The Code of Hammurabi
When Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunaki, and Bel, the lord of Heaven
and earth, who decreed the fate of the land, assigned to Marduk, the
over-ruling son of Ea, God of righteousness, dominion over earthly man,
and made him great among the Igigi, they called Babylon by his
illustrious name, made it great on earth, and founded an everlasting
kingdom in it, whose foundations are laid so solidly as those of heaven
and earth; then 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.
Hammurabi, the prince, called of Bel am I, making riches and increase,
enriching Nippur and Dur-ilu beyond compare, sublime patron of E-kur;
who reestablished Eridu and purified the worship of E-apsu; who
conquered the four quarters of the world, made great the name of
Babylon, rejoiced the heart of Marduk, his lord who daily pays his
devotions in Saggil; the royal scion whom Sin made; who enriched Ur; the
humble, the reverent, who brings wealth to Gish-shir-gal; the white
king, heard of Shamash, the mighty, who again laid the foundations of
Sippara; who clothed the gravestones of Malkat with green; who made
E-babbar great, which is like the heavens, the warrior who guarded Larsa
and renewed E-babbar, with Shamash as his helper; the lord who granted
new life to Uruk, who brought plenteous water to its inhabitants, raised
the head of E-anna, and perfected the beauty of Anu and Nana; shield of
the land, who reunited the scattered inhabitants of Isin; who richly
endowed E-gal-mach; the protecting king of the city, brother of the god
Zamama; who firmly founded the farms of Kish, crowned E-me-te-ursag with
glory, redoubled the great holy treasures of Nana, managed the temple of
Harsag-kalama; the grave of the enemy, whose help brought about the
victory; who increased the power of Cuthah; made all glorious in
E-shidlam, the black steer, who gored the enemy; beloved of the god
Nebo, who rejoiced the inhabitants of Borsippa, the Sublime; who is
indefatigable for E-zida; the divine king of the city; the White, Wise;
who broadened the fields of Dilbat, who heaped up the harvests for
Urash; the Mighty, the lord to whom come scepter and crown, with which
he clothes himself; the Elect of Ma-ma; who fixed the temple bounds of
Kesh, who made rich the holy feasts of Nin-tu; the provident,
solicitous, who provided food and drink for Lagash and Girsu, who
provided large sacrificial offerings for the temple of Ningirsu; who
captured the enemy, the Elect of the oracle who fulfilled the prediction
of Hallab, who rejoiced the heart of Anunit; the pure prince, whose
prayer is accepted by Adad; who satisfied the heart of Adad, the
warrior, in Karkar, who restored the vessels for worship in
E-ud-gal-gal; the king who granted life to the city of Adab; the guide
of E-mach; the princely king of the city, the irresistible warrior, who
granted life to the inhabitants of Mashkanshabri, and brought abundance
to the temple of Shidlam; the White, Potent, who penetrated the secret
cave of the bandits, saved the inhabitants of Malka from misfortune, and
fixed their home fast in wealth; who established pure sacrificial gifts
for Ea and Dam-gal-nun-na, who made his kingdom everlastingly great; the
princely king of the city, who subjected the districts on the
Ud-kib-nun-na Canal to the sway of Dagon, his Creator; who spared the
inhabitants of Mera and Tutul; the sublime prince, who makes the face of
Ninni shine; who presents holy meals to the divinity of Nin-a-zu, who
cared for its inhabitants in their need, provided a portion for them in
Babylon in peace; the shepherd of the oppressed and of the slaves; whose
deeds find favor before Anunit, who provided for Anunit in the temple of
Dumash in the suburb of Agade; who recognizes the right, who rules by
law; who gave back to the city of Ashur its protecting god; who let the
name of Ishtar of Nineveh remain in E-mish-mish; the Sublime, who
humbles himself before the great gods; successor of Sumula-il; the
mighty son of Sin-muballit; the royal scion of Eternity; the mighty
monarch, the sun of Babylon, whose rays shed light over the land of
Sumer and Akkad; the king, obeyed by the four quarters of the world;
Beloved of Ninni, am I.
When Marduk sent me to rule over men, to give the protection of right to
the land, I did right and righteousness in ... , and brought about the
well-being of the oppressed.
CODE OF LAWS
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.
4. If he satisfy the elders to impose a fine of grain or money, he shall
receive the fine that the action produces.
5. If a judge try a case, reach a decision, and present his judgment in
writing; if later error shall appear in his decision, and it be through
his own fault, then he shall pay twelve times the fine set by him in the
case, and he shall be publicly removed from the judge's bench, and never
again shall he sit there to render judgement.
6. If any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall
be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him
shall be put to death.
7. If any one buy from the son or the slave of another man, without
witnesses or a contract, silver or gold, a male or female slave, an ox
or a sheep, an ass or anything, or if he take it in charge, he is
considered a thief and shall be put to death.
8. If any one steal cattle or sheep, or an ass, or a pig or a goat, if
it belong to a god or to the court, the thief shall pay thirtyfold
therefor; if they belonged to a freed man of the king he shall pay
tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay he shall be put to
death.
9. If any one lose an article, and find it in the possession of another:
if the person in whose possession the thing is found say "A merchant
sold it to me, I paid for it before witnesses," and if the owner of the
thing say, "I will bring witnesses who know my property," then shall the
purchaser bring the merchant who sold it to him, and the witnesses
before whom he bought it, and the owner shall bring witnesses who can
identify his property. The judge shall examine their testimony -- both of
the witnesses before whom the price was paid, and of the witnesses who
identify the lost article on oath. The merchant is then proved to be a
thief and shall be put to death. The owner of the lost article receives
his property, and he who bought it receives the money he paid from the
estate of the merchant.
10. If the purchaser does not bring the merchant and the witnesses
before whom he bought the article, but its owner bring witnesses who
identify it, then the buyer is the thief and shall be put to death, and
the owner receives the lost article.
11. If the owner do not bring witnesses to identify the lost article, he
is an evil-doer, he has traduced, and shall be put to death.
12. If the witnesses be not at hand, then shall the judge set a limit,
at the expiration of six months. If his witnesses have not appeared
within the six months, he is an evil-doer, and shall bear the fine of
the pending case.
13. [There is no 13th Law because, then as now, the number 13 was
considered to be unlucky.]
