Law and Order in Ancient Babylonia

Among Hammurabi of Babylon’s many accomplishments were the unification of Mesopotamia under Babylonian rule, the establishment of the supremacy of the Babylonian god Marduk, and the composition of a law code. Although Hammurabi’s code is not the first known law code, it is the earliest one to survive largely intact. The code deals with the family, commercial activities, and agricultural life, providing valuable insight into Babylonian society. The following selections are typical of the laws in the code and exemplify the brutal nature of Babylonian justice, often characterized by the phrase “an eye for an eye.”

When lofty Anum, king of the Anunnaki,7

(and) Enlil, lord of heaven and earth,

the determiner of the destinies of the land,

determined for Marduk, the first-born of Enki,8

the Enlil functions over all mankind,

he made him great among the Igigi,9

called Babylon by its exalted name,

made it supreme in the world,

established for him in its midst an enduring kingship,

whose foundations are as firm as heaven and earth —

at that time Anum and Enlil named me

to promote the welfare of the people,

me, Hammurabi, the devout, god-fearing prince,

to cause justice to prevail in the land,

to destroy the wicked and the evil,

that the strong might not oppress the weak,

to rise like the sun over the black-headed (people),

and to light up the land. . . .

128. If a seignior10 acquired a wife, but did not draw up the contracts for her, that woman is no wife.

129. If the wife of a seignior has been caught while lying with another man, they shall bind them and throw them into the water. If the husband of the woman wishes to spare his wife, then the king in turn may spare his subject.

130. If a seignior bound the (betrothed) wife of a(nother) seignior, who had had no intercourse with a male and was still living in her father’s house, and he has lain in her bosom and they have caught him, that seignior shall be put to death, while that woman shall go free.

131. If a seignior’s wife was accused by her husband, but she was not caught while lying with another man, she shall make affirmation by god and return to her house.

132. If the finger was pointed at the wife of a seignior because of another man, but she has not been caught while lying with the other man, she shall throw herself into the river for the sake of her husband.

133. If a seignior was taken captive, but there was sufficient to live on in his house, his wife [shall not leave her house, but she shall take care of her person by not] entering [the house of another].

133a. If that woman did not take care of her person, but has entered the house of another, they shall prove it against that woman and throw her into the water.

134. If the seignior was taken captive and there was not sufficient to live on in his house, his wife may enter the house of another, with that woman incurring no blame at all.

135. If, when a seignior was taken captive and there was not sufficient to live on in his house, his wife has then entered the house of another before his (return) and has borne children, (and) later her husband has returned and has reached his city, that woman shall return to her first husband, while the children shall go with their father.

136. If when a seignior deserted his city and then ran away, his wife has entered the house of another after his (departure), if that seignior has returned and wishes to take back his wife, the wife of the fugitive shall not return to her husband because he scorned his city and ran away.

137. If a seignior has made up his mind to divorce a lay priestess, who bore him children, or a hierodule11 who provided him with children, they shall return her dowry to that woman and also give her half of the field, orchard and goods in order that she may rear her children; after she has brought up her children, from whatever was given to her children they shall give her a portion corresponding to (that of) an individual heir in order that the man of her choice may marry her.

138. If a seignior wishes to divorce his wife who did not bear him children, he shall give her money to the full amount of her marriage-price and he shall also make good to her the dowry which she brought from her father’s house and then he may divorce her.

139. If there was no marriage-price, he shall give her one mina12 of silver as the divorce-settlement.

140. If he is a peasant, he shall give her one-third mina of silver.

141. If a seignior’s wife, who was living in the house of the seignior, has made up her mind to leave in order that she may engage in business, thus neglecting her house (and) humiliating her husband, they shall prove it against her; and if her husband has then decided on her divorce, he may divorce her, with nothing to be given her as her divorce-settlement upon her departure. If her husband has not decided on her divorce, her husband may marry another woman, with the former woman living in the house of her husband like a maidservant.

142. If a woman so hated her husband that she has declared, “You may not have me,” her record shall be investigated at her city council, and if she was careful and was not at fault, even though her husband has been going out and disparaging her greatly, that woman, without incurring any blame at all, may take her dowry and go off to her father’s house.

143. If she was not careful, but was a gadabout, thus neglecting her house (and) humiliating her husband, they shall throw that woman into the water.

144. When a seignior married a hierodule and that hierodule gave a female slave to her husband and she has then produced children, if that seignior has made up his mind to marry a lay priestess, they may not allow that seignior, since he may not marry the lay priestess.

