The Code of Hammurabi was written down on clay tablets and etched into stone. It is one of the oldest recorded codes of laws in the world. One of the best surviving examples of the code is written on the 'diorite stele'.
Hammurabi is a cool management game with a twist – you are the mighty King Hammurabi and you must manage the ancient city of Babylon and guide its ambitious ministers. This game of decisions is challenging and you must first choose your three ministers – a minister of agriculture (who oversees the production of crops), a minister of territory (who directs your armies) and a minister of. Below are situations Hammurabi faced. Decide what you think to be a fair way to deal with the problem. Then, click to see what Hammurabi declared. Would Marduk. Ancient Mesopotamia - Code of Hammurabi. For webquest or practice, print a copy of this quiz at the Ancient Mesopotamia - Code of Hammurabi webquest print page. About this quiz: All the questions on this quiz are based on information that can be found on the page at Ancient Mesopotamia - Code of Hammurabi. Code of Hammurabi Code of Hammurabi, the most complete and perfect extant collection of Babylonian laws, developed during the reign of Hammurabi (1792–1750 bce) of the 1st dynasty of Babylon. Code of Hammurabi facts Kids Encyclopedia Facts. The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonian code of law of ancient Mesopotamia, dating back to about 1754 BC (Middle Chronology). It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code.
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Hammurabi (standing), depicted as receiving his royal insignia from Shamash (or possibly Marduk). Hammurabi holds his hands over his mouth as a sign of prayer[1] (relief on the upper part of the stele of Hammurabi's code of laws). | |
Born | c. 1810 BC |
---|---|
Died | c. 1750 BC middle chronology(modern-day Iraq) (aged c. 60) Babylon |
Known for | Code of Hammurabi |
Title | King of Babylon |
Term | 42 years; c. 1792 – c. 1750 BC (middle) |
Predecessor | Sin-Muballit |
Successor | Samsu-iluna |
Children | Samsu-iluna |
Hammurabi[a] (c. 1810 – c. 1750 BC) was the sixth king of the First Babylonian dynasty, reigning from c. 1792 BC to c. 1750 BC (according to the Middle Chronology). He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered Elam and the city-states of Larsa, Eshnunna, and Mari. He ousted Ishme-Dagan I, the king of Assyria, and forced his son Mut-Ashkur to pay tribute, bringing almost all of Mesopotamia under Babylonian rule.[2]
Hammurabi is best known for having issued the Code of Hammurabi, which he claimed to have received from Shamash, the Babylonian god of justice. Unlike earlier Sumerian law codes, such as the Code of Ur-Nammu, which had focused on compensating the victim of the crime, the Law of Hammurabi was one of the first law codes to place greater emphasis on the physical punishment of the perpetrator. It prescribed specific penalties for each crime and is among the first codes to establish the presumption of innocence. Although its penalties are extremely harsh by modern standards, they were intended to limit what a wronged person was permitted to do in retribution. The Code of Hammurabi and the Law of Moses in the Torah contain numerous similarities.
Hammurabi was seen by many as a god within his own lifetime. After his death, Hammurabi was revered as a great conqueror who spread civilization and forced all peoples to pay obeisance to Marduk, the national god of the Babylonians. Later, his military accomplishments became de-emphasized and his role as the ideal lawgiver became the primary aspect of his legacy. For later Mesopotamians, Hammurabi's reign became the frame of reference for all events occurring in the distant past. Even after the empire he built collapsed, he was still revered as a model ruler, and many kings across the Near East claimed him as an ancestor. Hammurabi was rediscovered by archaeologists in the late nineteenth century and has since become seen as an important figure in the history of law.
- 3Legacy
Reign and conquests[edit]
Map showing the Babylonian territory upon Hammurabi's ascension in c. 1792 BC and upon his death in c. 1750 BC
Hammurabi was an AmoriteFirst Dynasty king of the city-state of Babylon, and inherited the power from his father, Sin-Muballit, in c. 1792 BC.[3] Babylon was one of the many largely Amorite ruled city-states that dotted the central and southern Mesopotamian plains and waged war on each other for control of fertile agricultural land.[4] Though many cultures co-existed in Mesopotamia, Babylonian culture gained a degree of prominence among the literate classes throughout the Middle East under Hammurabi.[5] The kings who came before Hammurabi had founded a relatively minor City State in 1894 BC, which controlled little territory outside of the city itself. Babylon was overshadowed by older, larger, and more powerful kingdoms such as Elam, Assyria, Isin, Eshnunna, and Larsa for a century or so after its founding. However, his father Sin-Muballit had begun to consolidate rule of a small area of south central Mesopotamia under Babylonian hegemony and, by the time of his reign, had conquered the minor city-states of Borsippa, Kish, and Sippar.[5]
