A code is a system of laws. The legal codes of the various United States are so large that they take up many volumes. By contrast, the Code of Hammurabi consists of just 282 laws. It begins with a short prologue, or introduction, in which he states that the gods appointed him "to rise like the sun over the black-headed people, and to light up the land." It ends with an epilogue, or conclusion, that offers blessings for those who obey—and curses for those who do not. Strictly speaking, the Code of Hammurabi is not a true code of law because it added to already existing laws. Nonetheless, it is the oldest statement of laws known to the world, and it formed the basis of later legal systems.
There are aspects of Hammurabi's laws that may seem harsh to modern people, including its most famous lines: "If a man destroys the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If he break a man's bone, they shall break his bone." Likewise it established different degrees of punishment depending on the status of the person harmed.
According to Laws 196 through 199, for instance, a rich man who put out the eye of another rich man, or broke another rich man's leg, would indeed be subjected to having his own eye put out or his leg broken. By contrast, if he did the same to a common man, he would merely have to pay a fee in silver; and if he poked out a slave's eye or killed the slave, he would have to pay half the slave's value— presumably to the slave's owner.
Yet the law was remarkable in that it established protections for many
Belshazzar... was slain [killed], and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom" (Daniel 5:26-28, 30).
World History
