THE CODE OF UAMMURABI _AMMURABI RECEIVING THE CODE FROM THE SUN GOD II I I I I III II [) III II III I I IIIIIIIIII I I III I I THE CODE OF HAMMURABI KING OF BABYLON ABOUT 2250 B.C. ii i ii iii ii ii i _ i J _ I J iii Jill t ii i[ I i ii ii iiiIiii i ii i ii i AUTOGRAPHED TEXT TRANSLITERATION TRANS LATION GLOSSARY INDEX OF SUBJECTS LISTS OF PROPER NAMES SIGNS NUMERALS CORRECTIONS AND ERASURES WITH MAP FRONTISPIECE AND PHOTOGRAPH OF TEXT ii i tl , ii i ii i i I i i i I ii i ii ii ,i i ii BY ROBERT FRANCIS HARPER PH.D. PROFESSOR OF THE SEMITIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF C]t_CA(_O DIRECTOR OF THE BABYLONIAN SECTION OF THE ORIENTAL EXPLORATION FUND OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MANAGING EDITOR OF THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES F]$LLOW OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY SECOND EDITION Chic. go THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CALLAGHAN& COMPANY Londou LUZAC & COMPANY 1904 i i , i i ii i i i i ! < COPYRIGHT, 1904 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO TO MY FRIEND AND FORMER COLLEAGUE FRANKLIN P. MALL, M.D. DIRECTOR OF THE ANATOMICAL INSTITUTE OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIYERSIT¥ (,'ONTENTS. FRoNTmPXr_,cE--IJammurabi Receiving the Code from the Sun God PREFACE ix INTRODUCTION xi TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION 2 INDEX OF SUBJECTS 113 LIST OF PROPER NAMES 143 GLOSSAR_ 147 PHOTOGRAPH OF TEXT Facing Plate I AUTOGRAPttEDTEXT Plates I-LXXXII LIST OF SIGNS Plates LXXXIII-XCVIII LIST OF NUMERALS Plate XCIX LIST oF SCmRAL ERRORS Plates C, CI LIST OF ERASURES Plate CII MAP OF BABYLONIA Plate CIII PREFACE. In January, 1903, I planned to give a transliteration and a translation of the Code of _ammurabi in the July or October number of THE A_ERICAN JOURNAL OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES. It soon became evident that it would be necessary to make a careful study of the Text of the Code as published ill photographic reproduction by Pater Scheil in his excellent com- mentary on the Code. This study led to tile autographing of the Text so as to make it available to students. Later, in consul- tation with my brother, President William Rainey Harper, it was decided to make the plan more complete and to publish the results of our studies in two volumes, the first to contain the Autographed Text, Transliteration, Translation, Index of Sub- jects, Lists of Proper Names, Signs, Numerals, Mistakes and Erasures,; the second to discuss the Code in its connection with the Mosaic Code. A Transliteration and Translation were made before August first, 1903. The Autographed Text was published in the October number (1903) of AJSL. The Lists of Signs, Numerals, Mis- takes and Erasures were made ready in October and the first week of November and were printed in the January number (1904) of AJSL. Since August few changes have been made in the Translation. The Transliteration, however, ha_ under- gone many minor changes. Both were in final proofs when I received Mflller's Die Gesetze Ham_nur_lbis on December twenty- ninth, 1903, and Kohler and Peiser's Hamm_trabi's Gesetz on January twelfth, 1904. I have accepted one reading from Mfiller in § 47, and I have added from Kohler-Peiser in a foot- note their transliteration of the difficult passage in the Epilogue, 41,103-104. I have made good use of the excellent translations of Winckler, and of my friend, Rev. C. H. W. Johns, of Queens College, Cambridge. The latter also sent me some of his unpublished notes, which have been helpful in places. The ix x PREFACE scholarly monographs of J. Jeremias and Oettli have been of service to me. I am under obligations to Professor Christopher Johnston, of Johns Hopkins University, for several suggestions as to the translation, a typewritten copy of which he kindly read; to my colleague in the University, Professor Ira Maurice Price, for reading proofs of the first forty plates of the Autographed Text; and to my pupil, Mr. R. B. McSwain, who has rendered me valuable assistance in many ways. I am si_eially indebted to my pupil, Mr. A. H. Godbey, Fellow ill Semitics in the Univer- sity of Chicago, for autographing under my direction the Text and Lists and for tile preparation of the Index of Subjects; and to Dr. William Muss-Arnolt for reading a [)roof of the Trans- literation, Translation, and Glossary. The Tables of Money and Measures in the Index are based oil the article, "Babylonia," in Hastings' Biblic¢d Dict'h,_ary. It is hoped that Part II will appear in September or October, 190=t. To my friend and former colleague in the University of Chi- cago, Professor Franklin P. Mall, M.D.. Director of the Ana- tomical Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University, I