Blogpost #2: Inside The Code

When we say "DEATH PENALTY", what comes to your mind? as for me, I always remember the phrase: "Eye for an eye, and teeth for a teeth." Yes, that phrase was written a thousand of years ago and can be found written in a huge stone. I ask myself, where and when did the death penalty or the capital punishment begins?

While I was having a research, I saw an article regarding to death penalty. That article is made by Michael H. Reggio called "History of the Death Penalty" as I read further I read about the phrase "A life for a life". Well as we read that phrase we can think about the ancient laws called the Hammurabi's Code.

Let's go back to the ancient time. Who is Hammurabi?

Hammurabi (1792-1750BC) was the sixth king of Babylon. He is well-known because of the Hommurabi's Code that has been found somewhere in Iran. According to my research it is said that hammurabi ruled the Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates river.Hammurabi's code was made before the bible was written.


All about the CODE


The Hammurabi's code was a Mesopotamian culture and said to be written in a stone tablet and made around 1760 BC. It contains laws that was made by the king of Babylon. In the code, it contains 282 laws including the phrase "and eye for an eye, and tooth fo a tooth" and also the "life for a life." Here are also some laws that was written inside the code:

"If any one finds runaway male or female slaves in the open country and bring them to their masters, the master of the slaves shall pay him two shekels of silver."

-Slavery is just usual in the ancient time. The master of slaves can do what they want to do to their slaves. They harass them, they ask them to do a hard task that they cannot do and that was the reasons of some slaves to run away from their master

"If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death."

- Robbery is one of the common problem since the ancient times. So in ancient times, all those people who was caught robbing things, they immediately put to death.

"If a son of a paramour or a prostitute say to his adoptive father or mother: "You are not my father, or my mother," his tongue shall be cut off."

"If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off."

-  Since in ancient time, they teach their children to have respect to their parents

- All the children must be comply with their parents because parents know what will be good to their child

"If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out."

- It's assembles the phrase "Eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth", in this phrase, it can tell us about the revenge. For me, its looks like the equivalent trade where when you loss something you will gain something even if it is good or bad

The Hammurabi's code is just one of the culture in ancient times. there are also a culture in old days, for example is those people who has been believe in the witches, vampires, and werewolves and they suspected one family to be a witch, they burnt the house of the family including the family member.

This is what I learned about my research, since ancient times, there is also a death penalty and that death penalty can be sometimes a justice and some times not. I also realize that life is unfair. Justice is hard to find since in ancient times until now a days.