CHAPTER XIII. THE DECLINE OF BABYLON.

The Jews who remained at Babylon and other cities of the land—Alexander the Great’s intentions with regard to the city, and the result of their non-fulfilment—A Babylonian lamentation dated in the reign of Seleucus Nicator and his son—The desolation of the city after the foundation of Seleucia—The temples still maintained—Antiochus Epiphanes and the introduction of Greek worship—His invasion of Egypt—The Arsacidæ—A contract of the time of Hyspasines—Materials for history—Further records of the time of the Arsacidæ—The latest date of Babylonian worship—The Christians of Irak or Babylonia.

Notwithstanding the return of large numbers of Jews to Jerusalem, a considerable portion of the nation had become attached to the land of their captivity, and remained in Babylon and the other cities of Chaldea, as well as in Persia. These, no longer captives, but settlers by their own free will, had probably decided to stay in the land either from the desire to continue the businesses which they had started there, the relinquishing of which would have meant, in all probability, ruin to themselves and their families; or because of aged relatives for whom the journey to Jerusalem, however much they might have desired it, would have been an impossibility; or because of official and civil positions which they held either at court or in the employment of rich or influential personages, by whose support they hoped to be able to aid their compatriots; or because of the attractions of a great city, whose origins must for them have possessed a special interest (notwithstanding the horrors of the captivity which their forebears must have experienced there), and whose position for thousands of years as the capital of a large province gave it a preponderating influence, not only in the country of which it was the capital, but in all the civilized world at the time.

This being the case, there numbers of the Jews stayed, and there they witnessed the gradual departure of the sceptre from that city which one of their own writers had described as the glory of kingdoms, and the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency. After the passing of the kingdom into the hands of the alien Persian kings, things went on as usual under their rule for a considerable time—the people lived on their land, and bought and sold, and transacted their ordinary business, and trade seems to have been good (judging from the number of documents which have been preserved) until the end of the reign of Darius Hystaspis. Thereafter there was either a great falling off, or else the documents were deposited in other places, or a more perishable material was used for them. In any case, they become comparatively scarce, and their rarity may be due to the departure of trade from the capital, brought about by the removal of the court from Babylon, and the consequent migration of her merchants to other places.

Things had been going, in fact, from bad to worse for Babylon, and among the clay records left, some of the royal names which we should like to see are to all appearance absent. It was still, however, a place of great importance, when, in the year 331 B.C., it opened its gates to Alexander the Great, surrendering, like Susa and Persepolis, without striking a blow. Doubtless to them it was perfectly indifferent under which foreign potentate they lived, and a change in that respect could not make their condition worse, and might be to their advantage. Had he not died long before the term which nature has fixed, the city might have taken upon it such a renewed lease of life as would have caused it to exist as a great capital to the present day. As it happened, the Babylonians began to see their fondest hopes realized, for it must soon have become noised abroad that the new conqueror of Asia intended to make Babylon his Eastern capital, and they saw the clearing away of the rubbish which was the preliminary to the restoration of the great and renowned temple of Belus, Ê-sagila (or Ê-sangil as they called it at that time), actually proceeding, not only during the reign of Alexander, but also during that of his successor, Philip, as well. The mental calibre of the latter, however, who came to the throne on the death of Alexander in the year 323 B.C., must soon have told the Babylonians that the realization of his great predecessor’s schemes was hopeless, and the downward course of the city’s star, arrested as it were for a moment, soon began again.

The next change of rulers was that following upon the unworthy bearing of Antigonus with regard to Seleucus, Alexander the Great’s favoured general, who had espoused his claims to the throne of the Eastern empire. After aiding Ptolemy of Egypt against Demetrius, son of Antigonus, he set out with a small force, and gathering recruits in his course, especially among the Babylonians, with whom he was popular, he entered their capital without opposition in 312 B.C., from which date the era of the Seleucidæ is regarded as beginning. How the Babylonians took the foundation of Seleucia on the Tigris, which is often mentioned in the numerous astrological tablets of this period, is not recorded, but from the way in which they speak of the migration of the inhabitants of Babylonia to Seleucia implies that they took it greatly to heart.

