Document Analysis Introduction
SOAPS method of primary source analysis and IDEAS Writing Method Using Hammurabi's Code
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Excerpt from Hammurabi’s Code
Excerpt from Hammurabi’s Code
BACKGROUND: A significant source of information about the life of the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia is a code of laws issued about 1750 B.C. by the Babylonian king Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.). Discovered by archeologists in 1901, the code was inscribed on a stone that shows the king accepting laws from the sun god, Shamash, who was also the Babylonian god of justice. The 282 laws cover a range of public and private matters as well as Mesopotamian concept of the priest-king—a ruler chosen by a god to administer his will on earth to uphold justice, punish the wicked, and further the welfare of the people.
196. If a man has knocked out the eye of a patrician1, his eye shall be knocked out.
197. If he has broken the limb of a patrician, his limb shall be broken.
198. If he has knocked out the eye of a plebeian2 or has broken the limb of a plebeian, he shall pay one mina3 of silver.
199. If he has knocked out the eye of a patrician’s servant, or broken the limb of a patrician’s servant, he shall pay half of his value.
209. If a man has struck a free woman with child, and has caused her to miscarry, he shall pay ten shekels4 for her miscarriage.
210. If that woman dies, his daughter shall be killed.
211. If it be the daughter of a plebeian that has miscarried through his blows, he shall pay five shekels of silver.
212. If that woman dies, he shall pay half a mina of silver.
229. If a builder has built a house for a man, and has not made his work sound, and the house he built has fallen, and caused the death of its owner, that builder shall be put to death.
230. If it is the owner’s son that is killed, the builder’s son shall be put to the death.
231. If it is the slave of the owner that is killed, the builder shall give slave for slave to the owner of the house.
142. If a woman has hated her husband and has said, “You shall not possess me,” her past shall be inquired into, as to what she lacks. If she has been discreet, and has no vice, and her husband has gone out, and has greatly belittled her, that woman has no blame, she shall take her marriage-portion and go off to her father’s house.
143. If she has not been discreet, has gone out, ruined her house, belittled her husband, she shall be drowned…
HELPFUL DEFINITIONS
patrician – free men and women
plebeian – commoners, not wholly free, but dependents of the state or serfs on landed estates; slaves
mina – a measure of weight, usually of silver
shekel – a measure of weight much less than a mina, usually of silver
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