haw, the honor to dedicate this volume. ROBERT FRANCIS HARPER. HASKELL ORIF2_TAL MUSEUM, The University of Chicago, February the first, 1904. INTRODUCTION. The Monument on which the Code of _ammurabi is engraved was found in December, 1901, and January, 1902, oil the acropolis of Susa by an Expedition sent out by the French Government under the Director General, M. de Morgan. It is a block of black diorite, nearly eight feet high, broken into three pieces which were easily re-joined. Another fragment was found which does not belong to this Monument, but which contains a text corre- sponding to Column 41, 72-_0, and this leads to the conclusion that another copy of this famous Code existed in Susa. On the Obverse we have a bas-relief (see Frontispiece) exhibiting King !_Iammurabi receiving the laws from the Sun God, to which the story of Moses receiving the Tea Words from Yahweh corresponds. Under this relief are engraved sixteen columns of text, four and one-half of which form the Prologue. There were originally five more columns on the Obverse, but these have been cut off by the Elamitic conqueror. On the Reverse, there are twenty-eight ('olumns, the last five of which form the Epilogue. There are many reasons for believing that this Code of Laws was published ill many places. We may accept the opinion of Scheil and Winckler that tlle copy found at Susa may have been taken as plunder by _utruk-Nabunte (about 1100 B. C.) and brought to his Elamitic capital. We have fragments of later copies on tablets and these have enabled me to restore the text in one or two places. These later fragments, with transliteration and translation, will form one of the Appendices to Part II. _ammurabi, identified by most Assyriologists with the Amra- phel of Genesis 14, 1, was the sixth king of the First Dynasty of Babylon and reigned for fifty-five years, about 2250 B.C. We have a good account of his life and deeds in the Letters which he wrote to Sin-idinnam and in The Chronicle of the Kings of Babylon, both of which have been edited with great care by Mr. L. W. King. From tim Prologue and Epilogue we learn that he xi xii INTRODUCTION was a great soldier and a pious, god-fearing king, who destroyed all his enemies to the North and Soflth, and made his people to dwell in peace and security. He codified the existing laws that the strong might not oppress the weak, that they should give justice to the orphan and widow, and for the righting of wrong. He rebuilt cities and canals, he restored temples and endowed them with means for sacrifices, he re-established cults, he reunited his people. Society in the time of l_Iammurabi consisted legally of the following classes: 1) the awtlum, 2) the mufik6num, and 3) the wardum-amtum, and their rights and privileges were clearly defined. The first, awtlum, included the house-holdouts. proiverty owners, the wealthy and upper classes. Awllum lms been translated by man or person. In a few places, it is almost necessary to translate gentleman as over against freema_. The secoud, mu§k6num, has been variously translated, t)(¢uper poor man, serf, retai_wr, etc. The etymology of the word goes to show that the mu_k6num was poor. He could, however, hold property and slaves. He was free. He held a position half-way between the awilum, upper class man, and the war(tum-amtum, slave. I have used the term freeol(n_. The third class, wardum-amtum, consisted of male and female slaves. There was also a class of public servants which received subsidies from the government. It is difficult to determine the exact duties of these officers. I have translated officer (recruit- ing officer), constable (military messenger, police officer), and t(_xgatt_erer (one in the public service). (Compare the Index of Subjects.) The position of women, which was a high one legally, of concubines, devotees, etc., wili be discussed in Part II. The Text as presented in Plates I-LXXXII has been recon- structed and edited from the photographs published by Scheil in Tome IV, Texle._ _l_+mites-Sdmitiq_t_,s of the M_moires de la Ddl_galion en Perse (Paris, Leroux, 1902). It was printed in the October (1903) number of THE AmERmAN JOURNAL OP SEMITIC LANt_UAGES AND LITERATURES. Since then Ungnad's excellent article, "Zur Syntax der Gesetze _Iammurabis,'" has appeared in the Zeitschrift fi_r Assyriologie, November, 1903 (Vol. XVII, 4), and I have accepted and incorporated into my text the following INTRODUCTION xiii readings: §umma instead of a_um, which had been restored by all in 6, 18, and this has led me to divide this section into two; it-te-[ip-ti], 15, 14, insfead of it-te-[ip-tu-u]; na- ak-ka-a[m-m]a instead of na-ak-ka-p[u-u], 3T, 53; and mu-§a-zi-k, am a ir-_i-a, 44), (.}2,instead of MU._A:ZI.KAR.