Primary Source Document Analysis: The Code of Hammurabi

In this paper you will analyze (not simply summarize) the assigned historical document (see attached). The prompt and questions below are intended to guide your analysis of the document: DOCUMENT: The Code of Hammurabi By the time of Hammurabi (r. 1792-1750 BCE), sixth king of Babylon and founder of the Babylonian Empire, Babylon represented an urban society and culture on a scale never seen before in history. Babylon was a city-state that became an empire by conquering the other city-states in Mesopotamia (a region). Hammurabi’s laws (one of the first written laws in human history) reflect a desire to ensure the social and economic structure of this large and complex society. PROMPT: You should address the following questions in your analysis of the document:  What evidence does the document give of the “agricultural revolution” (i.e. from foraging to agrarian societies)?  How is this document evidence of the historical shift from small “simple” societies to larger more “complex” societies (i.e. from band societies to chiefdoms, to eventually what Strayer terms “the First Civilizations”)?  How do these laws evidence the huge historical changes that human societies have undergone? How are these laws actually a product of these revolutions?  How does the society evidenced by these laws compare to the earlier human societies we have examined?  What does this document tell you about the complex society that produced it (be mindful of our discussion of the general characteristics of a complex society)? You might want to keep in mind the purpose of these laws: why are they needed by this society?  What do these laws reveal about the social and economic structures of Mesopotamian society? What role does social rank play? You may also want to consider some or all of the following questions in your analysis of the document:  Based on these laws, in what way was the individual responsible for maintaining the welfare of the community as a whole?  Mesopotamian marriages represented important business and economic relationships between families. How is this reflected in these laws?  What does the code reveal in particular about women’s position in Mesopotamian society?  What role does religion appear to play in these laws and this society?  What do the Prologue and Epilogue indicate about the status of Mesopotamian rulers?  You may also keep in mind that these laws are “epigraphic” – in that they include a preamble by Hammurabi himself. How is Hammurabi 2 “immortalized” by these laws? How does this shape this law code’s meaning and significance? Try to think “historically” about the people that wrote these laws. That is you should try to put yourself in their place and time. What do you think their reasoning was in writing these laws (even the ones that are morally objectionable or make no sense to us in the present)? Do not engage in a non-historical discussion about how these laws are “harsher” than our modern laws – this is irrelevant to the assignment. Please do not spend time talking about how these laws shaped our modern laws – that is not part of the assignment. In your analysis of these laws (and in the formation of your thesis), you may focus on one or more of the specific features of Mesopotamian society:  Gender relationships  Social classes  Property ownership  Commercial activity and economics  State institutions and government  Warfare and Slavery  Social practices and structures  Religion  Crime and punishment Discuss whatever specific feature(s) you choose in terms of how they are reflected in specific individual laws.