Hammurabis Law Assignment Report

Running head: HAMMURABIS LAW
THE PLACE OF WOMEN IN AKKADIAN SOCIETY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note

HAMMURABIS LAW1
Introduction
Almost all over the world, women are considered to be the main caretakers of elders and
children. Global studies indicate that women take an active role to help families to adapt to new
realities and challenges when the economic and political institutions of a community shift1. This
paper would be arguing that the place of women in Akkadian society is situated in a high
position. While discussing the same it also sheds light on various Hammurabi’s law to support
this statement.
Discussion
The Hammurabi’s Code is a well-maintained Babylonian law code of the ancient
Mesopotamia dating from about 1754 BC. It is one of the ancient decrypted texts in the world
with a substantial duration. This code was enacted by the Sixth Babylonian King Hammurabi
which consisted of 282 laws with severe punishments, for instance ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for
a tooth’. The basis of the punishment is social status and sex, such as women vs. men, slave vs.
free man2. One-third of this Code deals with domestic and family relations such as ancestry,
divorce, paternity and sexual conduct. The laws were organized into classes to allow people to
read what they wanted. It had been made clear in the Hammurabi code that there is a patriarchal
structure in the former Near East under which legislation is required to grant women protection
from abuse3. Legislation limited women’s dowries and how they might be divorced.
The State, therefore, acknowledged that women needed to be protected from men by
statute. Unfortunately, although such legal security is provided, women tend to be regarded as
1 Chavalas, Mark, ed. Women in the Ancient Near East: a sourcebook. Routledge, 2013.
2 Roffer, Michael. The Law Book: From Hammurabi to the International Criminal Court, 250 Milestones in the
History of Law (Sterling). Sterling, 2015.
3 Nemet-Nejat, Karen. "Akkadian wisdom literature." Women in the Ancient Near East. Routledge, 2013. 87-112.