Thus Hammurabi ascended to the throne as the king of a minor kingdom in the midst of a complex geopolitical situation. The powerful kingdom of Eshnunna controlled the upper Tigris River while Larsa controlled the river delta. To the east of Mesopotamia lay the powerful kingdom of Elam, which regularly invaded and forced tribute upon the small states of southern Mesopotamia. In northern Mesopotamia, the Assyrian king Shamshi-Adad I, who had already inherited centuries old Assyrian colonies in Asia Minor, had expanded his territory into the Levant and central Mesopotamia,[6] although his untimely death would somewhat fragment his empire.[7]
Hammurabis Code 1 65
The first few years of Hammurabi's reign were quite peaceful. Hammurabi used his power to undertake a series of public works, including heightening the city walls for defensive purposes, and expanding the temples.[8] In c. 1801 BC, the powerful kingdom of Elam, which straddled important trade routes across the Zagros Mountains, invaded the Mesopotamian plain.[9] With allies among the plain states, Elam attacked and destroyed the kingdom of Eshnunna, destroying a number of cities and imposing its rule on portions of the plain for the first time.[10]
Detail of a limestone votive monument from Sippar, Iraq, dating to c. 1792 – c. 1750 BC showing King Hammurabi raising his right arm in worship, now held in the British Museum
This bust, known as the 'Head of Hammurabi', is now thought to predate Hammurabi by a few hundred years[11] (Louvre)
In order to consolidate its position, Elam tried to start a war between Hammurabi's Babylonian kingdom and the kingdom of Larsa.[12] Hammurabi and the king of Larsa made an alliance when they discovered this duplicity and were able to crush the Elamites, although Larsa did not contribute greatly to the military effort.[12] Angered by Larsa's failure to come to his aid, Hammurabi turned on that southern power, thus gaining control of the entirety of the lower Mesopotamian plain by c. 1763 BC.[13]
As Hammurabi was assisted during the war in the south by his allies from the north such as Yamhad and Mari, the absence of soldiers in the north led to unrest.[13] Continuing his expansion, Hammurabi turned his attention northward, quelling the unrest and soon after crushing Eshnunna.[14] Next the Babylonian armies conquered the remaining northern states, including Babylon's former ally Mari, although it is possible that the conquest of Mari was a surrender without any actual conflict.[15][16][17]
Hammurabi entered into a protracted war with Ishme-Dagan I of Assyria for control of Mesopotamia, with both kings making alliances with minor states in order to gain the upper hand. Eventually Hammurabi prevailed, ousting Ishme-Dagan I just before his own death. Mut-Ashkur, the new king of Assyria, was forced to pay tribute to Hammurabi.
In just a few years, Hammurabi succeeded in uniting all of Mesopotamia under his rule.[17] The Assyrian kingdom survived but was forced to pay tribute during his reign, and of the major city-states in the region, only Aleppo and Qatna to the west in the Levant maintained their independence.[17] However, one stele of Hammurabi has been found as far north as Diyarbekir, where he claims the title 'King of the Amorites'.[18]
Vast numbers of contract tablets, dated to the reigns of Hammurabi and his successors, have been discovered, as well as 55 of his own letters.[19] These letters give a glimpse into the daily trials of ruling an empire, from dealing with floods and mandating changes to a flawed calendar, to taking care of Babylon's massive herds of livestock.[20] Hammurabi died and passed the reins of the empire on to his son Samsu-iluna in c. 1750 BC, under whose rule the Babylonian empire began to quickly unravel.[21]
Code of laws[edit]
Code of Hammurabi stele. Louvre Museum, Paris
Law code of Hammurabi, a smaller version of the original law code stele. Terracotta tablet, from Nippur, Iraq, c. 1790 BC. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul
The Code of Hammurabi is not the earliest surviving law code;[22] it is predated by the Code of Ur-Nammu, the Laws of Eshnunna, and the Code of Lipit-Ishtar.[22] Nonetheless, the Code of Hammurabi shows marked differences from these earlier law codes and ultimately proved more influential.[23][24][22]
The Code of Hammurabi was inscribed on a stele and placed in a public place so that all could see it, although it is thought that few were literate. The stele was later plundered by the Elamites and removed to their capital, Susa; it was rediscovered there in 1901 in Iran and is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The code of Hammurabi contains 282 laws, written by scribes on 12 tablets. Unlike earlier laws, it was written in Akkadian, the daily language of Babylon, and could therefore be read by any literate person in the city.[23] Earlier Sumerian law codes had focused on compensating the victim of the crime,[24] but the Code of Hammurabi instead focused on physically punishing the perpetrator.[24] The Code of Hammurabi was one of the first law code to place restrictions on what a wronged person was allowed to do in retribution.[24]
The structure of the code is very specific, with each offense receiving a specified punishment. The punishments tended to be very harsh by modern standards, with many offenses resulting in death, disfigurement, or the use of the 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth' (Lex Talionis 'Law of Retaliation') philosophy.[25][24] The code is also one of the earliest examples of the idea of presumption of innocence, and it also suggests that the accused and accuser have the opportunity to provide evidence.[26] However, there is no provision for extenuating circumstances to alter the prescribed punishment.
