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The Code of Hammurabi

Hammurabi of Babylon

c. 1754 BC (stele); English translation by C. H. W. Johns, 1903 · Ancient · Political Theory · Akkadian

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Abstract

Written: c. 1754 BC
Setting: Eighteenth century BC; Babylon (Mesopotamia, modern Iraq)
Author: Hammurabi of Babylon; trans. C. H. W. Johns (1903)
Country: Babylonia
Language: Akkadian
Genre: Law code
Form: About 282 numbered laws
Recommended: Grades 9–12 (Plain laws, but some cruel and sexual penalties; best with a teacher.)

The monument. A black stone pillar, carved in cuneiform and topped by a relief of the king receiving authority from the sun god, was unearthed at Susa in 1901–1902 and taken to the Louvre. It had been seized as plunder by an Elamite king centuries after the Babylonian ruler died.

Form. Each provision is a short conditional sentence: if someone does a certain thing, a stated consequence follows. Cases replace general principles. The approach resembles a judge's casebook more than a modern constitution, and similar collections existed earlier in Sumer.

Courts and property. The opening laws punish false accusers and judges who reverse themselves; later ones treat theft, burglary, land held by soldiers, farming, irrigation and loans. One provision even makes a city repay a traveller robbed within its district when the robber is not caught.

Households. Many laws regulate betrothal, dowry, divorce, widows, adopted children and the division of estates. A husband whose wife falls ill may remarry but must go on housing and supporting her for life.

Injury and work. Bodily harm is answered with matching harm, scaled by the victim's class; doctors, builders, boatmen and herdsmen are paid set fees and punished for careless work. A surgeon who saves a patient earns silver; one whose patient of high rank dies loses his hands.

Significance. The collection reveals a society that valued fixed, public rules and some protection for debtors and the sick, while accepting slavery, severe penalties and inequality of persons.

Key figures

Hammurabi: King of Babylon, c. 1792–1750 BC
Shamash: Babylonian sun god and god of justice
C. H. W. Johns: English Assyriologist and translator (1903)

Summary

The Code of Hammurabi is the best-known law collection of the ancient Near East. It was carved in Akkadian cuneiform on a black stone pillar, about seven feet tall, set up by Hammurabi, king of Babylon, in the eighteenth century BC. At the top a relief shows the king standing before the sun god Shamash, the god of justice. A French expedition found the pillar at Susa in Iran in the winter of 1901–1902, where it had been carried as war booty centuries after Hammurabi's death; it is now in the Louvre in Paris. The French scholar Jean-Vincent Scheil published the first translation in 1902, and the Cambridge Assyriologist C. H. W. Johns published the English version used here in 1903. The Code opens and closes with a prologue and epilogue in which the king praises the gods and his own care for his people; Johns's small book translates only the laws between them. There are some 282 laws, each in the form 'If a man has done this, then that shall follow.' They are cases, not abstract principles. The first sections punish false accusation and judges who alter their verdicts. Others deal with theft and burglary, soldiers and their land, farming and irrigation, loans and debts, trade, marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance, assault, the fees and penalties of doctors and builders, the hire of oxen and workmen, and slaves. Several features stand out. Punishments are often harsh and often follow the rule of like for like: if a man destroys a gentleman's eye, his own eye is destroyed. Penalties also depend on rank, with different rules for gentlemen, commoners and slaves. Yet the Code also protects the weak: a debtor's family sold into service must be freed after three years; a man whose wife falls sick may take a second wife but must keep and support the first; a farmer whose crop is ruined by storm owes no interest that year. A surgeon is paid well for a successful operation and loses his hands if a gentleman dies under his knife, and a builder whose house collapses and kills its owner is put to death. Students who know the Law of Moses will notice resemblances and differences. The Code shows that written law, public and fixed, was already an ancient ideal of justice.

Plot or Argument

The legal process
Sections 1–5 punish false accusation, threats against witnesses and judges who change their verdicts.
Property and theft
Laws on theft, burglary, kidnapping and brigandage, including the duty of a city to repay a robbed traveller.
Land, farming and debt
Rules for soldiers' fields, tenants, irrigation, storms and loans, with relief for debtors in bad years.
Family law
Marriage, dowries, divorce, widows, adoption and inheritance, including protection for a sick wife.
Injuries and professions
Retaliation for assault graded by rank, and fees and penalties for doctors, veterinarians and builders.
Hire and slaves
Wages for labourers and the hire of oxen and boats, ending with laws about slaves.

