PAST CRIMESThe wedgeshaped symbols could also be readily carved into stone, and it is
in this form that we find one of the oldest known law codes in the world–the
Code of Hammurabi. It was carved in about 1772BCon the orders of a
Babylonian king. The stone pillar, 2.25m tall, was discovered in Iran in 1901
by a French archaeologist. Nearly 300 separate laws are recorded on its
surface. Copies of parts of these laws have also been found on clay tablets
excavated in Israel and other parts of the Middle East. The various sections
cover a whole range of governmental concerns–military service, religious
observance, trade and commercial practice, labour laws, as well as laws
relating to criminal acts–and they also specify the appropriate punishments
for transgressions. Earlier law codes are known–the code of Urnammu dates
from 2112– 2095 BC, in which in most cases, the punishments for crimes were
set down in the form of fines. However, by the time of Hammurabi, things had
changed and become more physical.
Acts of murder or assault were generally to be punished by reciprocal
violence – if someone lost an eye, he was entitled to take out the eye of the
one who had wounded him. If a son hit his father, he would lose the hand that
struck the blow; if a surgeon caused a patient to lose an arm or a leg, the
doctor would also lose a hand. Many of the punishments were simple and
Figure 5. Cuneiform tablet (Source: Fæ/Wikimedia Commons)