[jakjak123]

Its also a difficult problem. They need the right digger and the right crew at the right time and possibly the right weather to get the job done. Many times there will be weeks of juggling around schedules and suddenly the digging started three weeks after the road was finished

[lo_zamoyski]

Let me ask you: how many buildings collapsed during the reign of Hammurabi?

[Carrok]

I.. I have no idea. I don't even know who Hammurabi is.

Is there a point you're trying to make? If so, care to enlighten us without assuming we all have history degrees?

[insane_dreamer]

Hammurabi is an ancient ruler of Mesopotamia/Babylon who is famous for establishing a written code of laws, of which copies inscribed in steles have survived to this day). I don't know of it's the earliest example of a written legal code but certainly one of the earliest that we have a record of.

Among these laws were civil penalties for builders who performed shoddy workmanship:

> If a builder constructs a house for a man but does not make it conform to specifications so that a wall then buckles, that builder shall make that wall sound using his own silver.

By the way, the Romans also had building codes, and engineers who built bridges and roads were liable for the durability of those structures, thus a tradition of over-engineering.

[thaumasiotes]

> I don't know if it's the earliest example of a written legal code but certainly one of the earliest that we have a record of.

It isn't, but it was discovered early and benefited from intense popular interest in the Bible. Popular interest in Mesopotamian history fell off sharply as it turned out that history generally differed from what the Bible said.

It's still very early, roughly the 18th century BC.

>> If a builder constructs a house for a man but does not make it conform to specifications so that a wall then buckles, that builder shall make that wall sound using his own silver.

This is obviously a statement about who bears liability for fixing the wall, but it's funnier if you imagine it as a requirement for the builder to repair the wall with silver bricks, as a penalty for the original shoddy work.

[6equj5]

> 229 If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.

http://faculty.collin.edu/mbailey/hammurabi%27s%20laws.htm

[InDubioProRubio]

Thus the builders guild began to charge 50 silver for insurrance yearly from its members, which resulted to all road projects having a yearly 100 silver talent cost-addition on start. 5 years after the code, the empire went bankrupt

[yulker]

Not obscure enough of a figure to necessitate a history degree. Well known for being one of the first to establish building codes.

[tharkun__]

Yet many including myself have never heard of him.

Would it have been so much to ask to put a Wikipedia link and nerd-snipe some of us in the process?

[PittleyDunkin]

Would it be so hard to google an unknown figure? Jesus christ, open the schools. If you're confused there's much less hostile ways to indicate you want explanation.

[tharkun__]

For me it's not so much about that but the "how".

Parent definitely would've nerd sniped me with a link and if these replies here on HN hadn't been there to catch my interest first I would have just googled him.

Basically by trying to be a smart ass and belittling others they harmed their own cause of making Hammurabi more widely known.

[vundercind]

He’s in the curriculums lots and lots of US schools, as part of teaching about the rule of law and eventually the rise of modern liberal democracy. Maybe not so much in other countries?

For anyone who went through that, he’s another “the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell”-type answer form 6th grade tests or whatever.

[nasmorn]

Just a degree in Sid Meiers Civilization

[selimthegrim]

Also the namesake of a board game.

[PittleyDunkin]

He's a rather famous chap: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammurabi

Regardless, I suspect there's a point being made about the timeless ineptitude of bureaucracy (even if I don't agree with it—some cultures are notably more competent at managing logistics of public works than other are).

[fragmede]

one of my classmates really resented having to take GE classes outside his major in order to graduate but looking back on it, he said they really helped him out in ways he didn't expect.

[mrexroad]

To be fair, Hammurabi’s code is often taught in middle/high school social studies (history).

[Carrok]

Funny, I graduated middle and high school, paid attention in class, and have never heard of him. It's almost like different states and school districts have different curricula.

[HPsquared]

The antithesis to the "limited liability corporation".

[buildsjets]

Wow. This was basic secondary school history when I was educated. The code of Hammurabi is considered the basis of the western judicial tradition. This baseline knowledge I would expect in any peer, it does not require a specialized degree or study. The collective infantilization of our scholastic standards is frightening.

[vundercind]

It's still in there.

You can find the US state standards used to set baseline requirements ("learning standards") for school district curriculums online, for most (all?) states.

Let's take an infamously-bad state for education ("Thank God For Mississippi") and famously good one (Massachussetts).

Cmd/ctrl-F "hamm" on this one to find it for Mississippi:

https://www.mdek12.org/sites/default/files/Page_Docs/final_2...

(Theirs is a little weird [probably because their government's, you know, bad] and this comes from a non-profit organization, but it seems to in-fact be the official curriculum standards for their actual BOE, as well)

Here's Massachusetts:

https://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/hss/2018-12.pdf

Same deal, you'll find it with a search ("Hamm" also finds one occurrence of Muhammad, in this case, though, but it does get a few hits on Hammurabi)

A person may have missed it due to: 1) going to schools outside the US that maybe don't emphasize Hammurabi, or 2) moving between US school systems that don't teach Hammurabi in the same year(s), such that they leave one before it's taught and arrive at the other after it's been taught.

[jayrot]

Another very likely explanation is that it WAS taught, but was simply forgotten. Which is completely forgivable.

It's not like 6th grade had an intensive 3 month unit on Hammurabi.

[btreecat]

1? 1000?

Regardless the answer, the lack of context makes the figure meaningless.

[written-beyond]

I'm guessing exactly equal to the number of building contractors he or his donors had beef with

[ASalazarMX]

He reigned for 42 years (1792–1750 BC), so I hope not too many.

[kergonath]

Considering that we don't even know how many buildings there were at that time, I don't think anyone can give you an answer with any certainty. But that was your point?