with another man, both shall be tied and thrown into the water, but the husband may pardon his wife and the king his slaves.

Law 138. If a man wishes to separate from his wife who has borne him no children, he shall give her the amount of her purchase money and the dowry which she brought from her father's house, and let her go.

Laws 196–199 — The Tiered Eye-for-an-Eye¶

Law 196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.

Law 197. If he break another man's bone, his bone shall be broken.

Law 198. If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina.

Law 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.

Laws on Labor and Wages¶

Law 215. If a physician make a large incision with an operating knife and cure it, or if he open a tumor over the eye with an operating knife, and save the eye, he shall receive ten shekels in money.

Law 218. If a physician make a large incision with the operating knife, and kill him, or open a tumor with the operating knife, and cut out the eye, his hands shall be cut off.

Law 228. If a builder build a house for some one and complete it, he shall give him a fee of two shekels in money for each sar of surface.

Law 229. If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.

Epilogue — The King's Claim to Justice¶

These are the just laws which Hammurabi, the wise king, has established and by which he has directed the land aright and ruled it well. Hammurabi, the protecting king am I. I have not withdrawn myself from the men, whom Bel gave to me, the rule over whom Marduk gave to me, I was not negligent, but I made them a peaceful abiding-place. I expounded all great difficulties, I made the light shine upon them. With the mighty weapons which Enlil and Marduk had given to me, with the keen vision with which Enlil endowed me, I rooted out the enemy above and below; I made an end of war; I promoted the welfare of the land; I made the peoples rest in friendly habitations; I did not let them have any one to terrorize them.

ELA Standards This Connects To¶

R.9 — The code is an argumentative/informational primary source with a clear authorial purpose (legitimizing Hammurabi's rule through divine authority). Students analyze his claims, evidence, and rhetorical structure.
R.7 — Hammurabi's word choices ("shall be put to death," "shall make good") reveal assumptions about justice, class, and gender. Close reading of specific laws.
W.4 — Students can write argumentative or informational responses: "How does Hammurabi's Code reflect the values of Babylonian society?" Argument: Was this code just?

WH.6_12.2 — Hammurabi's Code is direct evidence of how early belief systems (Marduk, divine kingship) were built into civic law. The prologue invokes the gods to justify the king's authority.
WH.6_12.3 — The code establishes a formal political and legal system — one of the first to exist in written form. Demonstrates the structure of an early state: laws, courts, punishment, social hierarchy.

Key Vocabulary¶

Term	Definition
Stele	A stone slab carved with text or images, used as a public monument
Lex talionis	"An eye for an eye" — the principle of proportional punishment
Prologue	The opening section where Hammurabi claims divine authority from the god Marduk
Social hierarchy	A ranked ordering of people by class, gender, or status — explicit in the Code
Codify	To write laws down in a systematic, official form

Key Passage¶

If a man puts out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out. If he breaks another man's bone, his bone shall be broken. But if he puts out the eye of a freed man or breaks the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina. If he puts out the eye of a man's slave or breaks a bone of a man's slave, he shall pay one-half of its value. — Laws 196–199

This passage directly shows the tiered justice system of Babylonian society: the punishment for harming someone depends entirely on their social class. A nobleman's eye equals an eye; a slave's eye equals money.

Studio Ideas¶

"Is Hammurabi's Justice System Actually Just?" — EQ: What makes a legal system fair or unfair? · Standard: WH.6_12.3 + Era 1 · Demo Mode: Written Assessment or Extended Writing (W.4 argument)
"Divine Authority vs. Human Law" — EQ: How do early societies use religion to justify political power? · Standard: WH.6_12.2 + Era 1 · Demo Mode: Verbal Conversation or Visual/Creative (concept map of how Marduk appears in the prologue and in law)
"What the Code Tells Us About Babylon" — EQ: What can a legal code reveal about a civilization's values? · Standard: WH.6_12.3 + Era 1, R.9 · Demo Mode: Portfolio Annotation (annotate 5 laws and draw inferences about Babylonian society)

Why This Is Relevant Today?¶

Hammurabi's Code is 3,700 years old, and the argument it makes is still being made. When courts impose different sentences for the same crime depending on who committed it and who was harmed, that's Hammurabi's tiered justice system operating in modern law. The debate about bail reform, mandatory minimums, and whether the American criminal justice system applies its rules equally is directly about the question Hammurabi's Code raises: Who is the law actually designed to protect? The code's prologue — Hammurabi claiming divine authority to make justice real for the weak — is also the template for every government that claims its authority comes from a higher source than the people it governs. If you want to follow the thread into the present, the Era 1 Crosswalk maps the connections between this text and today's arguments about power and law.