A carving at the top of the stele portrays Hammurabi receiving the laws from Shamash, the Babylonian god of justice,[27] and the preface states that Hammurabi was chosen by Shamash to bring the laws to the people.[28] Parallels between this narrative and the giving of the Covenant Code to Moses by Yahweh atop Mount Sinai in the BiblicalBook of Exodus and similarities between the two legal codes suggest a common ancestor in the Semitic background of the two.[29][30][31][32] Nonetheless, fragments of previous law codes have been found and it is unlikely that the Mosaic laws were directly inspired by the Code of Hammurabi.[29][30][31][32][b] Some scholars have disputed this; David P. Wright argues that the Jewish Covenant Code is 'directly, primarily, and throughout' based upon the Laws of Hammurabi.[33] In 2010, a team of archaeologists from Hebrew University discovered a cuneiform tablet dating to the eighteenth or seventeenth century BC at Hazor in Israel containing laws clearly derived from the Code of Hammurabi.[34]
Legacy[edit]
Commemoration after his death[edit]
Hammurabi was honored above all other kings of the second millennium BC[35] and he received the unique honor of being declared to be a god within his own lifetime.[36] The personal name 'Hammurabi-ili' meaning 'Hammurabi is my god' became common during and after his reign. In writings from shortly after his death, Hammurabi is commemorated mainly for three achievements: bringing victory in war, bringing peace, and bringing justice.[36] Hammurabi's conquests came to be regarded as part of a sacred mission to spread civilization to all nations.[37] A stele from Ur glorifies him in his own voice as a mighty ruler who forces evil into submission and compels all peoples to worship Marduk.[38] The stele declares: 'The people of Elam, Gutium, Subartu, and Tukrish, whose mountains are distant and whose languages are obscure, I placed into [Marduk's] hand. I myself continued to put straight their confused minds.' A later hymn also written in Hammurabi's own voice extols him as a powerful, supernatural force for Marduk:[37]
I am the king, the brace that grasps wrongdoers, that makes people of one mind,
I am the great dragon among kings, who throws their counsel in disarray,
I am the net that is stretched over the enemy,
I am the fear-inspiring, who, when lifting his fierce eyes, gives the disobedient the death sentence,
I am the great net that covers evil intent,
I am the young lion, who breaks nets and scepters,
I am the battle net that catches him who offends me.[38]
I am the great dragon among kings, who throws their counsel in disarray,
I am the net that is stretched over the enemy,
I am the fear-inspiring, who, when lifting his fierce eyes, gives the disobedient the death sentence,
I am the great net that covers evil intent,
I am the young lion, who breaks nets and scepters,
I am the battle net that catches him who offends me.[38]
After extolling Hammurabi's military accomplishments, the hymn finally declares: 'I am Hammurabi, the king of justice.'[36] In later commemorations, Hammurabi's role as a great lawgiver came to be emphasized above all his other accomplishments and his military achievements became de-emphasized. Hammurabi's reign became the point of reference for all events in the distant past. A hymn to the goddess Ishtar, whose language suggests it was written during the reign of Ammisaduqa, Hammurabi's fourth successor, declares: 'The king who first heard this song as a song of your heroism is Hammurabi. This song for you was composed in his reign. May he be given life forever!'[35] For centuries after his death, Hammurabi's laws continued to be copied by scribes as part of their writing exercises and they were even partially translated into Sumerian.[39]
Political legacy[edit]
Copy of Hammurabi's stele usurped by Shutruk-Nahhunte I. The stele was only partially erased and was never re-inscribed.[40]
During the reign of Hammurabi, Babylon usurped the position of 'most holy city' in southern Mesopotamia from its predecessor, Nippur.[41] Under the rule of Hammurabi's successor Samsu-iluna, the short-lived Babylonian Empire began to collapse. In northern Mesopotamia, both the Amorites and Babylonians were driven from Assyria by Puzur-Sin a native Akkadian-speaking ruler, c. 1740 BC. Around the same time, native Akkadian speakers threw off Amorite Babylonian rule in the far south of Mesopotamia, creating the Sealand Dynasty, in more or less the region of ancient Sumer. Hammurabi's ineffectual successors met with further defeats and loss of territory at the hands of Assyrian kings such as Adasi and Bel-ibni, as well as to the Sealand Dynasty to the south, Elam to the east, and to the Kassites from the northeast. Thus was Babylon quickly reduced to the small and minor state it had once been upon its founding.[42]
The coup de grace for the Hammurabi's Amorite Dynasty occurred in 1595 BC, when Babylon was sacked and conquered by the powerful Hittite Empire, thereby ending all Amorite political presence in Mesopotamia.[43] However, the Indo-European-speaking Hittites did not remain, turning over Babylon to their Kassite allies, a people speaking a language isolate, from the Zagros mountains region. This Kassite Dynasty ruled Babylon for over 400 years and adopted many aspects of the Babylonianculture, including Hammurabi's code of laws.[43] Even after the fall of the Amorite Dynasty, however, Hammurabi was still remembered and revered.[39] When the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte I raided Babylon in 1158 BC and carried off many stone monuments, he had most of the inscriptions on these monuments erased and new inscriptions carved into them.[39] On the stele containing Hammurabi's laws, however, only four or five columns were wiped out and no new inscription was ever added.[40] Over a thousand years after Hammurabi's death, the kings of Suhu, a land along the Euphrates river, just northwest of Babylon, claimed him as their ancestor.[44]
