It was my first time reading the Hammurabi Code and it really was something. These rules are the first rules that were ever made and till this day some religion people still believe in them. I know from family that In the Quran the muslim book it says that if one shall shill their hands will be cut off and that reminded me when I read the Hammurabi code. Religion people still have strong believes in some of these laws.
I have to say, I was very intrigued by the silent movie. For 1923, I thought it was very well done.
My comments, however, have to do more with the actual story. Obviously, I've heard this story a million times, but seeing it for the very first time I was able to formulate an actual opinion about it.
How weak are we that we can't survive without an idol to worship? Is that the point that the writers of the Old Testament were trying to make? That we cannot survive or live righteously without God in our lives? The way in which these people were worshiping this golden calf in the movie was almost barbaric. And even worse is the reasoning: we don't have a God to worship so let's make one up? What does this God represent? What does he do for you? What has he done?
I know this story is supposed to teach you that there are moments when you won't hear God, but he is there and you should not despair and "thou shalt not worship false idols." But there are people who base their entire lives around religion. Is this what happens to those people who call on God only to find that God is "out to lunch---indefinitely"?
Side note: Am I making sense? I've been up since 5:30AM.
PS: Professor, please stop calling me Liz. You had me for a whole semester a year ago. My name is LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUZ.
I personally found it very interesting about how much of the code was based around the idea of "eye for an eye". Especially the parts about causing the death of someone's family member = they kill your same family member. It really surprised me because it's basically "two wrongs make a right". One innocent person dies, so then another innocent person dies. The central power figure (generally eldest male)is the only one that seems to matter in this society.
By the way, as an aside - the U.S. is one of the last "first-world" countries still using the death penalty. Food for thought.
When we were reading over some of the laws of the Hammurabi Code in class, one of the laws in particular caught my attention:
2. If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.
I could understand that water could be used as a preferred method of killing those found guilty as Dr. Sorin mentioned. But in this case it seems that the people of Babylon didn't just utilize water as a means of execution. It seems that the water itself is used as the judge of the accused. This is very strange, given that we now understand or can atleast assume that bodies of water possess no reasoning abilities and therefore have no logical use as a means for revealing truth and justice in a matter. This satisfies why water shouldn't be used as a means of judgement, but it doesn't answer the question "why did the people of babylon implement it as a means of judgement?"
I believe the reason can somehow be correlated with agriculture. It seems likely that because of their ignorance of the physical process that happens when plant life occurs, they simply attributed the waters effect on crops to some supernatural, mystical, and/or divine force. Because of water's power of bringing life they saw themselves below it, almost like children of the water. So they then mistakenly assumed that the will of the water would yield better and more just results than the will and judgement of men. It's kind of scary to think of living in times such as these where people were even more devoid of reason and rationality than they are now. Imagine if someone committed a heinous crime against you and your main concern in reporting them to the authorities is whether or not they can swim.
Hammurabi Code was some what amusing and interesting. The interesting part that popped in my head was how civilizations throughout the ages go to rivers to help judge right or wrong. Rivers in these civilizations bring life and takes life just as easy. The youtube video was also surprising, when I heard silent video, I pictured black and white. But it turned out to be in color and with some firework special effects.
The Hammurabi Code provided stability and order in the ancient societies. I found it very amuzing to come across laws that left it up to nature to decide the fate of humans.It was interesting to see how they used water as a method of execusion.In my opinion the Hammurabi code differentiates between men of status and rank and it does not give individuals the possibility of a fair trial. I could never imagine today's modern societies making use of such laws and their ways of dealing with crime.These laws were created for the early Mesopotamian society and they should only be part of that era.
P.S. The you tube video was not creative and i found it to be a little depressing.
In response to the you tube video of the ten commandments, I thought it was done pretty well given the time in which it was made and the available technology, however, I found the way the commandments were presented to Moses to be extremely cheesy and probably offensive to devout followers. I find that it took away from the film's intensity and almost made a mockery of it. Fireworks? Really?
I think that scene would have been just fine the way it was done with the forming of clouds to create the text, minus the fireworks.
Many people seem not to like Moses's 10 Commandments short movie on you tube. Remember that forming clouds and terrifying thunders represent God's power. I think, individuals who made that movie did a perfect movie for that period of time. Therefore, I applaud their effort.
