Transcript Code

Legacy of Mesopotamia
Coach Parrish
OMS
Chapter 2, Section 3
Hammurabi’s Code
Code – organized list of laws that are
written down.
 Hammurabi – ruled Babylonia from about
1792 to 1750 BC.
 Hammurabi wrote his code so that people
in his empire would know what is
expected of them. Code contains 282
laws.
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Hammurabi’s Code
Hammurabi and Shamash
An Eye for an Eye
Hammurabi’s Code was based on the
concept, “An eye for an eye.” This means
that the punishment should be similar to
the crime.
 Punishments were based on what class
people were associated with. For
example, the higher the social class of the
victim, the greater the penalty was.
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An Eye for an Eye
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Anyone who accidentally broke a law was
just as guilty as someone who
intentionally broke a law.
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Quote on page 44 is an example of this.
Laws for Everyone
Hammurabi’s Code was very important
because it was written down.
 Hammurabi’s Code was the first
organized, recorded set of laws that
archaeologists have recovered.
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The Art of Writing – Ancient Scribes
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Writing first developed in Sumer.
Scribes were one of the most important people
groups in the ancient world because very few
people could write.
Examples of scribe jobs:
Recorded gifts to gods
Marriages and deaths
Record military supplies
A Record in Clay
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The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers provided
scribes with the clay they wrote on.
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The shape and size of the tablet depended
on what was being recorded. Large
tablets for dictionaries and smaller ones
for postcards or letters.
How Writing was Invented
Writing was invented as a way to keep
records.
 Cuneiform – scribes combined symbols to
make groups of wedges and lines.
 Cuneiform was useful because it allowed
many different languages to communicate.
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Cuneiform Tablet