Lessons

Law made public
Hammurabi wrote his laws on a public monument so that anyone wronged could know his rights. Justice depends on laws that are known and fixed in advance.
- Why did Hammurabi set up his laws in stone?
- Why is it important that laws be written and public?
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- Laws, Book IV
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Justice and rank
The Code punishes the same injury differently depending on whether the victim is a gentleman, a commoner or a slave. Students can compare this with the biblical teaching that the law should not favour the rich or the poor.
- How does the penalty for injuring a gentleman differ from that for injuring a slave?
- Should the law treat all people the same? Why?
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  Ruling is a kind of knowledge. The Stranger insists that the mark of a true ruler is not birth, wealth, numbers or the consent of the ruled, but knowledge of how to care for a city. Like a physician or a pilot, the true statesman is judged by whether he makes those in his care better. This sets a high standard against which every actual government is measured.
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- Selected Sermons, Lesson: Interpretation builds institutions
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Protecting the weak
Alongside harsh penalties, the Code limits debt slavery and protects widows, orphans and sick wives. Even ancient rulers knew that law should defend the vulnerable.
- Which laws protect people who could not protect themselves?
- What do these laws suggest about Hammurabi's idea of a good king?
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  Measuring equality in a law school. Vinson's opinion first compares what can be counted, such as professors, volumes and courses, and then turns to reputation, alumni and tradition. By ruling that those intangible qualities count in judging equality, the Court made it very difficult for a newly founded separate school to match an established one.
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Responsibility for one's work
Builders and doctors are held strictly responsible for harm caused by their work. Skilled people owe care to those who trust them.
- What happens to a builder whose house falls and kills its owner?
- Are these penalties just? What would a fair penalty be today?
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Context

Hammurabi ruled Babylon in the eighteenth century BC and made it the leading power of Mesopotamia. Law collections were already old in the region: the laws of Ur-Nammu and of Lipit-Ishtar are earlier.

Composition

The laws were inscribed near the end of Hammurabi's reign. Copies on clay tablets were made for centuries in Mesopotamian scribal schools. The surviving stele was carried off to Susa by an Elamite king in the twelfth century BC.

Reception

After its discovery in 1901–1902 the Code became famous as the oldest complete law code then known and prompted comparisons with the laws of Moses. Johns's translation went through several printings.

Justice Law Crime / Punishment Power / Politics Class / Society Family

Comparisons

The Bible
The Law of Moses in Exodus and Deuteronomy shares the rule of "eye for eye" but grounds law in God's covenant with Israel.
The Institutes of Justinian
Justinian's Institutes show the very different, systematic Roman approach to law two thousand years later.
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh comes from the same Mesopotamian world of kings, gods and city walls.

Quotes

“If a man has caused the loss of a gentleman's eye, his eye one shall cause to be lost.”

— Hammurabi of Babylon, The Code of Hammurabi, Section 196, trans. C. H. W. Johns (1903).Quote card

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“If a builder has built a house for a man and has not made strong his work, and the house he built has fallen, and he has caused the death of the owner of the house, that builder shall be put to death.”

— Hammurabi of Babylon, The Code of Hammurabi, Section 229, trans. C. H. W. Johns (1903).Quote card

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For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

How each law is phrased as a case.
Differences in penalty by social rank.
Laws that protect the weak.
Rules for doctors and builders.

Key terms and names

Stele: An upright stone slab or pillar bearing an inscription.
Cuneiform: Wedge-shaped writing pressed into clay or carved in stone, used in ancient Mesopotamia.
Lex talionis: The law of retaliation, in which the punishment matches the injury.
Akkadian: The Semitic language of Babylon and Assyria.

Seminar Questions

Comprehension What happens to a judge who changes a verdict he has already given?
Comprehension What does the Code require of a man whose wife becomes sick?
Interpretation Why do you think the Code punishes injuries differently according to rank?
Interpretation What does the duty of a city to repay a robbed traveller suggest about the purpose of government?
Interpretation Is the rule of like for like a principle of justice, of limitation or of revenge?
Interpretation How does the Code balance harshness and mercy?
Big Question What makes a law just?

Faith Connections

Exodus 21:23–25 (Scripture)
"Eye for eye, tooth for tooth": the same principle in the Law of Moses, applied without distinction of rank among Israelites.
Matthew 5:38–39 (Scripture)
Jesus quotes "an eye for an eye" and calls his followers beyond retaliation.
Leviticus 19:15 (Scripture)
"Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty": equal justice before God.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Justice requires public, written laws that fix penalties in advance and protect the weak, though Hammurabi's Code also ranks persons unequally.

Rhetorical device: casuistic law. Each law states a case and its consequence: "If a man has... he shall...".

Debate: Resolved: that the rule of "eye for eye" was a step toward justice.

Memory Work

If a man has caused the loss of a gentleman's eye, his eye one shall cause to be lost.
Section 196, trans. C. H. W. Johns (1903). A short, famous example of retaliation in law.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Explain what the Code of Hammurabi shows about ideas of justice in the ancient world.

Comparison with The Bible: Compare the laws of Hammurabi with the laws of Exodus 21–23.

Medical Lens

Sections 215–223 set fees for surgeons and punishments for failed operations, the earliest known laws regulating medical practice.

Ancient Medicine Surgery Physicians Doctors Medical Ethics

Sections 215–223
Doctors' fees for successful operations graded by the patient's rank, and the loss of the surgeon's hands if a gentleman dies.
Surgery Physicians Doctors Medical Ethics

Creative Prompts

Classroom
Choose five laws from the Code and rewrite them as a modern statute. What would you change, and why?
Essay
Compare the Code's rule of "eye for eye" with the same rule in Exodus 21 and with Jesus's teaching in Matthew 5.
Fiction
Write a short story about a Babylonian farmer who brings a case before a judge under Hammurabi's laws.