Hailey Jenkins

Ms. Mauk

ENC 2135

17 October 2016

An Eye for an Eye: The Effect of Hammurabi’s Laws

          Ancient 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) This code was one of the first law systems to be written down, and they 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 the people of Babylon, 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. Hammurabi’s code was an integral part in the shaping of 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, however the strict laws he recorded and enforced made it 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. This legal system was also good for such a fast-growing society because it didn’t require Hammurabi to directly enforce the law, the people were able to govern themselves because they valued these laws so highly. Sociological studies suggest that one’s value system can be highly influenced by the rules and laws of the country they live in. A portion of an article written by Jim Taylor Ph.D. on the role of psychology on one’s value system reads “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.” (Taylor) People, for all times and places, have followed this pattern of behavior. They see what’s important to most everyone in their society and they adopt those values as their own. Hammurabi knew that he had to show his citizens, by example, how important the principles of justice and revenge were to him. When the Mesopotamians saw that justice and revenge was important to society and to their leader, it became important to them, and when justice and revenge was important to them, they encouraged and enforced Hammurabi’s laws.

          Hammurabi’s laws were also valued highly to the Babylonian’s in this society because of their religion. The Babylonians practiced a polytheistic faith that was based on their mythology. In fact, Mesopotamia’s mythology is the oldest set of ancient mythology that we, as humans, know about. The Mythology of Mesopotamia was “a series of repeated stories that explained the unexplainable and was the backbone of [their] religion.” (Religion) The gods that were present in their mythological beliefs were also the gods that they believed in and followed in their religion. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines polytheism as 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 the people of Mesopotamia. As I mentioned before, revenge became something that they valued very highly because it was so 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. An article from Beth Greenwood on the effects of strict parenting styles on kids states “strict parents deprive [their] children of the opportunity to learn self-discipline, because all control and decisions comes from the parent. In fact, the kids reject the limits because the parents don’t take their feelings into account. If punitive discipline is used, the teen is also more likely to be rebellious, angry or depressed, become overweight or become an excellent liar.” And, on a larger picture, people who oppose strict laws, and punishments claim that one of two things can happen when laws are very strict: 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. His success in the battlefield can be linked to his very well organized 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. Critics say that the laws weren’t very successful in this aspect because the system only strengthened the lines between the classes. The law accounted for one’s role in society on the severity of punishment. For instance, if a doctor accidently killed a patient, he would be punished. However, if the patient was a servant, he would pay a financial compensation, but if the patient was a high ranking individual, he would have his hands cut off. This is now seen as discrimination. But, in that time, it was just everyday life for Babylonians.

          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

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