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The Code of Hammurabi, ca. 1686 BC is one of the earliest sets of laws found, and one of the best preserved examples of this type of document from ancient Mesopotamia. Other collections of laws include the codex of Ur-Nammu, king of Ur (ca. 2050 BC), the Codex of Eshnunna (ca. 1930 BC) and the codex of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin (ca. 1870 BC).It shows rules and punishments if those rules are defied. It focuses on theft, farming (or shepherding), property damage, women's rights, marriage rights, children's rights, slave rights, and murder, death, and injury. The punishment is different for different classes of offenders and victims. The laws do not accept excuses or explanations for mistakes or fault - the Code was openly displayed for all to see, so no man could plead ignorance of the law as an excuse. However, few people (mainly scribes) could read.
Hammurabi (1728 BC-1686 BC) felt he had to write the code to please his gods. Unlike many kings of the time and previous, he did not consider himself related to any god, although he did call himself "the favorite of the gods". In the upper part of the stela Hammurabi is shown in front of the throne of the Sun God Shamash.
The laws (numbered from 1 to 282, but numbers 13, 66-99, 110, and 111 are missing) are on an 8 foot tall stela of black diorite. It was discovered in 1909 in Susa, Elam, what is now Khusistan . It is currently on display at the LouvreThe Louvre Museum Musee du Louvre , located in Paris, is one of the largest and most famous museums in the world. The building, a former royal palace (see below), lies in the centre of Paris, between the Seine river and the Rue de Rivoli. Its central cour Museum in ParisEiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. Paris is the capital and largest city of France. The city is built on an arc of the River Seine, and is thus divided into two parts: the Right Bank to the north and the smaller Left Bank to, FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents..
The code is often pointed to as the first example of the legal concept that some lawThis article is about law in society. For other possible meanings, see law (disambiguation). Law (a loanword from Danish-Norwegian lov , in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules of conduct which mandate or proscribe (or both) specified relationshis are so basic as to be beyond the ability of even a kingThis article treats the generic title monarch . For the origins of the word king and its English use, see Germanic king. For other meanings of the word, see Monarch (disambiguation A monarch is a type of ruler or head of state. The word derives from Greek to change. By writing the laws on stone they were immutable. This concept lives on in most modern legal systems and has given rise to the term "written in stone".
1 The differences from Mosaic Law
Some parts of the Mosaic lawTorah [] is a Hebrew word meaning teaching instruction or especially Law''. It primarily refers to the first section of the Tanakh, i. the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. These books are Genesis Bereishit []), Exodus Shemot []), Leviticus Vayikra [] are similar to certain sections of Hammurabi's Code, and because of this certain scholars claimed that the Hebrews got their law from it. However, the book Documents from Old Testament Times states: "There is no ground for assuming any direct borrowing by the Hebrew from the Babylonian. Even where the two sets of laws differ little in the letter, they differ much in the spirit."
Here are some examples of the differences:
| Hammurabi's Code | Mosaic Law |
|---|
| Death penalty for theft of church or state property, or for receiving stolen goods.(Sect. 6) | Thief punished by making
compensation to victim. (Ex. 22:1-9) |
| Death for helping a slave to escape or harboring a fugitive slave. (Sect. 15, 16) | "You must not hand over a
slave to his master when he escapes from his master to you." (Deut. 23:15) |
| If a poorly built house causes the death of a son of the owner of the house, then the son of the builder is put to death. (Sect. 230) | "Fathers should not be put to death on account of children, and children should not be put to death on account of fathers." (Deut. 24:16) |
| Mere banishment for incest: "If a seignior [man of rank] has had intercourse with his daughter, they shall make that seignior leave the city." (Sect. 154) | Death penalty for incest.(Lev. 18:6, 29) |
| Class distinctions in judgment: Severe penalties for persons who harm others of a higher class. Mild penalties for harming members of a lower class. (Sect. 196-205) | You must not treat the lowly with partiality, and you must not prefer the person of a great one.(Lev. 19:15) |