14. If any one steal the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.
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.
16. If any one receive into his house a runaway male or female slave of
the court, or of a freedman, and does not bring it out at the public
proclamation of the major domus, the master of the house shall be put to
death.
17. If any one find runaway male or female slaves in the open country
and bring them to their masters, the master of the slaves shall pay him
two shekels of silver.
18. If the slave will not give the name of the master, the finder shall
bring him to the palace; a further investigation must follow, and the
slave shall be returned to his master.
19. If he hold the slaves in his house, and they are caught there, he
shall be put to death.
20. If the slave that he caught run away from him, then shall he swear
to the owners of the slave, and he is free of all blame.
21. If any one break a hole into a house (break in to steal), he shall
be put to death before that hole and be buried.
22. If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be
put to death.
23. If the robber is not caught, then shall he who was robbed claim
under oath the amount of his loss; then shall the community, and ...
on whose ground and territory and in whose domain it was compensate him
for the goods stolen.
24. If persons are stolen, then shall the community and ... pay one
mina of silver to their relatives.
25. If fire break out in a house, and some one who comes to put it out
cast his eye upon the property of the owner of the house, and take the
property of the master of the house, he shall be thrown into that
self-same fire.
26. If a chieftain or a man (common soldier), who has been ordered to go
upon the king's highway for war does not go, but hires a mercenary, if
he withholds the compensation, then shall this officer or man be put to
death, and he who represented him shall take possession of his house.
27. If a chieftain or man be caught in the misfortune of the king
(captured in battle), and if his fields and garden be given to another
and he take possession, if he return and reaches his place, his field
and garden shall be returned to him, he shall take it over again.
28. If a chieftain or a man be caught in the misfortune of a king, if
his son is able to enter into possession, then the field and garden
shall be given to him, he shall take over the fee of his father.
29. If his son is still young, and can not take possession, a third of
the field and garden shall be given to his mother, and she shall bring
him up.
30. If a chieftain or a man leave his house, garden, and field and hires
it out, and some one else takes possession of his house, garden, and
field and uses it for three years: if the first owner return and claims
his house, garden, and field, it shall not be given to him, but he who
has taken possession of it and used it shall continue to use it.
31. If he hire it out for one year and then return, the house, garden,
and field shall be given back to him, and he shall take it over again.
32. If a chieftain or a man is captured on the "Way of the King" (in
war), and a merchant buy him free, and bring him back to his place; if
he have the means in his house to buy his freedom, he shall buy himself
free: if he have nothing in his house with which to buy himself free, he
shall be bought free by the temple of his community; if there be nothing
in the temple with which to buy him free, the court shall buy his
freedom. His field, garden, and house shall not be given for the
purchase of his freedom.
33. If a ... or a ... enter himself as withdrawn from the "Way of the
King," and send a mercenary as substitute, but withdraw him, then the
... or ... shall be put to death.
34. If a ... or a ... harm the property of a captain, injure the
captain, or take away from the captain a gift presented to him by the
king, then the ... or ... shall be put to death.
35. If any one buy the cattle or sheep which the king has given to
chieftains from him, he loses his money.
36. The field, garden, and house of a chieftain, of a man, or of one
subject to quit-rent, can not be sold.
37. If any one buy the field, garden, and house of a chieftain, man, or
one subject to quit-rent, his contract tablet of sale shall be broken
(declared invalid) and he loses his money. The field, garden, and house
return to their owners.
38. A chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent can not assign his
tenure of field, house, and garden to his wife or daughter, nor can he
assign it for a debt.
39. He may, however, assign a field, garden, or house which he has
bought, and holds as property, to his wife or daughter or give it for
debt.
40. He may sell field, garden, and house to a merchant (royal agents) or
to any other public official, the buyer holding field, house, and garden
for its usufruct.
41. If any one fence in the field, garden, and house of a chieftain,
man, or one subject to quit-rent, furnishing the palings therefor; if
the chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent return to field, garden,
and house, the palings which were given to him become his property.
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.
43. If he do not till the field, but let it lie fallow, he shall give
grain like his neighbor's to the owner of the field, and the field which
he let lie fallow he must plow and sow and return to its owner.
44. If any one take over a waste-lying field to make it arable, but is
lazy, and does not make it arable, he shall plow the fallow field in the
fourth year, harrow it and till it, and give it back to its owner, and
for each ten gan (a measure of area) ten gur of grain shall be paid.
45. If a man rent his field for tillage for a fixed rental, and receive
the rent of his field, but bad weather come and destroy the harvest, the
injury falls upon the tiller of the soil.
46. If he do not receive a fixed rental for his field, but lets it on
half or third shares of the harvest, the grain on the field shall be
divided proportionately between the tiller and the owner.
47. If the tiller, because he did not succeed in the first year, has had
the soil tilled by others, the owner may raise no objection; the field
has been cultivated and he receives the harvest according to agreement.
48. If any one owe a debt for a loan, and a storm prostrates the grain,
or the harvest fail, or the grain does not grow for lack of water; in
that year he need not give his creditor any grain, he washes his
debt-tablet in water and pays no rent for this year.
49. If any one take money from a merchant, and give the merchant a field
tillable for corn or sesame and order him to plant corn or sesame in the
field, and to harvest the crop; if the cultivator plant corn or sesame
in the field, at the harvest the corn or sesame that is in the field
shall belong to the owner of the field and he shall pay corn as rent,
for the money he received from the merchant, and the livelihood of the
cultivator shall he give to the merchant.
50. If he give a cultivated corn-field or a cultivated sesame-field, the
corn or sesame in the field shall belong to the owner of the field, and
he shall return the money to the merchant as rent.
51. If he have no money to repay, then he shall pay in corn or sesame in
place of the money as rent for what he received from the merchant,
according to the royal tariff.
52. If the cultivator do not plant corn or sesame in the field, the
debtor's contract is not weakened.
53. If any one be too lazy to keep his dam in proper 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 corn which he has caused to be ruined.
54. If he be not able to replace the corn, then he and his possessions
shall be divided among the farmers whose corn he has flooded.
55. If any one open his ditches to water his crop, but is careless, and
the water flood the field of his neighbor, then he shall pay his
neighbor corn for his loss.
