How Many Laws Are in the Code of Hammurabi

The oldest surviving body of law from ancient Mesopotamia is the Code of your-Nammu from around 2100-2050 BC, which was established in the city of Ur by King your-Nammu (r. 2047-2030 BC) or his son Shulgi of Ur (r. 2029-1982 BC). These laws were written by a king who ruled over a homogeneous population and proceeded from a standard recognition of what was expected of citizens. At the time of Hammurabi`s reign, the population was more diverse, and his code of law reflects this in its precision to ensure that everyone understood what was expected of them. This lack of unity has made city-states easy prey for invaders. The Hittites invaded in 1595 BC. AD and shortly after the Kassites and then the Elamites around 1150 BC. AD under their king Shutruk Nakhunte. At that time, it is believed, the codex stele was returned from Hammurabi to Elam, where it was found broken in 1901 AD. However, his influence is notable in the creation of later legal texts such as the laws of the Middle Assyrian, the Neo-Babylonian laws, and the Mosaic law of the Bible, all of which follow the same pattern as the Hammurabi Codex in giving people an objective and universal directive on how to treat others and how one should expect to be treated in a civilized society.

Unlike the prologue, the 500-line epilogue explicitly refers to laws. [63] The epilogue begins (3144`–3151`): “These are the right decisions that Hammurabi has. (Dīnāt mīšarim ša ḫammurabi. ukinnu-ma). He glorifies His laws and generosity (3152`–3239`). [65] He then expresses the hope that “every unjust man who has a complaint” (awīlum ḫablum ša awātam iraššû) can have the laws of the stele read to him and know his rights (3240`–3256`). [66] This would bring praise (3257`–3275`) and divine favor (3276`–3295`) to Hammurabi. [67] Hammurabi wished good luck to any leader who listened to his statements and respected his stele (3296`–3359`). [68] However, he invokes the wrath of the gods on anyone who disobeys his statements or erases them (3360`-3641`, the end of the text). [69] [Note 1] The prologue and epilogue together constitute one-fifth of the text. On about 4,130 lines, the prologue consists of 300 lines and the epilogue 500.

[17] They are ring-shaped around laws, although there is no visual break that distinguishes them from laws. [56] Both are written in poetic style,[57] and, as William W. Davies wrote, “contain much. which looks a lot like Braggadocio”. [58] Here, following the principle of pointillism, circumstances are added to the first entry to create other entries. [116] Pointillism also makes it possible to generate list entries by following paradigmatic series common to several branches of science. It can thus explain implausible entries. In the case of goats used for threshing (Law 270),[117] the previous laws concern other animals used for threshing.

The established series of pets dictated that a goat should come next. [118] The purpose and legal authority of the Code have been challenged since the mid-20th century. [87] Theories fall into three broad categories: it is legislation, whether it is a code of law or a set of laws; whereas it is a kind of legal report containing files of past cases and judgments; and that it is an abstract work of jurisprudence. Legal theory has found a lot of support within Assyriology. [88] Laws were organized in groups so that citizens could easily read what was expected of them. Some have seen the Code as an early form of constitutional government and an early form of presumption of innocence and ability to present evidence in one`s own case. Intent was often recognized and influenced punishment, with negligence being severely punished. Some of the provisions may have been the codification of Hammurabi`s decisions for the purpose of self-glorification.

Nevertheless, the codex was studied, copied and used at least 1500 years later as a model for legal considerations. The Akkadian kings (actually not in the fictionalized form remembered by the original Nammu people) had suffered many rebellions precisely because they did not have the consent of the people. To avoid the same problems, your-Nammu claimed that the laws came from the gods and that your-Nammu was only the administrator, the intermediary, who transmitted the will of their gods to the people and carried out their commands. The laws all follow the model of conditional sentencing, if-this-then-that, as in this short sample: Although other written Mesopotamian laws discovered later, including the Sumerian “Lipit-Ishtar” and “your-Nammu,” are hundreds of years older than Hammurabi`s legislator, Hammurabi`s reputation remains that of a pioneering legislator who, in the words of his monument, worked to “prevent the strong from oppressing the weak and to ensure justice for widows and orphans.” The first copy of the text found, and still the most complete, is located on a stele 2.25 m (7 ft 4 + 1/2 in) long. The stele is now located on the ground floor of the Louvre, in room 227 of the Richelieu wing. [13] Scholars are divided on the material of the stele. Some, including the Louvre and Martha Roth, said it was basalt. [14] However, others, including Marc Van De Mieroop and Father Jean-Vincent Scheil – the French Dominican and Assyriologist who wrote the editio princeps of the Code – [15] have stated that it is diorite. [16] Above, an image of Hammurabi with Shamash, the Babylonian sun god and god of justice. Below the image are about 4,130 lines of cuneiform text: a fifth contains a prologue and an epilogue, while the remaining four-fifths contain what are commonly referred to as laws. [17] At the bottom, seven columns of laws, each with more than eighty lines, were polished and erased in antiquity. [18] The stele was found and reconstructed in three large fragments.

[19] It is 225 cm (7`4 + 1/2 in) tall, with a circumference of 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) at the top and 190 cm (6 ft 3 in) at the base. [19] Hammurabi`s painting is 65 cm (2 ft 1+1⁄2 in) high and 60 cm (1 ft 11+1⁄2 in) wide. [19] Unlike the Ur-Nammu Codex, the Lipit-Ishtar Code needed to be more precise in order to meet the needs of a more complex society. Fines continue to act as a deterrent, but more detailed laws are needed for family law and commercial contracts. It could no longer be assumed that everyone under the law was acting with the same understanding of what was good behaviour. 1772 BC AD to provide the kind of stability he needed at home to successfully launch these campaigns, although the date may be later. As Kriwaczek noted above, a king needed the consent of the governed for a stable social base if he had any hope of extending his power and expanding his territory. The Code of Hammurabi served this purpose by allowing the people to know exactly how to behave in order to live in peace under the law. The first Mesopotamian law was the Urukagina Code of Law (c.

24th century BC), which exists today only in fragments. The Ur-Nammu Codex, although fragmentary in modern times, is still coherent enough to give a clear understanding of what the laws dealt with. The laws were written in cuneiform script on clay tablets and follow a pattern perhaps first introduced by the Urukagina codex, which would also influence the later laws of Eshnunna (c. 1930 BC), the codex of King Lipit-Ishtar (r. c. 1870 – c. 1860 BC) and Hammurabis. The text compiled at the end of Hammurabi`s reign is less a proclamation of principles than a collection of precedents established between prose celebrating the righteous and pious reign of Hammurabi. The Hammurabi Codex provides some of the earliest examples of the doctrine of lex talionis, or laws of punishment, sometimes better known as “an eye for an eye.” The laws are written in the old Akkadian Babylonian dialect. Their style is regular and repetitive, and today they are a standard text for introductory Akkadian courses. [136] However, as summarized by A. Leo Oppenheim, the cuneiform characters themselves are “arranged vertically”.

in boxes placed next to each other in ribbons from right to left,” an arrangement that was already obsolete in Hammurabi`s time. [137] As today`s Akkadian learners tend to study the later phases of cuneiform writing, in which the signs were turned ninety degrees, they must turn their heads to one side to read the Louvre stele. [54] The statutes relate to commercial contracts and reasonable prices of goods, as well as family and criminal law. Each crime inscribed on the stele is followed by the sentence to be imposed. No one could claim that they did not know the law, since the stele more than seven feet high was erected publicly. Above it was engraved an image of Shamash, the god of justice, handing over the laws to Hammurabi, and the following text makes it clear that they are laws of the gods, not arbitrary rules created by mortals.