This phrase, along with the idea of written laws, goes back to ancient
Mesopotamian culture that prospered long before the Bible was written or the
civilizations of the Greeks or Romans flowered.
"An eye for an eye ..." is a paraphrase of Hammurabi's Code, a
collection of 282 laws inscribed on an upright stone pillar. The code was found
by French archaeologists in 1901 while excavating the ancient city of Susa,
which is in modern-day Iran.
Hammurabi is the best known and most celebrated of all Mesopotamian kings.
He ruled the Babylonian Empire from 1792-50 B.C.E. Although he was concerned
with keeping order in his kingdom, this was not his only reason for compiling
the list of laws. When he began ruling the city-state of Babylon, he had
control of no more than 50 square miles of territory. As he conquered other
city-states and his empire grew, he saw the need to unify the various groups he
controlled.
A
Need for Justice
Hammurabi keenly understood that, to
achieve this goal, he needed one universal set of laws for all of the diverse
peoples he conquered. Therefore, he sent legal experts throughout his kingdom
to gather existing laws. These laws were reviewed and some were changed or
eliminated before compiling his final list of 282 laws. Despite what many
people believe, this code of laws was not the first.
The prologue or introduction to the list of laws is very enlightening. Here,
Hammurabi states that he wants "to make justice visible in the land, to
destroy the wicked person and the evil-doer, that the strong might not injure
the weak." The laws themselves support this compassionate claim, and
protect widows, orphans and others from being harmed or exploited.
The phrase "an eye for an eye" represents what many people view as
a harsh sense of justice based on revenge. But, the entire code is much more
complex than that one phrase. The code distinguishes among punishments for
wealthy or noble persons, lower-class persons or commoners, and slaves.
Hammurabi's own words illustrate this point: "If a man has destroyed
the eye of a man of the gentleman class, they shall destroy his eye .... If he
has destroyed the eye of a commoner ... he shall pay one mina of silver. If he
has destroyed the eye of a gentleman's slave ... he shall pay half the slave's
price." The Babylonians clearly did not live under a social system that
treated all people equally.
THE NEXT TIME YOU USE THIS PHRASE , REMEMBER THE BABYLONIAN KING HAMMURABI
By Nii Adjei
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