Page 98 - Grasp English C1 (Workbook)

10 Lawbreakıng

C. Read the text about the Code of Hammurabi and fill in the blanks with the words in the boxes.

symbols liability justice adultery status inheritance bias contracts

The Code of Hammurabi was one of the earliest and most complete written legal documents
in history. The code was proclaimed by King Hammurabi, who reigned in Babylon, Mesopotamia
from 1792 to 1750 BCE. Hammurabi expanded the city-state of Babylon considerably, uniting all of
southern Mesopotamia. This expansion required him to establish a set of rules to govern commercial
interactions and to give standard rules and punishments to ensure fair 1 throughout
his kingdom.
The code was carved onto a massive, four-ton, black pillar known as a stele, which is now on
display at the Louvre in Paris. At its top, is a two-and-a-half-foot carving of Hammurabi receiving a
measuring rod and tape, the 2 of the law, from Shamash, the Babylonian god of
justice. The remainder of stone is covered with columns of cuneiform script.

The stele outlines 282 laws and their punishments. Nearly half of the code is related to
3 , for example, the wages to be paid for different services and the 4
incurred if goods or a service are found to be faulty, for example, if a house collapses or property
is damaged under the care of another. A third of the code addresses household issues including
5 , divorce and paternity. There are a few provisions relating to military service and
just one provision relating to an official: that a judge is fined and removed from office if he alters his
decision after it is written down. The crimes addressed include: slander, for which the punishment
was a mark across the brow; fraud, which was punished by fine; theft and perjury, both punishable
by death; liability, punished by slavery; and 6 , in which the offending pair are tied
up and thrown into the river, and the wife's husband is given the option of whether to save them
or not.
While the Code of Hammurabi aimed for equality, 7 still existed, as the punishments
are scaled according to whether the wrongdoer is free or a slave; a man or a woman, and whether
he owns the property. Punishments for assaulting someone from a lower class were far lighter than
those towards members of equal or higher 8 .

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It is unknown how long the laws remained in effect. But in the 12 century BCE, the Elamite king
Shutruk-Nahhunte invaded and plundered Babylon and took the stele to Susa in modern-day
Iran. Later, when Susa was incorporated into the Persian Empire, the code was copied and stored
in the Library of Sippar. The stele was found in 1901 by Egyptologist Gustave Jequier during
archaeological excavations in Susa.

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