Modern rediscovery[edit]
The bas-relief of Hammurabi at the United States Congress
In the late nineteenth century, the Code of Hammurabi became a major center of debate in the heated Babel und Bibel ('Babylon and Bible') controversy in Germany over the relationship between the Bible and ancient Babylonian texts.[45] In January 1902, the German Assyriologist Friedrich Delitzsch gave a lecture at the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin in front of the Kaiser and his wife, in which he argued that the Mosaic Laws of the Old Testament were directly copied off the Code of Hammurabi.[46] Delitzsch's lecture was so controversial that, by September 1903, he had managed to collect 1,350 short articles from newspapers and journals, over 300 longer ones, and twenty-eight pamphlets, all written in response to this lecture, as well as the preceding one about the Flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh. These articles were overwhelmingly critical of Delitzsch, though a few were sympathetic. The Kaiser distanced himself from Delitzsch and his radical views and, in fall of 1904, Delitzsch was forced to give his third lecture in Cologne and Frankfurt am Main rather than in Berlin.[45] The putative relationship between the Mosaic Law and the Code of Hammurabi later became a major part of Delitzsch's argument in his 1920–21 book Die große Täuschung (The Great Deception) that the Hebrew Bible was irredeemably contaminated by Babylonian influence and that only by eliminating the human Old Testament entirely could Christians finally believe in the true, Aryan message of the New Testament.[46] In the early twentieth century, many scholars believed that Hammurabi was Amraphel, the King of Shinar in the Book of Genesis 14:1.[47][48] This view has now been largely rejected,[49][50] and Amraphael's existence is not attested in any writings from outside the Bible.[50]
Because of Hammurabi's reputation as a lawgiver, his depiction can be found in several U.S. government buildings. Hammurabi is one of the 23 lawgivers depicted in marblebas-reliefs in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives in the United States Capitol.[51] A frieze by Adolph Weinman depicting the 'great lawgivers of history', including Hammurabi, is on the south wall of the U.S. Supreme Court building.[52][53] At the time of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi Army's 1st Hammurabi Armoured Division was named after the ancient king as part of an effort to emphasize the connection between modern Iraq and the pre-Arab Mesopotamian cultures.
See also[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- Finet, André (1973). Le trone et la rue en Mésopotamie: L'exaltation du roi et les techniques de l'opposition, in La voix de l'opposition en Mésopotamie. Bruxelles: Institut des Hautes Études de Belgique. OCLC652257981.
- Jacobsen, Th. (1943). 'Primitive democracy in Ancient Mesopotamia'. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 2 (3): 159–172. doi:10.1086/370672.
- Finkelstein, J. J. (1966). 'The Genealogy of the Hammurabi Dynasty'. Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 20 (3): 95–118. doi:10.2307/1359643. JSTOR1359643.
- Hammurabi (1952). Driver, G.R.; Miles, John C. (eds.). The Babylonian Laws. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Leemans, W. F. (1950). The Old Babylonian Merchant: His Business and His Social Position. Leiden: Brill.
- Munn-Rankin, J. M. (1956). 'Diplomacy in Western Asia in the Early Second Millennium BC'. Iraq. 18 (1): 68–110. doi:10.2307/4199599. JSTOR4199599.
- Pallis, S. A. (1956). The Antiquity of Iraq: A Handbook of Assyriology. Copenhagen: Ejnar Munksgaard.
- Richardson, M.E.J. (2000). Hammurabi's laws : text, translation and glossary. Sheffield: Sheffield Acad. Press. ISBN978-1-84127-030-2.
- Saggs, H.W.F. (1988). The greatness that was Babylon : a survey of the ancient civilization of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN978-0-283-99623-8.
- Yoffee, Norman (1977). The economic role of the crown in the old Babylonian period. Malibu, CA: Undena Publications. ISBN978-0-89003-021-9.
Notes[edit]
- ^/ˌhæmʊˈrɑːbi/; Akkadian: ?????Ḫa-am-mu-ra-bi, from the AmoriteʻAmmurāpi ('the kinsman is a healer'), itself from ʻAmmu ('paternal kinsman') and Rāpi ('healer').
- ^Barton, a former professor of Semitic languages at the University of Pennsylvania, stated that while there are similarities between the two texts, a study of the entirety of both laws 'convinces the student that the laws of the Old Testament are in no essential way dependent upon the Babylonian laws.' He states that 'such resemblances' arose from 'a similarity of antecedents and of general intellectual outlook' between the two cultures, but that 'the striking differences show that there was no direct borrowing.'[30]
References[edit]
- ^Roux, Georges, 'The Time of Confusion', Ancient Iraq, Penguin Books, p. 266, ISBN9780141938257
- ^Beck, Roger B.; Black, Linda; Krieger, Larry S.; Naylor, Phillip C.; Shabaka, Dahia Ibo (1999). World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell. ISBN978-0-395-87274-1. OCLC39762695.
- ^Van De Mieroop 2005, p. 1
- ^Van De Mieroop 2005, pp. 1–2
- ^ abVan De Mieroop 2005, p. 3
- ^Van De Mieroop 2005, pp. 3–4
- ^Van De Mieroop 2005, p. 16
- ^Arnold 2005, p. 43
- ^Van De Mieroop 2005, pp. 15–16
- ^Van De Mieroop 2005, p. 17
- ^Claire, Iselin. 'Royal head, known as the 'Head of Hammurabi''. Musée du Louvre.
