Hammurabi

This passage discusses King Hammurabi of Babylon.

Lexile Level: 460L

Categories: History People & Places

Hammurabi was a king in Babylon. Babylon was a country in the Middle East. Hammurabi made many laws. There were almost 300 laws! Many people think these laws were the first laws made for a whole country. These laws were called the Code of Hammurabi. The people in Babylon were supposed to follow the laws in the code. People who did not follow the laws were punished. One law was "an eye for an eye." This meant that if a person did something mean to you, then the same thing was done to that person. The code was written on a big stone, so no one could change the laws. The stone was put where all the people could see it. That way they all would know the laws. Thousands of years passed. The stone was lost. Then, over 100 years ago, the stone was found. Now it is in a museum.