“Blessed shall he be who serveth thee as thou hast served us,” sang the Psalmist when lamenting the captivity of the Jews at Babylon, and if success in conquest be a sign of blessedness, then Seleucus must have been happy indeed. The Babylonians could not have regarded the continual and increasing desolation of their city with indifference, however, and it is not impossible that their loyalty to their king suffered somewhat in consequence. This, to all appearance, found vent in expressions of regret, and an old lamentation, referring to the depredations of the Qutû at a period so remote that we can hardly, at this distance of time, estimate, and of which a copy was made for a certain Bêl-zēr-lîšir, might well express their feelings at this period:

“For the misfortunes of Erech, for the misfortunes of Agadé, I am stricken. The Erechitess wept, that departed was her might, the Agaditess wept, that departed was her glory (?); The daughter of Erech wept, the daughter of Agadé cried aloud; As for the daughter of Larancha, in her garment her face was hidden. The Ḫursagkalamitess wept, that her husband was in trouble; The Ḫulḫutḫulitess wept, that cast down was her sceptre; The Mašitess wept, that her 7 brothers were slain, that her brother-in-law was stricken. The Agaditess wept, that her elder was slain, the lord of her well-being; The Kešitess wept—they have wrought destruction (?) for the name of her house: ‘My helpers are shattered’; The Dunnaitess wept, ‘Who has a resting-place, who has leave to go forth? Whose is it to defeat (?) the enemy, (with) the exits cut off?’ The daughter of Niffer wept, for the raging (?) Qutû assembled, She bowed down her face on account of the trouble of the husband of her well-being. The Dûr-îlitess wept, for the Qutû collected, For the son of her city destroyed, the overthrow of her father’s house. Weep for Erech, ravaging (and) shame has she received— As for me, in the storm a place of refuge I know not. Weep for Larancha (for the spoiling?) of (my) mantle I am in trouble. My eyes see not my ..., the mothers are cut off from the child. Weep for Niffer, as for me, (with) abundance of affliction (?) Heaven has bound me fast; The throne of my glory has been caused to pass away from me; The bridegroom, the husband of my well-being, Bêl has taken away from me.”

“Like its original written, made clear, and acquired.

Tablet of Bêl-zēr-lîšir, son of Bêl-âba-usur, descendant of the sculptor.

(By) the hands of Bêl-bulliṭ-su, his son. He who fears the king shall not take (?) (this) tablet (?) away.

“Babylon, month Elul, day 15th, year 25th, Siluku and Antiukusu (Seleucus and Antiochus), king of countries.

By those same “rivers of Babylon” where the Israelites had mourned in captivity, thinking of Jerusalem, there the Babylonians themselves came at last to lament the departed glories of their land. Many a time, it is true, they had seen the country which was their fatherland overrun by enemies, but it had always recovered, and risen to a greater height of prosperity. This time, however, there was to be no healing of her wound. The large and well-peopled space within the walls of the great city gradually became uninhabited, and the houses fell into ruin. A time even came at last when the great walls had to be demolished—or at least practically so—in order that they might not afford protection to the lawless bands which infested the country, and were only too ready to make the most of such an advantage.

Notwithstanding the desolation of the city, however, a certain number of people continued to inhabit the site, probably officials of the temples (whose services still continued), and tradesmen who supplied the wants of those whose duty held them attached to the place. Here, year after year, the usual sacrifices were offered to the old gods of the Babylonians, especially “My Lord and Lady,” _i.e._ Bêl (Merodach) and Beltis (Zēr-panitum, his consort), and prayers were made for the king at the time reigning, and also for his sons (if he had any). That inscriptions may come to light which will show more clearly the state of things in that vast ruined city is exceedingly probable, and a sufficient number of tablets referring to this period are known to exist even now, and show in some measure the state of the city and the kind of people who dwelt in such parts of it as had been reserved for that purpose.

To those who inhabited Babylon’s desolation, the most important thing, in all probability, was the worship, with all the old rites and ceremonies, of the deities whose temples and shrines still existed there. But those old priests and temple scribes occupied their time in another way, namely, the keeping of careful records of every historical event for the purpose of being able to tell the future. These historical notices are preceded by indications of the positions of the moon and the planets, together with the price of grain or other produce, during the period referred to. The positions of the planets, etc., were combined afterwards, by the “monthly prognosticators,” with the historical happenings, for the purpose of foretelling events, which at that late period was probably done much more systematically than during earlier ages, to the great advantage of the modern student of this period.

The following will give an idea of these historical notices:—

(Month Ab, 143rd year, Anti’ukusu, king = 168 B.C., reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.)

“An., the king, marched victoriously among the cities of the land of Meluḫḫa, and ... the people (_puliṭē_(144) the Greek πολίτης) (constructed?) idols (_puppē_, evidently a Greek word, probably meaning ‘images of gods’) and works like a shrine (of?) the Greek(s?)....”

