There are different aspects which come up as we
look at the Babylonian attitude towards family. On one hand family was the
basic unit of the Babylonian society which gave class or station identity to an
individual, someone without a family was not considered as respectable as the
one with a family.
On the other hand keeping the father as the central figure
who had most authority over the people in family seems inappropriate especially
when it was a custom (though this was also answerable in a court of law) that
the man of the family could even sell hi family member to clear the debt. First
mistake of a child was forgiven but for the second the child could suffer any
penalty the father wanted.