This was not the first I was exposed to ten commandments. The first time I read it, it was not something new for me. However, when I first time resd the code of Hammurabi, I was quite in a shock. The comparison of Hammurabi code and the ten commandments revealed huge differences to me. First, the code of Hammurabi is based on more secular laws and regulations while ten commandments are based on religious laws. Second, The code of Hammurabi is full of brutal punishments for the transgressors and criminals while ten commandments list no punishment. While I was analyzing the code of Hammurabi, I found some of the laws fair and some unjust. For instance, if one individual harms physically the other individual, the injured individual has a right to physically harm the same way. I beleive that this is a full justice! One might critisize that I should have some mercy and compasionate and forgive the attacker because we are all human beings. Yes, I would forgive the attacker if it was not intentional attack or a harm. But, if it was for some kind of purpose, there is no way I can forgive the attacker. Another law that I found reasonable is when a judge makes a mistake in his judgement and punishes an individual. When court finds out the judge's fault, the judge has to pay 12 times the fine set by him. The judge will be removed from his duty in public and never will take position again. This law is a fair law because in some parts of the world, innocent people suffer because of those faulty and corrupted judges.
Regarding the unreasonable laws, I did not like the laws and regulations for stealing--anyone who stole was sentenced to death. God forbid, imagine if the U.S.A. addopted this law, every minute there would be hundreds of people put to death. Not only them , but also individuals who found some kind of property and did not return it, such as a slave man or woman, would be put to death. I think messepotomians were very brutal to thieves.
Both the Hammurabi Code and the 10 Commandments are laws to govern your life. The 10 Commandments cannot save you from going to hell. The Bible says "for by grace you have been save through faith and that not of yourselves, it it the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9 The hammurabi Code was very long, there seem to be a law for everything.
2. If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.
I'm not sure if anyone noticed but it does seem familiar to one of the methods they used for accused during the Salem witch trials.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth concept was applied throughout the sets of laws that Hammurabi the great king established. For individuals that lie, cheat, steal or kill, the punishment was always death. I am a strong supporter of the death penalty and believe that these laws should still be enforced in our society. It was a great idea to engrave the laws onto a stone, for the whole community to read and see. Hammurabi established great justice and order, and my favorite law is: 195) If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off.
I found the Hamurabi Code interesting because it is the 1st written law in the history and itself is a great piece of art. I heard that even now days law school students would have to study this code. This code gave the foundation to modern day law system. Although I think that most of the codes were too harsh and cruel and they were unfair to most people, it is understandable to the people during that time due to our culture difference. Having these codes was better than having no law. With the help of people's belief, this "God's codes" helped giving citizens a moral standard, secure the society and made it easier to cut someone's limb off.
I was first introduced to 10 Commandments at the very young age and because my family was quite religious, they tried to teach me to respect the 10 Commandments any imply them to life. 1o Commandments informs of things humans should not be doing. It does not say of the consequences. I have read The Code of Hammurabi last week in the class and it absolutely differs from 10 commandants. It gives an example of a behavior and the punishment for it. I would be really terrified to live at the Mesopotamian time. Some laws were very unfair and cruel.The Code of Hammurabi brings more fear than The 10 Commandments because of clearly stated punishment.
in my opinion, the ten commandments is far more brief as compared to that of the Hammurabi Code. This always a great amount of interpretation for the ten commandments where as with the Hammurabi Code, everything is set out for every individual and leaves little to no room for broadening the meaning to each rule. This can be considered both a good and bad thing. Looking through the positive(good) perspective, this can easily help an individual interpret it to further benefit themselves but on the negative(bad) side, this could greatly limit an individual because of its brief aspects.
I am Christian, and during my life, I learned and followed the 10 commandments. Both the Hamurabi code and the 10 commandment are a set of rules that we as human are suppose to respect and follow, with the difference that the Hamurabi code gives the punishment right after the rule. I, personally, do not like the way of the Hamurabi code was writing because shows that you need to obey the law in order to avoid to be punish.
The concept of killing those who are guilty for committing a crime against another is quite right. But I believe it depends on the crime that was committed. Hence the death penalty for crimes that is not harmful to another physically for example stealing or committing adultery should not have such harsh penalties. The death penalty to those who killed another willingly should be tried and placed to death if found guilty. The water concept was quite amazing but also primitive. Although I think the reason for using water and not the actual hands on punishment was smart so the death of another man was in the hands of nature or “God”. The Hamurabi Code and the 10 commandments I believe were needed to help bring some law and order to the people at that time. It is still used to bring moral law in modern society. Human beings tend to be chaotic when they have no rules to keep them in line. We use moral law in everyday activities and well for the written law we tend to acknowledge it and live by it because of the consequences of not abiding by them.