The inscription then goes on to speak of the appointment of a _zazak_ (apparently a grade of priests) by the king, the handing to him of the gold in the treasury of Ê-saggil for the great (shrine) of Bêl, the (dedication?) of an unsuitable or an untimely image of the god Uru-gala on the 8th day of the month, and other similar occurrences. From the lines translated above, it will be seen that the Babylonians had not by any means escaped from the influence of Greek civilization, not only Greek words, but also, to all appearance, Greek gods and shrines having made their appearance. The word used in speaking of the image of the god Uru-gala is _tamšil_, but the things which the citizens made were _puppē_, possibly used like our word “idol.” It is possibly to this period, or a little later, that the transcriptions into Greek of Babylonian tablets (which promise to be of considerable value for the study of the Assyro-Babylonian language) belong.

If the translation given above be correct, it would confirm the account in the second book of Maccabees (vi. 2), from which it would appear that this ruler tried to habituate the Jews to Greek customs, and also to the Greek religion, going even so far as “to pollute also the temple in Jerusalem, and to call it the temple of Jupiter Olympus; and that in Garizim, of Jupiter the Defender of strangers, as they did desire that dwelt in the place” (vi. 2). “The abomination of desolation” which was set on the altar at Jerusalem (1 Macc. i. 54) is understood by commentators to mean an idol-altar, though almost any heathen image would suit the sense, and a statue of a god, with or without a shrine, might be meant. The reference to Meluḫḫa in all probability refers to one of his expeditions to Egypt, and is generally supposed to indicate Ethiopia.

Another change which the Babylonians experienced was when the rule of their Greek masters was exchanged for that of the Parthians, and the Seleucidæ gave way to the Arsacidæ. Concerning the period of the change, and the way in which it came about, very little is known. The varied fortunes of the Seleucid princes is illustrated by the fact that a satrap of Media named Timarchus, in 161-160 B.C., had succeeded in proclaiming himself king of Babylon; and from 153-139 B.C., Arsaces VI. (Mithridates I.) was in possession of all the district east of the Euphrates—Babylonia, Elam, and Persia. After his death, however, all this portion seems to have returned to the rule of the Seleucidæ, and their era was in all probability restored. After the death of Antiochus Sidetes, in 129 B.C., the province of Kharacene became independent under a ruler named Hyspasines or Spasines, who, two years later, seems to have made himself master of Babylon. An interesting tablet dated in the reign of this king (who used the Seleucian era) shows something of the state of things on the site of the old city, and that somewhat vividly.

(The inscription is preceded by five introductory lines, which are unfortunately imperfect, but do not seem to affect the transaction as a whole.)

“In the month Iyyar, the 24th day, year 185th, Aspāsinē (being) king, Bêl-lûmur, director of Ê-saggil, and the Babylonians, the congregation of Ê-saggil, took counsel together, and said thus—

“’Itti-Marduk-balaṭu, chief of the construction over the artificers (?) of the houses of the gods, scribe of Anu-Bêl, son of Iddin-Bêl, who formerly stood (?) at the side of Aspāsinē, the king, who (relieved?) want in the gate of the king; lo, this is for Bêl-âḫê-uṣur and Nabû-mušêtiq-ûrri, his sons—

“ ‘(As) they find the whole of his keep, a sum (?) has been collected (?) in the presence of the aforesaid Bêl-lûmur and the Babylonians, the congregation of Ê-saggil.

“ ‘From this day of this year we will give 1 mana of silver, the sustenance of Itti-Marduk-balaṭu, for their father, to Bêl-âḫê-uṣur and Nabû-mušêtiq-ûrri, from our (own) necessities. The amount, as much as Itti-Marduk-balaṭu, their father, has taken, they shall keep for (his) keep, and they shall give the grant for this year.’

“(Done along) with Bêl-šunu; Nûr; Muranu; Iddin-Bêl; Bêl-uṣur-šu, the scribe of Anu-Bêl, and the deputy-scribes of Anu-Bêl.”(145)

Though the translation is necessarily, from the mutilation of the text, not altogether satisfactory, certain items of information which it contains will hardly admit of doubt. There were still inhabitants of the city, there were temple-servants, who were probably under a kind of overseer of the works, and these apparently attended to all the temples. Whether this man was too old to work or not is doubtful, but it would seem that it was considered too much that his sons should keep him altogether, hence the drawing up of the document here quoted.

