Yes, it is apparent that the hammurabi code is clearly the product of a civilization, rather than some other kind of early society, because it was the first written code. The distintion between early societies and civilization is the ability to write and read. The hammurabi code was the first one written, thus making it the first law code of a civilization.
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Yes, the code illustrate key elements of what a civilization is. The code is perhaps the first example of a codified law, where the principle of "eye for eye" is explained and adjusted in adherence to a variety of circumstances. Moreover, it offers examples of law regarding different matters like weddings, divorce, reproductive law and so on.
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In Babylonia at the time there were three main social classes, which were property owners, freed men, and slaves. Those classes played a role when it came to the application of the law, as a crime towards an higher class had a greater punishment then a crime towrds a lower class, for example. Euqlity is in this sense was not yet achieved.
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Yes, the code suggest wide gaps among them. As said before, there were disparities in treatment, whatever the crime was. A property owner that assault a slave was a sever less crime than the opposite case, for example, proving that some wide gaps were present and influenced the everyday life of the population.
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Very low protection. Babylonia at the time was a very patriarchal society, so the protection of women were reserved to the men in charge of them. It was mostly the men who were refunded in case and the protection extended to women were often written as protection made in order to protected what it was considered mostly like a good.
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Because women did not have rights on their own body. They cannot decide for themselves and have very restricted possibilities in the society. Mostly, they were considered like a very precious good, and thus they were treated. They could not partecipate in the political or social life and have a very limited role in society.
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Yes, babylonia had a powerful state with a large bureaucracy. It was perhaps the first state with a large bureaucracy, that was in charge of taxes and justice and other state duties. Bureaucracy also was what allowed the country to expand and extend its influences over a lot of territories, so for a long time bureaucracy was also responsable for making babylonia thriving.
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Perhaps prisons. They were not a concept back in the day. All charges were resolved at the moment and there were not the concept of prison as a place where people stayed because they have committed a crime. What was present was a system that assure an immediate repercussion on the guilty part, like losing an hand.
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Because the accusation, if proven true, would lead to an immediate execution of the penalty, thus effectively limited the "guilty" person, so a false accusation was perhaps a tool that many people used when they wanted something and they did not achieve to those results. It was perhaps also used as a vendetta against enemies.
