Question

What can be said about the Babylonians attitudes towards family?

Answer 1

There are different aspects which come up as we look at the Babylonian attitude towards family. On one hand family was the basic unit of the Babylonian society which gave class or station identity to an individual, someone without a family was not considered as respectable as the one with a family.
On the other hand keeping the father as the central figure who had most authority over the people in family seems inappropriate especially when it was a custom (though this was also answerable in a court of law) that the man of the family could even sell hi family member to clear the debt. First mistake of a child was forgiven but for the second the child could suffer any penalty the father wanted.