56. If a man let in the water, and the water overflow the plantation of
his neighbor, he shall pay ten gur of corn for every ten gan of land.
57. If a shepherd, without the permission of the owner of the field, and
without the knowledge of the owner of the sheep, lets the sheep into a
field to graze, then the owner of the field shall harvest his crop, and
the shepherd, who had pastured his flock there without permission of the
owner of the field, shall pay to the owner twenty gur of corn for every
ten gan.
58. If after the flocks have left the pasture and been shut up in the
common fold at the city gate, any shepherd let them into a field and
they graze there, this shepherd shall take possession of the field which
he has allowed to be grazed on, and at the harvest he must pay sixty gur
of corn for every ten gan.
59. If any man, without the knowledge of the owner of a garden, fell a
tree in a garden he shall pay half a mina in money.
60. If any one give over a field to a gardener, for him to plant it as a
garden, if he work at it, and care for it for four years, in the fifth
year the owner and the gardener shall divide it, the owner taking his
part in charge.
61. If the gardener has not completed the planting of the field, leaving
one part unused, this shall be assigned to him as his.
62. If he do not plant the field that was given over to him as a garden,
if it be arable land (for corn or sesame) the gardener shall pay the
owner the produce of the field for the years that he let it lie fallow,
according to the product of neighboring fields, put the field in arable
condition and return it to its owner.
63. If he transform waste land into arable fields and return it to its
owner, the latter shall pay him for one year ten gur for ten gan.
64. If any one hand over his garden to a gardener to work, the gardener
shall pay to its owner two-thirds of the produce of the garden, for so
long as he has it in possession, and the other third shall he keep.
65. If the gardener do not work in the garden and the product fall off,
the gardener shall pay in proportion to other neighboring gardens. [Here
a portion of the text is missing, apparently comprising thirty-four
paragraphs.]
100. ... interest for the money, as much as he has received, he shall
give a note therefor, and on the day, when they settle, pay to the
merchant.
101. If there are no mercantile arrangements in the place whither he
went, he shall leave the entire amount of money which he received with
the broker to give to the merchant.
102. If a merchant entrust money to an agent (broker) for some
investment, and the broker suffer a loss in the place to which he goes,
he shall make good the capital to the merchant.
103. If, while on the journey, an enemy take away from him anything that
he had, the broker shall swear by God and be free of obligation.
104. If a merchant give an agent corn, wool, oil, or any other goods to
transport, the agent shall give a receipt for the amount, and compensate
the merchant therefor. Then he shall obtain a receipt form the merchant
for the money that he gives the merchant.
105. If the agent is careless, and does not take a receipt for the money
which he gave the merchant, he can not consider the unreceipted money as
his own.
106. If the agent accept money from the merchant, but have a quarrel
with the merchant (denying the receipt), then shall the merchant swear
before God and witnesses that he has given this money to the agent, and
the agent shall pay him three times the sum.
107. If the merchant cheat the agent, in that as the latter has returned
to him all that had been given him, but the merchant denies the receipt
of what had been returned to him, then shall this agent convict the
merchant before God and the judges, and if he still deny receiving what
the agent had given him shall pay six times the sum to the agent.
108. If a tavern-keeper (feminine) does not accept corn according to
gross weight in payment of drink, but takes money, and the price of the
drink is less than that of the corn, she shall be convicted and thrown
into the water.
109. If conspirators meet in the house of a tavern-keeper, and these
conspirators are not captured and delivered to the court, the
tavern-keeper shall be put to death.
110. If a "sister of a god" open a tavern, or enter a tavern to drink,
then shall this woman be burned to death.
111. If an inn-keeper furnish sixty ka of usakani-drink to ... she shall
receive fifty ka of corn at the harvest.
112. If any one be on a journey and entrust silver, gold, precious
stones, or any movable property to another, and wish to recover it from
him; if the latter do not bring all of the property to the appointed
place, but appropriate it to his own use, then shall this man, who did
not bring the property to hand it over, be convicted, and he shall pay
fivefold for all that had been entrusted to him.
113. If any one have consignment of corn or money, and he take from the
granary or box without the knowledge of the owner, then shall he who
took corn without the knowledge of the owner out of the granary or money
out of the box be legally convicted, and repay the corn he has taken.
And he shall lose whatever commission was paid to him, or due him.
114. If a man have no claim on another for corn and money, and try to
demand it by force, he shall pay one-third of a mina of silver in every
case.
115. If any one have a claim for corn or money upon another and imprison
him; if the prisoner die in prison a natural death, the case shall go no
further.
116. If the prisoner die in prison from blows or maltreatment, the
master of the prisoner shall convict the merchant before the judge. If
he was a free-born man, the son of the merchant shall be put to death;
if it was a slave, he shall pay one-third of a mina of gold, and all
that the master of the prisoner gave he shall forfeit.
117. If any one fail to meet a claim for debt, and sell himself, his
wife, his son, and daughter for money or give them away to forced labor:
they shall work for three years in the house of the man who bought them,
or the proprietor, and in the fourth year they shall be set free.
118. If he give a male or female slave away for forced labor, and the
merchant sublease them, or sell them for money, no objection can be
raised.
119. If any one fail to meet a claim for debt, and he sell the maid
servant who has borne him children, for money, the money which the
merchant has paid shall be repaid to him by the owner of the slave and
she shall be freed.
120. If any one store corn for safe keeping in another person's house,
and any harm happen to the corn in storage, or if the owner of the house
open the granary and take some of the corn, or if especially he deny
that the corn was stored in his house: then the owner of the corn shall
claim his corn before God (on oath), and the owner of the house shall
pay its owner for all of the corn that he took.
121. If any one store corn in another man's house he shall pay him
storage at the rate of one gur for every five ka of corn per year.
122. If any one give another silver, gold, or anything else to keep, he
shall show everything to some witness, draw up a contract, and then hand
it over for safe keeping.
123. If he turn it over for safe keeping without witness or contract,
and if he to whom it was given deny it, then he has no legitimate claim.
124. If any one deliver silver, gold, or anything else to another for
safe keeping, before a witness, but he deny it, he shall be brought
before a judge, and all that he has denied he shall pay in full.
