Western Civilization I / Unit 1 WC1 0012 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Code of Hammurabi
Captions available
The idea
Hammurabi issued his code about seventeen eighty B.C.E. It recognized three legal classes, free men, commoners and slaves, punishing the same crime differently for each, set loan terms, and made officials liable for uncaught criminals.
In practice
Women: secondary, yet better protected than in many later codes.
Where people slip
The code is order and fairness within a hierarchy, not equality. Video 0018 reads it closely.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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