Some aspects of the lifestyle experienced by ancient civilizations seem almost frightening or intolerable when compared to the highly developed and patterned world inhabited today. One such feature of previous societies, which proves quite difficult to conceive in current times, is the lack of rights, privileges and equity enjoyed by women. Society maintained this assumption of man's superiority until the women's rights movement of the early 20th century; however, with the two sexes essentially equal in today's America, imagining a restricted life as a woman is unfathomable. Looking back at the history of mankind, men have almost always subjugated women and treated them as property. If we focus on the first civilizations that appeared thousands of years ago, especially in the West, the differences between men and women in most cultures have remained accentuated, rigorous and very structured. However, each different society assigned its citizens different regulations regarding women. One of these ancient cultures was Babylon. With the evidence provided by Hammurabi's Code of Law, it remains clear that women in ancient Babylon exercised few rights and privileges, forced to primarily maintain the structural unity of the family and home. Most women in Babylonian society primarily assumed the role of obedient wife. . Because the Code of Hammurabi lists a collection of laws, most of what primary sources describe about wives and women in general consist of actions or attitudes that should be avoided by women for fear of punishment. A behavior on which the legal code focuses to a large extent is adultery or concupiscence between spouses, an act that the Babylonians had very little tolerated......middle of paper......ct that women of Babylon could marry the slaves of the state remains unconventional compared to other societies such as ancient Greece or Egypt. Slave women received even harsher treatment than free women because in addition to the work and toil they would have to do, they rarely received any kind of reward or justice if they were harmed or wronged by another slave or a free person. They remained essentially the property of Babylonian men; the gender favored by the gods and who exercised power, authority and strength. The Code of Hammurabi made all these characteristics of women evident and emphasized what men found unpleasant in women's behavior as opposed to what they desired in their behavior. Therefore, through the consequences listed from the primary source, one can accurately deduce what a woman experienced in her daily life.