Code Of Hammurabi Essay

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While the Babylonian Empire is a very notable ancient empire, it cannot be fully called a “civilization.” In order to be called a civilization, there are many aspects of the society that have to be evaluated. The three most significant ones are justice, social hierarchies, and the role of women. While analyzing empires, these three aspects are vital. Today, our ideals and ethics concerning these three topics are very different from those of an ancient society. As a species, we humans have become much less inclined to punish people with pain, social hierarchies are much more flexible, and the female is considered to be just as equal as any man. Although the Babylonian Empire is much farther advanced than any empire that came before it, when in …show more content…
The code’s foundation is the concept of, “an eye for an eye.” The Code of Hammurabi’s “grim retaliatory punishments take no note of excuses or excuses.” The only exception is if the accused casts himself into the Euphrates and if the current brings him to the shore he was innocent, if he drowned he was guilty. Since the “art of swimming was unknown,” it was by the will of the gods that the person should live so therefore he must be innocent. No other civilization before the Babylonians had ever created such a standardized, codified set of laws. While this is a major benchmark in history, in the 21st century, these laws are barbaric, brutal, and not fair. The justice system in place today revolves around the theme innocent until proven guilty and allows both the accused and the prosecution to make their defense, to us this is the civilized society. Therefore, this code of laws, although a huge advancement towards a civilized society, it is not a

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