Indeed, more serious crimes were punishable by death ("The Code" 506). It is thought that this became the Hebrews basis for the "eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" philosophy of retribution found in the Bible (Farkas 159)
, was similar and different in other ways. For example, the Babylonian Code "was designed to ensure order, strengthen the government…and establish the legal rights of citizens" (Lefton 371)
The Code of Hammurabi is noted for its severity. Eight of the first ten laws end with the assertion that the transgressor "shall be put to death" (Johns 144)
Jeffrey H. Reiman observes that "articles 209 and 210 of The Code of Hammurabi…provide: 'If a seignor struck a seignior's daughter and has caused her to have a miscarriage, he shall pay ten shekels of silver for her fetus" (Reiman 16)
Shaffern notes, Hammurabi's Code "established two principles. First, that justice should be impartial and second, that, essential to the principal of impartiality, only the government made law and that law must be made public" (Shaffern 3)
Peter N. Stearns surmises that Hammurabi's Code was not meant to be all-encompassing but rather a code to "highlight selected decisions the king and his officials rendered for the purpose of providing precedents for just rulings" (Stearns 26)
S. law as it was at the beginning of the country's founding (Woods 49)
Because, in general, the chronological development of legal systems after Hammurabi wrote the code began to become more lenient and more focused on protecting the rights of the oppressed, some suggest that Hammurabi became a pioneer who launched a path of human rights and social justice that continued to grow until our modern era. In fact, the study of Hammurabi's code is an excellent example of history's expansion to include history's implications for women, minorities, and others who have been routinely forgotten by history in the past (Ralph 3-4)
One such chronicle "tells us that Hammurabi attacked Rim-Sin, and, after capturing the cities of Ur and Larsa, carried their spoil to Babylon." (King 69) Kings further notes that "this success of Hammurabi is refered to in date-formulae upon tablets of his reign that have been recovered, and from the date-lists we know that his victories over Rim-Sin and the Elamites took place in the thirtieth and thirty-first years of his reign
In this respect, "people of a high social class could expect a less severe punishment when they injured a lower ranked person. " (Mieroop 106) Aside from the capital punishment, other severe and otherwise painful ones were enlisted, such as cutting out tongues, eyes, breasts and flogging