Listen&Learn: The Code of Hammurabi

Learn about some of the earliest written laws.

Pre-listening vocabulary

• reign: a period of time when a ruler has power
• civil: relating to ordinary people
• dispute: a disagreement
• enforce: to make sure that people obey something
• retribution: punishment that equals the crime
• perpetrator: a person who commits a crime
• legal: relating to laws

Listening activity

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:13 — 1.7MB)

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Gapfill exercise

The Code of Hammurabi is a stone slab that contains 282 laws. It was created around 1750 B.C., during the reign of Babylonian Hammurabi, who claimed that the laws had come from the gods. The code was written in Akkadian, an ancient Babylonian . Some of the laws dealt with such as murder, theft, or assault, while others focused on civil disputes. The slab was displayed in so that everyone could know the law. Hammurabi enforced laws through retribution, which meant that a perpetrator would often be punished with the same crime they had committed. Although laws today are very different, many legal systems have been influenced by the Code of Hammurabi.

Comprehension questions

Discussion/essay questions

1. Do you think that retribution is a good way to enforce laws? Why or why not?

Transcript

The Code of Hammurabi is a stone slab that contains 282 ancient laws. It was created around 1750 B.C., during the reign of Babylonian ruler Hammurabi, who claimed that the laws had come from the gods. The code was written in Akkadian, an ancient Babylonian language. Some of the laws dealt with crimes such as murder, theft, or assault, while others focused on civil disputes. The slab was displayed in public so that everyone could know the law. Hammurabi enforced laws through retribution, which meant that a perpetrator would often be punished with the same crime they had committed. Although laws today are very different, many legal systems have been influenced by the Code of Hammurabi.