Code of Hammurabi: Difference between revisions
Appearance
Content deleted Content added
ClueBot NG (talk | contribs) m Reverting possible vandalism by 71.244.113.27 to version by 210.55.212.33. False positive? Report it. Thanks, ClueBot NG. (1729632) (Bot) |
←Replaced content with 'The categories of Hammurabi' Tag: blanking |
||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
The categories of Hammurabi |
|||
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2012}} |
|||
{{Infobox document |
|||
|document_name=Code of Hammurabi |
|||
|image=Code-de-Hammurabi-1.jpg |
|||
|image_width=200px |
|||
|image_caption= Side view of the stele "fingertip". |
|||
|date_created= ~ 1750 BC |
|||
|date_ratified=|writer=[[Hammurabi]] |
|||
|signers= |
|||
|purpose=Legal code |
|||
}} |
|||
The '''Code of Hammurabi''' is a well-preserved [[Babylonia]]n [[law code]] of ancient [[Iraq]], formerly [[Mesopotamia]], dating back to about 1772 BC. It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, [[Hammurabi]], enacted the code, and partial copies exist on a human-sized stone ''[[stele]]'' and various clay tablets. The Code consists of 282 laws, with scaled punishments, adjusting "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (''[[lex talionis]]'')<ref>Review: The Code of Hammurabi, J. Dyneley Prince, The American Journal of Theology Vol. 8, No. 3 (Jul., 1904), pp. 601–609 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3153895</ref> as graded depending on social status, of slave versus free man.<ref name="Bar">[[Gabriele Bartz]], Eberhard König, (Arts and Architecture), Könemann, Köln, (2005), ISBN 3-8331-1943-8. The laws were based with scaled punishments, adjusting "an eye for an eye" depending on social status.</ref> |
|||
Nearly one-half of the Code deals with matters of contract, establishing, for example, the wages to be paid to an ox driver or a surgeon. Other provisions set the terms of a transaction, establishing the liability of a builder for a house that collapses, for example, 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 sexual behavior. Only one provision appears to impose obligations on an official; this provision establishes that a judge who reaches an incorrect decision is to be fined and removed from the bench permanently.<ref>http://www.commonlaw.com/Hammurabi.html Code of Hammurabi</ref> A handful of provisions address issues related to military service. |
|||
One nearly complete example of the Code survives today, on a [[diorite]] [[stele]] in the shape of a huge [[index finger]],<ref>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 Pages 57–84</ref> {{convert|2.25|m|foot|adj=on}} tall (''see images at right''). The Code is inscribed in the [[Akkadian language]], using [[cuneiform script]] carved into the stele. It is currently on display in [[Musée du Louvre|The Louvre]], with exact replicas in the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, the library of the [[Theological University of the Reformed Churches]] (Dutch: Theologische Universiteit Kampen voor de Gereformeerde Kerken) in The Netherlands, the [[Pergamon Museum]] of Berlin and the [[National Museum of Iran]] in Tehran. |
|||
==History== |
|||
{{multiple image | align = right |
|||
| image1 = Prologue Hammurabi Code Louvre AO10237.jpg |
|||
| width1 = 136 |
|||
| caption1 = Code on clay tablet |
|||
| image2 = Code of Hammurabi.jpg |
|||
| width2 = 135 |
|||
| caption2 = Code on diorite stele |
|||
}} |
|||
[[Hammurabi]] ruled for nearly 43 years, ca. 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 [[Marduk]], the patron god of Babylon (The Human Record, Andrea & Overfield 2005), to bring about the rule in the land."<ref name="wsu">{{Cite web|url=http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/CODE.HTM|title=Mesopotamia: The Code of Hammurabi|accessdate=14 September 2007|publisher=Washington State University|year=1996|author=Edited by Richard Hooker; Translated by L.W King}}</ref> On the stone slab there are 44 columns and 28 paragraphs that contained over 282 laws.<ref>"Hammurabi's Code" [http://library.thinkquest.org/20176/hammurabis_code.htm], Think Quest, retrieved on 2 Nov 2011.</ref> |
|||
