Notes-Hammurabi

Hammurabi was king of the Mesopotamian city of Babylon around 1800 B.C.

He reunited Sumer after a period of great turmoil.

He was famous for giving judicial decisions and recording them in the form of a VERY LONG code of laws.

The laws were inscribed on an 8 ft stele (big rock), which is how we know about the laws.

Hammurabi proclaimed that he received his wisdom from the Shamash, the god of justice. He also said that one of his motivations as a lawgiver was to protect the powerless from the powerful.

Some of Hammurabi's laws:

1. If any one ensnare (accuse/frame) another, but he cannot prove it, then he that ensnared him shall be put to death.

25. If fire break out in a house, and some one who comes to put it out cast his eye upon the property of the owner of the house, and take the property of the master of the house, he shall be thrown into that self-same fire.

133. If a man is taken prisoner in war, and there is a sustenance in his house, but his wife leave house and court, and go to another house: because this wife did not keep her court, and went to another house, she shall be judicially condemned and thrown into the water.

134. If any one be captured in war and there is not sustenance in his house, if then his wife go to another house this woman shall be held blameless.

195. If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off.

196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.

209. If a man strike a free-born woman so that she lose her unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss.

210. If the woman die, his daughter shall be put to death.

218. If a physician make a large incision with the operating knife, and kill him, or open a tumor with the operating knife, and cut out the eye, his hands shall be cut off.

219. If a physician make a large incision in the slave of a freed man, and kill him, he shall replace the slave with another slave.

229. If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.

Class Notes - Mesopotamian Gods

The Sumerians were polytheistic, meaning they worshipped multiple gods. We encountered some of the Gods worshipped by Sumerians in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Here is a list of major Sumerian deities (the names are their Babylonian equivalents because the author of our play used Babylonian names).

Anu - The sky god
-King of the gods, and god of kings
-Uses deadly shooting stars as weapons
-Role in Gilgamesh: Sends Enkidu to put Gilgamesh in his place. Later sends Taurus, the Bull of the Heavens, on Ishtar's behalf.


Anu by Alice, Sydney, and Mika


Anu by Athena

Enlil - God of wind and storms
-Creator of humankind
-Short tempered - responsible for the "Great Flood"

Ea - God of the waters
-Friend to humankind; tried to stop Enlil from flooding the earth and warned humans when the flood was inevitable
-Patron god of all crafts, writing, building, farming, and magic

Sin (Zin in our play) - The moon god
-God calendars, fertility, and plants

Zin by Jayne and Wyatt


Zin by Cyrus




Ishtar - Goddess of love, procreation, and war
-Usually armed with a bow and arrows, rides a lion
-Threatened to unleash zombies upon humankind if not admitted to the underworld
-Tempted and then punished Gilgamesh

Shamash - The sun god
-Drawn across the sky in a chariot drawn by fiery mules
-God of truth and justice, a lawgiver
-Helps Gilgamesh and Enkidu defeat the Humbawa


Shamash by Elysse and Sunita

Nergal - God of the underworld
-a hunter god of war and plague
-he commands seven warriors who help him to kill noisy and/or annoying people and animals

Class Notes - Basic Mesopotamia and Gilgamesh

The word "Mesopotamia" means "between two rivers" and refers to the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in what is present-day Iraq.

The world's first civilization sprung up in Mesopotamia around 3000 B.C.
-this early civilization is known as Sumeria
-the population was concentrated in city-states
-the Sumerians irrigated fields of crops with sophisticated canal systems
-they developed the wheel, as well as a form of writing known as "cuneiform"
-they built tiered temples known as ziggurats

We learned about Sumerian culture through its first great literary work - The Epic of Gilgamesh

-Gilgamesh was the king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk around 2,700 B.C.
-His story became an oral legend in Sumeria, and was later written down on clay tablets.

Epic Photos from Gilgamesh

Enkidu caresses a deer!


The gods play chess. (Is that what they do up there?)


Gilgamesh and Enkidu have a "Rocky" moment


Ishtar tempts Gilgamesh


Mac stands in as the evil serpent, a role that suits her perfectly


Gilgamesh and Enkidu stroke their beards


Gilgamesh consults her notecards (with the help of Enkidu/puppet)


Gilgamesh and Harim get down as they enjoy the contents of the "whine bottle"


Uh oh...Enkidu's angry!

Congratulations to all who made our play happen! Thanks to Lenna for taking the pictures!