125. If any one place his property with another for safe keeping, and
there, either through thieves or robbers, his property and the property
of the other man be lost, the owner of the house, through whose neglect
the loss took place, shall compensate the owner for all that was given
to him in charge. But the owner of the house shall try to follow up and
recover his property, and take it away from the thief.
126. If any one who has not lost his goods state that they have been
lost, and make false claims: if he claim his goods and amount of injury
before God, even though he has not lost them, he shall be fully
compensated for all his loss claimed. (I.e., the oath is all that is
needed.)
127. If any one "point the finger" (slander) 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.)
128. If a man take a woman to wife, but have no intercourse with her,
this woman is no wife to him.
129. If a man's wife be surprised (in flagrante delicto) with another
man, both shall be tied and thrown into the water, but the husband may
pardon his wife and the king his slaves.
130. If a man violate the wife (betrothed or child-wife) of another man,
who has never known a man, and still lives in her father's house, and
sleep with her and be surprised, this man shall be put to death, but the
wife is blameless.
131. If a man bring a charge against one's wife, but she is not
surprised with another man, she must take an oath and then may return to
her house.
132. If the "finger is pointed" at a man's wife about another man, but
she is not caught sleeping with the other man, she shall jump into the
river for her husband.
133. If a man is taken prisoner in war, and there is a sustenance in his
house, but his wife leave house and court, and go to another house:
because this wife did not keep her court, and went to another house, she
shall be judicially condemned and thrown into the water.
134. If any one be captured in war and there is not sustenance in his
house, if then his wife go to another house this woman shall be held
blameless.
135. If a man be taken prisoner in war and there be no sustenance in his
house and his wife go to another house and bear children; and if later
her husband return and come to his home: then this wife shall return to
her husband, but the children follow their father.
136. If any one leave his house, run away, and then his wife go to
another house, if then he return, and wishes to take his wife back:
because he fled from his home and ran away, the wife of this runaway
shall not return to her husband.
137. If a man wish to separate from a woman who has borne him children,
or from his wife who has borne him children: then he shall give that
wife her dowry, and a part of the usufruct of field, garden, and
property, so that she can rear her children. When she has brought up her
children, a portion of all that is given to the children, equal as that
of one son, shall be given to her. She may then marry the man of her
heart.
138. If a man wishes to separate from his wife who has borne him no
children, he shall give her the amount of her purchase money and the
dowry which she brought from her father's house, and let her go.
139. If there was no purchase price he shall give her one mina of gold
as a gift of release.
140. If he be a freed man he shall give her one-third of a mina of gold.
141. If a man's wife, who lives in his house, wishes to leave it,
plunges into debt, tries to ruin her house, neglects her husband, and is
judicially convicted: if her husband offer her release, she may go on
her way, and he gives her nothing as a gift of release. If her husband
does not wish to release her, and if he take another wife, she shall
remain as servant in her husband's house.
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.
143. If she is not innocent, but leaves her husband, and ruins her
house, neglecting her husband, this woman shall be cast into the water.
144. If a man take a wife and this woman give her husband a
maid-servant, and she bear him children, but this man wishes to take
another wife, this shall not be permitted to him; he shall not take a
second wife.
145. If a man take a wife, and she bear him no children, and he intend
to take another wife: if he take this second wife, and bring her into
the house, this second wife shall not be allowed equality with his wife.
146. If a man take a wife and she give this man a maid-servant as wife
and she bear him children, and then this maid assume equality with the
wife: because she has borne him children her master shall not sell her
for money, but he may keep her as a slave, reckoning her among the
maid-servants.
147. If she have not borne him children, then her mistress may sell her
for money.
148. If a man take a wife, and she be seized by disease, if he then
desire to take a second wife he shall not put away his wife, who has
been attacked by disease, but he shall keep her in the house which he
has built and support her so long as she lives.
149. If this woman does not wish to remain in her husband's house, then
he shall compensate her for the dowry that she brought with her from her
father's house, and she may go.
150. If a man give his wife a field, garden, and house and a deed
therefor, if then after the death of her husband the sons raise no
claim, then the mother may bequeath all to one of her sons whom she
prefers, and need leave nothing to his brothers.
151. If a woman who lived in a man's house made an agreement with her
husband, that no creditor can arrest her, and has given a document
therefor: if that man, before he married that woman, had a debt, the
creditor can not hold the woman for it. But if the woman, before she
entered the man's house, had contracted a debt, her creditor can not
arrest her husband therefor.
152. If after the woman had entered the man's house, both contracted a
debt, both must pay the merchant.
153. If the wife of one man on account of another man has their mates
(her husband and the other man's wife) murdered, both of them shall be
impaled.
154. If a man be guilty of incest with his daughter, he shall be driven
from the place (exiled).
155. If a man betroth a girl to his son, and his son have intercourse
with her, but he (the father) afterward defile her, and be surprised,
then he shall be bound and cast into the water (drowned).
156. If a man betroth a girl to his son, but his son has not known her,
and if then he defile her, he shall pay her half a gold mina, and
compensate her for all that she brought out of her father's house. She
may marry the man of her heart.
157. If any one be guilty of incest with his mother after his father,
both shall be burned.
158. If any one be surprised after his father with his chief wife, who
has borne children, he shall be driven out of his father's house.
159. If any one, who has brought chattels into his father-in-law's
house, and has paid the purchase-money, looks for another wife, and says
to his father-in-law: "I do not want your daughter," the girl's father
may keep all that he had brought.
160. If a man bring chattels into the house of his father-in-law, and
pay the "purchase price" (for his wife): if then the father of the girl
say: "I will not give you my daughter," he shall give him back all that
he brought with him.
161. If a man bring chattels into his father-in-law's house and pay the
"purchase price," if then his friend slander him, and his father-in-law
say to the young husband: "You shall not marry my daughter," the he
shall give back to him undiminished all that he had brought with him;
but his wife shall not be married to the friend.
162. If a man marry a woman, and she bear sons to him; if then this
woman die, then shall her father have no claim on her dowry; this
belongs to her sons.
163. If a man marry a woman and she bear him no sons; if then this woman
die, if the "purchase price" which he had paid into the house of his
father-in-law is repaid to him, her husband shall have no claim upon the
dowry of this woman; it belongs to her father's house.
164. If his father-in-law do not pay back to him the amount of the
"purchase price" he may subtract the amount of the "Purchase price" from
the dowry, and then pay the remainder to her father's house.
