An image of the Code of Hammurabi.

The upper part of the stele of Hammurabi's code of laws

The Code of Hammurabi (Codex Hammurabi ) is the best-preserved ancient law code, created ca. 1760 BC (middle chronology) in ancient Babylon. It was enacted by the sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi.¹ Only one example of the Code survives today, inscribed on a seven foot, four inch tall basalt stone slab or stele. Originally, several stelae would have been displayed in temples around the empire.²³

Discovery

The stele containing the Code of Hammurabi was discovered in 1901 by the egyptologist Gustave Jéquier, a member of the expedition headed by Jacques de Morgan. The stele was discovered in what is now Khuzestan, Iran (ancient Susa, Elam), where it had been taken as plunder by the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte in the 12th century BC.⁴ It is currently on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris.¹

Description

At the top of the stele is a bas-relief image of a Babylonian god (either Marduk or Shamash), with the king of Babylon presenting himself to the god, with his right hand raised to his mouth as a mark of respect.¹ The text covers the bottom portion with the laws written in Akkadian language cuneiform script. The text has been broken down by translators into 282 laws, but this division is arbitrary, since the original text contains no divisional markers.

Hammurabi

Main article: Hammurabi

Hammurabi (ruled ca. 1796 BC – 1750 BC) believed that he was chosen by the gods to deliver the law to his people. In the preface to the law code, he states, "Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land."⁵

Law

Main article: Babylonian law

The Code of Hammurabi was one of several sets of laws in the Ancient Near East.⁶⁷ Earlier collections of laws include the Code of Ur-Nammu, king of Ur (ca. 2050 BC), the Laws of Eshnunna (ca. 1930 BC) and the codex of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin (ca. 1870 BC).⁸, while later ones include the Hittite laws, the Assyrian laws, and Mosaic Law. These codes come from similar cultures in a relatively small geographical area, and they have passages which resemble each other.

View of the back side of the stele.

The code is often pointed to be a primary example of even a king not being able to change fundamental laws concerning the governing of a country which was the primitive form of what is now known as a constitution.

The Babylonians and their neighbors developed the earliest system of economics that was fixed in a legal code, using a metric of various commodities. The early law codes from Sumer could be considered the first (written) economic formula, and had many attributes still in use in the current price system today... such as codified amounts of money for business deals (interest rates), fines in money for 'wrong doing', inheritance rules, laws concerning how private property is to be taxed or divided, etc.⁹

Examples

These are the first three laws, in their entirety, of the Code of Hammurabi, translated into English:

1. If any one ensnare another, putting a ban upon him, but he can not prove it, then he that ensnared him shall be put to death.

2. If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.

3. If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death.

There are 282 such laws in the Code of Hammurabi, each no more than a sentence or two. The 282 laws are bracketed by a Prologue in which Hammurabi introduces himself, and an Epilogue in which he affirms his authority and sets forth his hopes and prayers for his code of laws.

See also

Law portal

Ancient Near East portal

• Urukagina - Sumerian king and creator of what is sometimes cited as the first example of a legal code in recorded history.
• Code of Ur-Nammu - the oldest known tablet containing a law code surviving today, it predates the Code of Hammurabi by some 300 years.
• Code of the Assura
• Babylonian law
• Cuneiform Law
• Quid pro quo

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Bryant, Tamera (2005). The Life & Times of Hammurabi. Bear: Mitchell Lane Publishers. ISBN 9781584153382. 
• 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.
• Elsen-Novák, 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 0-395-87274-X. 

External links

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• Law Code of Hammurabi, king of Babylon | Musée du Louvre
• English Translation | University of Evansville
• English translation of the Code of Hammurabi