In 1770 B.C. the Babylonians ruled an area of Asia known as Ancient Mesopotamia. Which was located inside the bigger region of the Fertile Crescent. The Fertile Crescent is an area in Asia that has really good soil for planting. It gets its rich soil because the rivers around it give it nutrients to become good for planting. So back to the Babylonians, their ruler was named King Hammurabi. He came up with a document that was constructed of 282 laws that the Babylonians had to follow. Failure in obeying these laws resulted in extremely severe consequences. The consequences included death, being hanged, or paying someone. The laws of Hammurabi's Code most likely seem strict, harsh, and hard to follow for modern day people. In modern day it might seem crazy that if you break someone's bone, that your bone would be broken, but in Ancient Mesopotamia, this was normal. Not only do the laws contain severe punishment toward regular citizens, but also toward slaves. In Mesopotamia, if a slave were to say to his master, "you are not my master" they would have cut his ear off. Hammurabi's Code has also helped to shape some more recent laws, especially laws that involve slavery.