Storiascopio · Era 3 of 12 · primary year 4
The Code of Hammurabi
about 1754 BC · Babylon, Mesopotamia (now Iraq)
In short
Hammurabi, King of Babylon, had about 280 laws carved on a slab of black basalt more than two metres high. At the top the king stands before Shamash, the god of the sun and of justice. The laws dealt with trade, loans, family and work, and the punishments changed depending on whether the guilty person was rich, poor or a slave. The slab was found at Susa, in Iran, in the early 1900s and is now on display in the Louvre in Paris.
Why it matters Putting the laws in writing, for everyone to see, made it harder to change them at will.
Source: Musée du Louvre, “Code de Hammurabi”
Where we are in the era “River civilisations”
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about 4000 BCEvent 18 of 25about 1200 BC
Your turn
Name ______________________ Class ______ Date __________
When did it happen? Find the date at the top and write it here:
Tell it in your own words: what happened?
Draw the scene below.
storiascopio.com/en/event/the-code-of-hammurabi/ · free worksheet, you may photocopy it for your class