Code of Hammurabi

Side view of the stele "fingertip"

Created c 1750 BC

Author(s) Hammurabi

Purpose Law code

Code of HammurabiFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Code of Hammurabi is a well­preserved Babylonian lawcode of ancient Mesopotamia, dating back to about 1754 BC(Middle Chronology). It is one of the oldest deciphered writingsof significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king,Hammurabi, enacted the code, and partial copies exist on a sevenand a half foot stone stele and various clay tablets. The codeconsists of 282 laws, with scaled punishments, adjusting "an eyefor an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (lex talionis)[1] as gradeddepending on social status, of slave versus free man.[2] Nearlyone­half of the code deals with matters of contract, establishing,for example, the wages to be paid to an ox driver or a surgeon.Other provisions set the terms of a transaction, establishing theliability of a builder for a house that collapses, for example, orproperty that is damaged while left in the care of another. A thirdof the code addresses issues concerning household and familyrelationships such as inheritance, divorce, paternity, and sexualbehavior. Only one provision appears to impose obligations onan official; this provision establishes that a judge who reaches anincorrect decision is to be fined and removed from the benchpermanently.[3] A few provisions address issues related tomilitary service.

The code was discovered by modern archaeologists in 1901, andits editio princeps translation published in 1902 by Jean­VincentScheil. This nearly complete example of the code is carved into abasalt stele in the shape of a huge index finger,[4] 2.25 m (7.4 ft) tall. The code is inscribed in the Akkadianlanguage, using cuneiform script carved into the stele. It is currently on display in the Louvre, with exact replicas inthe Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, the Clendening History of Medicine Library & Museum at theUniversity of Kansas Medical Center, the library of the Theological University of the Reformed Churches (Dutch:Theologische Universiteit Kampen voor de Gereformeerde Kerken) in the Netherlands, the Pergamon Museum ofBerlin, and the National Museum of Iran in Tehran.

Contents

1 History2 Law3 Other copies4 Laws covered5 See also6 References7 External links

History

Code on clay tablets Code on basalt stele

Two versions of the Code at the Louvre

Figures at top of stele "fingernail"

above Hammurabi's code of laws

Hammurabi ruled for nearly 42 years, from about 1792 to 1749 BCaccording to the Middle chronology. In the preface to the law, hestates, "Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exaltedprince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness inthe land, to destroy the wicked and the evil­doers; so that thestrong should not harm the weak; so that I should rule over theblack­headed people like Shamash, and enlighten the land, tofurther the well­being of mankind."[5] On the stone slab are 44columns and 28 paragraphs that contained 282 laws. Some of theselaws follow along the rules of 'an eye for an eye'.[6]

It had been taken as plunder by the Elamite king Shutruk­Nahhunte in the 12th century BC and was taken to Susa in Elam(located in the present­day Khuzestan Province of Iran) where itwas no longer available to the Babylonian people. However, when Cyrus the Great brought both Babylon and Susaunder the rule of his Persian Empire, and placed copies of the document in the Library of Sippar, the text becameavailable for all the peoples of the vast Persian Empire to view.[7]

In 1901, Egyptologist Gustave Jéquier, a member of an expedition headed by Jacques de Morgan, found the stelecontaining the Code of Hammurabi during archaeological excavations at the ancient site of Susa in Khuzestan.[8]

Law

The Code of Hammurabi was one of several sets of laws in the ancient Near East and also one of the first forms oflaw.[9] The code of laws was arranged in orderly groups, so that all who read the laws would know what wasrequired of them.[10] Earlier collections of laws include the Code of Ur­Nammu, king of Ur (circa 2050 BC), theLaws of Eshnunna (circa 1930 BC) and the codex of Lipit­Ishtar of Isin (circa 1870 BC), while later ones includethe Hittite laws, the Assyrian laws, and Mosaic Law.[11] These codes come from similar cultures in a relativelysmall geographical area, and they have passages which resemble each other.[12]

The Code of Hammurabi is the longest surviving text from the OldBabylonian period.[13] The code has been seen as an early example of afundamental law, regulating a government — i.e., a primitiveconstitution.[14][15] The code is also one of the earliest examples of the ideaof presumption of innocence, and it also suggests that both the accused andaccuser have the opportunity to provide evidence.[16] The occasional natureof many provisions suggests that the code may be better understood as acodification of Hammurabi's supplementary judicial decisions, and that, bymemorializing his wisdom and justice, its purpose may have been the self­glorification of Hammurabi rather than a modern legal code or constitution.However, its copying in subsequent generations indicates that it was used asa model of legal and judicial reasoning.[17]

The Code issues justice following the three classes of Babylonian society:property owners, freed men, and slaves. For example, if a doctor killed arich patient, he would have his hands cut off, but if he killed a slave, onlyfinancial restitution was required.[18]

Hammurabi stele at American

Museum of Natural History, New

York, 2012

A version of the code at the Istanbul

Archaeological Museums

External video

Other copies

Various copies of portions of the Code of Hammurabi have been found onbaked clay tablets, some possibly older than the celebrated basalt stele nowin the Louvre. The Prologue of the Code of Hammurabi (the first 305inscribed squares on the stele) is on such a tablet, also at the Louvre (Inv#AO 10237). Some gaps in the list of benefits bestowed on cities recentlyannexed by Hammurabi may imply that it is older than the famous stele (itis currently dated to the early 18th century BC).[19] Likewise, the Museumof the Ancient Orient, part of the Istanbul Archaeology Museums, also has a"Code of Hammurabi" clay tablet, dated to 1750 BC, in (Room 5, Inv # Ni2358).[20][21]

In July, 2010, archaeologists reported that a fragmentary Akkadiancuneiform tablet was discovered at Tel Hazor, Israel, containing a circa­1700 BC text that was said to be partly parallel to portions of theHammurabi code. The Hazor law code fragments are currently beingprepared for publication by a team from the Hebrew University ofJerusalem.[22]

Laws covered

The laws covered such subjects as:

SlanderEx. Law #127: "If any one "point the finger" at a sister of a god or thewife of any one, and can not prove it, this man shall be taken beforethe judges and his brow shall be marked. (by cutting the skin, orperhaps hair.)"[23]

TradeEx. Law #265: "If a herdsman, to whose care cattle or sheep havebeen entrusted, be guilty of fraud and make false returns of thenatural increase, or sell them for money, then shall he be convictedand pay the owner ten times the loss."[23]

SlaveryEx. Law #15: "If any one take a male or female slave of the court, or amale or female slave of a freed man, outside the city gates, he shall beput to death."[23]

The duties of workersEx. Law #42: "If any one take over a field to till it, and obtain noharvest therefrom, it must be proved that he did no work on the field,and he must deliver grain, just as his neighbor raised, to the owner ofthe field."[23]

TheftEx. Law #22: "If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then heshall be put to death."[23]

TradeEx. Law #104: "If a merchant give an agent corn, wool, oil, or any othergoods to transport, the agent shall give a receipt for the amount, and

Law Code Stele of KingHammurabi, 1792­1750 B.C. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w5NGOHbgTw), Smarthistory

compensate the merchant therefor. Then he shall obtain a receipt fromthe merchant for the money that he gives the merchant."[23]

LiabilityEx. Law #53: "If any one be too lazy to keep his dam in propercondition, and does not so keep it; if then the dam break and all thefields be flooded, then shall he in whose dam the break occurred be soldfor money, and the money shall replace the corn which he has caused tobe ruined."[23]

DivorceEx. Law #142: "If a woman quarrel with her husband, and say: "You arenot congenial to me," the reasons for her prejudice must be presented. Ifshe is guiltless, and there is no fault on her part, but he leaves andneglects her, then no guilt attaches to this woman, she shall take herdowry and go back to her father's house."[23]

One of the best known laws from Hammurabi's code was:

Ex. Law #196: "If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shalldestroy his eye. If one break a man's bone, they shall break his bone. Ifone destroy the eye of a freeman or break the bone of a freeman he shallpay one gold mina. If one destroy the eye of a man's slave or break abone of a man's slave he shall pay one­half his price."[23]

Hammurabi had many other punishments, as well. If a son strikes his father,his hands shall be hewn off. Translations vary.[24][25]

See also

Babylonian lawCode of the AssuraCode of Ur­Nammu – the oldest known tablet containing a law code surviving today, it predates the Code ofHammurabi by some 300 yearsCuneiform LawHippocratic OathList of ancient legal codesQuid pro quoUrukagina – Sumerian king and creator of what is sometimes cited as the first example of a legal code inrecorded history

References1. Prince, J. Dyneley (July 1904). "Review: The Code ofHammurabi". The American Journal of Theology. TheUniversity of Chicago Press. 8 (3): 601–609.JSTOR 3153895.

