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Name:
Class: 1 3 6 7
Date:
Hammurabis Code
BMS 8th Grade Social Studies
Close-Reading / Exemplar
Student Documents
138. If a man wishes to put away his wife who has not borne him children, he shall give her money to the
amount of her marriage price and he shall make good to her the dowry which she brought from her
father's house and then he may put her away.
142. If a woman hates her husband and says, ''You may not have me, the city council shall inquire into
her case; and if she has been careful and without reproach and her husband has been going about and
greatly belittling her, that woman has no blame. She may take her dowry and go to her father's house.
143. If she has not been careful but has gadded about, neglecting her house and belittling her husband,
they shall throw that woman into the water.
168. If a man set his face to disinherit his son and say to the judges, "I wiII disinherit my son," the judges
shall inquire into his record, and if the son has not committed a crime sufficiently grave to cut him off
from sonship, the father may not cut off his son from sonship.
195. If a son strike his father, they shall cut off his hand.
196. If a man destroys the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye.
197. If he breaks another man's bone, they shall break his bone.
199. If he destroy the eye of a man's slave or break a bone of a man's slave, he shall pay onehalf his
price.
200. If a man knocks out a tooth of a man of his own rank, they shall knock out his tooth.
229. If a builder build 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, that builder shall be put to death.
233. If a builder build a house for a man and does not make its construction sound, and a wall cracks,
that builder shall strengthen that wall at his own expense.
[These are] the just laws which Hammurabi, the wise king, established and by which he gave the land
stable support and good government. Hammurabi, the perfect king, am I . . . The great gods called me,
and I am the guardian shepherd whose scepter is just and whose beneficent shadow is spread over my
city. In my bosom I carried the people of the land of Sumer and Akkad; under my protection they
prospered; I governed them in peace; in my wisdom I sheltered them. In order that the strong might not
oppress the weak, that justice be given to the orphans and the widow, in Babylon, . . . for the
pronouncing of judgments in the land, for the rendering of decisions for the land, and to give justice to
the oppressed, my weighty words I have "written upon my monument, and in the presence of my image
as king of justice have I established it.
Anu: Early
Babylonian King of
gods
Anunnaki gods:
gods of good and
evil who created the
human race
according to
Babylonians.
Enlil: god of the
atmosphere and
god of authorities
determines the
destiny: sets the
course of events
pronounced:
decided
Babylon: Ancient
Mesopotamian
culture located on
the Euphrates River
in its midst: in the
middle
Foundations: the
basis or groundwork
Name_________________________________
Translation Changes
Justice: moral
rightness (knowing
right from wrong)
Prevail: succeed
Oppressing: putting
cruel authority or
burdens on
Blackheaded
people: people who
descended (came)
from the original
Sumerian farmers
this is a name the
Sumerians called
themselves
Enlighten: to give
knowledge to
Welfare: good
fortune, health,
happiness, etc.
Abundance: wealth
time [I decreed]:
2. What does Hammurabi mean when he states they made it famous among the
corners of the world?
3. What does Hammurabi mean when he speaks of the foundations that are firm as
heaven and earth?
4. What does Hammurabi mean when he states that Babylonian society is as firm as
heaven and earth? What comparison shows us about how Hammurabi views his
world?
5. What does the fact that Hammurabi says that the gods named me, suggest about
his relationship with the gods?
7. How did Hammurabi justify his rule? How did he want to change Mesopotamian
society?
8. What does the term enlighten mean and what does its use tell the reader about
Hammurabis overall goal?
9. What does the term welfare imply about need for the law code?
10. Hammurabi references the gods throughout the introduction, what is his purpose in
doing so?
Name_______________________
1. If a man bring accusation against another man, charging him with murder, but cannot prove it, the accuser
shall be put to death.
accusation: a charge of wrongdoing
TRANSLATION
LAW
3. If a man bear false witness in a case, or does not establish the testimony that he has given, if that case be
a case involving life, that man shall be put to death.
bear false witness: to say someone has done something that
4. If he bear [false] witness concerning grain or money, he shall himself bear the penalty imposed in that case.
LAW
imposed: to put by authority
VOCABULARY concerning: having to do with
TRANSLATION
LAW
5. If a judge pronounce a judgment, render a decision, deliver a verdict duly signed and sealed, and afterward
alter his judgment, they shall call that judge to account for the alteration of the judgment which he has
pronounced, and he shall pay twelvefold the penalty in that judgment; and, in the assembly, they shall expel
him from his seat of judgment, and with the judges in a case he shall not take his seat.
render: provide
TRANSLATION
2) What protections are citizens in Babylon provided during the trial process of court cases and what does the fact that
these protections existed show us about Babylonian society?
3) What punishments are imposed for wrongdoing during the trial process and what do the use of these punishments
show us about Babylonian society?