3 Myths You Believe About the Code of Hammurabi

Was there a Sumerian issue with people running around stealing eyes? Asking for a friend.

“The Code of Hammurabi was the first law,” my sixth-grade teacher said. I was already an archaeology nerd, so I got that question on the test right.

Except… the test was wrong. The Code wasn’t the first written law. Far from it, actually. When I was in sixth grade, we were taught about Mesopotamia as if it was in a vacuum. First was Mesopotamia, then Egypt, then Greece, then Rome, etc., etc. And this is the myth that perpetuates to this day.

The thing is… Mesopotamia wasn’t a civilization. It is a region comprising multiple civilizations. Sumer is just the first known one that can be defined as a complex civilization. There were already cities and societies that archaeologists love to debate were ACTUALLY the first civilization.

The earliest dated version of the Code we have was made ~1754 BC. At this time, the Great Pyramid had been around just over one thousand years. The Egyptian civilization was well into the Middle Kingdom period at this point. The Minoans were well-established on Crete. China was in the middle of the Xia Dynasty — the first recorded Chinese dynasty. American civilizations were already pretty complex, the earliest city being over one thousand years old. The Olmecs were in the early formative stages. North America was still pretty unstable climate-wise, so most cultures there were more nomadic. Aboriginal Australia was alive and kicking and had been thousands of years before anyone else.

Sumer co-existed with numerous societies and lasted a long, long time to where it co-existed with other civilizations.

1. It was the first written law.

There are earlier Mesopotamian laws we have such as the Code of Ur-Nammu, which predates the Code of Hammurabi by three-hundred years.

What sets the Code of Hammurabi apart is how well it is preserved.

Complex laws were around, but the Code of Hammurabi is unique in that it was accessible. Prior to now, you didn’t have laws written and posted. Most laws were passed along through verbal knowledge. Plus, executing people in public through extremely unusual, painful, and cruel methods for breaking laws was a sure way to make people remember what the laws were and not to break them. Who needs writing when you have been fed to crocodiles, Am I right?

Don’t get me wrong. Torture and violent execution didn’t end with the Code, but publicly posting the law is a precursor to being able to question methods of punishment, defend oneself in court, etc. Human rights law could not exist if the law was never accessible and written down. If only a few elite people know the law, corruption is extremely easy because there aren’t many people to hold those few accountable. The Code is evidence of the development of public justice. And that is why it is important.

The Code is the earliest known text declaring a presumption of innocence and minimum wage. It states women are blameless for rape. And was generally ahead of its time. It wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of human rights, considering the implied treatment of slaves. There were still brutal execution methods listed. But it did seek to prevent abuse of the weak from the powerful.

This all said that doesn’t mean public justice descended from it. But the Code is the earliest well-preserved example of the evolution of public justice.

2. All law descended from it

Ah, if things were that simple. Laws are influenced by a number of sources, and while the Code may have influenced later laws, we can’t know for sure the extent of that influence. There were already other laws in other civilizations, written or not. And the Code wasn’t even unearthed until 1901.

However, we do know parts of the Bible and Jewish law were directly influenced by the Code due to language like “an eye for an eye” being present in Biblical and early Hebrew texts. This is really significant, but it is important to consider that Biblical law descended from other influences as well, and we need to leave room for those.

The Code of Hammurabi is one of the earliest examples of long-form writing in the archaeological record. Prior to this, there are certainly examples of writing, but the Code is a fully developed text, which is significant because long-form involves planning, drafting, and executing. If those skills weren’t developed, we wouldn’t have novels, laws, etc.

What is also significant is that it was copied. There are a few other steles depicting the Code that have been found! This is exciting because it is an early example of not just a long text, but the distribution of a text like how books are copied today. We do know that it was influential on Sumerian civilization long after Hammurabi. It was influential, but as for the extent, we still have blanks in the narrative. We don’t know how much was enacted, literally.

3. It was like any other set of laws

The Code of Hammurabi starts with a prologue of how Hammurabi is God-chosen and lists off all his accomplishments. So like, Hammurabi used the law as his LinkedIn profile. As you do.

However, a notable point of the epilogue is Hammurabi raises the hope that the law may be read to a wronged person so they know their rights. God, can you imagine being read the Code of Hammurabi instead of the Miranda Rights? It would be like ten minutes just hearing about how great the king is before, “You no longer have a right to your eye.”

But he also wishes curses against anyone who dare tarnish his legacy. Hey, setting healthy boundaries. We respect that here.

Hammurabi was as convinced of his godliness as any other ancient ruler, so I feel we can give him a bit of a pass considering this is expected behavior. Luckily, this didn’t pass down to influences or there’s the distinct possibility the Constitution would start with a dramatized tale of George Washington.

We have the public school system for that now.

I’m genuinely shocked an Oscar-bait movie hasn’t been made of Hammurabi because the entire blueprint is there for a dramatic yet sympathetic protagonist who uses his power for the greater good in a film basically meant to be like “see? Colonialism is okay.” This is not an endorsement of such a movie as the movie would just annoy me. But I’m surprised. The Code is practically a film script.

Conclusion

We as humans like to make order of things and think linearly, but human history isn’t that easy to describe. When it comes to archaeology, what is “earliest” means the earliest KNOWN. It’s always subject to change as new evidence is unearthed.

I feel like we should be taught what is currently known, but we should also be taught that our understanding changes as new evidence comes out. Learning this would be a step in learning cognitive flexibility, which is discouraged by current historical education. What you learned in school is likely contested now. But this shouldn’t be scary. It should be exciting. Because what we know can always change, we will always have new things to learn and challenge our viewpoints.

History is not as set in stone as we believe.

This article is an extended version of one of my answers on Quora.

Sources

Andrews, Evan. “8 Things You May Not Know About Hammurabi’s Code.” HISTORY, 21 Aug. 2019, www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-hammurabis-code.

Betz, Eric. “Who Were the Ancient Sumerians?” Discover Magazine, 10 Nov. 2020, www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/who-were-the-ancient-sumerians-and-what-are-they-known-for.

Claire, I. (n.d.). Work law code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon. Retrieved March 16, 2021, https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/law-code-hammurabi-king-babylon

The Code of Hammurabi, translated by L W. King, avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/hamframe.asp

Mark, Joshua J. “Sumer.” World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 28 Apr 2011. Web. 16 Mar 2021.

Scharping, Nathaniel. “How the Ancient Code of Hammurabi Reveals a Society Both Similar and Alien to Ours.” Discover Magazine, 1 Dec. 2020, www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/how-the-ancient-code-of-hammurabi-reveals-a-society-both-similar-and-alien.