It is noteworthy that, instead of Merodach, or Bêl-Merodach, the god of Babylon, who became the chief deity of all Babylonia, a new deity appears, namely, Anu-Bêl, _i.e._ Anu the Lord, or, paraphrased, the Lord God of Heaven, probably the god Merodach identified with Anu. The religion of the Babylonians probably underwent many changes during this later period, when those who belonged to it came into contact with foreigners, many of them most intelligent men, whose teaching must have had with them great weight.

Another important inscription, in the British Museum, gives many details of the period of this little-known king, Aspāsinē. From this we learn that the Elamites made incursions in the neighbourhood of the Tigris. Pilinussu, the general in Akkad, apparently carried on operations against another general, and seems to have gone to the cities of the Medes before Bāgā-asā, the brother of the king. A man named Te’udišī also seems to have opposed the general in Akkad. Yet another inscription of the same period states that Ti’imūṭusu, son of Aspāsinē, went from Babylon to Seleucia (on the Tigris), showing that the former renowned place was still regarded as one of the cities of the land. At this time one of the opponents of Aspāsinē’s generals was “Pittit, the enemy, the Elamite.” Elam, to its whole extent, was smitten with the sword, and Pittit (was slain, or captured). Sacrifices were made to Bel, probably on account of this victory.

Similar inscriptions of the time of the Arsacidean rule in Babylonia also exist, and would probably be useful if published. Unfortunately, they are all more or less damaged and mutilated, but of those which I have been able to make notes of, one may be worth quoting. The following extract will show its nature:—

“This month I heard thus: Aršakā the king and his soldiers departed to the city of Arqania.... (I) heard thus: The Elamite and his soldiers departed to battle before the city Apam’a which is upon the river Ṣilḫu....”

The remainder is very mutilated, and requires studying in conjunction with all the other inscriptions of the same class, though even then much must necessarily be doubtful.

In many of these inscriptions each of the long paragraphs ends with a reference to the sacrifices which had been made in the temples of Babylon among the ruins, and sometimes, though rarely, they refer to something of the nature of an omen. The following will serve as an example:—

“... descended to Babylon from Seleucia which is upon the Tigris. Day 10, the governor of Akkad ... the congregation of Ê-saggil, (sacrificed) one ox and 4 lambs in the gate Ka-dumu-nuna of Ê-saggil, (and) made (prayer for the lif)e of the king and his preservation. On the 5., one ox and 3 lambs (they sacrificed). The congregation of Baby]lon came to Ka-dumu-nuna of Ê-saggil, offerings like the former ones were made ... went forth from Sippar. This month a goat brought forth, and the litter was 15.”

Contract-tablets, some of them of a very late date indeed, within a decade or two of the Christian era, show that the temples still existed, and that sacrifices and services still went on, probably uninterruptedly, at the temples of Babylon, and this implies that, though the country had no national existence, the beliefs of the people survived for many centuries the downfall of their power. In all probability, what took place at Babylon had its counterpart in other places in the country—the fanes renowned of old—as well. Indeed, it is known that, at the most perfectly preserved of the temple-towers of Babylonia at the present day—that at Borsippa, now and for many centuries known as the Birs Nimroud, “the tower (as it is explained) of Nimrod,”—the services and worship were continued as late as the fourth century of the Christian era. The worship of Nebo, the god of wisdom, or, rather, letters, had always been extremely popular, hence, in all probability, the continuation of his cult until this late date. But this was to all appearance the last remnant of the powerful and picturesque creed of old Babylon, and details of its slow and gradual disappearance from the religious beliefs of the world would probably be as interesting as the story of its growth and development.

“The Church at Babylon,” mentioned in 1 Peter v. 13, is generally understood allegorically, as of the Church in the world, or that in the great Babylon of the time when the apostle wrote, namely, Rome. Though it is unknown whether a Christian Church existed in his time anywhere in Babylonia, it is probably certain that the native Christians of Baghdad (and ’Irāq in general) are pure descendants of the ancient Babylonians, to whom, in form and stature, as well as in character, and their tendency to progress, they have a great likeness. The same may be said of the native Christians of Assyria.

