Hammurabi/Hammurapi = “the god Hammuis a healer” (r. c. 1792-50 BC)

King of Babylonia, with Babylon as its capital

OBV of Epic of Gilgamesh

Several new classes of temple personnel incl.temple prostitutes (both sexes) and othertypes of female temple staff

Hammurabi elevating Marduk to headship ofpantheon; possible origin of Epic ofCreation?

Old Babylonian Period (c. 2000-1595 BC)

Law Code of Hammurabi

Prob. from end of reign

Stele found at Susa (Iran) in 1901 byFrench archaeologists. Prob. movedthere by Elamite king c. 1100 BC.

At top is Hammurabi standing beforeShamash (god of sun and justice)

3 sections:

Preamble

Laws

Epilogue

Topics in Law Code:

Lawsuit procedure (1-5)Offenses against property (6-25)Land and houses (26-65) ~~gap~~Trade and commerce (100-26)Marriage, family and property (127-94)Assault (195-214)Professions (215-40)Agriculture (241-73)Wages and rates of hire (274-77)Slaves (278-82)

Compilation of earlier customary laws, royaledicts, past court cases, extrapolationsand amendments

“The [amount of] wages for a hired worker iswritten on the stele, [therefore] inaccordance with what they told you, donot withhold their wages, be it barleyor silver.”

Contract from Ur quoted in William H. Stiebing, Jr., AncientNear Eastern History and Culture (New York: Longman,2003), p. 91.

Classes in Mesopotamian society:

wardum - slave

mushkênum - pauper? commoner?dependent of nobility or king?tenant farmer? freedman?

awêlum - “man” - noble? landowner?

Accuser and accused (1-3)

Impact of social class (196-99)

Laws protecting women (134, 138-40, 148,142)

Laws protecting children (162, 167-69)

Warranties (235, 232, 229-30, 218-20)

Preamble and Epilogue:

Hammurabi as law-giver, liberator,pious servant of gods and people

Seeking to preserve longevity of codeand his own fame