165. If a man give to one of his sons whom he prefers a field, garden,
and house, and a deed therefor: if later the father die, and the
brothers divide the estate, then they shall first give him the present
of his father, and he shall accept it; and the rest of the paternal
property shall they divide.
166. If a man take wives for his son, but take no wife for his minor
son, and if then he die: if the sons divide the estate, they shall set
aside besides his portion the money for the "purchase price" for the
minor brother who had taken no wife as yet, and secure a wife for him.
167. If a man marry a wife and she bear him children: if this wife die
and he then take another wife and she bear him children: if then the
father die, the sons must not partition the estate according to the
mothers, they shall divide the dowries of their mothers only in this
way; the paternal estate they shall divide equally with one another.
168. If a man wish to put his son out of his house, and declare before
the judge: "I want to put my son out," then the judge shall examine into
his reasons. If the son be guilty of no great fault, for which he can be
rightfully put out, the father shall not put him out.
169. If he be guilty of a grave fault, which should rightfully deprive
him of the filial relationship, the father shall forgive him the first
time; but if he be guilty of a grave fault a second time the father may
deprive his son of all filial relation.
170. If his wife bear sons to a man, or his maid-servant have borne
sons, and the father while still living says to the children whom his
maid-servant has borne: "My sons," and he count them with the sons of
his wife; if then the father die, then the sons of the wife and of the
maid-servant shall divide the paternal property in common. The son of
the wife is to partition and choose.
171. If, however, the father while still living did not say to the sons
of the maid-servant: "My sons," and then the father dies, then the sons
of the maid-servant shall not share with the sons of the wife, but the
freedom of the maid and her sons shall be granted. The sons of the wife
shall have no right to enslave the sons of the maid; the wife shall take
her dowry (from her father), and the gift that her husband gave her and
deeded to her (separate from dowry, or the purchase-money paid her
father), and live in the home of her husband: so long as she lives she
shall use it, it shall not be sold for money. Whatever she leaves shall
belong to her children.
172. If her husband made her no gift, she shall be compensated for her
gift, and she shall receive a portion from the estate of her husband,
equal to that of one child. If her sons oppress her, to force her out of
the house, the judge shall examine into the matter, and if the sons are
at fault the woman shall not leave her husband's house. If the woman
desire to leave the house, she must leave to her sons the gift which her
husband gave her, but she may take the dowry of her father's house. Then
she may marry the man of her heart.
173. If this woman bear sons to her second husband, in the place to
which she went, and then die, her earlier and later sons shall divide
the dowry between them.
174. If she bear no sons to her second husband, the sons of her first
husband shall have the dowry.
175. If a State slave or the slave of a freed man marry the daughter of
a free man, and children are born, the master of the slave shall have no
right to enslave the children of the free.
176. If, however, a State slave or the slave of a freed man marry a
man's daughter, and after he marries her she bring a dowry from a
father's house, if then they both enjoy it and found a household, and
accumulate means, if then the slave die, then she who was free born may
take her dowry, and all that her husband and she had earned; she shall
divide them into two parts, one-half the master for the slave shall
take, and the other half shall the free-born woman take for her
children. If the free-born woman had no gift she shall take all that her
husband and she had earned and divide it into two parts; and the master
of the slave shall take one-half and she shall take the other for her
children.
177. If a widow, whose children are not grown, wishes to enter another
house (remarry), she shall not enter it without the knowledge of the
judge. If she enter another house the judge shall examine the state of
the house of her first husband. Then the house of her first husband
shall be entrusted to the second husband and the woman herself as
managers. And a record must be made thereof. She shall keep the house in
order, bring up the children, and not sell the house-hold utensils. He
who buys the utensils of the children of a widow shall lose his money,
and the goods shall return to their owners.
178. If a "devoted woman" or a prostitute to whom her father has given a
dowry and a deed therefor, but if in this deed it is not stated that she
may bequeath it as she pleases, and has not explicitly stated that she
has the right of disposal; if then her father die, then her brothers
shall hold her field and garden, and give her corn, oil, and milk
according to her portion, and satisfy her. If her brothers do not give
her corn, oil, and milk according to her share, then her field and
garden shall support her. She shall have the usufruct of field and
garden and all that her father gave her so long as she lives, but she
can not sell or assign it to others. Her position of inheritance belongs
to her brothers.
179. If a "sister of a god," or a prostitute, receive a gift from her
father, and a deed in which it has been explicitly stated that she may
dispose of it as she pleases, and give her complete disposition thereof:
if then her father die, then she may leave her property to whomsoever
she pleases. Her brothers can raise no claim thereto.
180. If a father give a present to his daughter -- either marriageable
or a prostitute unmarriageable) -- and then die, then she is to receive
a portion as a child from the paternal estate, and enjoy its usufruct so
long as she lives. Her estate belongs to her brothers.
181. If a father devote a temple-maid or temple-virgin to God and give
her no present: if then the father die, she shall receive the third of a
child's portion from the inheritance of her father's house, and enjoy
its usufruct so long as she lives. Her estate belongs to her brothers.
182. If a father devote his daughter as a wife of Mardi of Babylon (as
in 181), and give her no present, nor a deed; if then her father die,
then shall she receive one-third of her portion as a child of her
father's house from her brothers, but Marduk may leave her estate to
whomsoever she wishes.
183. If a man give his daughter by a concubine a dowry, and a husband,
and a deed; if then her father die, she shall receive no portion from
the paternal estate.
184. If a man do not give a dowry to his daughter by a concubine, and no
husband; if then her father die, her brother shall give her a dowry
according to her father's wealth and secure a husband for her.
185. If a man adopt a child and to his name as son, and rear him, this
grown son can not be demanded back again.
186. If a man adopt a son, and if after he has taken him he injure his
foster father and mother, then this adopted son shall return to his
father's house.
187. The son of a paramour in the palace service, or of a prostitute,
can not be demanded back.
188. If an artisan has undertaken to rear a child and teaches him his
craft, he can not be demanded back.
189. If he has not taught him his craft, this adopted son may return to
his father's house.
190. If a man does not maintain a child that he has adopted as a son and
reared with his other children, then his adopted son may return to his
father's house.
