Hammurabi's Code: discovery, contents, and social significance

Hammurabi's Code Of Laws

Hammurabi, King of Babylonia (from: 1795- 1750 BC

), was the greatest ruler of the Babylonian dynasty. During his reign, he extended his empire northward from the Persian Gulf through the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys (the present day Iraq) and westward to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Apart from his considerable achievements as a military leader and administrator, he is primarily remembered for his codification of the laws governing Babylonian life. "The Code of Hammurabi" is a collection of the laws and edicts of Hammurabi, the earliest legal code in consolidated form as yet known to man. This paper traces the discovery of Hammurabi's Code of Laws, describes its main contents and discusses how important the Code is in giving us an insight into the social structure of the Babylonian society as well its governmental and justice systems.

Discovery of the Code

The Code of Hammurabi was unearthed by a team of French archaeologists led by M.J. de Morgan at Susa, Iraq, formerly ancient Elam, during 1901 and 1902. The stele containing the Code was found in three large fragments. When fitted together, the pieces formed a column of black diorite measuring 7 ft. 41/2 in. In height and 6 ft 91/2 in. In circumference at the base. The top portion of the Stele of Hummarabi, shown in the photograph at right, depicts Hammurabi with Shamash, the sun god, who is presenting a staff and ring (symbolizing the power to administer the law) to Hammurabi. Below the carving, the stele was covered with forty-four columns (over 3800 lines) of text in beautifully cut cuneiform Semitic script. The stele was most likely engraved for the temple of Shamash at Sippar, and another copy of the Code was placed in the temple of Marduk in the city of Babylon. The stele was carried away from Sippar, in around 1120 B.C. By Shutruk-Nahhunte, King of Elam, who set it in his capital as a trophy of his victory. It is now placed in the Louvre Museum, Paris. (Suavay)

A Collection and Redaction of Older Codes

The archeologists and historians agree that Hammurabi's Code is not a series of Laws invented by the King himself, but a collection and redaction of old partial or local codes and of customs, usages, and decisions of priests and judges. (Hertzler, 87) Before Hammurabi, the Babylonian region consisted of small city-states, each having its own laws, which they administered according to their age-old customs. The region had seen the ascent of the Akkadians, the Sumerians and other Semitic invaders. Each had been influenced by the people they came in contact with. Hence, while the waves of Semitic invaders brought their own nomad law and culture with them, they also incorporated the customs of the local populace and the old Akkadian ways into their way of living. Hammurabi's code of laws, therefore, is a combination of the Sumerian and the Semitic traditions that reflect elements of the Akkadian and Sumerian legal systems. (Hertzler, 87-88)

Main Contents of the Code

Hammurabi's laws are quite clearly a collection of a civil code and contain no religious or ceremonial regulations. Crime is considered to be an offense against the state, and is punishable with merciless but impartial justice. In punishments, the Code follows the principal of "an eye for an eye,"

although the severity of punishments is not uniform for all classes. It prescribes the death penalty for a wide range of offenses including various forms of theft, brigandage, disorder, shirking of state service, and criminal negligence. An intriguing aspect of the Code is its severe punishment for carelessness, neglect, and inefficiency. For example, Code # 55 specifies that the careless farmer has to pay for damages if water floods the fields of his neighbor while he is watering his own fields. The mistakes of a surgeon are punishable with heavy fines or even the loss of his hands (# 215~218); and the careless builder of houses pays dearly if the building collapses (# 229).

A significant portion of the Code (almost one-fourth) deals with the institution of marriage and the family. Marriage is treated as a commercial and financial contract in which appropriate dowry and settlements apply, wherever applicable. For example, one of marriage laws specifies that "if a man wish to separate from a wife who has borne him children: then he shall give that wife her dowry, and a part of the field, garden, and property ... " A long list of laws lay out the rights and obligations of the husband and the wife in different situations. Adultery and incest, for instance, are punished according to the circumstances and degree of relationship. The Hammurabi Code also gives the right of divorce to women.

Laws relating to property, its sale, lease, rental, deposit or pledge are extensively covered in the Code. Proper documents, supported by oath of witnesses are required for all such transactions. Although most property laws favor the landlord rather than the tenant, they are not totally one-sided.

The subject of inheritance of property is also given due importance and some of the inheritance laws are remarkably similar to present-day laws in the Western World.

In short, the laws laid out in the Code are harsh and severe in some respects, but are not devoid of humanitarian considerations. In the words of Hertzler (102), "the code is characterized by a despotic, and yet on the whole beneficent, paternalism."

Babylonian Society

Perhaps the most important aspect of Hammurabi's Code to students of history, is the invaluable glimpse it provides of the ancient Babylonian society.

The secular characteristic of the Code indicates that the government in Hammurabi's time was also secular in character, although the influence of religion and priesthood was very much evident in the society. Hence, Hammurabi found it necessary to claim in the Code that he had received authority from the gods and, therefore, become the ruler by divine right. The form of government was monarchy in which succession to the throne was determined by birth and apparently there were no constitutional bodies that restricted the powers of the monarch. (Chamliss, 20,21)

The principle of lax tallion (law of equal retaliation) was followed in law to satisfy the yearning of revenge in human nature. However, the Babylonian conception of justice was not based on the democratic ideal of personal equality before the law as several laws in the Code specify severer penalties for committing the same offense against persons of higher standing. This aspect of the code reflects the hierarchical nature of the society in which the "amelu" (patricians) occupied the highest rung of the ladder and enjoyed greater privileges as well as responsibilities, followed by the "muskinu" (plebian), people who were freemen but probably landless, and the "ardu" (slaves), who formed the bulk of the population. However, in many ways, the Code was designed to ensure social justice as tenants were protected from landlords, borrowers from lenders, and buyers of goods from merchants. (Chamliss, 29-31)

The code reveals that the Babylonian society was not as patriarchal as some subsequent ones such as the Roman society in which the father had the right of 'life and death' over his children. For example, one of Hammurabi's Codes does not allow a father to disinherit a son unless the son had committed a crime "sufficiently grave to cut him off from sonship." The status of Babylonian women was much greater than given to women in some societies of our own time. Some provisions of the Code indicate that a woman in Hammurabi's reign could run an independent business, own slaves, control an estate, buy and sell property in her own name, make a will, go to court to address her grievances, adopt a son or a daughter, and in general enjoy the privileges similar to men. (Chamliss, 33-34)

Conclusion

Hammurabi's Code of Laws is perhaps the most valuable piece of historical document ever found. It gives us an invaluable insight into the lives of people of distant antiquity (2000 years before the Christian era). It reveals that Babylonia was a great trading and agricultural community, in an advanced stage of civilization. Moreover, the laws written by the great Babylonian king "in stone" have influenced the laws made by all subsequent societies. This is probably because Hammurabi's Code contains important elements of justice and fairness, although it may seem exceedingly harsh by our present-day standards.