Babylonia Empire: Law & Order
Summary
TLDRThe script delves into the Babylonian Empire's rise under King Hammurabi, who sought to unify his diverse empire through the Code of Hammurabi. This legal document, inscribed on a stele, contained over 300 laws aimed at creating uniformity and fairness in trade, property, and compensation. The script highlights the code's significance in establishing a universal legal system and its influence on later legal concepts, such as 'innocent until proven guilty' and 'an eye for an eye.' It also discusses the visual representation of divine authority granted to Hammurabi by the sun god Shamash, suggesting a connection to the narrative of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments.
Takeaways
- đïž The Babylonian Empire emerged in Mesopotamia around the 18th century BCE, following the disintegration of the Acadian Empire due to climate change and political disturbances.
- đ King Hammurabi established the Babylonian Empire and saw himself as the inheritor of the Acadian Empire's grandeur, naming his empire 'mat Acadia', meaning 'the country of Akkad'.
- đ The Code of Hammurabi, established by Hammurabi, is a set of over 300 laws that aimed to unify his diverse empire and create uniformity in governance.
- đż The code was inscribed on a stele, a stone monument, which also features a significant low relief carving at the top, symbolizing divine authority.
- đïž The laws covered topics such as property rights, trade, and compensation, emphasizing fairness and a universal treatment under the law, regardless of social class.
- đ The Code of Hammurabi aimed to eliminate personal biases in the implementation of the law, ensuring that similar crimes received the same punishment across social classes.
- đ The code was widely distributed throughout the empire, with fragments found in multiple locations, indicating its importance in creating a homogenized discipline.
- đŒ The top of the stele features a carving of the god Shamash, the sun god, handing Hammurabi symbols of rulership and authority, signifying divine sanction of the code.
- đ The Code of Hammurabi introduced famous legal concepts such as 'innocent until proven guilty', 'an eye for an eye', and 'a tooth for a tooth', which have influenced legal systems and narratives worldwide.
- đ The narrative of the Code of Hammurabi may have inspired the biblical story of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God on stone tablets, highlighting its historical and cultural significance.
Q & A
What was the name of the empire that arose in Mesopotamia after the disintegration of the Acadian Empire?
-The Babylonian Empire arose in Mesopotamia after the disintegration of the Acadian Empire.
Who was the king under whose rule the Babylonian Empire was established?
-The Babylonian Empire was established under King Hammurabi.
What was the alternative name for the Babylonian Empire according to Hammurabi and his successors?
-Hammurabi and his successors referred to their empire as mat Acadia, which translates to the country of Akkad.
What was the solution Hammurabi came up with to unify his diverse empire?
-Hammurabi came up with the Code of Hammurabi as a solution to unify his diverse empire.
How many laws did the Code of Hammurabi consist of?
-The Code of Hammurabi consisted of over 300 laws.
What was the main purpose of the Code of Hammurabi being widely distributed across the empire?
-The main purpose of the wide distribution of the Code of Hammurabi was to create homogenization and discipline within the empire.
What does the term 'stele' refer to in the context of the Code of Hammurabi?
-In the context of the Code of Hammurabi, a 'stele' refers to a stone monument or marker on which the code was inscribed.
What are the two main topics covered by most of the laws in the Code of Hammurabi?
-The majority of the laws in the Code of Hammurabi are about property rights and commerce, dictating fairness in trade and compensation.
What is the significance of the Code of Hammurabi in terms of legal treatment across social classes?
-The significance of the Code of Hammurabi is that it established a universal treatment under the law, eliminating personal biases or preferences in the implementation of the law.
What is depicted in the low relief carving at the top of the stele of the Code of Hammurabi?
-The low relief carving at the top of the stele depicts the god Shamash handing the symbols of rulership and authority, a rod and a ring, to Hammurabi, signifying divine sanction of the laws.
How does the Code of Hammurabi relate to the idea of 'innocent until proven guilty' and the concept of retributive justice?
-The Code of Hammurabi introduced the concept of uniform legal treatment and is associated with the idea of 'innocent until proven guilty' as well as retributive justice concepts like 'an eye for an eye'.
What historical narrative has been speculated to have been inspired by the stele of the Code of Hammurabi?
-The narrative of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God on stone tablets has been speculated to have been inspired by the stele of the Code of Hammurabi.
Outlines
đïž The Rise of the Babylonian Empire and Hammurabi's Code
The Babylonian Empire emerged in Mesopotamia in the 18th century BCE following the disintegration of the Acadian Empire, which was partly due to climate change. King Hammurabi established the new empire, with Babylon as its capital, and named it 'mat Acadia', signifying his connection to the previous empire. To unify his diverse empire, Hammurabi created the Code of Hammurabi, a set of over 300 laws inscribed on a stele, which aimed to standardize legal practices and create uniformity. The code covered topics such as property rights and commerce, emphasizing fairness in trade and compensation. Its significance lies in the codification of universal treatment under the law, eliminating personal biases in legal enforcement.
