by Philip Habecker, Concord
Hammurabi was a Mesopotamian king credited with one of the first legal codes. This WebQuest looks at the necessity of a legal code in ancient civilizations and compares two laws to modern U.S. legal code. Were the laws in Hammurabi's day too strict? Are ours too lenient? Is it fair for modern historians to place their cultural norms and biases on ancient civilizations?
Introduction
You know that most, if not all ancient civilizations were found near rivers. People then (and now) needed drinking water. They also used rivers for their silt, transportation and water for their crops and animals.
You also know that in order to distinguish itself as a civilization (as opposed to a group of people, or town, or city-state) there had to be a certain level of development. Each civilization had a system of writing, cities, divisions of labor (or specialized workers) and a code of laws.
Today you are going to look at an ancient legal code - perhaps the oldest in the world. It comes from one of the civilizations you've studied: MESOPOTAMIA. It was codified (or written) by the Mesopotamian King named Hammurabi. (That's why it's called "Hammurabi's Code.")
Hammurabi bas-relief found in the U.S. Capitol building
This is one of 23 reliefs showcasing the great lawgivers of all-time
Sculpted by: Thomas Hudson Jones, 1950
Picture taken from:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hammurabi