- ^ abVan De Mieroop 2005, p. 18
- ^ abVan De Mieroop 2005, p. 31
- ^Van De Mieroop 2005, pp. 40–41
- ^Van De Mieroop 2005, pp. 54–55
- ^Van De Mieroop 2005, pp. 64–65
- ^ abcArnold 2005, p. 45
- ^Clay, Albert Tobias (1919). The Empire of the Amorites. Yale University Press. p. 97.
- ^Breasted 2003, p. 129
- ^Breasted 2003, pp. 129–130
- ^Arnold 2005, p. 42
- ^ abcDavies, W. W. (January 2003). Codes of Hammurabi and Moses. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN978-0-7661-3124-8. OCLC227972329.
- ^ abBreasted 2003, p. 141
- ^ abcdeBertman, Stephen (2003). Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 71. ISBN978-019-518364-1.
- ^Prince, J. Dyneley (1904). 'The Code of Hammurabi'. The American Journal of Theology. 8 (3): 601–609. JSTOR3153895.
- ^Victimology: Theories and Applications, Ann Wolbert Burgess, Albert R. Roberts, Cheryl Regehr, Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2009, p. 103
- ^Kleiner, Fred S. (2010). Gardner's Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective. 1 (Thirteenth ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. p. 29. ISBN978-0-495-57360-9.
- ^Smith, J. M. Powis (2005). The Origin and History of Hebrew Law. Clark, New Jersey: The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. p. 13. ISBN978-1-58477-489-1.
- ^ abDouglas, J. D.; Tenney, Merrill C. (2011). Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan. p. 1323. ISBN978-0310229834.
- ^ abcBarton, G.A: Archaeology and the Bible. University of Michigan Library, 2009, p.406.
- ^ abUnger, M.F.: Archaeology and the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing Co., 1954, p.156, 157
- ^ abFree, J.P.: Archaeology and Biblical History. Wheaton: Scripture Press, 1950, 1969, p. 121
- ^Wright, David P. (2009). Inventing God's Law: How the Covenant Code of the Bible Used and Revised the Laws of Hammurabi. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. pp. 3 and passim.
- ^'Tablet Discovered by Hebrew U Matches Code of Hammurabi'. Beit El: HolyLand Holdings, Ltd. Arutz Sheva. 26 June 2010.
- ^ abVan De Mieroop 2005, p. 128.
- ^ abcVan De Mieroop 2005, p. 127.
- ^ abVan De Mieroop 2005, p. 126.
- ^ abVan De Mieroop 2005, pp. 126–127.
- ^ abcVan De Mieroop 2005, p. 129.
- ^ abVan De Mieroop 2005, pp. 129–130.
- ^Schneider, Tammi J. (2011), An Introduction to Ancient Mesopotamian Religion, Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, pp. 58–59, ISBN978-0-8028-2959-7
- ^Georges Roux – Ancient Iraq
- ^ abDeBlois 1997, p. 19
- ^Van De Mieroop 2005, p. 130.
- ^ abZiolkowski 2012, p. 25.
- ^ abZiolkowski 2012, pp. 23–25.
- ^'AMRAPHEL - JewishEncyclopedia.com'.
- ^'Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 14 - New International Version'.
- ^North, Robert (1993). 'Abraham'. In Metzger, Bruce M.; Coogan, Michael D. (eds.). The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 5. ISBN978-0-19-504645-8.
- ^ abGranerød, Gard (26 March 2010). Abraham and Melchizedek: Scribal Activity of Second Temple Times in Genesis 14 and Psalm 110. Berlin, Germany: Walter de Gruyter. p. 120. ISBN978-3-11-022346-0.
- ^'Hammurabi'. Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved 19 May 2008.
- ^'Courtroom Friezes'(PDF). Supreme Court of the United States. Archived from the original(PDF) on 1 June 2010. Retrieved 19 May 2008.
- ^Biskupic, Joan (11 March 1998). 'Lawgivers: From Two Friezes, Great Figures of Legal History Gaze Upon the Supreme Court Bench'. WP Company LLC. The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
Sources[edit]
- Arnold, Bill T. (2005). Who Were the Babylonians?. Brill Publishers. ISBN978-90-04-13071-5. OCLC225281611.
- Breasted, James Henry (2003). Ancient Time or a History of the Early World, Part 1. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN978-0-7661-4946-5. OCLC69651827.
- DeBlois, Lukas (1997). An Introduction to the Ancient World. Routledge. ISBN978-0-415-12773-8. OCLC231710353.
- Van De Mieroop, Marc (2005). King Hammurabi of Babylon: A Biography. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN978-1-4051-2660-1. OCLC255676990.