đ Divine Authority and the Visual Representation of Hammurabi's Code
The Code of Hammurabi is not only significant for its legal content but also for its visual representation on the stele. The top of the stele features a low relief carving depicting the god Shamash, the sun god, bestowing authority upon Hammurabi, who is shown wearing a domed cap symbolizing kingship and priestly status. Shamash hands Hammurabi a rod and a ring, symbols of rulership and authority, indicating that the code is divinely sanctioned. This visual narrative reinforces the idea that Hammurabi's laws have a divine origin and are thus universally applicable. The code has also influenced legal concepts and phrases that are still recognized today, such as 'innocent until proven guilty', 'an eye for an eye', and has potentially inspired biblical narratives like Moses receiving the Ten Commandments.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄBabylonian Empire
đĄLaw and Order
đĄKing Hammurabi
đĄCode of Hammurabi
đĄStele
đĄCuneiform Script
đĄProperty Rights
đĄAgricultural Commerce
đĄSocial Class
đĄDivine Authority
đĄReligious Iconography
Highlights
The Acadian Empire disintegrated around the middle of the 21st century BCE, partly due to climate change.
The Babylonian Empire emerged in the 18th century BCE under King Hammurabi.
Hammurabi's empire was also known as mat Acadia, signifying a connection to the past Acadian Empire.
Hammurabi faced the challenge of unifying a diverse empire and addressed it through the Code of Hammurabi.
The Code of Hammurabi consisted of over 300 laws, establishing a uniform legal system.
The code was inscribed on a stele, symbolizing its widespread distribution and importance.
Hammurabi described himself as the king who made the four corners of the earth obedient, emphasizing his authority.
The laws covered topics such as property rights, agriculture, and commerce, aiming for fairness in trade and compensation.
The code introduced a universal treatment under the law, eliminating personal biases in legal implementation.
The top of the stele features a low relief carving, including the god Shamash and King Hammurabi.
Shamash, the sun god, is depicted wearing a horned crown, a symbol of divinity.
Hammurabi is shown receiving symbols of rulership and authority from Shamash, indicating divine sanction.
The visual representation on the stele serves as a justification for the law, emphasizing its divine origin.
The Code of Hammurabi is historically significant for introducing the concept of uniform legal discipline.
The code includes famous legal phrases such as 'innocent until proven guilty' and 'an eye for an eye'.
There is speculation that the Code of Hammurabi may have inspired the narrative of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments.
Transcripts
the Babylonian Empire Law and Order
so um in our previous discussion we left
off with the Acadian Empire which more
or less disintegrates around the middle
of the 21st century BCE
um interestingly a large portion of that
disintegration had to do with some
climate change
um which makes it feel kind of relevant
today there was quite a bit of political
disturbance because of climate uh
changing climate conditions and it won't
be until the 18th century that a new
Empire arises in Mesopotamia and that
will be the Babylonian Empire
established under King Hammurabi maybe
his name is familiar to you maybe not we
will discuss him
um and so we call this the Babylonian
Empire their capital city was Babylon
but it's interesting Hammurabi and his
successors had a different name for
their empire which was mat Acadia
um I don't know if I'm pronouncing that
correctly but it's a k k a d i and this
translates to the country of akkad which
as you recall was the capital city of
the Acadian Empire
um so it's interesting that Hammurabi
when he comes to power he sees himself
and Fashions himself as kind of the
inheritor of the Acadian Empire and the
the Grandeur of being an Empire
um which is you know rhetorically
interesting and um interesting visually
in a way that we will come to appreciate
in just a second
uh but you know when he comes to power
Hammurabi has uh arguably a problem that
all uh military leaders of military
empires have which is how to unify your
inherently
um diverse Empire all these different
communities how do you create a kind of
uniformity amongst them
and the solution that he comes up with
is very famously known as the Code of
Hammurabi
so the code is kind of two things the
code is the actual writing as we are
about to see consisting of over 300 laws
that Hammurabi uh establishes codifies
and then they become the governing laws
for his Empire so
um it's the the kind of theoretical
conceptual laws but then there's also
very famously this particular Steely and
we recall that Steely is the fancy term
for a stone monument or marker and
um you know that's also when people say
Code of Hammurabi that's also what
they're referring to is this particular
Steely but the code wasn't only written
on this Steely
um there are fragments I think of it
from at least a dozen a dozen other
places in the Empire of the code uh so
we know that it was widely distributed
and again the purpose arguably of that
is to um
to create a homogenization
um of discipline within his Empire I
don't know if it's on the Steely itself
or if it's elsewhere but Hammurabi will
go on to very famously describe himself
as quote the king who made the four
corners of the earth obedient and uh
