Underneath the Mesopotamian "eye for an eye" philosophy, if you killed someone's son, would they kill you, or kill your own son?

by incorporatedprojects
SirVentricle

The Code of Hammurapi goes into this in some detail, and provides some specific examples. The 'eye for eye, tooth for tooth' (the lex talionis) are actually two separate laws in it (196 and 200, respectively). We don't really think of the Code as a law book as such - it wasn't meant to be an absolute 'if x, then y' treatise. Instead, it (and other similar codes from the ancient Near East) probably originated as compilations of rulings by judges and by the king. So, inscriptions like the Code of Hammurapi would be set up in cities to show the king's wisdom in dealing with judicial matters.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Code doesn't give a penalty for murder. However, there are some examples precisely of what you're asking:

209: If a man strikes a free-born woman so that she loses her unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss.

So if a pregnant woman loses her child because of assault, she is compensated monetarily. However:

210: If [this] woman dies, his [the man's] daughter shall be put to death.

So yes, according to Hammurapi's rules, if a pregnant woman dies - and her child with her - the daughter of the assailant would be killed.

There's an even more specific case discussed slightly later on:

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

Basically death by negligence was thus also punishable by death, however:

230: If [the collapse of the house] kills the son of the owner, the son of the builder shall be put to death.

That's about as clear as you can get an answer according to the philosophy of the lex talionis. However, I'm not aware of any recorded cases where these judgements were actually passed, so whether the theory was ever put into practice is another question.