Hammurabi’s Code: Was Babylonian Justice Fair? | Dynamic History Module | Grades 6-8

Help students investigate whether Babylonian justice was fair through a six-stop evidence study of Hammurabi and Mesopotamian law. This Dynamic History module for grades 6-8, calibrated primarily to Grade 6, compares earlier law collections, Hammurabi’s stele, rank-based penalties, the river ordeal, surviving court records, and the monument’s later journey.

Students work with maps, legal texts, royal imagery, court evidence, scribal copies, and provenance. The investigation asks students to distinguish Hammurabi’s claims from what the rulings show, compare how social rank affected outcomes, and separate direct records from supported historical inference.

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What students investigate

• Why Hammurabi’s law collection was part of an older Mesopotamian written-law tradition rather than the first written set of laws
• How the Hammurabi-and-Shamash relief and the epilogue communicate royal claims about justice and authority
• How injury penalties, medical fees, and other rulings changed according to social rank and circumstances
• How Ruling 2 and Mari letters distinguish a written river-ordeal procedure from evidence of actual practice
• Why surviving court records and a Nippur law copy leave courtroom use unsettled rather than proving either use or nonuse
• How evidence for the stele’s movement from Mesopotamia to Susa requires historians to distinguish direct record from inference

What's included

• Two-day guided Dynamic History investigation with six historical stops
• Teacher Guide and Answer Key with suggested Day 1 and Day 2 pacing
• Editable digital student worksheet and print student worksheet
• Self-graded Google Forms quiz and multiple-choice print quiz
• Assessment bank with 5 vocabulary terms, 4 two-part short-answer questions, 2 two-part challenge questions, and 15 multiple-choice questions

Flexible classroom use

• Teach the core investigation across two 45-50 minute class periods
• Use the interactive Dynamic History experience when students have devices
• Use selected written questions for homework, review, or a short check for understanding
• Use the complete assessment as a separate assessment period when desired

Skills addressed

• Using maps, artifacts, legal texts, and court evidence to support historical claims
• Distinguishing royal claims and written rulings from evidence of actual legal practice
• Comparing how social rank changed penalties, fees, and legal outcomes
• Distinguishing direct records from supported historical inference
• Building a qualified fairness judgment that identifies both evidence and uncertainty

Standards alignment

CCSS History/Social Studies literacy connections documented in the Teacher Guide include RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.6, and RH.6-8.7. Written synthesis may support WHST.6-8.9.