What is the significance of the Code of Hammurabi (Fig. 2.11) ?

The Code of Hammurabi , though not systematic and exhaustive like the codes found in modern jurisprudence, provides us with an interesting snapshot of Babylonian culture and mores: relations between men and women, slaves and free, as well as issues of inheritance. It presents us with a principle of justice in terms of kind or proportionality (talion). The code is also significant for its depiction of the god Shamash as the ultimate law giver illuminating the subordinate ruler Hammurabi. The idea of a divine command theory will be influential in much of Western Thought and culture. Its influence spanned a millennium and was widely copied throughout Mesopotamia. It removed the law from the province of the sovereign making it more objective.