Hammurabi's Code is studied as an early example of what kind of document?

Hammurabi began as king of the city of Babylon and then took other cities by conquest. How far did the kingdom he ruled reach?

Hammurabi's Code was issued in Babylon. In which region did that city stand?

Historians place Hammurabi's reign and his law code at roughly which point in time?

Hammurabi's laws were recorded using the writing system of Mesopotamia. What was that system called?

In Babylon, which trained workers did the actual job of recording laws, contracts, and records in cuneiform?

How was Hammurabi's Code put on display for the people of the kingdom?

Hammurabi's laws were carved in stone and set up where people gathered, rather than kept private. What did that arrangement make possible?

About how many separate laws does Hammurabi's Code contain?

Hammurabi's Code included laws about trade, property, farming, and family life.

Hammurabi's law pillar was carried off as war loot and found by archaeologists in 1901. In which museum is it displayed today?

Many penalties in Hammurabi's Code were set so that the punishment matched the harm the offender had caused. Which phrase is usually used to summarize that principle?

Hammurabi's Code assigns different penalties for the same act depending on whether the person harmed was a noble, a commoner, or an enslaved person. What does this show about Babylonian society?

A stone pillar carved in Babylon during Hammurabi's own reign records his laws. For a historian studying Babylonian law, what kind of source is it?

A historian reads Hammurabi's Code, which records the laws the king issued. What can the code not show on its own?

Before written codes, disputes in a region were often settled by local custom that differed from place to place. What changed once a ruler issued one written code?

Some laws in Hammurabi's Code set the amount of silver owed to a builder or a boatman. What everyday matter were those laws regulating?

Hammurabi's Code holds a farmer responsible if he neglects his canal bank and the water floods a neighbor's field. What did the code expect him to do?

Mesopotamian scribes copied Hammurabi's Code onto clay tablets for centuries after his death. What does that copying tell historians about the code?

The top of Hammurabi's law pillar is carved with the king standing before Shamash, the Babylonian god of justice, who holds out a rod and a ring to him. What claim did that carving make about the laws cut below it?