- Ziolkowski, Theodore (2012), Gilgamesh among Us: Modern Encounters with the Ancient Epic, Ithaca, New York and London, England: Cornell University Press, ISBN978-0-8014-5035-8
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Hammurabi |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hammurabi. |
Wikisource has original works written by or about: Hammurabi |
- Works by Hammurabi at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Hammurabi at Internet Archive
Preceded by Sin-muballit | Kings of Babylon | Succeeded by Samsu-iluna |
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hammurabi&oldid=920115666'
Code of Hammurabi | |
---|---|
A side view of the stele 'fingertip' at the Louvre Museum | |
Created | c. 1754 BC |
Author(s) | Hammurabi |
Purpose | Law code |
The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babyloniancode of law of ancient Mesopotamia, dated to about 1754 BC (Middle Chronology). It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code. A partial copy exists on a 2.25-metre-tall (7.5 ft) stone stele. It consists of 282 laws, with scaled punishments, adjusting 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' (lex talionis)[1] as graded based on social stratification depending on social status and gender, of slave versus free, man versus woman.[2]
Nearly half of the code deals with matters of contract, establishing the wages to be paid to an ox driver or a surgeon for example. Other provisions set the terms of a transaction, the liability of a builder for a house that collapses, or property that is damaged while left in the care of another. A third of the code addresses issues concerning household and family relationships such as inheritance, divorce, paternity, and reproductive behaviour. Only one provision appears to impose obligations on an official; this provision establishes that a judge who alters his decision after it is written down is to be fined and removed from the bench permanently.[3] A few provisions address issues related to military service.
The code was discovered by modern archaeologists in 1901, and its editio princeps translation published in 1902 by Jean-Vincent Scheil. This nearly complete example of the code is carved into a diorite stele[4] in the shape of a huge index finger,[5] 2.25 m (7.4 ft) tall. The code is inscribed in the Akkadian language, using cuneiform script carved into the stele. The material was imported into Sumeria from Magan - today the area covered by the United Arab Emirates and Oman.[6]
It is currently on display in the Louvre, with replicas in numerous institutions, including the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago, the Clendening History of Medicine Library & Museum at the University of Kansas Medical Center, the library of the Theological University of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, the Pergamon Museum of Berlin, the Arts Faculty of the University of Leuven in Belgium, the National Museum of Iran in Tehran, and the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, the University Museum at the University of Pennsylvania, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Russia, the Prewitt-Allen Archaeological Museum at Corban University, and Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC.
History[edit]
The code on clay tablets
The code on a diorite stele
Hammurabi ruled from 1792 to 1750 BC according to the Middle chronology. In the preface to the law, 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, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the weak; so that I should rule over the black-headed people like Shamash, and enlighten the land, to further the well-being of mankind.'[7] On the stone slab are 44 columns and 28 paragraphs that contained 282 laws. Some of these laws follow along the rules of 'an eye for an eye'.[8]
It was taken as plunder by the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte in the 12th century BC and was taken to Susa in Elam (located in the present-day Khuzestan Province of Iran), where it was no longer available to the Babylonian people. However, when Cyrus the Great brought both Babylon and Susa under the rule of his Persian Empire and placed copies of the document in the Library of Sippar, the text became available for all the peoples of the vast Persian Empire to view.[9]
In 1901, Egyptologist Gustave Jéquier, a member of an expedition headed by Jacques de Morgan, found the stele containing the Code of Hammurabi during archaeological excavations at the ancient site of Susa in Khuzestan.[10]
Laws of Hammurabi's Code[edit]
The Code of Hammurabi was one of the only sets of laws in the ancient Near East and also one of the first forms of law.[11] The code of laws was arranged in orderly groups, so that all who read the laws would know what was required of them.[12] Earlier collections of laws include the Code of Ur-Nammu, king of Ur (c. 2050 BC), the Laws of Eshnunna (c.1930 BC) and the codex of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin (c.1870 BC), while later ones include the Hittite laws, the Assyrian laws, and Mosaic Law.[13] These codes come from similar cultures in a relatively small geographical area, and they have passages which resemble each other.[14]
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Figures at the top of the stele 'fingernail', above Hammurabi's code of laws.
The Code of Hammurabi is the longest surviving text from the Old Babylonian period.[15] The code has been seen as an early example of a fundamental law, regulating a government – i.e., a primitive constitution.[16][17] The code is also one of the earliest examples of the idea of presumption of innocence, and it also suggests that both the accused and accuser have the opportunity to provide evidence.[18] The occasional nature of many provisions suggests that the code may be better understood as a codification of Hammurabi's supplementary judicial decisions, and that, by memorializing his wisdom and justice, its purpose may have been the self-glorification of Hammurabi rather than a modern legal code or constitution. However, its copying in subsequent generations indicates that it was used as a model of legal and judicial reasoning.[19]
While the Code of Hammurabi was trying to achieve equality, biases still existed against those categorized in the lower end of the social spectrum and some of the punishments and justice could be gruesome. The magnitude of criminal penalties often was based on the identity and gender of both the person committing the crime and the victim. The Code issues justice following the three classes of Babylonian society: property owners, freed men, and slaves.[20]
Punishments for someone assaulting someone from a lower class were far lighter than if they had assaulted someone of equal or higher status.[20] For example, if a doctor killed a rich patient, he would have his hands cut off, but if he killed a slave, only financial restitution was required.[21] Women could also receive punishments that their male counterparts would not, as men were permitted to have affairs with their servants and slaves, whereas married women would be harshly punished for committing adultery.[20]
Other copies[edit]
The Hammurabi stele at the American Museum of Natural History, New York.
A version of the code at the Istanbul Archaeological Museums.