191. If a man, who had adopted a son and reared him, founded a
household, and had children, wish to put this adopted son out, then this
son shall not simply go his way. His adoptive father shall give him of
his wealth one-third of a child's portion, and then he may go. He shall
not give him of the field, garden, and house.
192. If a son of a paramour or a prostitute say to his adoptive father
or mother: "You are not my father, or my mother," his tongue shall be
cut off.
193. If the son of a paramour or a prostitute desire his father's house,
and desert his adoptive father and adoptive mother, and goes to his
father's house, then shall his eye be put out.
194. If a man give his child to a nurse and the child die in her hands,
but the nurse unbeknown to the father and mother nurse another child,
then they shall convict her of having nursed another child without the
knowledge of the father and mother and her breasts shall be cut off.
195. If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off.
196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.
[ An eye for an eye ]
197. If he break another man's bone, his bone shall be broken.
198. If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed
man, he shall pay one gold mina.
199. If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a
man's slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.
200. If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be
knocked out. [ A tooth for a tooth ]
201. If he knock out the teeth of a freed man, he shall pay one-third of
a gold mina.
202. If any one strike the body of a man higher in rank than he, he
shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in public.
203. If a free-born man strike the body of another free-born man or
equal rank, he shall pay one gold mina.
204. If a freed man strike the body of another freed man, he shall pay
ten shekels in money.
205. If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a freed man, his ear
shall be cut off.
206. If during a quarrel one man strike another and wound him, then he
shall swear, "I did not injure him wittingly," and pay the physicians.
207. If the man die of his wound, he shall swear similarly, and if he
(the deceased) was a free-born man, he shall pay half a mina in money.
208. If he was a freed man, he shall pay one-third of a mina.
209. If a man strike a free-born woman so that she lose her unborn
child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss.
210. If the woman die, his daughter shall be put to death.
211. If a woman of the free class lose her child by a blow, he shall pay
five shekels in money.
212. If this woman die, he shall pay half a mina.
213. If he strike the maid-servant of a man, and she lose her child, he
shall pay two shekels in money.
214. If this maid-servant die, he shall pay one-third of a mina.
215. If a physician make a large incision with an operating knife and
cure it, or if he open a tumor (over the eye) with an operating knife,
and saves the eye, he shall receive ten shekels in money.
216. If the patient be a freed man, he receives five shekels.
217. If he be the slave of some one, his owner shall give the physician
two shekels.
218. If a physician make a large incision with the operating knife, and
kill him, or open a tumor with the operating knife, and cut out the eye,
his hands shall be cut off.
219. If a physician make a large incision in the slave of a freed man,
and kill him, he shall replace the slave with another slave.
220. If he had opened a tumor with the operating knife, and put out his
eye, he shall pay half his value.
221. If a physician heal the broken bone or diseased soft part of a man,
the patient shall pay the physician five shekels in money.
222. If he were a freed man he shall pay three shekels.
223. If he were a slave his owner shall pay the physician two shekels.
224. If a veterinary surgeon perform a serious operation on an ass or an
ox, and cure it, the owner shall pay the surgeon one-sixth of a shekel
as a fee.
225. If he perform a serious operation on an ass or ox, and kill it, he
shall pay the owner one-fourth of its value.
226. If a barber, without the knowledge of his master, cut the sign of a
slave on a slave not to be sold, the hands of this barber shall be cut
off.
227. If any one deceive a barber, and have him mark a slave not for sale
with the sign of a slave, he shall be put to death, and buried in his
house. The barber shall swear: "I did not mark him wittingly," and shall
be guiltless.
228. If a builder build a house for some one and complete it, he shall
give him a fee of two shekels in money for each sar of surface.
229 If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it
properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then
that builder shall be put to death.
230. If it kill the son of the owner the son of that builder shall be
put to death.
231. If it kill a slave of the owner, then he shall pay slave for slave
to the owner of the house.
232. If it ruin goods, he shall make compensation for all that has been
ruined, and inasmuch as he did not construct properly this house which
he built and it fell, he shall re-erect the house from his own means.
233. If a builder build a house for some one, even though he has not yet
completed it; if then the walls seem toppling, the builder must make the
walls solid from his own means.
234. If a shipbuilder build a boat of sixty gur for a man, he shall pay
him a fee of two shekels in money.
235. If a shipbuilder build a boat for some one, and do not make it
tight, if during that same year that boat is sent away and suffers
injury, the shipbuilder shall take the boat apart and put it together
tight at his own expense. The tight boat he shall give to the boat
owner.
236. If a man rent his boat to a sailor, and the sailor is careless, and
the boat is wrecked or goes aground, the sailor shall give the owner of
the boat another boat as compensation.
237. If a man hire a sailor and his boat, and provide it with corn,
clothing, oil and dates, and other things of the kind needed for fitting
it: if the sailor is careless, the boat is wrecked, and its contents
ruined, then the sailor shall compensate for the boat which was wrecked
and all in it that he ruined.
238. If a sailor wreck any one's ship, but saves it, he shall pay the
half of its value in money.
239. If a man hire a sailor, he shall pay him six gur of corn per year.
240. If a merchantman run against a ferryboat, and wreck it, the master
of the ship that was wrecked shall seek justice before God; the master
of the merchantman, which wrecked the ferryboat, must compensate the
owner for the boat and all that he ruined.
241. If any one impresses an ox for forced labor, he shall pay one-third
of a mina in money.
242. If any one hire oxen for a year, he shall pay four gur of corn for
plow-oxen.
243. As rent of herd cattle he shall pay three gur of corn to the owner.
244. If any one hire an ox or an ass, and a lion kill it in the field,
the loss is upon its owner.
245. If any one hire oxen, and kill them by bad treatment or blows, he
shall compensate the owner, oxen for oxen.
246. If a man hire an ox, and he break its leg or cut the ligament of
its neck, he shall compensate the owner with ox for ox.
247. If any one hire an ox, and put out its eye, he shall pay the owner
one-half of its value.
248. If any one hire an ox, and break off a horn, or cut off its tail,
or hurt its muzzle, he shall pay one-fourth of its value in money.
249. If any one hire an ox, and God strike it that it die, the man who
hired it shall swear by God and be considered guiltless.
250. If while an ox is passing on the street (market) some one push it,
and kill it, the owner can set up no claim in the suit (against the
hirer).
