King Hammurabi envisioned his code of laws to govern the people of
Babylonia. Hammurabi's code is said to be a reflection of ancient society.
He cared about making a name for himself; he wanted his laws to be carried
down through generations and his reign to be talked about long after he was
gone. Hammurabi started a civilization based on social structure and
economics. In order to build a successful empire, he wanted to have a
society that had structure and social order. He knew that he had to have a
unified law that everyone could abide by and needed social structure so
that he could create equality among the people. He wanted all of his
citizens to live under the same set of laws so that they could work towards
a common goal and have the same rights as one another. Hammurabi was the
first to organize the world's first written set of laws that characterized
political and military structures, social structure based on economic
power, and social welfare. It was important to him to have the citizens
trust the laws and one another so there was no chaos amongst them. However,
he did organize the citizens into classes that were impossible for them to
get out of and I feel this was ultimately ineffective at accomplishing his
Hammurabi's code fulfilled most of the needs of his citizens.
He gave them what they needed at that time to prosper: structure. In order
to have a great nation you first must start with the people. They are the
building blocks of a great nation. But in order to get the maximum
productivity out of them, you need to set some ground rules. I feel the
code was harsh with some of the punishments, but it was exactly what they
needed at that time. These laws set up the structure and framework by which
the king or government operated, became a tool for them to interact with
each other, and created a justice system to help the people if they were
wronged by another person....