Could we but know the history of Assyria at this period, it is very probable that we should find it to resemble in certain things—perhaps in the main—that of Babylonia after her downfall. From the religious point of view, also, there must have been similarity. They, too, knew the worship of the “merciful Merodach,” to them a type of Christ, and his father Êa (from whom he obtained the means of helping mankind), in name and position a type of Jah, God the Father, whom the Christians worshipped. But we shall never in all probability know whether they thus analyzed and compared the two faiths, though it is very possible that they did, for it is said that the Egyptians were attracted to Christianity by the comparison of Christ with their Osiris. Such, however, is the tendency of the mind of mankind. Ever unwilling to break with the old, he seeks for some analogy in the new, to form a bridge whereby to pass to higher things. Minor deities have ever tended to become Christian saints, and such may have been—indeed, probably was—the case with the Babylonians and the Assyrians.

APPENDIX. THE STELE INSCRIBED WITH THE LAWS OF ḪAMMURABI.

This monument was found at Susa, in the excavations undertaken by the French Government, by MM. de Morgan and Prof. V. Scheil. It is a column of diorite, measuring about 7 feet in height, tapering slightly from the bottom upwards. The circumference of the base is about 2 yards, and at the summit about 5 feet 5-½ inches. As, however, the stone is not square, it may be described as measuring, roughly, 22 inches broad at the base, and 16 inches just above the bas-relief at the top, where it is rounded somewhat irregularly.

The bas-relief, which is in perfect condition, measures about 2 feet 2 inches in height, and represents Ḫammurabi standing, facing to the right, towards the sun-god Šamaš, who sits on a throne of the usual recessed design. The god is bearded, clothed in a flounced robe, and has his hair looped up behind. His hat is pointed, and is adorned with four (eight) horns, rising at the side, and coming forward, where their points are turned up. His right shoulder is bare, and in his right hand he holds a staff and a ring, emblematic of authority and eternity, or his apparent course in the heavens. His right hand is held against his breast, and wavy lines, probably representing his rays, arise from his shoulders.

Ḫammurabi, who stands before the seated god, is clothed in a long robe reaching to his feet, and held up by his left arm. His right shoulder and arm are bare, and the hand is raised as if to emphasize the words he is uttering. Like the god, he is heavily bearded. On his head he wears the globular thick-brimmed hat distinctive of men in authority for many hundred years before his time, and for a considerable period afterwards.

The inscription, which is in horizontal columns, covers all four sides of the stone, and is divided into two parts, called by Prof. Scheil, who first translated it, the “obverse” and the “reverse” respectively. The former is in 16 columns, after which come 5 columns which have been erased, probably, as Prof. Scheil remarks, to insert the name and titles of an Elamite king, Šutruk-Naḫḫunte, who has his inscription placed on several other monuments of Babylonian origin found there. For some reason or other, the space on the stele of Ḫammurabi still remains blank. The “reverse” has 28 columns of inscription. The columns are narrow, and the lines consequently short, but as the latter are no less than 3638 in number, the text is a very extensive one, and when complete, must have consisted of over 4000 lines.

The inscription consists of three portions: the Introduction, consisting of 4 columns and 25 lines, detailing all the benefits which Ḫammurabi had conferred on the cities and temples of the land; the Laws, which occupy the remainder of the obverse, and 23 columns of the reverse (in all, 40 columns less 25 lines); and the Conclusion, occupying the remaining 5 columns, in which he recounts his own virtues, and in a long curse, calls upon the gods whom he worshipped to punish and destroy any of his successors who should abolish or change what he had written, or destroy his bas-relief.

The Laws Of Ḫammurabi.

Introduction.

When the supreme God, king of the Annunaki,(146) and Bel, lord of the heavens and the earth, who fixes the destinies of the land, had fixed for Merodach, the eldest son of Aê, the Divine Lordship over the multitude of the people, and had made him great among the Igigi, they called Babylon by its supreme name, caused it to be great among the countries (of the world), and caused to exist for him in its midst an everlasting kingdom, whose foundation is as firm as heaven and earth.

At that time Ḫammurabi, the noble prince—he who fears God—me—in order that justice might exist in the country, to destroy the evil and wicked, that the strong might not oppress the weak,—God and Bel, to gladden the flesh of the people, proclaimed my name as a Sungod(147) for the black-headed ones,(148) appearing and illuminating the land.