2. Gabriele Bartz, Eberhard König, (Arts andArchitecture), Könemann, Köln, (2005), ISBN 3­8331­1943­8. The laws were based with scaled punishments,adjusting "an eye for an eye" depending on socialstatus.

3. Code of Hammurabi (http://www.commonlaw.com/Hammurabi.html) at commonlaw.com Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20070921205329/http://www.commonlaw.com/Hammurabi.html) 21 September 2007 at theWayback Machine.

4. Iconographic Evidence for Some Mesopotamian CultStatues, Dominique Collon, Die Welt der Götterbilder,Edited by Groneberg, Brigitte; , Spieckermann,Hermann; , and Weiershäuser, Frauke, Berlin, NewYork (Walter de Gruyter) 2007 Pages 57–84

Editio princeps: Scheil, Jean­Vincent (1902). "Code des Lois de Hammurabi". Memoires de la delegation enPerse. 4 (Textes Elamites­Semitiques).Driver, G.R.; J.C. Miles (2007). The Babylonian Laws. Eugene: Wipf and Stock. ISBN 1­55635­229­8.

Roth, Martha T. (1997). Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Atlanta: Scholars Press.ISBN 0­7885­0378­2.

Bryant, Tamera (2005). The Life & Times of Hammurabi. Bear: Mitchell Lane Publishers. ISBN 978­1­

58415­338­2.

Mieroop, Marc (2004). King Hammurabi of Babylon: a Biography. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers.ISBN 978­1­4051­2660­1.

Hammurabi, King; C. H. W. Johns (Translator) (2000). The Oldest Code of Laws in the World. City:Lawbook Exchange Ltd. ISBN 978­1­58477­061­9.

Falkenstein, A. (1956–57). Die neusumerischen Gerichtsurkunden I–III. München.

5. Edited by Richard Hooker; Translated by L.W King(1996). "Mesopotamia: The Code of Hammurabi".Washington State University. Archived from theoriginal on 9 September 2007. Retrieved 14 September2007.

6. "Hammurabi's Code" [1] (http://library.thinkquest.org/20176/hammurabis_code.htm), Think Quest, retrievedon 2 Nov 2011.

7. Marc Van De Mieroop: A History of the Ancient NearEast, second edition p.296

8. Cultures in Contact: From Mesopotamia to theMediterranean in the Second Millennium B.C.Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2013. RetrievedNovember 1, 2015.

9. L. W. King (2005). "The Code of Hammurabi:Translated by L. W. King". Yale University. Retrieved14 September 2007.

10. "The Code of Hammurabi: Introduction," [2] (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/hamcode.asp), AncientHistory Sourcebook, March 1998, retrieved on 2November 2011.

11. Barton, G.A: Archaeology and the Bible. University ofMichigan Library, 2009, (originally published in 1916by American Sunday­School Union) p.406.

12. Barton 2009, p.406. Barton, a scientist of Semiticlanguages at the University of Pennsylvania from 1922to 1931, stated that while there are similarities betweenthe Mosaic Law and the Code of Hammurabi, a studyof the entirety of both laws "convinces the student thatthe laws of the Old Testament are in no essential waydependent upon the Babylonian laws." He states that"such resemblances" arose from "a similarity ofantecedents and of general intellectual outlook"between the two cultures, but that "the strikingdifferences show that there was no direct borrowing."

13. "The Code of Hammurabi," [3] (http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/hammurabi.html), The History Guide, 3August 2009, Retrieved on 2 November 2011.

14. What is a Constitution? William David Thomas, GarethStevens (2008) p. 8

15. Flach, Jacques. Le Code de Hammourabi et laconstitution originaire de la propriete dans l'ancienneChaldee. (Revue historique. Paris, 1907. 8. v. 94, p.272­289.

