Hammurabi's Code by Junior Darmstaetter

A Law That Could Work Today

hoyt72 — 2024-04-15 15:04:25 UTC

Law 198:

The law states that "If he put out the eye of a commoner, or break a bone of a commoner, he shall pay one silver mina"

The law could be used today by modifying it to say that if someone physically harms another person they are required to pay for the person's medical bills or any trauma inflicted on them.

The Outrageous Ones

darms06 — 2024-04-15 15:04:32 UTC

If a man has hired an ox or an ass, and a lion has killed it in the open field, the loss falls on the owner.
This law seems outrageous because it likely isn't even the owner's fault that the lion killed the ox and/or ass. That and the owner doesn't get put to death.
If a man has committed incest with his daughter, that man shall be banished from the city.
This law seems outrageous not because it's over the top, but rather that, surprisingly, something written so long ago (2000 years before the Bible) is against incest. That and the violator only gets banished from the city rather than getting gored.

Values and Priorities

gree81 — 2024-04-15 15:04:59 UTC

The laws outlined in Hammurabi’s Code suggest many things. Among them, is the fact that, although it was beyond Hammurabi’s intention to protect the weak from the strong, wealth equates to power and, more importantly, whether or not you are punished for your crimes. As well as the heavily implied idea that your misdeeds towards another will be brought back to you either equally or tenfold (death) and that the class system is very separate.

darms06 — 2024-04-16 14:19:31 UTC

Hammurabi's Code was written on this basalt stele.

3 Laws that Stood Out

gree81 — 2024-04-16 14:32:03 UTC

Most of the laws that follow the “eye for an eye” rule have their own separate alternatives for if you commit the act upon a commoner or slave, in which you can just pay it off and go free
If a physician operates on a man (specifically with a bronze lancet) and the patient dies, the physician’s hand will be cut off.
If god strikes down an ox and kills it, the man who owns the ox must make affidavit.