The Legacy of Mesopotamia Sec. #3

Hammurabi’s Code Hammurabi’s Code was the first set of laws to be written down It was based on the idea of “an eye for an eye” Was not equal for all people The harshness of the punishment depended on the importance of the victim A person who accidentally broke the law was as guilty as the criminal

The Art of Writing Writers were called scribes and were very important Records were kept for trade, government, taxes, marriages and deaths Clay from the rivers was used to create tablets which were dried and used for records At first, pictures were used but later scribes combined symbols to create cuneiform which represented different languages