[47] The Code of Hammurabi

On Short and Interesting we read to you strange and curious things. BEHOLD! The gods have invested in me power and authority. I have erected a massive stone of black basalt in front of my palace, and on it I have carved the immutable laws of my domain. Heed these laws or perish in agony. For the most part these are pretty fair. If you kill someone’s son, their family can come here to the palace and tell me about it, and I’ll send my guards out to kill THEIR son. You’re not going to find a fairer deal than that in all of ancient Sumeria.

I don’t know about you but I find ancient Sumeria weirdly interesting and actually kind of cute to the point of being hilarious. But don’t take my word for it, just get thyself to Wikipedia and check it out.

Music by Dan Mason. Check out and buy his music at https://danmason.bandcamp.com. For this podcast we’re using clips of three tracks from his 2019 album Hypnagogia. Available under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Creative Commons License details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Check out our website at www.plutocrat.biz. Donations are gratefully accepted. Find us on Bluesky, @shortinteresting. If you’d like to discuss copyright, contact us at copyright@plutocrat.biz. All other inquiries received at podcast@plutocrat.biz.

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[46] The 48 Laws of Power pt 2