Try It
In the following activity, you will read excerpts from an important document in world history, the Code of Hammurabi. The code was written around 1780 B.C.E. by Hammurabi, the king of the Babylonian civilization, which was located where Iraq is now. Hammurabi's Code is the earliest form of official laws that all people were expected to follow in their society. After reading the source, identify the central or main idea of the source and create a summary or generalization about the source.
Tool Tip
Use the highlighter tool to highlight the main idea or generalizations about the source. To use the tool, drag your mouse over the word or words you want to select. Once the highlighter appears, click a color and your selected words are now highlighted.
You may also want to download the excerpt and make notes on a printed version, or keep it handy as you complete the following activity.
Title: Excerpts from Hammurabi's Code of Laws, 1780 B.C.E.
6. If any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death.
8. If any one steal cattle or sheep, … or a pig or a goat, … the thief shall pay thirtyfold therefor; if they belonged to a freed man of the king he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay he shall be put to death.
22. If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death.
55. If any one open his ditches to water his crop, but is careless, and the water flood the field of his neighbor, then he shall pay his neighbor corn for his loss.
134. If any one be captured in war and there is not sustenance (food) in his house, if then his wife go to another house this woman shall be held blameless.
196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out. [An eye for an eye]
229 If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.
282. If a slave say to his master: "You are not my master," if they convict him his master shall cut off his ear.
