Code of Hammurabi

The Code of Hammurabi is one of the earliest known and respected law codes containing 282 entries covering anything from inheritance to theft. Hammurabi’s last contribution has taken significance beyond history and it has given meaning to the human community. Through Van De Meiroop and the Code of Hammurabi itself, I believe that the Code demonstrates to us just how much the ancient Babylonian government interacted and regulated the lives of its citizens. At the time Hammurabi created these laws, he “was the ruler of a large territory that incorporated several previously independent states” (Meiroop 79). However, the legal jurisdiction of the codes he established was felt within every incorporated state. This was evident even though many of the incorporated states ran very independently. Meiroop believes that the “inhabitants of cities felt a strong connection to their place of birth. They were first and foremost people of Ur, Larsa, Babylon, etc., rather than inhabitants of a great state” (Meiroop 79).
The laws that were codified are so broad and covered almost every aspect of the peoples’ lives. There are laws regulating incest, adultery, and even marriage. There are laws that regulated people’s economic relationships, especially with regards to trade. There are laws that regulated religious beliefs and even laws dealing with the divine rights associated with Hammurabi and the deities. The myriad of laws showed concrete evidence of how the central Babylonian government not only had far-reaching influence, but also attempted to regulate the morality of its citizens.
“The king had to be the ‘good shepherd’ of his land, he had to care for his people as if they were a defenseless flock” (Meiroop 82). Hammurabi definitely fulfilled this aspect of his kingship through the creation of the Code and his laws are modern in so many ways.