Hammurabi’s Code was cruel and unjust, punishing the crimes that people have committed with things like ear removal, or eye gouging, and so many more cruel actions against countless people within Mesopotamia. Hammurabi was the ruler of Mesopotamia. He was famous for creating the first set of laws and ruling over all of the communities in Mesopotamia with his cruel and unjust laws. He called this society the Hammurabi Empire. Hammurabi’s Code was unjust because it had extreme punishments, Hammurabi was a dictator, and Hammurabi primarily focused on the god Shamash, his Code, and himself. Hammurabi created a law system that had punishments that were way too extreme. Law 195 states, “If a son has struck his father, his hands shall be cut off” …show more content…
This indicates that committing a minor crime back then, could get your arm cut off, get your eye gouged out, or you could just be agonizingly put to death. Everything in this paragraph is just a glimpse of the 282 gruesome laws that Hammurabi’s code holds. These laws were not just forced upon one community, they were forced upon almost every community within Mesopotamia. Hammurabi was a cruel dictator, ruling over 1 million people in Mesopotamia. According to the DBQ, “We know that there are three distinct social classes: land owners, free people who did not own land, and slaves” (Background Essay). This evidence explains that Hammurabi’s code focuses on the different ranks in the community. It is easy to tell within most of the laws that the code has cruel and harsh punishments towards slaves, as if a landowner did the same thing, he would most likely just have to pay silver. The DBQ also states, “The code also tells us of everyday problems, like buildings collapsing, oxen getting loose, and trampling fields, and neighbors squabbling” (Background