The stele was probably erected at [[Sippar]], city of the sun god [[Shamash]], god of justice, who is depicted handing authority to the king in the image at the top of the stele.<ref>"Law Code of Hammurabi, king of Babylon" [http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/law-code-hammurabi-king-babylon], Louvre , retrieved on 29 Nov 2013.</ref> |
|||
In 1901, Egyptologist [[Gustave Jéquier]], a member of an expedition headed by [[Jacques de Morgan]], found the stele containing the Code of Hammurabi in what is now [[Khūzestān]], [[Iran]] (ancient [[Susa]], [[Elam]]), where it had been taken as plunder by the Elamite king [[Shutruk-Nahhunte]] in the 12th century BC. |
|||
==Law== |
|||
{{Main|Babylonian law}} |
|||
The Code of Hammurabi was one of several sets of laws in the [[ancient Near East]].<ref name="yale">{{Cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/hamframe.htm|title=The Code of Hammurabi: Translated by L. W. King|accessdate=14 September 2007|publisher=Yale University|year=2005|author= L. W. King}}</ref> |
|||
The code of laws was arranged in orderly groups, so that everyone who read the laws would know what was required of them.<ref>"The Code of Hammurabi: Introduction," [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/hamcode.asp], Ancient History Sourcebook, March 1998, retrieved on 2 November 2011.</ref> |
|||
Earlier collections of laws include the [[Code of Ur-Nammu]], king of [[Ur]] (ca. 2050 BC), the [[Laws of Eshnunna]] (ca. 1930 BC) and the codex of [[Lipit-Ishtar]] of [[Isin]] (ca. 1870 BC), while later ones include the [[Hittite laws]], the [[Assyrian law]]s, and [[Mosaic Law]].<ref>Barton, G.A: ''Archaeology and the Bible''. University of Michigan Library, 2009, (originally published in 1916 by American Sunday-School Union) p.406.</ref> |
|||
These codes come from similar cultures in a relatively small geographical area, and they have passages which resemble each other.<ref>Barton 2009, p.406. Barton, a scientisr 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."''</ref> |
|||
[[File:Milkau Oberer Teil der Stele mit dem Text von Hammurapis Gesetzescode 369-2.png|thumb|right|Figures at top of [[stele]] "fingernail" above Hammurabi's code of laws.]] |
|||
The Code of Hammurabi is the longest surviving text from the Old Babylonian period.<ref>"The Code of Hammurabi," [http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/hammurabi.html], The History Guide, 3 August 2009, Retrieved on 2 November 2011.</ref> |
|||
The code has been seen as an early example of a fundamental [[law]] regulating a government — i.e., a primitive [[constitution]].<ref>What is a Constitution? William David Thomas, Gareth Stevens (2008) p. 8</ref><ref>Flach, Jacques. Le Code de Hammourabi et la constitution originaire de la propriete dans l'ancienne Chaldee. (Revue historique. Paris, 1907. 8. v. 94, p. 272-289.</ref> 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]].<ref>Victimology:Theories and Applications, Ann Wolbert Burgess, Albert R. Roberts, Cheryl Regehr,Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2009, p. 103</ref> 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.<ref>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.</ref> |
|||
==Other copies== |
|||
[[File:Hammurabi stele amnh ny.JPG|thumb|Hammurabi stele at American Museum of Natural History, New York, 2012]] |
|||
Various copies of portions of the Code of Hammurabi have been found on baked clay tablets, some possibly older than the celebrated [[diorite]] 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 (it is currently dated to the early 18th century BC).<ref>Fant, Clyde E. and Mitchell G. Reddish (2008), [http://books.google.com/books?id=Dj6zVQJz7zYC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=%22Code+of+Hammurabi%22+AND+2358&source=bl&ots=h-WEMEm_S7&sig=otruVc43aRR7ge-2v-78tcMQih8&hl=en&ei=tU1iSrvWNdmOtgfjr9EC&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3 ''Lost Treasures of the Bible: Understanding the Bible Through Archaeological Artifacts in World Museums''], Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., pg 62.</ref> Likewise, the [[Museum of the Ancient Orient]], part of the [[Istanbul Archaeology Museums]], also has a "Code of Hammurabi" clay tablet, dated to 1750 BC, in (Room 5, Inv # Ni 2358).<ref>[[John Freely|Freely, John]], ''Blue Guide Istanbul'' (5th ed., 2000), [[London]]: [[A&C Black]], [[New York]]: [[WW Norton]], pg 121. ("The most historic of the inscriptions here [i.e., 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.")</ref><ref>[http://english.istanbul.gov.tr/Default.aspx?pid=13150 Museum of the Ancient Orient website] ("This museum contains a rich collection of ancient ... archaeological finds, including ... seals from Nippur and a copy of the Code of Hammurabi.")</ref> |
