King Hammurabi's Influence

King Hammurabi's Far Reaching Contributions and Influence Nearly 4000 years ago, a young man named Hammurabi was crowned king of the city-state of Babylon. He became the sixth ruler of the Amorite dynasty of Babylon. Hammurabi was born in Babylon c. 1810 BC and he ruled from c. 1792 BC until his death in c. 1750 BC. During his lengthy 42-year reign, he united Mesopotamia and established Babylonia as a central power. He also instigated major improvements in the infrastructure within the city of Babylon and his citizens prospered under his rule. However, Hammurabi's most notable accomplishment was his 282 legal edicts known as the Code of Hammurabi. In other words, King Hammurabi's innumerable contributions as a seasoned warrior, a city

This legal code was written on a stone pillar carved from diorite rock. The sculpture was 7.4 feet with the laws written on the lower portion. The upper portion of the tremendous sculpture depicted the Mesopotamian god of the sun, Shamash, presenting Hammurabi with the code. Not only did Hammurabi's legal code specify punishments for murder, death, and injury, but the elaborate code also addressed common concerns such as marriage rights, theft, property damage, debt, slave rights and commerce. The code imposed a list of rules and a list of specific punishments if these rules were broken. The well-known phrase, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," is believed to have originated from the Code of Hammurabi. Hammurabi's 196th code and 200th code translated to "If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out" and "If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out"(Hammurabi). Generally speaking, the Code of Hammurabi was established on the idea that any person who committed an injury would be punished in the same manner as that injury. Archaeologist excavated the Code of Hammurabi in 1901 in modern-day Iran. Today, it resides in the Louvre Museum in Paris, and an image of Hammurabi graces the walls of both the United States Supreme Court and the United States Capitol