Hailey Jenkins

Ms. Mauk

ENC 2135

17 October 2016

An Eye for an Eye: The Sociological Role of Revenge in Ancient Babylon

          Babylon, around 1754 bc, was not a good place to live if you were a criminal. This time period and place is important to the study of revenge because it was the time of Hammurabi’s code of laws. Hammurabi’s Code of Laws is a collection of “282 very strict laws [that are written] on an upright stone pillar.” (UShistory) These laws were made “to make justice visible in the land, to destroy the wicked person and the evil-doer, that the strong might not injure the weak.” (Boundless) To these people, justice and revenge were synonymous. It was widely accepted that one had to pay for what they had done in this society. Because justice played such an important role in their lives, the pursuit of revenge was second nature to them. From my research pertaining to this time period, I have come to the question: why was revenge valued so highly in Hammurabi’s Babylon?

          Revenge played a very important role in the everyday lives of the people that lived during the time of Hammurabi’s rule. Because of the laws that Hammurabi laid out, and his brilliant leadership skills, he was able to take a small civilization and eventually take over all of Mesopotamia. (Mark) This was not an easy task to do, but when his people followed strict laws, such as the ones that he enforced, it was easier. Once he ruled all of Mesopotamia, the importance of strict, universal laws was even more important. Ruling such a big nation couldn’t have been easy, but he was able to do it because he ruled with an iron fist, as the saying goes. Sociological studies suggest that one’s value system can be highly influenced by the rules and laws of the country they live in. An article from Psychologytoday.com said “Your values form the foundation of your life… Despite this importance, few people choose their values. Instead, they simply adopt… the dominant values of society.” Because of this, Hammurabi knew that the importance of justice had to be very visible to his citizens. If the Mesopotamians saw that justice and revenge was important to society, it would be important to them. If justice and revenge was important to them, they would encourage and enforce Hammurabi’s laws.

          Hammurabi’s laws were also valued highly in this society because of their religion. The Babylonians practiced a polytheistic faith. Polytheism is the belief that there is more than one god. (Polytheism) The Babylonians believed that the sun god, just one of the many gods they believed in) gave the Code of Laws to Hammurabi. Because of this, they felt that the laws were perfect and needed to be followed very closely or the gods would be angry. They believed that, if they angered the gods, they would be severely punished.

           A culture of revenge was born because of the laws that were written on the stone tablet. After a while, the thought of cutting off a robber’s hand became second nature to these people. As I mentioned before, revenge became something that they valued very highly because it was very prevalent in their society. Because of this, revenge just became part of their lives. They knew that if one did something wrong, they would have to recompense their victims. Also, because the punishments were so clear, the people of Babylon were highly discouraged from doing something wrong. However, some question the long term effectiveness of such strict laws. They say that when the laws are so strict, one of two things can happen: 1.) everyone follows the law, but it is strictly from fear. They don’t follow the rules because they know it will benefit the society, they follow because they’re afraid of punishment. When people only obey out of fear, they rebel when given the chance. 2.) People completely ignore the law and rebel. Both of those options are very bad for a society. However, these arguments aren’t very strong because there’s not much evidence to support them on a macro scale.

          Discouragement from crime is good for any society, and it definitely benefited this particular society. As mentioned above, Hammurabi had great success in many areas of his leadership, especially in his military. He was able to conquer many lands. I believe that his success can be linked to his orderly society. An article titled Effects of Crime on Society describe the significance of crime in America by stating “In areas where crime is prevalent residents notice direct effects in terms of depreciated housing, education and job availability in the surrounding economy.” These negative effects of crime are not centralized in the United States, they apply everywhere, even ancient Babylon. Hammurabi knew that having stringent laws was very important, in order to do everything that he wanted to do.

          Hammurabi made these laws to “level the playing field” and make people more equal in their society, and to create a society that values justice and fairness. He also wanted to destroy the wicked and evil people that he felt were drains on the society that he wanted to strengthen. In the laws, a person is given an appropriate punishment that fits the crime. For example, a thief had his/her hand cut off. This made it to where they couldn’t do that crime again. Many of the punishments were like this. They made it impossible to repeat the crime. Execution was also not uncommon in ancient Babylon, which obviously prevented future crimes. Because, of this the wicked people were eventually abolished. This was great for this society because there were not repeat offenders. An article from the Marshall Project on repeat offenders in the United States says that the Bureau of Justice Statistics states that “77 percent of criminals are rearrested within five years.” (Keller) That’s quite a staggering statistic. In Hammurabi’s society, these repeated offenses were highly reduced.

          In conclusion, revenge played a great role in ancient Babylon, and by extension, the lives the ancient Babylonians. The whole society was a safer place, was able to grow because of the great military discipline, and orderly citizens. The Babylonians valued revenge and justice so highly simply because it worked. They saw that their society was flourishing and knew that it was because of their great leader, and the successful laws that he established.

    

 

 

 

Works cited:

Boundless (2016). Boundless World History I: Ancient Civilizations-Enlightenment.

 

Chavalas, Mark W. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 60.4 (2001): 291-2. Print.

 

“Effects of Crime on Society.” Our Everyday Life, http://peopleof.oureverydaylife.com/effects-crime-society-10275.htm

 

Geller, Mark. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 15.3 (2009): 630-1. Print.

 

“Hammurabi's Code: An Eye for an Eye.” Ushistory.org, Independence Hall Association, http://www.ushistory.org/civ/4c.asp.

 

Hinton, Alexander Laban. "A Head for an Eye: Revenge in the Cambodian Genocide." American Ethnologist 25.3 (1998): 352-77. Print.

 

Jacobsen, Thorkild. "Primitive Democracy in Ancient Mesopotamia." Journal of Near Eastern Studies 2.3 (1943): 159-72. Print.

 

KAPLAN, ROBERT D. "The Revenge of Geography." Foreign Policy.172 (2009): 96-105. Print.

 

Keller, Bill. “Seven Things to Know About Repeat Offenders.” The Marshall Project, 9 Mar. 2016, https://www.themarshallproject.org/2016/03/09/seven-things-to-know-about-repeat-offenders#.dang3xtch.

 

Lyon, David G. "Notes on the Hammurabi Monument." Journal of the American Oriental Society 25 (1904): 266-78. Print.

 

Mark, Joshua J. “Hammurabi.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 12 Nov. 2011, http://www.ancient.eu/hammurabi/.

 

McMahon, Augusta. "Hammurabi of Babylon." Journal of the Economic & Social History of the Orient 56.3 (2013): 530-2. Print.

 

Pfeiffer, R. H. "An Analysis of the Hammurabi Code." The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 36.4 (1920): 310-5. Print.

 

Polytheism.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster Dictionary, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/polytheism.

 

Seymour, Michael. "Ancient Mesopotamia and Modern Iraq in the British Press, 1980–2003." Current anthropology 45.3 (2004): 351-68. Print.

 

Veenhof, K. R. "Ancient Mesopotamia and JESHO." Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 36.2 (1993): 120-38. Print.

 

Vincent, George E. "The Laws of Hammurabi." American Journal of Sociology 9.6 (1904): 737-54. Print.

 

Webb, David. "A 'Revenge' on Modern Times: Notes on Traumatic Brain Injury." Sociology 32.3 (1998): 541-55. Print.

 

Weinraub, Bernard, and Warren Hoge. "Trying to Restore a Functioning Legal System to the Land of Hammurabi's Code." New York Times 152.52459 (2003): B6. Print.