Code of Hammurabi
Ancient Mesopotamian legislation
The Code of Hammurabi is an ancient Babylonian legal text from roughly 1750 BCE, one of the earliest known written law codes.
Carved on a stone pillar, it contains nearly 300 laws covering commerce, property, family, and crime.
The code is famous for its retributive punishments—an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth—though penalties varied by social class.
- Twelve TablesEarly Roman legal code
- written lawEnacted and recorded legislation
- cuneiformStylus-impressed ancient script
- steleInscribed memorial pillar
- lawBinding principle or regulation
stone · sun god · eye · chisel · diorite · carved in stone · trial by ordeal · codification · Babylonians · restitution · Sumerians · Marduk · hand · inscription · property law · social hierarchy · Tigris · king
- LouvreMona Lisa, Venus de Milo, glass pyramid, Winged Victory, I. M. Pei
- Ancient MesopotamiaBabylon, Assyria, cuneiform, Nineveh, Sumer
- MesopotamiaBabylon, Sumer, Tigris, Mesopotamia, Euphrates
- ancient lawsRoman law, Twelve Tables, Ten Commandments, Corpus Juris Civilis, Torah laws
- Ancient Near EastMesopotamia, Sumer, Babylon, Assyria, Assyrian Empire
- ancient textsscrolls, scroll, Euclid's Elements, Epic of Gilgamesh, codex
Code of Hammurabioral tradition
Culture passed by speech
unwritten law · common law · natural law · anarchy · lawlessness
Code of Hammurabirestorative justice
Conflict resolution through mutual healing
mercy · amnesty · truth and reconciliation · grace · Sermon on the Mount
Code of Hammurabijudicial discretion
Judge's decision-making freedom
Bill of Rights · civil rights legislation · due process · Geneva Conventions · Magna Carta