251. If an ox be a goring ox, and it shown that he is a gorer, and he do
not bind his horns, or fasten the ox up, and the ox gore a free-born man
and kill him, the owner shall pay one-half a mina in money.
252. If he kill a man's slave, he shall pay one-third of a mina.
253. If any one agree with another to tend his field, give him seed,
entrust a yoke of oxen to him, and bind him to cultivate the field, if
he steal the corn or plants, and take them for himself, his hands shall
be hewn off.
254. If he take the seed-corn for himself, and do not use the yoke of
oxen, he shall compensate him for the amount of the seed-corn.
255. If he sublet the man's yoke of oxen or steal the seed-corn,
planting nothing in the field, he shall be convicted, and for each one
hundred gan he shall pay sixty gur of corn.
256. If his community will not pay for him, then he shall be placed in
that field with the cattle (at work).
257. If any one hire a field laborer, he shall pay him eight gur of corn
per year.
258. If any one hire an ox-driver, he shall pay him six gur of corn per
year.
259. If any one steal a water-wheel from the field, he shall pay five
shekels in money to its owner.
260. If any one steal a shadduf (used to draw water from the river or
canal) or a plow, he shall pay three shekels in money.
261. If any one hire a herdsman for cattle or sheep, he shall pay him
eight gur of corn per annum.
262. If any one, a cow or a sheep ...
263. If he kill the cattle or sheep that were given to him, he shall
compensate the owner with cattle for cattle and sheep for sheep.
264. If a herdsman, to whom cattle or sheep have been entrusted for
watching over, and who has received his wages as agreed upon, and is
satisfied, diminish the number of the cattle or sheep, or make the
increase by birth less, he shall make good the increase or profit which
was lost in the terms of settlement.
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.
266. If the animal be killed in the stable by God ( an accident), or if
a lion kill it, the herdsman shall declare his innocence before God, and
the owner bears the accident in the stable.
267. If the herdsman overlook something, and an accident happen in the
stable, then the herdsman is at fault for the accident which he has
caused in the stable, and he must compensate the owner for the cattle or
sheep.
268. If any one hire an ox for threshing, the amount of the hire is
twenty ka of corn.
269. If he hire an ass for threshing, the hire is twenty ka of corn.
270. If he hire a young animal for threshing, the hire is ten ka of
corn.
271. If any one hire oxen, cart and driver, he shall pay one hundred and
eighty ka of corn per day.
272. If any one hire a cart alone, he shall pay forty ka of corn per
day.
273. If any one hire a day laborer, he shall pay him from the New Year
until the fifth month (April to August, when days are long and the work
hard) six gerahs in money per day; from the sixth month to the end of
the year he shall give him five gerahs per day.
274. If any one hire a skilled artisan, he shall pay as wages of the ...
five gerahs, as wages of the potter five gerahs, of a tailor five
gerahs, of ... gerahs, ... of a ropemaker four gerahs, of ... gerahs, of
a mason ... gerahs per day.
275. If any one hire a ferryboat, he shall pay three gerahs in money per
day.
276. If he hire a freight-boat, he shall pay two and one-half gerahs per
day.
277. If any one hire a ship of sixty gur, he shall pay one-sixth of a
shekel in money as its hire per day.
278. If any one buy a male or female slave, and before a month has
elapsed the benu-disease be developed, he shall return the slave to the
seller, and receive the money which he had paid.
279. If any one by a male or female slave, and a third party claim it,
the seller is liable for the claim.
280. If while in a foreign country a man buy a male or female slave
belonging to another of his own country; if when he return home the
owner of the male or female slave recognize it: if the male or female
slave be a native of the country, he shall give them back without any
money.
281. If they are from another country, the buyer shall declare the
amount of money paid therefor to the merchant, and keep the male or
female slave.
282. If a slave say to his master: "You are not my master," if they
convict him his master shall cut off his ear.
THE EPILOGUE
LAWS of justice which Hammurabi, the wise king, established. A righteous
law, and pious statute did he teach the land. Hammurabi, the protecting
king am I. I have not withdrawn myself from the men, whom Bel gave to
me, the rule over whom Marduk gave to me, I was not negligent, but I
made them a peaceful abiding-place. I expounded all great difficulties,
I made the light shine upon them. With the mighty weapons which Zamama
and Ishtar entrusted to me, with the keen vision with which Ea endowed
me, with the wisdom that Marduk gave me, I have uprooted the enemy above
and below (in north and south), subdued the earth, brought prosperity to
the land, guaranteed security to the inhabitants in their homes; a
disturber was not permitted. The great gods have called me, I am the
salvation-bearing shepherd, whose staff is straight, the good shadow
that is spread over my city; on my breast I cherish the inhabitants of
the land of Sumer and Akkad; in my shelter I have let them repose in
peace; in my deep wisdom have I enclosed them. That the strong might not
injure the weak, in order to protect the widows and orphans, I have in
Babylon the city where Anu and Bel raise high their head, in E-Sagil,
the Temple, whose foundations stand firm as heaven and earth, in order
to bespeak justice in the land, to settle all disputes, and heal all
injuries, set up these my precious words, written upon my memorial
stone, before the image of me, as king of righteousness.
The king who ruleth among the kings of the cities am I. My words are
well considered; there is no wisdom like unto mine. By the command of
Shamash, the great judge of heaven and earth, let righteousness go forth
in the land: by the order of Marduk, my lord, let no destruction befall
my monument. In E-Sagil, which I love, let my name be ever repeated; let
the oppressed, who has a case at law, come and stand before this my
image as king of righteousness; let him read the inscription, and
understand my precious words: the inscription will explain his case to
him; he will find out what is just, and his heart will be glad, so that
he will say:
"Hammurabi is a ruler, who is as a father to his subjects, who holds the
words of Marduk in reverence, who has achieved conquest for Marduk over
the north and south, who rejoices the heart of Marduk, his lord, who has
bestowed benefits for ever and ever on his subjects, and has established
order in the land."
When he reads the record, let him pray with full heart to Marduk, my
lord, and Zarpanit, my lady; and then shall the protecting deities and
the gods, who frequent E-Sagil, graciously grant the desires daily
presented before Marduk, my lord, and Zarpanit, my lady.
