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Opportunity and Date for the Use of Hammurabi’s and Other Cuneiform Laws

David P. Wright

in Inventing God's Law: How the Covenant Code of the Bible Used and Revised the Laws of Hammurabi

This chapter discusses the inadequacy of other theories for explaining the similarities between the Covenant Code and the Laws of Hammurabi, including coincidence, the use of common scribal ... More

This chapter discusses the inadequacy of other theories for explaining the similarities between the Covenant Code and the Laws of Hammurabi, including coincidence, the use of common scribal techniques, oral tradition, oral transmission of Hammurabi's text, and the use of an unknown mediating Northwest Semitic/Canaanite text. The chapter outlines in detail the evidence for placing the composition of the Covenant Code in the Neo-Assyrian period, between 740–640 BCE and the opportunity for the use of Hammurabi's Laws. It also discusses the wide attestation of the Laws of Hammurabi as a canonical-scribal text in the Neo-Assyrian period. It discusses the Covenant Code's occasional use of laws from other cuneiform law collections and the attestation of these other collections.Less

Putting Natural Law Principles into Practice

Aryeh Neier

in The International Human Rights Movement: A History

This chapter discusses how a number of efforts were made to promote human rights internationally over a period of almost two centuries, from the start of the antislavery movement in Britain. However, ... More

This chapter discusses how a number of efforts were made to promote human rights internationally over a period of almost two centuries, from the start of the antislavery movement in Britain. However, it is possible to cite ancient roots for the principles of human rights. Hammurabi's Code, the Bible, Plato, and Aristotle must be considered among the sources for the concept of justice. The roots of thinking about rights can also be traced to non-Western sources, such as Mencius and Asoka. In the more than three centuries that followed the struggle for rights in England by John Milton, the Levellers, and other dissenters, there were episodic attempts to secure rights relevant to such grave issues as slavery, religious persecution, the subordination of women, forced labor, racial segregation, and the suppression of dissent.Less

The Civil Laws, or Mishpatim

John Van Seters

in A Law Book for the Diaspora: Revision in the Study of the Covenant Code

This chapter deals with civil laws of the casuistic type most common in Near Eastern codes and one of these, having to do with the Hebrew slave (Exod 21:2–11), occurs also in both Deuteronomy and the ... More

This chapter deals with civil laws of the casuistic type most common in Near Eastern codes and one of these, having to do with the Hebrew slave (Exod 21:2–11), occurs also in both Deuteronomy and the Holiness Code and is therefore key to the relative dating of these laws. Some of the casuistic laws are closely paralleled in the Hammurabi Code, such as injury to a pregnant woman or the law of the goring ox, but others are supplemented by material from Deuteronomy or extensions of a Deuteronomic law, as in the law regarding the violation of the unmarried virgin. Still other laws of the apodictic type (participial prohibitions) are more Hebraic in form and must be viewed within the context of similar laws in the Holiness Code and Ezekiel. The use of lex talionis within the Covenant Code shows evidence of borrowing from both the Hebrew and Babylonian laws, thus suggesting that throughout the civil laws, there is a constant interweaving of the Babylonian and Hebrew legal traditions.Less

Of Ancient Codes

Marc Van De Mieroop

in Philosophy before the Greeks: The Pursuit of Truth in Ancient Babylonia

This chapter focuses on the genre of law codes in ancient Mesopotamia. Hammurabi authored—or more likely commissioned—one of the earliest surviving law codes in world history. Hammurabi’s code is ... More

This chapter focuses on the genre of law codes in ancient Mesopotamia. Hammurabi authored—or more likely commissioned—one of the earliest surviving law codes in world history. Hammurabi’s code is part of a small corpus of ancient Near East writings about law that was founded on the principles contained in lexical and omen lists. The law codes of the ancient Near East show how aspects of Babylonian epistemology could be imitated by others even if they did not employ the Babylonian writing system that lay at its core. The chapter first considers the historical context of the law codes before discussing the format of these laws. The composition of law codes flourished in Babylonia in the late third and early second millennia, when four kings commissioned them: Ur-Namma and Lipit-Eshtar in the Sumerian language, Dadusha and Hammurabi in Akkadian.Less

Theft And Burglary

Jonathan Burnside

in God, Justice, and Society: Aspects of Law and Legality in the Bible

This chapter argues that the biblical laws of theft and burglary are excellent illustrations of the need to read biblical law narratively and not semantically. The biblical laws of theft take an ... More