obviously I think that's the messaging
that we are getting here
so turning to this you know physical
object
um the code is actually written on the
body of the Steely you can see that here
it is in it that cuneiform script and as
I said it's over 300 laws
um and if you had to kind of guess the
topics that they cover there's
likes one or two general categories that
come up a lot
and it's fine if you don't you know if
you don't guess these but if you had to
guess maybe possibly based on what we've
talked about with Mesopotamian Society
so far maybe you would guess that uh big
topics had to do with property rights
and kind of agricultural
um uh what's the word I'm looking for
um Commerce
so um that is that is what the majority
of these laws are about it's essentially
kind of dictating fairness in in trade
and compensation and property which we
know is such a valuable commodity in
this period and the significance of all
this is not necessarily that you know
there's X
you commit x-crime and then your
punishment is what we would now deem
today as appropriate that's not the
significance necessarily the
significance of the code is that if you
were to commit x-crime everybody like
you
um everybody in your social class so
pretend you're a farmer if you committed
x-crime you would receive the same
punishment as any other farmer that
committed this crime usually you know
each crime had a different level of
punishment for the type of person that
committed it so perhaps you know a woman
would get a more harsh punishment than a
man a farmer or more harsh punishment
than a traitor so on and so forth uh but
it's that homogenization across social
class
um so no longer is is the law and
implementation of the law you know based
on personal biases or preferences
um it's this codification of uh a
universal treatment under the law and
that is what makes the code so
significant
um but from a visual perspective uh
again this particular Steely is also
significant because of what it shows at
the top
and just in terms of our art historical
vocabulary and talking about style
hopefully we recognize that this is a
low relief carving of two figures
um and if you had to guess you know I
will tell you right now one of them is
Holy one of them is not but obviously
pretty important even though he's not
holy
um which one of them is Holy what do we
what have we learned about the
appearance of gods in Mesopotamia that
kind of tells us who is who and again
hopefully you would recognize that this
figure is wearing a horned crown and the
horns are coming from the back and then
kind of creating this v-shape towards
the front
um but we recall that it's only the gods
that wear horned crowns so we know that
this is the god shamash the god of the
sun
arguably the most powerful of all the
gods he even has these lightning bolts
as kind of I don't know sold shoulder
decorations which I think is fabulous
and he's extending his arm out towards
this other figure
and given the name of this Monument we
came fairly deduced that this other
figure is Hammurabi and he is shown
wearing that domed cap that we saw all
the way back on the work of Oz as a
symbol of kingship and Priestly status
so what is happening shamash is handing
uh Hammurabi something and if we were to
look at other examples of art from this
period we would know that these are
other symbols here we have a rod and a
ring and those are symbols of
um
uh rulership and authority and so
shamash is handing those to Hammurabi
and thus the whole kind of messaging of
uh this scene is that the law Code of
Hammurabi you know technically or or
actually comes from shimash shamash has
given Divine authority to rule to
Hammurabi Hammurabi comes up with this
this code and thus it is divinely
sanctioned uh divinely approved
and so it's interesting
um again knowing that Hammurabi
particularly saw himself as an inheritor
of the Acadian Empire it's interesting
how this connection of ruler and the
Divine was also something that we saw at
the end of the Acadian Empire and here's
just being expressed a little
differently
um with Namar sin he was showing his
physical and Military might here we have
um you know a legal uh illegal power
being expressed but um hopefully to
State the obvious the the Code of
Hammurabi is incredibly significant in
terms of world history because of this
this sort of uniforming discipline
um the idea of it that it sets forth and
it's also um given us some fairly famous
legal phrases and Concepts like the idea
of being innocent until proven guilty
that is something that appears in the
code
um as well as these phrases an eye for
an eye or a tooth for a tooth
um in regards to punishment and
retaliation and those will also appear
as you may or may not know in the Old
Testament
and also in the Old Testament very
famously is the prophet Moses who
receives Ten Commandments written on
stone tablets from God when he is on a
Mountaintop and so it has been
speculated that um
let me just go back to the whole thing
here that um this particular Steely
could have also been an inspiration for
that narrative The Narrative of Moses
receiving laws for human behavior from
God on stone tablets
so a whole lot of interesting
associations in history happening with
the Code of Hammurabi and hopefully now
we have a little better understanding
um also of the visual rhetoric and
justification for the law that is
written at the top of the Steely
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)