Various copies of portions of the Code of Hammurabi have been found on baked clay tablets, some possibly older than the celebrated basalt stele now in the Louvre. The Prologue of the Code of Hammurabi (the first 305 inscribed 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 recently annexed by Hammurabi may imply that it is older than the famous stele (currently dated to the early 18th century BC).[22] Likewise, the Museum of the Ancient Orient, part of the Istanbul Archaeology Museums, also has a 'Code of Hammurabi' clay tablet, dated to 1790 BC (in Room 5, Inv # Ni 2358).[23][24]
In July 2010, archaeologists reported that a fragmentary Akkadian cuneiform tablet was discovered at Tel Hazor, Israel, containing a c.1700 BC text that was said to be partly parallel to portions of the Hammurabi code. The Hazor law code fragments are currently being prepared for publication by a team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[25]
Laws covered[edit]
Law Code Stele of King Hammurabi, 1792–1750 BC, Smarthistory |
One of the best known laws from Hammurabi's code was:
Ex. Law #196: 'If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If one break a man's bone, they shall break his bone. If one destroy the eye of a freeman or break the bone of a freeman he shall pay one gold mina. If one destroy the eye of a man's slave or break a bone of a man's slave he shall pay one-half his price.'[26]
Hammurabi had many other punishments, as well. If a son strikes his father, his hands shall be hewn off. Translations vary.[27][28]
The laws covered such subjects as:
- Slander
- Ex. Law #127: 'If any one 'point the finger' at a sister of a god or the wife of any one, and can not prove it, this man shall be taken before the judges and his brow shall be marked (by cutting the skin, or perhaps hair).'[26]
- Fraud
- Ex. Law #265: 'If a herdsman, to whose care cattle or sheep have been entrusted, be guilty of fraud and make false returns of the natural increase, or sell them for money, then shall he be convicted and pay the owner ten times the loss.'[26]
- Slavery and status of slaves as property
- Ex. Law #15: 'If any one take a male or female slave of the court, or a male or female slave of a freed man, outside the city gates, he shall be put to death.'[26]
- The duties of workers
- Ex. Law #42: 'If any one take over a field to till it, and obtain no harvest 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 of the field.'[26]
- Theft
- Ex. Law #22: 'If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death.'[26]
- Trade
- Ex. Law #104: 'If a merchant give an agent grain, wool, oil, or any other goods to transport, the agent shall give a receipt for the amount, and compensate the merchant therefore, he shall obtain a receipt from the merchant for the money that he gives the merchant.'[26]
- Liability
- Ex. Law #53: 'If any one be too apathetic to keep his dam in primly condition, and does not so keep it; if then the dam break and all the fields be flooded, then shall he in whose dam the break occurred be sold for money, and the money shall replace the crops which he has caused to be ruined.'[26]
- Divorce
- Ex. Law #142: 'If a woman quarrel with her husband, and say: 'You are not congenial to me,' the reasons for her prejudice must be presented. If she is guiltless, and there is no fault on her part, but he leaves and neglects her, then no guilt attaches to this woman, she shall take her dowry and go back to her father's house.'[26]
- Adultery
- Ex. Law #129: 'If the wife of a man has been caught lying with another man, they shall bind them and throw them into the waters. If the owner of the wife would save his wife then in turn the king could save his servant.'[29]
- Perjury
- Ex. Law #3: 'If a man has borne false witness in a trial, or has not established the statement that he has made, if that case be a capital trial, that man shall be put to death.'[citation needed]
See also[edit]
- Urukagina – Sumerian king and creator of what is sometimes cited as the first example of a legal code in recorded history
Footnotes[edit]
- ^Prince, J. Dyneley (July 1904). 'The Code of Hammurabi'. The American Journal of Theology. The University of Chicago Press. 8 (3): 601–609. doi:10.1086/478479. JSTOR3153895.
- ^Gabriele Bartz & Eberhard König, Arts and Architecture—Louvre, (Köln: Könemann, 2005), ISBN978-3-8331-1943-9. The laws were based with scaled punishments, adjusting 'an eye for an eye' depending on social status and gender.
- ^Code of HammurabiArchived 21 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine at commonlaw.com Code of Hammarubi at Commonlaw, 22 May 2017
- ^Moorey, P. R. S. (Peter Roger Stuart), 1937- (1999). Ancient mesopotamian materials and industries : the archaeological evidence. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns. p. 29. ISBN1575060426. OCLC42907384.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- ^Iconographic Evidence for Some Mesopotamian Cult Statues, Dominique Collon, Die Welt der Götterbilder, Edited by Groneberg, Brigitte; Spieckermann, Hermann;, and Weiershäuser, Frauke, Berlin, New York (Walter de Gruyter) 2007, pp. 57–84
- ^RAGOZIN, ZENAIDE A. (2017). STORY OF CHALDEA FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE RISE OF ASSYRIA : treated as a general .. introduction to the study of ancient history. [Place of publication not identified],: FORGOTTEN Books. p. 209. ISBN1330342585. OCLC990104817.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
- ^Edited by Richard Hooker; Translated by L.W King (1996). 'Mesopotamia: The Code of Hammurabi'. Washington State University. Archived from the original on 9 September 2007. Retrieved 14 September 2007.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- ^'Hammurabi's Code' 'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 1 November 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), Think Quest, retrieved on 2 Nov 2011.
- ^Marc Van De Mieroop: A History of the Ancient Near East, second edition p. 296
- ^Cultures in Contact: From Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean in the Second Millennium B.C. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2013. ISBN9781588394750. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
- ^L.W. King (2005). 'The Code of Hammurabi: Translated by L.W. King'. Yale University. Archived from the original on 16 September 2007. Retrieved 14 September 2007.