This chapter argues that the biblical laws of theft and burglary are excellent illustrations of the need to read biblical law narratively and not semantically. The biblical laws of theft take an objective approach to the question of “who is a thief” by applying objective tests of hot possession and lukewarm possession. These tests are shown to apply both in biblical law and biblical narratives (e.g., the Jacob story and the Joseph cycle). There is a risk that objective tests could lead to individual acts of injustice (as in the Joseph narratives), although the possibility of admitting evidence that would acquit the innocent should not be discounted (cf. the Laws of Hammurabi). Elsewhere in the Bible, the biblical laws of theft are used to expose King David's offences against Uriah the Hittite (which involve murder and adultery). Their use in this context emphasizes the creativity and didacticism of biblical law.Less

Law

G. E. R. Lloyd

in Disciplines in the Making: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Elites, Learning, and Innovation

Some systems of law are represented as divinely sanctioned, others are recognised as made by humans. The administration of justice is often in the hands of a learned elite, trained for the purpose, ... More

Some systems of law are represented as divinely sanctioned, others are recognised as made by humans. The administration of justice is often in the hands of a learned elite, trained for the purpose, but sometimes (as in ancient Greece) the responsibility lies with ordinary citizens. Taking examples from early law codes (Hammurabi), anthropological reports (the Lozi), China, Greece, and Islam, this chapter discusses the variety in systems of law, what they cover, their relationship to morality, their provenance, source of legitimacy and claims to objectivity, and under what circumstances (if any) they are subject to change and innovation.Less

Other Biblical Texts Potentially from the Early Monarchal Period

David M. Carr

in The Formation of the Hebrew Bible: A New Reconstruction

This chapter examines several other potential examples of early pre-exilic material embedded in the Hebrew Bible, even if not specifically associated with David (e.g. royal psalms) or Solomon (e.g. ... More

This chapter examines several other potential examples of early pre-exilic material embedded in the Hebrew Bible, even if not specifically associated with David (e.g. royal psalms) or Solomon (e.g. Proverbs and Song of Songs). Particular attention is given to the non-P Primeval History, which features extensive and unambivalent parallels to non-biblical materials (especially Atrahasis). In addition, the covenant code (Exod 20:22-23:33) features similar non-ambivalent links to the Code of Hammurabi and other Mesopotamian legal traditions which might situate it toward the outset of Judean and Israelite textuality. Finally, the chapter proposes that a number of other traditions with apparent connections to the early Israelite North, such as the Jacob, Joseph and Moses stories, may represent early Israelite textualizations of older oral traditions without clear parallels in other Ancient Near Eastern cultures.Less

Hammurabi and International Law

in Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia

This chapter examines the Code of Hammurabi in relation to international law. It addresses three themes: the reception of foreign messengers, the law of war and the conclusion of treaties. The ... More

This chapter examines the Code of Hammurabi in relation to international law. It addresses three themes: the reception of foreign messengers, the law of war and the conclusion of treaties. The analysis reveals two paradoxes. The first is that only four letters of Hammurabi to Zimri-Lim was found in the very rich correspondence found in the archives of the chancellery of Mari. The second is that Hammurabi's personality is much better known than Zimri-Lim's in the Mari archives.Less

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Jean Bottéro

in Everyday Life in Ancient Mesopotamia

An explanation of the impressive and fascinating work of which Gilgamesh is the hero is worthwhile for more than one reason. From the last part of the third millennium, a profound change took place ... More

An explanation of the impressive and fascinating work of which Gilgamesh is the hero is worthwhile for more than one reason. From the last part of the third millennium, a profound change took place in Mesopotamia, the indirect consequence of the final elimination of the Sumerian section of the population, which was absorbed and swallowed by the Semitic component. The Sumerians' cultural pre-dominance was succeeded by the rise to prominence of the Semites, Akkadians. From then on the sole possessors of their ancient patrimony, they were at that time reinforced by a fresh wave of their brethren – immigrants in their turn – whose most famous son, Hammurabi, created a large, enduring and prosperous kingdom centred on the city of Babylon. From that period, some ten scattered fragments, in Akkadian, relating to Gilgamesh, were found. In texture, tone and range they are very different from the Sumerian legends.Less

The Assyrians: Then and Now

Ramsen Shamon

in Testing the Canon of Ancient Near Eastern Art and Archaeology

This chapter results from the author’s experience growing up in the Assyrian diaspora where he learned to love and appreciate his ancient heritage. He interviews Assyrians living in the United ... More