In future time, through all coming generations, let the king, who may be
in the land, observe the words of righteousness which I have written on
my monument; let him not alter the law of the land which I have given,
the edicts which I have enacted; my monument let him not mar. If such a
ruler have wisdom, and be able to keep his land in order, he shall
observe the words which I have written in this inscription; the rule,
statute, and law of the land which I have given; the decisions which I
have made will this inscription show him; let him rule his subjects
accordingly, speak justice to them, give right decisions, root out the
miscreants and criminals from this land, and grant prosperity to his
subjects.
Hammurabi, the king of righteousness, on whom Shamash has conferred
right (or law) am I. My words are well considered; my deeds are not
equaled; to bring low those that were high; to humble the proud, to
expel insolence. If a succeeding ruler considers my words, which I have
written in this my inscription, if he do not annul my law, nor corrupt
my words, nor change my monument, then may Shamash lengthen that king's
reign, as he has that of me, the king of righteousness, that he may
reign in righteousness over his subjects. If this ruler do not esteem my
words, which I have written in my inscription, if he despise my curses,
and fear not the curse of God, if he destroy the law which I have given,
corrupt my words, change my monument, efface my name, write his name
there, or on account of the curses commission another so to do, that
man, whether king or ruler, patesi, or commoner, no matter what he be,
may the great God (Anu), the Father of the gods, who has ordered my
rule, withdraw from him the glory of royalty, break his scepter, curse
his destiny. May Bel, the lord, who fixeth destiny, whose command can
not be altered, who has made my kingdom great, order a rebellion which
his hand can not control; may he let the wind of the overthrow of his
habitation blow, may he ordain the years of his rule in groaning, years
of scarcity, years of famine, darkness without light, death with seeing
eyes be fated to him; may he (Bel) order with his potent mouth the
destruction of his city, the dispersion of his subjects, the cutting off
of his rule, the removal of his name and memory from the land. May
Belit, the great Mother, whose command is potent in E-Kur (the
Babylonian Olympus), the Mistress, who harkens graciously to my
petitions, in the seat of judgment and decision (where Bel fixes
destiny), turn his affairs evil before Bel, and put the devastation of
his land, the destruction of his subjects, the pouring out of his life
like water into the mouth of King Bel. May Ea, the great ruler, whose
fated decrees come to pass, the thinker of the gods, the omniscient, who
maketh long the days of my life, withdraw understanding and wisdom from
him, lead him to forgetfulness, shut up his rivers at their sources, and
not allow corn or sustenance for man to grow in his land. May Shamash,
the great Judge of heaven and earth, who supporteth all means of
livelihood, Lord of life-courage, shatter his dominion, annul his law,
destroy his way, make vain the march of his troops, send him in his
visions forecasts of the uprooting of the foundations of his throne and
of the destruction of his land. May the condemnation of Shamash overtake
him forthwith; may he be deprived of water above among the living, and
his spirit below in the earth. May Sin (the Moon-god), the Lord of
Heaven, the divine father, whose crescent gives light among the gods,
take away the crown and regal throne from him; may he put upon him heavy
guilt, great decay, that nothing may be lower than he. May he destine
him as fated, days, months and years of dominion filled with sighing and
tears, increase of the burden of dominion, a life that is like unto
death. May Adad, the lord of fruitfulness, ruler of heaven and earth, my
helper, withhold from him rain from heaven, and the flood of water from
the springs, destroying his land by famine and want; may he rage
mightily over his city, and make his land into flood-hills (heaps of
ruined cities). May Zamama, the great warrior, the first-born son of
E-Kur, who goeth at my right hand, shatter his weapons on the field of
battle, turn day into night for him, and let his foe triumph over him.
May Ishtar, the goddess of fighting and war, who unfetters my weapons,
my gracious protecting spirit, who loveth my dominion, curse his kingdom
in her angry heart; in her great wrath, change his grace into evil, and
shatter his weapons on the place of fighting and war. May she create
disorder and sedition for him, strike down his warriors, that the earth
may drink their blood, and throw down the piles of corpses of his
warriors on the field; may she not grant him a life of mercy, deliver
him into the hands of his enemies, and imprison him in the land of his
enemies. May Nergal, the might among the gods, whose contest is
irresistible, who grants me victory, in his great might burn up his
subjects like a slender reedstalk, cut off his limbs with his mighty
weapons, and shatter him like an earthen image. May Nin-tu, the sublime
mistress of the lands, the fruitful mother, deny him a son, vouchsafe
him no name, give him no successor among men. May Nin-karak, the
daughter of Anu, who adjudges grace to me, cause to come upon his
members in E-kur high fever, severe wounds, that can not be healed,
whose nature the physician does not understand, which he can not treat
with dressing, which, like the bite of death, can not be removed, until
they have sapped away his life.
May he lament the loss of his life-power, and may the great gods of
heaven and earth, the Anunaki, altogether inflict a curse and evil upon
the confines of the temple, the walls of this E-barra (the Sun temple of
Sippara), upon his dominion, his land, his warriors, his subjects, and
his troops. May Bel curse him with the potent curses of his mouth that
can not be altered, and may they come upon him forthwith.
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Comment
While the precise date of Hammurabi's Code of Laws is disputed by
scholars, it is generally believed to have been written between the
second year of his reign, circa 1727 BCE, and the end of his reign,
circa 1780 BCE, predating the Hebrew "Ten Commandments" by about 500
years.
Perhaps the single most striking feature of Hammurabi's Code is its
commitment to protection of the weak from being brutalized by the
strong. He believed that he had been ordained by his gods Anu (God of
the Sky) and Bel (The Lord of Heaven and Earth, the God of Destiny) to
establish the rule of law and justice over his people.
In his own words, Hammurabi said:
"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..."
He referred to himself as the "shepherd of the oppressed and of the
slaves," and ordered that "these my precious words" be written upon his
memorial stone, before his image "That the strong might not injure the
weak, in order to protect the widows and orphans ... in order to bespeak
justice in the land, to settle all disputes, and heal all injuries ..."
Hammurabi's Code addressed the right of the poor to seek redress from
wrongs committed by the wealthy or by the nobility. It also addressed
the rights of women, including the rights of women to own property in
their own names, and even the right to divorce a husband for grounds
which would be recognised even today.