I have been reading Hamurabi code since my high school years. I think these laws were harsh and offensive if we look at them today, but at that time these laws were considered to be equal and perfect for everyone. Although some of these laws are pretty hard to understand because they dont make sense, but society at that time were following them considered to be religious.i guesss Hamurabi tried hard to make these laws as they were the first laws ever introduced to humanity.
The Hamurabi Codes, I believe, were not too extreme. They were relevant to the circumstances of the Sumerian civilization during that period of time. However, I do feel that with the amount of deaths that incur due to a petty crime that should normally receive a slap on the hand punishment, there would be very little people living in the Sumerian city. I believe that the saying, "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," is perfect in reference to the Hamurabi Codes. The codes do not seek to rehabilitate the wrongdoings of citizens in hope of creating more upstanding citizens who abide by the laws, but to punish them severely (and many by death). However, as the first written code of laws, I believe that the Hamurabi codes are quite fair and seem to have done a good job maintaining the society. Even though the people give up their personal freedom with these laws, they receive personal protection from the laws as well. The laws prevent people from escaping consequences of wrongdoing and maintains justice (in its own way) in a civilization that upholds a moral code of living. Therefore, I believe that the Hamurabi codes were useful and a good start to the modern ways of governing.
I find the Hamurabi code to be very strict. If someones head doesn't end up being cut off, then it was another part of their body or life itself.
This also shows that societies as old as the ancient Babylonian conducted themselves by a law of principles as we do today for example with the constitution. These laws of Hamurabi were very straight forward and short. 282 laws and all were composed of one sentence or two. I think this kept it very clear for anyone trying to disobey the law. Many of these laws seem also kind of carried the message of "do not do to another what you wouldn't want to be done to you":
• If a man puts out the eye of an equal, his eye shall be put out. • If a man knocks the teeth out of another man, his own teeth will be knocked out.
It was my first time reading the Hammurabi Code and it really was something. These rules are the first rules that were ever made and till this day some religion people still believe in them. I know from family that In the Quran the muslim book it says that if one shall shill their hands will be cut off and that reminded me when I read the Hammurabi code. Religion people still have strong believes in some of these laws.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I was very intrigued by the silent movie. For 1923, I thought it was very well done.
ReplyDeleteMy comments, however, have to do more with the actual story. Obviously, I've heard this story a million times, but seeing it for the very first time I was able to formulate an actual opinion about it.
How weak are we that we can't survive without an idol to worship? Is that the point that the writers of the Old Testament were trying to make? That we cannot survive or live righteously without God in our lives? The way in which these people were worshiping this golden calf in the movie was almost barbaric. And even worse is the reasoning: we don't have a God to worship so let's make one up? What does this God represent? What does he do for you? What has he done?
I know this story is supposed to teach you that there are moments when you won't hear God, but he is there and you should not despair and "thou shalt not worship false idols." But there are people who base their entire lives around religion. Is this what happens to those people who call on God only to find that God is "out to lunch---indefinitely"?
Side note: Am I making sense? I've been up since 5:30AM.
PS: Professor, please stop calling me Liz. You had me for a whole semester a year ago. My name is LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUZ.
BTW there was a typo it is supposed to say steal instead of "shill" where is says "one shall shill their hands will be cut off"
ReplyDeletesorry
I personally found it very interesting about how much of the code was based around the idea of "eye for an eye". Especially the parts about causing the death of someone's family member = they kill your same family member. It really surprised me because it's basically "two wrongs make a right". One innocent person dies, so then another innocent person dies. The central power figure (generally eldest male)is the only one that seems to matter in this society.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, as an aside - the U.S. is one of the last "first-world" countries still using the death penalty. Food for thought.
the in-class youtube video was hysterical.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were reading over some of the laws of the Hammurabi Code in class, one of the laws in particular caught my attention:
ReplyDelete2. If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.
I could understand that water could be used as a preferred method of killing those found guilty as Dr. Sorin mentioned. But in this case it seems that the people of Babylon didn't just utilize water as a means of execution. It seems that the water itself is used as the judge of the accused. This is very strange, given that we now understand or can atleast assume that bodies of water possess no reasoning abilities and therefore have no logical use as a means for revealing truth and justice in a matter. This satisfies why water shouldn't be used as a means of judgement, but it doesn't answer the question "why did the people of babylon implement it as a means of judgement?"