|||
In July, 2010, archaeologists reported that a fragmentary Akkadian cuneiform tablet was discovered at [[Tel Hazor]], [[Israel]], containing a ca. 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]].<ref>[http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/138788 Tablet Discovered by Hebrew U Matches Code of Hammurabi]</ref> |
|||
==Laws covered== |
|||
{{expand section|date=January 2012}} |
|||
The laws covered the subjects of: |
|||
* Religion |
|||
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.)" <ref>"The Code of Hammurabi". Internet Sacred Text Archive. Evinity Publishing INC, 2011. Web. 17. Nov. 2013. <http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/ham/ham05.htm> </ref> |
|||
* Military service |
|||
Ex. Law #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." <ref>"The Code of Hammurabi". Internet Sacred Text Archive. Evinity Publishing INC, 2011. Web. 17. Nov. 2013. <http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/ham/ham05.htm> </ref> |
|||
* Trade |
|||
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." <ref>"The Code of Hammurabi". Internet Sacred Text Archive. Evinity Publishing INC, 2011. Web. 17. Nov. 2013. <http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/ham/ham05.htm> </ref> |
|||
* Slavery |
|||
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." <ref>"The Code of Hammurabi". Internet Sacred Text Archive. Evinity Publishing INC, 2011. Web. 17. Nov. 2013. <http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/ham/ham05.htm> </ref> |
|||
* 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." <ref>"The Code of Hammurabi". Internet Sacred Text Archive. Evinity Publishing INC, 2011. Web. 17. Nov. 2013. <http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/ham/ham05.htm> </ref> |
|||
* Thievery |
|||
Ex. Law #22: "If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death." <ref>"The Code of Hammurabi". Internet Sacred Text Archive. Evinity Publishing INC, 2011. Web. 17. Nov. 2013. <http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/ham/ham05.htm> </ref> |
|||
* Food |
|||
Ex. Law #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 from the merchant for the money that he gives the merchant." <ref>"The Code of Hammurabi". Internet Sacred Text Archive. Evinity Publishing INC, 2011. Web. 17. Nov. 2013. <http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/ham/ham05.htm> </ref> |
|||
One of the most well known of Hammurabi's laws is: |
|||
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 mana of silver. 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."<ref>"The Code of Hammurabi". Internet Sacred Text Archive. Evinity Publishing INC, 2011. <http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/ham/ham05.htm> </ref> |
|||
Hammurabi had many other punishments as well. If a boy struck his father they would cut off the boy's hand or fingers (translations vary).<ref name="king translation">Translated by L. W. King, Hammurabi's Code of Laws, [http://eawc.evansville.edu/anthology/hammurabi.htm ''Hammurabi's Code of Laws'']</ref><ref name="harper translation">Translated by L. W. King, Hammurabi's Code of Laws, [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4e/The_code_of_Hammurabi.pdf The Code of Hammurabi King of Babylon] by Robert Francis Harper (PDF)</ref> |
|||
==See also== |
|||
{{Portal|Law|Ancient Near East}} |
|||
*[[:File:The code of Hammurabi.pdf|Code of Hammurabi translated by R.F. Harper in 1904, University of Chicago Press (PDF image)]] |
|||
*[[Babylonian law]] |
|||
*[[Code of the Assura]] |
|||
*[[Code of Ur-Nammu]] – the oldest known tablet containing a law code surviving today, it predates the Code of Hammurabi by some 300 years |
