Harshness and violence were a part of life in the ancient world so Hammurabi's Code fits with that. But that is also what we expect to see when we look into the past, so reading his code satisfies our assumptions. However, there is little actual evidence that these laws were carried out. The surviving court records don’t show the codes. Also there is so much that we know to have been legislated that is missing from the Code itself. How might it alter our understanding of history to learn that “An eye for an eye” never really happened?

Harshness and violence were a part of life in the ancient world so Hammurabi's Code fits with that. But that is also what we expect to see when we look into the past, so reading his code satisfies our assumptions.  However, there is little actual evidence that these laws were carried out.  The surviving court records don’t show the codes.  Also there is so much that we know to have been legislated that is missing from the Code itself.  How might it alter our understanding of history to learn that  “An eye for an eye” never really happened?