I believe the reason can somehow be correlated with agriculture. It seems likely that because of their ignorance of the physical process that happens when plant life occurs, they simply attributed the waters effect on crops to some supernatural, mystical, and/or divine force. Because of water's power of bringing life they saw themselves below it, almost like children of the water. So they then mistakenly assumed that the will of the water would yield better and more just results than the will and judgement of men. It's kind of scary to think of living in times such as these where people were even more devoid of reason and rationality than they are now. Imagine if someone committed a heinous crime against you and your main concern in reporting them to the authorities is whether or not they can swim.
Hammurabi Code was some what amusing and interesting. The interesting part that popped in my head was how civilizations throughout the ages go to rivers to help judge right or wrong. Rivers in these civilizations bring life and takes life just as easy. The youtube video was also surprising, when I heard silent video, I pictured black and white. But it turned out to be in color and with some firework special effects.
ReplyDeleteThe Hammurabi Code provided stability and order in the ancient societies. I found it very amuzing to come across laws that left it up to nature to decide the fate of humans.It was interesting to see how they used water as a method of execusion.In my opinion the Hammurabi code differentiates between men of status and rank and it does not give individuals the possibility of a fair trial. I could never imagine today's modern societies making use of such laws and their ways of dealing with crime.These laws were created for the early Mesopotamian society and they should only be part of that era.
ReplyDeleteP.S. The you tube video was not creative and i found it to be a little depressing.
In response to the you tube video of the ten commandments, I thought it was done pretty well given the time in which it was made and the available technology, however, I found the way the commandments were presented to Moses to be extremely cheesy and probably offensive to devout followers. I find that it took away from the film's intensity and almost made a mockery of it. Fireworks? Really?
ReplyDeleteI think that scene would have been just fine the way it was done with the forming of clouds to create the text, minus the fireworks.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMany people seem not to like Moses's 10 Commandments short movie on you tube. Remember that forming clouds and terrifying thunders represent God's power. I think, individuals who made that movie did a perfect movie for that period of time. Therefore, I applaud their effort.
ReplyDeleteThis was not the first I was exposed to ten commandments. The first time I read it, it was not something new for me. However, when I first time resd the code of Hammurabi, I was quite in a shock. The comparison of Hammurabi code and the ten commandments revealed huge differences to me. First, the code of Hammurabi is based on more secular laws and regulations while ten commandments are based on religious laws. Second, The code of Hammurabi is full of brutal punishments for the transgressors and criminals while ten commandments list no punishment. While I was analyzing the code of Hammurabi, I found some of the laws fair and some unjust. For instance, if one individual harms physically the other individual, the injured individual has a right to physically harm the same way. I beleive that this is a full justice! One might critisize that I should have some mercy and compasionate and forgive the attacker because we are all human beings. Yes, I would forgive the attacker if it was not intentional attack or a harm. But, if it was for some kind of purpose, there is no way I can forgive the attacker. Another law that I found reasonable is when a judge makes a mistake in his judgement and punishes an individual. When court finds out the judge's fault, the judge has to pay 12 times the fine set by him. The judge will be removed from his duty in public and never will take position again. This law is a fair law because in some parts of the world, innocent people suffer because of those faulty and corrupted judges.
Regarding the unreasonable laws, I did not like the laws and regulations for stealing--anyone who stole was sentenced to death. God forbid, imagine if the U.S.A. addopted this law, every minute there would be hundreds of people put to death. Not only them , but also individuals who found some kind of property and did not return it, such as a slave man or woman, would be put to death. I think messepotomians were very brutal to thieves.
Both the Hammurabi Code and the 10 Commandments are laws to govern your life. The 10 Commandments cannot save you from going to hell. The Bible says "for by grace you have been save through faith and that not of yourselves, it it the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
ReplyDeleteThe hammurabi Code was very long, there seem to be a law for everything.
2. If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if anyone noticed but it does seem familiar to one of the methods they used for accused during the Salem witch trials.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth concept was applied throughout the sets of laws that Hammurabi the great king established. For individuals that lie, cheat, steal or kill, the punishment was always death. I am a strong supporter of the death penalty and believe that these laws should still be enforced in our society. It was a great idea to engrave the laws onto a stone, for the whole community to read and see. Hammurabi established great justice and order, and my favorite law is: 195) If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off.
