Hammurabi Code

Hammurabi.This is a higher order learning question. You must answer the question to the best of your ability, but any reasonable answer will be graded as correct. ’s Code Hammurabi was a Mesopotamian king who recorded a system of laws called the Code of Hammurabi. He ordered 282 laws engraved in stone and placed in a public location for. The Code of Hammurabi. Converted to PDF by Danny Stone as a Community Service to the Constitution Society. The Code of Hammurabi 1 The Code of Hammurabi hen Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunaki, and Bel, the lord of Heaven and earth, who decreed the fate of the land, assigned to. Hammurabi's laws are often called the Code of Hammurabi. Hammurabi’s Code # 117: If a man be in debt and is unable to pay his creditors, he shall sell his wife, son, or daughter, or bind them over to service. For three years they shall work in the houses of their purchaser or master; in the fourth year they shall be given their freedom. Code of Hammurabi Project Part I: 1. Read the Code of Hammurabi-Overview sheet (check blog), AND sections 4-5 in chapter 6 in the textbook that explains the background information about King Hammurabi of the Babylonian Empire and his code of laws. Read the actual laws that Hammurabi created to keep and sustain order in his society (check.

The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonianlaw code, 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)^[1] as graded depending on social status, of slave versus free man.^[2]

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.^[3] A handful of provisions address issues related to military service.

One nearly complete example of the Code survives today, on a dioritestele in the shape of a huge index finger,^[4] 2.25-metre (7.4 ft) 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 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

Hammurabi ruled for nearly 43 years, ca. 1792 to 1750 BC according to the Middle chronology. In the preface to the law code, 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.'^[5] On the stone slab there are 44 columns and 28 paragraphs that contained over 282 laws.^[6]

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.^[7]

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/code

The Code of Hammurabi was one of several sets of laws in the ancient Near East.^[8]The code of laws was arranged in orderly groups, so that everyone who read the laws would know what was required of them.^[9]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 laws, and Mosaic Law.^[10]These codes come from similar cultures in a relatively small geographical area, and they have passages which resemble each other.^[11]

The Code of Hammurabi is the longest surviving text from the Old Babylonian period.^[12]The code has been seen as an early example of a fundamental law regulating a government — i.e., a primitive constitution.^[13][14] 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.^[15] 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.^[16]

Other copies

Hammurabi's Code Of Laws Summary

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).^[17] 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).^[18][19]

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.^[20]

Laws covered

The laws covered the subjects of:

• Religion

Ex. Law #27: '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.)' ^[21]

• 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.' ^[22]

Code Of Hammurabi Worksheet Pdf

• 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.' ^[23]

• 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.' ^[24]

• 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.' ^[25]

• Thievery

Ex. Law #22: 'If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death.' ^[26]

• 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.' ^[27]

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.'^[28]

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).^[29][30]

See also

• Code of Hammurabi translated by R.F. Harper in 1904, University of Chicago Press (PDF image)
• Code of Ur-Nammu – the oldest known tablet containing a law code surviving today, it predates the Code of Hammurabi by some 300 years
• Urukagina – Sumerian king and creator of what is sometimes cited as the first example of a legal code in recorded history.

References

Bibliography

• 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.

http://www.commonlaw.com/Hammurabi.html

External links

• The Code of Hammurabi Translated by L. W. King.
• HG-Hammu, historyguide.org
• speechisfire.com – Includes soundfiles with extracts from the Code being read in Babylonian by a modern scholar.
• Law Code of Hammurabi, king of Babylon | Musée du Louvre
• English Translation | University of Evansville
• Code Of Hammurabi – Ancestor of Modern Law
• Complete 1904 English translation of the Code of Hammurabi
• Hammurabi's Code, Blaise Joseph, Clio History Journal, 2009.

Week four at ECS brings us to a study ofThe Code of Hammurabi, an ancient Mesopotamian series of laws that predates Moses by a thousand years. Hammurabi was ruler of Ur in Abraham’s day and had a rather expansive and lengthy rule. Surviving today are about 250 laws etched in an eight-foot stele that also features an image of the king receiving the laws from the sun god Shamash. Most likely, this stele was a trophy, changing hands multiple times as its possessors were conquered. Somewhere in there, some thirty-five laws were scratched out, otherwise we’d have just over 280 laws.

Last week we observed an example of a savior story from the mind of men in The Epic of Gilgamesh that contrasts starkly in a number of ways from the great savior story of Jesus Christ. But for all of its differences, there are some similarities, which stem largely from a common state of mankind four thousand years ago and two thousand years ago (and today!): man is completely corrupt and in dire need of rescuing.

Similarly, part of what is so interesting about The Code of Hammurabi is how it compares (and contrasts) to the law of Moses. Consider some areas of similarity:

• Justice. Given that the image of God is in all men, and given that the law of God is inscribed on the hearts of men, it comes as no surprise that some of the laws in The Code are just.
• Civil order. If a people would apply The Codes of Hammurabi and Moses, each offers a recipe for civil order.
• The Lex Talionis, or “the principle that a person who has injured another person is similarly injured in retribution” (hat tip to Wikipedia for the helpful, concise definition.) There’s lots of eye-for-an-eye type language in The Code, which also pops up in Moses, too.

And to be fair, there are more similarities than these. But of far more striking significance are the differences. Consider some of them with me:

• Sanctity of human life. The Code of Hammurabi represents a lower view of human life than Moses. For instance, in The Code of Hammurabi, the consequence for theft is to repay ten- to thirty-fold. If that’s not possible, the thief is executed. That’s never the case in Moses.
• Favoring the privileged vs. protecting the oppressed. Protection of the oppressed is near to God’s heart; not so much with Hammurabi. Many of Hammurabi’s laws favor the free and wealthy.
• Justice. Though some of The Code of Hammurabi is just, much of it is eminently unjust. There is no injustice at all in the law of Moses.
• Mercy. The notion of mercy is exceedingly rare in Hammurabi, but appears with regularity in Moses.
• The focus of the laws. The vast majority of The Code of Hammurabi concerns money, property, and business transactions. While these are addressed in Moses, the focus on moral laws, loving and honoring God and taking care of man’s relationship to God are strong emphases in Moses.

Hammurabi Code Pdf

These are but a few of the differences that pose real problems for those who try to argue that Moses borrowed from Hammurabi. The two codes (i.e., of Hammurabi and of Moses) come from different starting points and points of authority.

Flashing back again to last week, in the person of Gilgamesh we are offered an example of what sort of a savior we could expect if we were left to ourselves: a fearful, corrupt, powerful, but ultimately impotent mortal who is a lot like us. Gilgamesh contrasts with Christ.

Hammurabi's Code Was It Just Pdf

The Code is the law as written by man. In The Code of Hammurabi we are offered an example of a system of laws that represents man’s best effort at justice…and it’s colored profoundly by Hammurabi’s self-promotion and self-interests. The Code of Hammurabi contrasts with the Code of Moses, which comes from the true God, is inspired and reflects His just and unchanging nature.

Hammurabi Code Pdf

If you’re interested in a more complete defense of any of these points, you could ask me, but why not read The Code yourself? It only takes a few hours and will give you a deeper understanding of the heart of man and appreciation for the heart of God.