16. Victimology: Theories and Applications, Ann WolbertBurgess, Albert R. Roberts, Cheryl Regehr,Jones &Bartlett Learning, 2009, p. 103

17. For this alternative interpretation see Jean Bottéro, "The'Code' of Hammurabi" in Mesopotamia: Writing,Reasoning and the Gods (University of Chicago, 1992),pp. 156–184.

18. "What was Babylon? ­ History Extra". History Extra.19. Fant, Clyde E. and Mitchell G. Reddish (2008), Lost

Treasures of the Bible: Understanding the Bible

Through Archaeological Artifacts in World Museums (https://books.google.com/books?id=Dj6zVQJz7zYC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=%22Code+of+Hammurabi%22+AND+2358&source=bl&ots=h­WEMEm_S7&sig=otruVc43aRR7ge­2v­78tcMQih8&hl=en&ei=tU1iSrvWNdmOtgfjr9EC&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3), Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., pg 62.

20. Freely, John, Blue Guide Istanbul (5th ed., 2000),London: A&C Black, New York: WW Norton, pg 121.("The most historic of the inscriptions here [i.e., Room5, Museum of the Ancient Orient, Istanbul] is thefamous Code of Hammurabi (#Ni 2358) dated 1750BC, the world's oldest recorded set of laws.")

21. Museum of the Ancient Orient website (http://english.istanbul.gov.tr/Default.aspx?pid=13150) ("This museumcontains a rich collection of ancient ... archaeologicalfinds, including ... seals from Nippur and a copy of theCode of Hammurabi.")

22. "Code of Hammurabi Tablet Found ­ Inside Israel ­News ­ Arutz Sheva". Arutz Sheva.

23. "The Code of Hammurabi". Internet Sacred TextArchive. Evinity Publishing INC. 2011. RetrievedNovember 17, 2013.

24. Translated by L. W. King, Hammurabi's Code of Laws,Hammurabi's Code of Laws (http://eawc.evansville.edu/anthology/hammurabi.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20080509192326/http://eawc.evansville.edu/anthology/hammurabi.htm) 9 May 2008 at theWayback Machine.

25. Translated by L. W. King, Hammurabi's Code of Laws,The Code of Hammurabi King of Babylon by RobertFrancis Harper (PDF)

Wikimedia Commons hasmedia related to:Code of Hammurabi

(category)

Wikisource has originaltext related to this article:Codex Hammurabi

Look up Hammurabi inWiktionary, the freedictionary.

Elsen­Novák, G./Novák, M.: Der 'König der Gerechtigkeit'. Zur Ikonologie und Teleologie des 'Codex'Hammurapi. In: Baghdader Mitteilungen 37 (2006), pp. 131–156.Julius Oppert and Joachim Menant (1877). Documents juridiques de l'Assyrie et de la Chaldee. París.Thomas, D. Winton, ed. (1958). Documents from Old Testament Times. London and New York.Beck, Roger B.; Linda Black, Larry S. Krieger, Phillip C. Naylor, Dahia Ibo Shabaka, (1999). World History:Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell. ISBN 0­395­87274­X.

Bonhomme, Brian, and Cathleen Boivin. "Code of Hammurabi." Milestone Documents in World

History. Exploring the Primary Sources That Shaped the World: 2350 BCE ­ 1058 CE. Vol. 1. Dallas, TX: SchlagerGroup, 2010. 23­31.

Febbraro, Flavio, and Burkhard Schwetje. How to Read World History in Art. New York:

Abrams, 2010. Print.

External links

The Code of Hammurabi Translated by L. W. King (http://www.general­intelligence.com/library/hr.pdf).Law Code of Hammurabi, king of Babylon | Musée du Louvre (http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre­notices/law­code­hammurabi­king­babylon)The Code of Hammurabi: A King with Rules (http://fancyfrindle.com/the­code­of­hammurabi­a­king­with­rules/)Complete 1904 English translation of the Code of Hammurabi (http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1276&Itemid=27)Hammurabi's Code (http://cliojournal.wikispaces.com/Hammurabi%27s+Code), Blaise Joseph, Clio History Journal, 2009.

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Categories: Legal codes Ancient Near East law Babylonia Codes of conduct Antiquities of the LouvreBronze Age literature 18th­century BC works Ancient Near East steles 2nd­millennium BC stelesAkkadian inscriptions Slavery law

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