ReplyDeleteI found the Hamurabi Code interesting because it is the 1st written law in the history and itself is a great piece of art. I heard that even now days law school students would have to study this code. This code gave the foundation to modern day law system. Although I think that most of the codes were too harsh and cruel and they were unfair to most people, it is understandable to the people during that time due to our culture difference. Having these codes was better than having no law. With the help of people's belief, this "God's codes" helped giving citizens a moral standard, secure the society and made it easier to cut someone's limb off.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Simon, youtube video appeared almost like a parody of historical events, it could have been done with a little more class.
ReplyDeleteI was first introduced to 10 Commandments at the very young age and because my family was quite religious, they tried to teach me to respect the 10 Commandments any imply them to life. 1o Commandments informs of things humans should not be doing. It does not say of the consequences.
ReplyDeleteI have read The Code of Hammurabi last week in the class and it absolutely differs from 10 commandants. It gives an example of a behavior and the punishment for it. I would be really terrified to live at the Mesopotamian time. Some laws were very unfair and cruel.The Code of Hammurabi brings more fear than The 10 Commandments because of clearly stated punishment.
in my opinion, the ten commandments is far more brief as compared to that of the Hammurabi Code. This always a great amount of interpretation for the ten commandments where as with the Hammurabi Code, everything is set out for every individual and leaves little to no room for broadening the meaning to each rule. This can be considered both a good and bad thing. Looking through the positive(good) perspective, this can easily help an individual interpret it to further benefit themselves but on the negative(bad) side, this could greatly limit an individual because of its brief aspects.
ReplyDeleteI am Christian, and during my life, I learned and followed the 10 commandments. Both the Hamurabi code and the 10 commandment are a set of rules that we as human are suppose to respect and follow, with the difference that the Hamurabi code gives the punishment right after the rule. I, personally, do not like the way of the Hamurabi code was writing because shows that you need to obey the law in order to avoid to be punish.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of killing those who are guilty for committing a crime against another is quite right. But I believe it depends on the crime that was committed. Hence the death penalty for crimes that is not harmful to another physically for example stealing or committing adultery should not have such harsh penalties. The death penalty to those who killed another willingly should be tried and placed to death if found guilty. The water concept was quite amazing but also primitive. Although I think the reason for using water and not the actual hands on punishment was smart so the death of another man was in the hands of nature or “God”.
ReplyDeleteThe Hamurabi Code and the 10 commandments I believe were needed to help bring some law and order to the people at that time. It is still used to bring moral law in modern society. Human beings tend to be chaotic when they have no rules to keep them in line. We use moral law in everyday activities and well for the written law we tend to acknowledge it and live by it because of the consequences of not abiding by them.
I have been reading Hamurabi code since my high school years. I think these laws were harsh and offensive if we look at them today, but at that time these laws were considered to be equal and perfect for everyone.
ReplyDeleteAlthough some of these laws are pretty hard to understand because they dont make sense, but society at that time were following them considered to be religious.i guesss Hamurabi tried hard to make these laws as they were the first laws ever introduced to humanity.
The Hamurabi Codes, I believe, were not too extreme. They were relevant to the circumstances of the Sumerian civilization during that period of time. However, I do feel that with the amount of deaths that incur due to a petty crime that should normally receive a slap on the hand punishment, there would be very little people living in the Sumerian city. I believe that the saying, "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," is perfect in reference to the Hamurabi Codes. The codes do not seek to rehabilitate the wrongdoings of citizens in hope of creating more upstanding citizens who abide by the laws, but to punish them severely (and many by death). However, as the first written code of laws, I believe that the Hamurabi codes are quite fair and seem to have done a good job maintaining the society. Even though the people give up their personal freedom with these laws, they receive personal protection from the laws as well. The laws prevent people from escaping consequences of wrongdoing and maintains justice (in its own way) in a civilization that upholds a moral code of living. Therefore, I believe that the Hamurabi codes were useful and a good start to the modern ways of governing.
ReplyDeleteI find the Hamurabi code to be very strict. If someones head doesn't end up being cut off, then it was another part of their body or life itself.
ReplyDeleteThis also shows that societies as old as the ancient Babylonian conducted themselves by a law of principles as we do today for example with the constitution.
These laws of Hamurabi were very straight forward and short. 282 laws and all were composed of one sentence or two. I think this kept it very clear for anyone trying to disobey the law. Many of these laws seem also kind of carried the message of "do not do to another what you wouldn't want to be done to you":
• If a man puts out the eye of an equal, his eye shall be put out.
• If a man knocks the teeth out of another man, his own teeth will be knocked out.
Those are some examples.
I'm out!