King Hammurabi was crowned king of Babylon around 1792 B.C, he was a good warrior who respected the Sumerian, Akkadian, and other lands’ traditions. Hammurabi could be ruthless to enemies, but also provide unity and stability to his empire. Hammurabi famously had a set of laws inscribed onto a stone monument. He also had the stone monument inscribed with images of him being blessed by the sun god along with the set of laws.

The code of law is a set of 282 laws carved into a stone monument in cuneiform. The laws are separated into groups such as finance, personal injury, and crime. The reason for the creation of the set of laws was to enforce order in Mesopotamian society. Along with there being different groups the laws were settled into, there were also three classes of punishment. One for the higher-standing people, like kings, priests, and noblemen. Another set for the middle class of farmers and workers, and a final class for the lowest-ranking people like slaves. Some examples of laws include;  “If a patrician has stolen ox, sheep, ass, pig, or ship, whether from a temple, or a house, he shall pay thirtyfold. If he is a plebeian, he shall return tenfold. If the thief cannot pay, he shall be put to death.” “If a fire has broken out in a man’s house and one who has come to put it out has coveted the property of the householder and appropriated any of it, that man shall be cast into the self-same fire.”

The code of Hammurabi was not just impactful in the past, the everlasting effect of this innovation is still felt today. In our modern western government we use some of the same ideals as Hammurabi did when constructing the code of law. Hammurabi implemented taxation, something we still very much use today, he also used the fact that everyone was innocent until proven guilty. Without proper evidence you could not convict someone of a crime, yet another thing that still holds truth.