145. If a seignior married a hierodule and she did not provide him with children and he has made up his mind to marry a lay priestess, that seignior may marry the lay priestess, thus bringing her into his house, (but) with that lay priestess ranking in no way with the hierodule.

146. When a seignior married a hierodule and she gave a female slave to her husband and she has then borne children, if later that female slave has claimed equality with her mistress because she bore children, her mistress may not sell her; she may mark her with the slave-mark and count her among the slaves.

147. If she did not bear children, her mistress may sell her.

148. When a seignior married a woman and a fever has then seized her, if he has made up his mind to marry another, he may marry (her), without divorcing his wife whom the fever seized; she shall live in the house which he built and he shall continue to support her as long as she lives.

149. If that woman has refused to live in her husband’s house, he shall make good her dowry to her which she brought from her father’s house and then she may leave.

150. If a seignior, upon presenting a field, orchard, house, or goods to his wife, left a sealed document with her, her children may not enter a claim against her after (the death of) her husband, since the mother may give her inheritance to that son of hers whom she likes, (but) she may not give (it) to an outsider. . . .

153. If a seignior’s wife has brought about the death of her husband because of another man, they shall impale that woman on stakes.

154. If a seignior has had intercourse with his daughter, they shall make that seignior leave the city.

155. If a seignior chose a bride for his son and his son had intercourse with her, but later he himself has lain in her bosom and they have caught him, they shall bind that seignior and throw him into the water.

156. If a seignior chose a bride for his son and his son did not have intercourse with her, but he himself has lain in her bosom, he shall pay to her one-half mina of silver and he shall also make good to her whatever she brought from her father’s house in order that the man of her choice may marry her.

157. If a seignior has lain in the bosom of his mother after (the death of) his father, they shall burn both of them. . . .

195. If a son has struck his father, they shall cut off his hand.

196. If a seignior has destroyed the eye of a member of the aristocracy, they shall destroy his eye.

197. If he has broken a(nother) seignior’s bone, they shall break his bone.

198. If he has destroyed the eye of a commoner or broken the bone of a commoner, he shall pay one mina of silver.

199. If he has destroyed the eye of a seignior’s slave or broken the bone of a seignior’s slave, he shall pay one-half his value.

200. If a seignior has knocked out a tooth of a seignior of his own rank, they shall knock out his tooth.

201. If he has knocked out a commoner’s tooth, he shall pay one-third mina of silver.

202. If a seignior has struck the cheek of a seignior who is superior to him, he shall be beaten sixty (times) with an oxtail whip in the assembly.

203. If a member of the aristocracy has struck the cheek of a(nother) member of the aristocracy who is of the same rank as himself, he shall pay one mina of silver.

204. If a commoner has struck the cheek of a(nother) commoner, he shall pay ten shekels [coins] of silver.

205. If a seignior’s slave has struck the cheek of a member of the aristocracy, they shall cut off his ear.

206. If a seignior has struck a(nother) seignior in a brawl and has inflicted an injury on him, that seignior shall swear, “I did not strike him deliberately”; and he shall also pay for the physician.

207. If he has died because of his blow, he shall swear (as before), and if it was a member of the aristocracy, he shall pay one-half mina of silver.

208. If it was a member of the commonalty, he shall pay one-third mina of silver.

209. If a seignior struck a(nother) seignior’s daughter and has caused her to have a miscarriage, he shall pay ten shekels of silver for her fetus.

210. If that woman has died, they shall put his daughter to death.

211. If by a blow he has caused a commoner’s daughter to have a miscarriage, he shall pay five shekels of silver.

212. If that woman has died, he shall pay one-half mina of silver.

213. If he struck a seignior’s female slave and has caused her to have a miscarriage, he shall pay two shekels of silver.

214. If that female slave has died, he shall pay one-third mina of silver.

215. If a physician performed a major operation on a freeman with a bronze lancet and has saved the freeman’s life, or he opened up the eye-socket of a freeman with a bronze lancet and has saved the freeman’s eye, he shall receive ten shekels of silver.

216. If it was a commoner, he shall receive five shekels of silver.

217. If it was a freeman’s slave, the owner of the slave shall give two shekels of silver to the physician.

218. If a physician performed a major operation on a freeman with a bronze lancet and has caused the freeman’s death, or he opened up the eye-socket of a freeman and has destroyed the freeman’s eye, they shall cut off his hand.

219. If a physician performed a major operation on a commoner’s slave with a bronze lancet and has caused his death, he shall make good slave for slave.

220. If he opened up [the slave’s] eye-socket with a bronze lancet and has destroyed his eye, he shall pay half his value in silver.

James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 3d ed. with supplement (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969), 170–175.

READING AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS