The Biography Show #002 – King Hammurabi of Babylon
Despite what many people believe, the idea of a set of laws to fairly govern a society wasn’t invented by Moses. Laws had been present in middle eastern kingdoms for almost 1000 years before Moses. One of the earliest, most famous and best preserved are the laws of King Hammurabi of Babylon, called The Code Of Hammurabi (1760BCE). The laws were inscribed on a massive column and placed in the middle of the town square across his kingdom for everyone to read.
(Above: A marble bas relief of Hammurabi which resides in the US House Of Representatives.)
While we don’t know the exact reach of the Babylonian empire during Hammurabi’s reign, we do know that it covered much of modern Iraq and Syria. This map shows the Kingdom of Babylonia as it relates to modern Iraq (link).
Wikipedia’s entry on King Hammurabi
The Louvre’s entry on their copy of the code
A translation of the Code of Hammurabi
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As David is now retired from teaching, I would love to be able to pay him a modest salary for his invaluable contribution to these shows. As those of you who have listened to our Napoleon podcast know, David is a wonderful teacher of history and he puts a huge amount of time and energy into preparing these shows. If you feel inclined to support this, please consider paying a voluntary subscription fee for the Biography podcast by clicking on one of the below buttons. You have a choice of subscribing for $1.00 per month or you can make a lump-sum payment of either $20 or $50.
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If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also like the our other podcast Napoleon 101.
The theme music for this show is:
Black Violin
“Brandenburg” (mp3)
from “Black Violin”
(Di Versatile, Inc)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
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March 8th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Great job, guys and well worth the donation. Good maps, good music (thanks for the link to itunes for purchasing, Cameron) and great insights. Interesting parallels and connections for pondering given the war in Iraq. Thanks also for pointing to the universality of many assumed to be western original ideas. If only more people could see see these as bridges. Looking forward to future episodes, and never fear the length.
Sally
P.S. David, I was recently in Milan and all excited about visiting the Risorgimento museum per the description in NFD but was surprised to find every inch devoted to Garibaldi. Even the bust of Napoleon in the courtyard was hidden behind some greenery looking forlorn and neglected. No doubt the Garibaldi is a temporary emphasis, and Napoleon will once again return.
March 11th, 2008 at 5:16 am
Thanks for another nice and interesting show.
I seem to recall seeing the Hammurabi code in the Louvre a few years ago.
It was weird how the Louvre, with all its magnificent masterpieces, strangely managed to banalize such an unique historical artifact.
Antonio
Lisbon, Portugal
March 12th, 2008 at 6:25 am
Thanks for another great show guys.
Just coming back to the point about older religions having elements claimed by Judeo-Christians (sp?), e.g. Moses vis-Ã -vis Hammurabi, have you seen this;
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/index.html
I don’t buy all the conspiracy stuff near the end, but the first part about religion I thought was very thought provoking.
Cheers,
Rudy
Belgium
March 12th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Thanks Rudy. Yes, I have seen the Zeitgeist movie, thought it was very interesting. I’m reading a book on comparative mythology at the moment which shows the incredible similarities between Judeo-Christian myths and other worldwide religions going back thousands of years. The same archetypes appear over and over.
March 13th, 2008 at 4:48 am
Cameron,
Could you share the title and author’s name of the book you mention ?
Cheers,
Rudy
(10kms from Waterloo…;o))
Belgium
March 13th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Rudy, was that “Ideas” by Peter Watson?
http://tinyurl.com/ynk5zk
March 13th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Sally,
I am really sorry to hear that Napoleon has disappeared from the museum. When I was there he dominated the first two rooms, and the large bust was impossible to miss. I’ll see if I can find some photos to scan (that was in the pre-digital days) and post on the site.
David
March 20th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Hey guys!
Great job! What about a show about Emperor/king Carles V?
March 21st, 2008 at 10:39 pm
fascinating episode – some amazing laws! I was very interested to hear David talking about how much modern religions owe to ancient religions and it reminded me of a book I read on how much of the Jesus story seems to have incorporated aspects of the pagan “mysteries” of a figure known variously as Osiris, Dionysus, Mithras, Orpheus, Adonis etc across the Roman/Greek world prior to Jesus, this being a figure who is God become man, miraculously born to a virgin and sometimes with shepherds or kings present, who variously heals the sick or raises the dead, who is a dying God who is killed and then miraculously resurrected etc etc. Apparently the early Christian church was so aware of the close parallels that they evolved the theory that the Devil had foreshadowed the Jesus story in these myths in order to fool people. Anyway an interesting tangent and, if you are doing jesus on the Biography Show, perhaps one you could sidestep briefly into.
I also loved the Alexander show and reckon you could have easily done ten or 20 podcasts on him. Looking forward to Julius Caesar too – could be quite controversial as some people would argue he was a genocidal maniac (if you’re one of his millions of Gaulish victims anyway perhaps) or a visionary political military and literary genius
Thanks for the podcasts – keep it up!
March 22nd, 2008 at 8:07 am
Andrew, I’ve read similar books. The Jesus myth is also, it seems, built by referencing the old testament and re-writing the stories from that. Hard to do a biography show on a guy who most likely never existed. Maybe we do a special edition and call it the UN-biography Show? You might the like the podcast I did with Brian Flemming, the film maker behind “The God Who Wasn’t There” : http://gdayworld.thepodcastnetwork.com/2007/03/08/gday-world-210-brian-flemming-atheist-filmmaker/
March 24th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
thanks cameron, I will definitely check out the podcast on Brian Flemming
Andrew
April 8th, 2008 at 6:14 am
By the way, in one of the latest Napoleon 101 shows David was asking for some ideas for other people to cover…
Some suggestions;
BC…
Hannibal
Darius the Great
Cyrus the Great
Pericles
Cicero
Sun Tzu
AD…
Attila the Hun
Charlemagne
Belisarius
Genghis Khan
Oliver Cromwell
El Cid
Duke of Malborough
Bismark
Garibaldi
Winston Churchill
Cheers,
Rudy
Brussels, Belgium
April 8th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
hello.
i’ve been a big fan of the napoleon podcast since it started a couple of years ago, and i started listening to the biography podcast when it was recently released.
i have to say i’m confused as to why you would start another show when your efforts into the napoleon show are at an all time low. i go to check for an update about once a month and there is rarely a new show. i don’t know if you’re familiar with the podcast on the history of rome but the gentleman who does that podcast methodically releases a new episode once a week and apologetically notifies the listeners when he will be late.
please step it up. i am sure that you will attract far more donations and popularity with a more professional approach to your business. after all you basically just get on the phone and shoot the bull with each other for an hour or two. i see no reason why you couldn’t do that every week or even every other week.
on a separate note i was listening to a very sub par biography podcast, i can’t remember the name, that plays terrible disco music and then spends about 5 minutes talking about various historical figures and about 10 minutes reading people emails and other boring stuff. anyway the person who does that biography podcast announced that he was going to be a part of the podcast network. are you aware of what i’m referring to? whatever happened with that?
and finally your website isn’t very good. as a computer expert you should spend some time fixing it.
your loyal fan.
April 10th, 2008 at 3:15 am
How’s the next episode coming along?
This series is even MORE riveting than Napoleon 101
Keep up the great work guys!
April 10th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Tovy, soon I promise! The delays are all on my end, I’ve spent the last month moving my family across country, and my new house still doesn’t have broadband installed! Taking way longer than I expected. As soon as it’s in (they tell me by tomorrow), David and I will rip out a show on both series!
Flannery, I’m sorry to hear that our efforts on the Napoleon show disappoint you. David and I have always aimed for one or two episodes a month and I think our last was a little under a month ago. See my above mention about moving my family across country. Anyway, what’s the rush? It’ll be over way too soon as it is. Calm down, drink some of David’s medicine, breathe slowly. The guy who does the other biography podcast *was* going to join TPN, that’s why I originally built the Biography site show on TPN, but then he changed his mind, so I decided to do it with David instead. Re our website, please tell us how it could be better, I’m always open to good advice.
Rudy, thanks for the suggestions! What about some women?
April 11th, 2008 at 6:41 am
Hi Cameron,
No thanks I’m married…..
Seriously, given the male dominated nature of human history that’s trickier as political and military leadership positions are virtually all male….
Here’s what I came up with but it’s much more difficult…
Cleopatra
Joan of Arc
Elizabeth I
Florence Nightingale
Marie Curie
Helen Keller
Mother Theresa
Anne Frank
?????
Keep up the good work…
Rudy
April 12th, 2008 at 12:41 am
I can think of lots of historical females – How about;
Abigail Adams; Martha Washington; Dolly Madison
Laura Secord
Napoleon’s more notable lovers: Josephine, Pauline Foures, Marie Louise of Austria
Livia Drusilla; Octavia; Julia the Younger & Elder
Olympias of Epirus (heck, even Angelina Jolie)
Catherine of Aragon & Mary Tudor (Even the 6 wives of Henry VIII)
Mary Queen of Scots
If you could do one on Mary Magdalene, that could be interesting
April 12th, 2008 at 3:22 am
Hi Tovy,
You’ve kind of proved my point … many famous women are such because of the men they associate themselves with. It’s amazing when you think that the potential of half the human race has so few major historical figures…. OMG I’m turning into a feminist !?!?!
Seriously though, there was an interesting podcast on Carlin Hardcore History (or something like that) where he had an interview with James Burke (used to do a fantastic tv series called ‘Connections’) about human history, and the point was simply that less than .05% of the population has had any say on the development of our history (e.g. impact of women versus men), and the fact that with the internet this monopoly on knowledge and influence is changing… anyway it was interesting stuff ….
(sorry to plug another podcast Cameron)
Cheers,
Rudy
Brussels
BTW if you venture north on you stay in Paris this summer to Waterloo, Cameron or David, let me know and I’ll gladly buy you the medication of your choice… ;o)
April 12th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Rudy, no problem at all plugging other podcasts. I’ve got Hardcore in my subscriptions too. As for Waterloo – I’d love to! But it looks like I’ve got to take a trip to Ireland after Paris. David & I will definitely come there when we do out video series though. ;-)
April 14th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Will you guys be doing boigraphy’s on more recent cats?
How about Che?
Or how about writers? How about an episode on the beat gen – they began a revolution which is allowing us to talk openly in western culture today – Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs etc
You do realize that you started something that could go on forever?
How old is david?
April 14th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Marcelo, yeah we will be doing one every couple of weeks, just been a big delay this month due to my move. We’re doing one this week though!
April 15th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Marcelo,
I’m 62 but will live forever, so we have plenty of time! We will take all the suggestions very seriously and try to cover all or at least most of them as we go along.
Cameron had someone else in mind to do this show with? Tell me it isn’t so!! :-(
Flannery, I’m sorry you think we only shoot the bull on the show. Actually, I think fairly seriously about what we will discuss and make sure I have a number of sources close at hand. I’ve done a lot with Napoleon, so of course I can talk ‘off the top of my head’ up to a point, but with all these listeners I don’t want to make a mistake. And I know Cameron does the same thing. You are right, though, we are a little slow this past month. But we each have schedule issues and, recently, technical issues. Hang in there, we’ll catch up to our pace!
Cheers,
David
Keep up the good comments, which we really appreciate!
May 9th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
I just want to say that I am once again impressed and just want to take the moment to say how much I appreciate the podcast efforts you two guys are spicing our every day life with…
Thank you..