This chapter results from the author’s experience growing up in the Assyrian diaspora where he learned to love and appreciate his ancient heritage. He interviews Assyrians living in the United States, Europe, and Iraq. They discuss the relevance of their cultural heritage in response to questions focusing on canonical monuments, such as the Assyrian lamassu the Code of Hammurabi, as well as the destruction of artifacts and monuments by ISIS. Among the interviewees, there is great pride in their ancient heritage, which they understand to have universal significance, and museums around the world are revealed to serve as important points of connection between today’s Assyrians and their material heritage.Less

Introduction: The Historian's Task and Sources

in Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia

This introduction discusses the theme of this volume which is about the writing, codes of laws and kingship in Mesopotamia during the Old Babylonian period. This volume examines the question of ... More

This introduction discusses the theme of this volume which is about the writing, codes of laws and kingship in Mesopotamia during the Old Babylonian period. This volume examines the question of literacy in ancient Mesopotamia and discusses the status of the legal texts found in the archives. It investigates the role of sovereign as promulgator of the codes of laws and describes diplomatic life in the age of the Code of Hammurabi.Less

The Status of the Code of Hammurabi

in Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia

This chapter analyzes the modalities of the composition of the Code of Hammurabi and the manner it was used in Babylonia during its author's time and after. It suggests that this code clearly belongs ... More

This chapter analyzes the modalities of the composition of the Code of Hammurabi and the manner it was used in Babylonia during its author's time and after. It suggests that this code clearly belongs to a religious ideology of the exercise of kingship as indicated in the beginning of the prologue. This chapter also investigates how the code of law was formed and identifies the purposes it served.Less

The Suspected Adulteress

Calum Carmichael

in Sex and Religion in the Bible

This chapter discusses the importance of biblical law on the suspected adulteress. It explains the reasons why the law relating to sexual adulteress has received so much attention. First, the topic ... More

This chapter discusses the importance of biblical law on the suspected adulteress. It explains the reasons why the law relating to sexual adulteress has received so much attention. First, the topic of sexual wrongdoing is always likely to attract interest. Second, with no witness to testify, trials will always involve self-incrimination, which is detrimental from a legal perspective. Third, there has been little or no light shed on what prompts a lawgiver to present the law in the first place. Fourth, from the point of view of comparative law, we find a rule in Hammurabi Code wherein a wife is accused by a husband but there is a lack of evidence, so therefore she has to swear an oath to clear herself.Less

Rosetta Stones and Cuneiform Tablets

Rosemary A. Joyce

in The Future of Nuclear Waste: What Art and Archaeology Can Tell Us about Securing the World's Most Hazardous Material

This chapter examines the role in the marker design of buried objects intended to be inscribed with messages. Modeled on works like the Rosetta Stone, the stele of Hammurabi, and cuneiform tablets, ... More

This chapter examines the role in the marker design of buried objects intended to be inscribed with messages. Modeled on works like the Rosetta Stone, the stele of Hammurabi, and cuneiform tablets, this part of the design turned the marker system into an artificial archaeological site. Debates are explored about how meanings are effectively communicated, with an emphasis on parallel languages as securing transmission of meaning countered by historical evidence of English literary texts that rapidly became difficult to read. The chapter explores how Rosetta Stone came to be treated as a metaphor for a key to decipherment that would have been familiar to the expert consultants. Archaeological context demonstrates that the models used never actually were aimed to communicate into long-term futures. An interlude after the chapter explores the experts’ understanding of how Land Art worked, and how the artists creating such works understood them.Less

Beginnings

Robert L. Wears and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe

in Still Not Safe: Patient Safety and the Middle-Managing of American Medicine

The To Err is Human report rests upon a series of historical episodes—the early development of safety thinking in healthcare, the evolution of safety thinking in the safety sciences, and accumulating ... More

The To Err is Human report rests upon a series of historical episodes—the early development of safety thinking in healthcare, the evolution of safety thinking in the safety sciences, and accumulating stories of personal suffering and tragedy experiences by patients. Concerns about the safety of healthcare date at least as far back as the Code of Hammurabi. Early efforts at improving safety appeared sporadically in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but these were isolated and not sustained. Malpractice concerns were also entangled with safety, and the first malpractice crisis in the United States came about due to advances, rather than deficiencies, in care. Public and governmental interest in safety more generally developed out of railway accidents in the nineteenth century. Notions of accidents evolved over time, moving from accident proneness to the domino model, to more complex models such as Reason’s Swiss cheese model. Libby Zion's death results in New York state legislation regulating medical trainees’ supervision and duty hours, marking a change from a self-regulating profession to a more typical service industry. Recognition that health professionals involved in adverse events are also, in a sense, victims begins to grow.Less