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Hammurabi Dbq

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From the perspective of a twenty-first century historian, looking back on eighteenth century BCE Babylon, it is easy to consider it a “civilization”. Babylon’s sophisticated and complicated judicial system and method of social hierarchy are far to overpowering to be looked past. Although the roles of women were limited and not elaborate to say the least, it cannot vie against the strength of the other principles and the international legacy they have left on the world. Babylon was in fact a civilization that included sophisticated systems of law and social hierarchy, but lacked progression in women’s opportunity. First of all, the Babylonian justice system includes the most famous code of law ever assembled. Hammurabi, a king of ancient Babylon wrote a code …show more content…
A common criticism of Babylon is the fact that women were not given opportunity at all and were only recognized as what their spouse accomplished. Women’s purpose in society was solely to take care of children, especially the son. “I am a daughter, I am a bride, I am a spouse, I am a housekeeper.” This quote from Document 6, which touches upon the role of women in ancient Babylonian society, summarizes a typical life of a woman in Babylonian culture. In addition, Hammurabi’s code does briefly touch upon some issues concerning women, but for the most part focuses on men. The main mistake of the Babylonian empire was to describe women only by their spouses. A woman could not be respected any more than her husband, and could not make any social progress. Her progress was determined by what her spouse was able to achieve, and the same goes for her social status. This is unfair, but it was not a factor that sparked a decline in the empire, nor did it cause a major problems. Therefor, it would be wrong to say that this issue to do with the role of women takes away Babylon’s title as a

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