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Code of Hammurabi - a tall black pillar with writing on it and a man standing before a god carved at the top

Code of Hammurabi (1700s BC)

Here are a few of the 282 laws of the Code of Hammurabi. Which of these laws do you think are good laws and why. Which laws would you change? Why? Write an essay, or discuss among your classmates.


6. If any one steal the property of a temple or of the government, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death.

14. If any one steal the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.

16. If any one receive into his house a runaway male or female slave of the court, or of a freedman, and does not bring it out at the public proclamation of the major domus, the master of the house shall be put to death.

17. If any one find runaway male or female slaves in the open country and bring them to their masters, the master of the slaves shall pay him two shekels of silver. If the slave will not give the name of the master, the finder shall bring him to the palace; a further investigation must follow, and the slave shall be returned to his master.

21. If any one break a hole into a house (break in to steal), he shall be put to death before that hole and be buried.

25. If fire break out in a house, and some one who comes to put it out cast his eye upon the property of the owner of the house, and take the property of the master of the house, he shall be thrown into that self-same fire.

45. If a man rent his field for tillage (farming) for a fixed rental, and receive the rent of his field, but bad weather comes and destroys the harvest, the injury falls upon the tiller of the soil (the renter loses his money, not the landlord).


108. If a tavern-keeper (feminine) does not accept grain according to gross weight in payment of drink, but takes money, and the price of the drink is less than that of the grain, she shall be convicted and thrown into the water.




219. If a physician make a large incision in the slave of a freed man, and kill him, he shall replace the slave with another slave.

More about Hammurabi
More about West Asian medicine
And more about West Asian slavery

Bibliography and further reading about Hammurabi and the Babylonian Empire:


Ancient Mesopotamians, by Elena Gambino (2000). Retellings of Mesopotamian stories and lots of context.

Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors: An Activity Guide, by Marian Broida (1999). Not just Egypt! Includes activities about the Sumerians, the Babylonians, the Hittites, and the Nubians.

Babylonians, by Henry Saggs (2000). Also includes information about the Sumerians and Akkadians.


Or check out this article on Hammurabi in the

Encyclopedia Britannica.

Hammurabi of Babylon
Ancient West Asia home