- ^'The Code of Hammurabi: Introduction,' [1], Ancient History Sourcebook, March 1998, retrieved on 2 November 2011.
- ^Barton, G.A: Archaeology and the Bible. University of Michigan Library, 2009, (originally published in 1916 by American Sunday-School Union) p. 406.
- ^Barton 2009, p. 406. Barton, a scientist of Semitic languages at the University of Pennsylvania from 1922 to 1931, stated that while there are similarities between the Mosaic Law and the Code of Hammurabi, a study of the entirety of both laws 'convinces the student that the laws of the Old Testament are in no essential way dependent upon the Babylonian laws.' He states that 'such resemblances' arose from 'a similarity of antecedents and of general intellectual outlook' between the two cultures, but that 'the striking differences show that there was no direct borrowing.'
- ^'The Code of Hammurabi,' [2], The History Guide, 3 August 2009, Retrieved on 2 November 2011.
- ^What is a Constitution? William David Thomas, Gareth Stevens (2008) p. 8
- ^Flach, Jacques. Le Code de Hammourabi et la constitution originaire de la propriete dans l'ancienne Chaldee. (Revue historique. Paris, 1907. 8. v. 94, pp. 272–289.
- ^Victimology: Theories and Applications, Ann Wolbert Burgess, Albert R. Roberts, Cheryl Regehr, Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2009, p. 103
- ^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.
- ^ abc'8 Things You May Not Know About Hammurabi's Code'. History.com. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
- ^'What was Babylon?'. History Extra.
- ^Fant, Clyde E. and Mitchell G. Reddish (2008), Lost Treasures of the Bible: Understanding the Bible Through Archaeological Artifacts in World Museums, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., p. 62.
- ^Freely, John, Blue Guide Istanbul (5th ed., 2000), London: A&C Black, New York: WW Norton, p. 121. ('The most historic of the inscriptions here [i.e., Room 5, Museum of the Ancient Orient, Istanbul] is the famous Code of Hammurabi (#Ni 2358) dated 1750 BC, the world's oldest recorded set of laws.')
- ^Museum of the Ancient Orient websiteArchived 3 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine ('This museum contains a rich collection of ancient .. archaeological finds, including .. seals from Nippur and a copy of the Code of Hammurabi.')
- ^'Code of Hammurabi Tablet Found'. Inside Israel News – Arutz Sheva.
- ^ abcdefghi'The Code of Hammurabi'. Internet Sacred Text Archive. Evinity Publishing. 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
- ^Translated by L.W. King, Hammurabi's Code of Laws, Hammurabi's Code of LawsArchived 9 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^Translated by L.W. King, Hammurabi's Code of Laws, The Code of Hammurabi King of Babylon by Robert Francis Harper (PDF)
- ^C. Sax, Benjamin (2001). Western Civilization Volume 1: From the Origins of Civilization to the Age of Absolutism. San Diego: Greenhaven Press. p. 35. ISBN978-1-56510-988-9.
References[edit]
- Beck, Roger B.; Linda Black, Larry S. Krieger, Phillip C. Naylor, Dahia Ibo Shabaka (1999). World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, IL: McDougal Luttrell. ISBN978-0-395-87274-1.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- 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: Schlager Group, 2010. 23–31.
- Bryant, Tamera (2005). The Life & Times of Hammurabi. Bear: Mitchell Lane Publishers. ISBN978-1-58415-338-2.
- Driver, G.R.; J.C. Miles (2007). The Babylonian Laws. Eugene: Wipf and Stock. ISBN978-1-55635-229-4.
- Elsen-Novák, G./Novák, M.: Der 'König der Gerechtigkeit'. Zur Ikonologie und Teleologie des 'Codex' Hammurapi. In: Baghdader Mitteilungen 37 (2006), pp. 131–156.
- Falkenstein, A. (1956–57). Die neusumerischen Gerichtsurkunden I–III. München.
- Febbraro, Flavio, and Burkhard Schwetje. How to Read World History in Art. New York: Abrams, 2010. Print.
- Hammurabi, King; C. H. W. Johns (Translator) (2000). The Oldest Code of Laws in the World. City: Lawbook Exchange Ltd. ISBN978-1-58477-061-9.
- Mieroop, Marc (2004). King Hammurabi of Babylon: a Biography. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN978-1-4051-2660-1.
- Julius Oppert and Joachim Menant (1877). Documents juridiques de l'Assyrie et de la Chaldee. París.
- Roth, Martha T. (1997). Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Atlanta: Scholars Press. ISBN978-0-7885-0378-8.
- Editio princeps: Scheil, Jean-Vincent (1902). 'Code des Lois de Hammurabi'. Memoires de la delegation en Perse. 4 (Textes Elamites-Semitiques).
- Thomas, D. Winton, ed. (1958). Documents from Old Testament Times. London and New York.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: |
Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
Look up Hammurabi in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- The Code of Hammurabi Translated by L. W. King.
- The Code of Hammurabi (Harper translation) at Wikisource
- Hammurabi's Code, Blaise Joseph, Clio History Journal, 2009.
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