|||
*[[Cuneiform Law]] |
|||
*[[Hippocratic Oath]] |
|||
*[[List of ancient legal codes]] |
|||
*[[Quid pro quo]] |
|||
*[[Urukagina]] – Sumerian king and creator of what is sometimes cited as the first example of a legal code in recorded history. |
|||
==References== |
|||
{{Reflist}} |
|||
==Bibliography== |
|||
*{{Cite book|last=Driver, G.R. & J.C. Miles | title = The Babylonian Laws | publisher = Wipf and Stock|location=Eugene|year=2007 |isbn=1-55635-229-8}} |
|||
*{{Cite book|last=Roth|first=Martha T.|title=Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor|publisher=Scholars Press|location= Atlanta |year=1997|isbn=0-7885-0378-2}} |
|||
*{{Cite book|last=Bryant |first=Tamera|title=The Life & Times of Hammurabi|publisher=Mitchell Lane Publishers|location=Bear|year=2005|isbn=978-1-58415-338-2}} |
|||
*{{Cite book|last=Mieroop|first=Marc|title=King Hammurabi of Babylon: a Biography | publisher = Blackwell Publishers | location = Cambridge|year=2004|isbn=978-1-4051-2660-1}} |
|||
*{{Cite book|last=Hammurabi|first=King|coauthors=C. H. W. Johns (Translator)|title=The Oldest Code of Laws in the World|publisher=Lawbook Exchange Ltd|location=City|year=2000|isbn=978-1-58477-061-9}} |
|||
*Falkenstein, A. (1956–57). ''Die neusumerischen Gerichtsurkunden I–III''. München. |
|||
*Elsen-Novák, G./Novák, M.: ''Der 'König der Gerechtigkeit'. Zur Ikonologie und Teleologie des 'Codex' Hammurapi.'' In: Baghdader Mitteilungen 37 (2006), pp. 131–156. |
|||
*[[Julius Oppert]] and [[Joachim Menant]] (1877). ''Documents juridiques de l'Assyrie et de la Chaldee''. París. |
|||
*Thomas, D. Winton, ed. (1958). ''Documents from Old Testament Times''. London and New York. |
|||
*{{Cite book|last=Beck|first=Roger B.|authorlink=|coauthors = Linda Black, Larry S. Krieger, Phillip C. Naylor, Dahia Ibo Shabaka,|title=World History: Patterns of Interaction|publisher=McDougal Littell|year=1999|location=Evanston, IL|pages=|url=|doi=|isbn=0-395-87274-X }} |
|||
{{Refend}} |
|||
http://www.commonlaw.com/Hammurabi.html |
|||
==External links== |
|||
{{Commons}} |
|||
{{Wikisource|Codex Hammurabi}} |
|||
{{Wiktionary|Hammurabi}} |
|||
*[http://www.general-intelligence.com/library/hr.pdf The Code of Hammurabi Translated by L. W. King]. |
|||
*[http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/hammurabi.html HG-Hammu], historyguide.org |
|||
*{{Cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/hammint.htm|title=The Code of Hammurabi : Introduction|accessdate=14 September 2007|publisher=Yale University|year=1915|author=Charles F. Horne, Ph.D.}} |
|||
*[http://www.speechisfire.com/ speechisfire.com] – Includes soundfiles with extracts from the Code being read in Babylonian by a modern scholar. |
|||
*[http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_notice.jsp;jsessionid=HKtvj0psv5RnwxZmHFSyPpMhwMxtM0r26Pkk7JDT5QTN3QsJ58Qt!168458495?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226487&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226487&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500800&baseIndex=0&bmLocale=en Law Code of Hammurabi, king of Babylon | Musée du Louvre] |
|||
*[http://eawc.evansville.edu/anthology/hammurabi.htm English Translation | University of Evansville] |
|||
*[http://www.famoushistoricalevents.net/code-hammurabi/ Code Of Hammurabi – Ancestor of Modern Law] |
|||
*[http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1276&Itemid=27 Complete 1904 English translation of the Code of Hammurabi] |
|||
*[http://cliojournal.wikispaces.com/Hammurabi%27s+Code Hammurabi's Code], Blaise Joseph, ''Clio History Journal'', 2009. |
|||
{{Authority control}} |
|||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Code Of Hammurabi}} |
|||
[[Category:Legal codes]] |
|||
[[Category:Ancient Near East law]] |
|||
[[Category:Babylonia]] |
|||
[[Category:Manuscripts]] |
|||
[[Category:Codes of conduct]] |
|||
[[Category:Antiquities of the Louvre]] |
|||
[[Category:Bronze Age literature]] |
|||
[[Category:18th-century BC works]] |
|||
[[Category:Ancient Near East steles]] |
|||
[[Category:2nd-millennium BC steles]] |
|||
[[Category:Akkadian inscriptions]] |
|||
{{Link FA|fr}} |
|||
{{Link GA|de}} |
Revision as of 17:45, 5 March 2014
The categories of Hammurabi