Why was the Code of Hammurabi significant?

Answer 1

The Code of Hammurabi informed the entire population of the laws. People knew the laws and could not be intimidated by rumors. The same laws applied equally to a particular class of people. Thus while freedom as we know it did not exist, freedom from having no idea what laws applied existed.

Answer 2

The Code's importance as a reflection of Babylonian society is indisputable. Hammurabi's laws were established to be the "laws of Justice" intended to clarify the rights of any "oppressed man." Mesopotamia society under the Hammurabi code was one of strict penalties for criminal offenses with punishment severe and varied according to the wealth of the individual. Hammurabi's rigidly centralized ruling system prospered from tribute and taxes, which he used to both compensate state dependents and finance extensive state irrigation and building projects. The code also gives us a clear sense of the ways ancient Babylonians invested divine authority in their secular leaders.

Answer 3

Comparing the code to the Roman laws, The Twelve Tables came about as a result of the long social struggle between patricians and plebeians. The Hammurabi code is the first know codified set of laws known to men in existence and it includes all classes of citizens, military and the slave. After the expulsion of the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, the Republic was governed by a hierarchy of magistrates. Initially only patricians were eligible to become magistrates and this, among other plebeian complaints, was a source of discontent for plebeians. There were no treatment to people as plebeians in the Hammurabi code.

Answer 4

It was the first attempt by a ruler to codify or arrange and set down in writing all the laws that would govern state.

Answer 5

It was the 1st written law in history, and was thought to be very harsh in many ways!

Answer 6

The Hammurabi code is a point in history when for the first time a set of laws were codified as a whole. These laws were just for the rich the poor and the slave.

Answer 7

It recorded existing laws for all to see.