PRIME TIME
Place the following on your desk to
be checked later:
• Venn diagram
• Printed Egypt packet
Turn the Mesopotamia worksheet
into the tray (not the packet)
HAMMURABI’S CODE
THE CODE OF HAMMURABI
Hammurabi
was a king of Babylon.
Created
a large empire.
Wrote his laws on huge pillars, put
the pillars in the middle of towns (near
temples).
One
of the earliest code of laws in
human history.
Where does
the law
come from?
Hammurabi
receiving the
laws from the
Sun God
(Anu)
PREAMBLE:
YOU SAY WHY YOU ARE DOING WHAT YOU
ARE DOING.
“Anu
and Ba’al called by name me,
Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who
feared God, to bring about the rule of
righteousness in the land, to destroy
the wicked and the evil-doers; so
that the strong should not harm the
weak; so that I should rule over
the…people, and enlighten the land, to
further the well-being of mankind.”
TASK: PLEASE RECORD YOUR ANSWERS ON
THE BACK OF THE PAPER.
Your
group will be given a set of
laws. For each law, do the
following:
 Read
out loud.
 Put the law into your own words.
 Discuss if you think the law is just
or unjust.
If just: why do you think so?
If unjust: why do you think so and
what would be a more fitting law?

HAMMURABI’S PROBLEMS:
LAZY PEOPLE
What happens if someone does
not maintain the dams and
canals on their property,
and then the fields of his
neighbors are flooded and
their grain is destroyed?
HAMMURABI’S PROBLEMS
If any one be too lazy to keep his
dam in proper condition, and does
not so keep it; if then the dam
break and all the fields be
flooded, then shall he in whose
dam the break occurred be sold
for money, and the money
shall replace the [grain]
which he has caused to be ruined.
HAMMURABI’S PROBLEMS:
DEBT
What happens if a man is
unable to pay his debts?
HAMMURABI’S PROBLEMS
If a man be in debt and is unable to pay
his creditors, then he shall sell his
wife, son, or daughter, or bind them
over to service.
For three years they shall work in the
houses of their purchaser or master; in
the fourth year they shall be given their
freedom..
HIGH STAKES,
BUT NOT HEARTLESS
If any person owe a debt for a loan, and
a storm destroys the grain, or the
harvest fail, or the grain does not grow
for lack of water;
in that year he need not pay any
grain, he washes his debt-tablet in
water and pays no rent for this year.
HAMMURABI’S PROBLEMS
What happens if someone
steals from a temple or
ziggurat?
HAMMURABI’S PROBLEMS:
GREED AND LACK OF RESPECT FOR THE GODS
If any person steals the property of a
temple, then he shall be put to
death, and also the one who receives
the stolen thing from him shall be put
to death.
HAMMURABI’S PROBLEMS:
SLOPPY WORK
What should be done to
the carpenter who builds
a house that falls and
kills the owner?
HAMMURABI’S PROBLEMS
If a builder builds a house for a
man and does not make its
construction sound, and the house
which he has built collapses
and causes the death of the
owner of the house, the
builder shall be put to death.
HAMMURABI’S SOLUTIONS
If it kill the son of the owner,
then the son of that builder
shall be put to death.
If it kill a slave of the owner,
then the builder shall pay
slave for slave to the owner of
the house.
HAMMURABI’S PROBLEMS
What happens to
burglars and
thieves?
TAKING THINGS FROM OTHERS
If any person is caught
committing a robbery,
then he shall be put to
death.
HAMMURABI’S PROBLEMS
How is the truth
determined when one
man brings an
accusation against
another?
TRIAL BY ORDEAL
If any one bring an accusation against a
man, and the accused go to the river and
leap into the river, if he sink in the
river his accuser shall take
possession of his house. But if the river
prove that the accused is not guilty, and
he escape unhurt, then he who had
brought the accusation shall be put to
death, while he who leaped into the river
shall take possession of the house that
had belonged to his accuser.
HAMMURABI’S PROBLEMS:
DISRESPECT
What should happen
to a boy who slaps
his father?
HAMMURABI’S PROBLEMS
If a son strike his
father, then his
hands shall be cut
off.
HAMMURABI’S PROBLEMS
What should be done if someone
steals or damages a shaduf?
Noooooooo!
HAMMURABI’S PROBLEMS
If anyone steals or damages a
shaduf or a plow, then he
shall pay three shekels.
 If
a man put out the eye of another man, then
his eye shall be put out.
 If
he break another man's bone, then his bone
shall be broken.
 If
a man knock out the teeth of his equal,
then his teeth shall be knocked out.
 If
the slave of a freed man strikes a freed
man, then his ear shall be cut off.
EGYPT
Please read your packet while taking Cornell
notes. Due tomorrow.
 Print off Assyrians packet by Thursday.


You will also need the Persians and Romans packets
later!
Wise Words: Never make
permanent decisions on
temporary feelings.