Ḫammurabi, the shepherd proclaimed of Bel am I—the perfecter of abundance and plenty, the completer of everything for Niffur (and) Dur-an-ki,(149) the glorious patron of Ê-kura;(150)

The powerful king who has restored the city Êridu to its first state, who has purified the service of Ê-apsû;(151)

The best of the four regions, who made great the name of Babylon, rejoicing the heart of Merodach, his lord, who daily stays (at service) in Ê-sagila;(152)

The kingly seed whom the god Sin has created, who endows with riches the city of Ur;(153) humble, devout, he who brings abundance to Ê-kiš-nu-gala;(154)

The king of wisdom, favourite of Šamaš, the powerful one, he who founded (again) the city of Sippar, who clothed with green the burial-places of Aa,(155) who made supreme the temple Ê-babbara,(156) which is like a throne (in) the heavens;

The warrior benefiting Larsa,(157) who renewed the temple Ê-babbara(158) for Šamaš his helper;

The lord who gave life to Erech, procuring waters in abundance for its people, he who has raised the head of the temple Ê-anna, completing the treasures for Anu and Innanna;(159)

The protector of the land, who has reassembled the scattered people of Nisin, who has made abundant the riches of the temple E-gal-maḫ;(160)

The unique one, king of the city, twin brother of the god Zagaga, he who founded the seat of the city of Kiš, who has caused the temple Ê-mete-ursag(161) to be surrounded with splendour, who has caused the great sanctuaries of the goddess Innanna to be increased;

Overseer of the temple of Ḫursag-kalama, the enemies’ temple-court, the help of which caused him to attain his desire;(162)

He who has enlarged the city of Cuthah, made great everything for the temple Meslam;(163)

The mighty steer who overthrows the enemy, the beloved of the god Tutu;(164)

He who causes the city of Borsippa to rejoice, the supreme one, he who is tireless for the temple Ê-zida;(165)

The divine king of the city, wise, alert, he who has extended the agriculture of Dilmu,(166) who has heaped up the (grain) receptacles for the powerful god Uraš;(167)

The lord (who is) the adornment of the sceptre and the crown, with which the wise goddess Mama has crowned him;

Who has defined the sanctuaries of Kêš, who has made plentiful the glorious feasts for the goddess Nin-tu;

The provident and careful one, who set pasturages and watering-places for Lagaš and Girsu, he who procured great offerings for Ê-ninnû;(168)

He who holds fast the enemy, the favourite of the divinity, he who fulfils the portents of the city Ḫallabu, he who has gladdened the heart of Ištar;(169)

The prince undefiled, whose prayer(170) Addu(171) has heard, he who gives rest to the heart of Addu, the warrior, in the city Muru;

He who set up the ornaments in the temple E-para-galgala, the king who gave life to the city of Adab;

He who directs the temple E-maḫ, the prince who is the city-king, the warrior who is without rival;

He who has given life to the city Maškan-šabri, who has caused abundance to arise for the temple Mešlam;

The wise, the active one, who has captured the robbers’ hiding-places, sheltered the people of Malkâ in (their) misfortune, caused their seats to be founded in abundance, (and) instituted pure offerings for Aê and Damgal-nunna, who have made his kingdom great for ever.

The prince who is city-king, who subjugated the settlements of the Euphrates, the boundary (of) Dagan, his creator, who spared the people of Mera and Tutul;

The supreme prince, who has made the face of the goddess Ištar to shine, set pure repasts for the divinity Nin-azu, who cared for his people in (their) need, fixing their dues within Babylon peacefully;

The shepherd of the people, whose deeds are good unto Ištar, who set Ištar in the temple Ê-ulmaš within Agadé of the (broad) streets; he who makes the faithful obedient, who guides the Race;(172)

Who returned its good genius to the city of Asshur, who caused (its) splendour (?) to shine forth;

The king who in Nineveh has caused the names of Ištar to be glorified in Ê-mešmeš;(173)

The supreme one, devoted in prayer to the great gods, descendant of Sumula-ilu, the mighty son of Sin-mubaliṭ, the eternal seed of royalty;

The powerful king, the Sun of Babylon, he who sends forth light for the land of Šumer and Akkad, the king causing the four regions to obey him, the beloved of the goddess Ištar, am I.

When Merodach chose me to govern the people, to rule and instruct the land, law and justice I set in the mouth of the land—in that day did I bring about the well-being of the people.

The Laws.

1. If a man ban a man, and cast a spell upon him, and has not justified it, he who has banned him shall be killed.

2. If a man has thrown a spell upon a man, and has not justified it, he upon whom the spell has been thrown shall go to the river,(174) (and) shall plunge into the river, and if the river take him, he who banned him may take his house. If the river show that man to be innocent, and save (him), he who threw the spell upon him shall be killed; he who plunged into the river may take possession of the house of him who banned him.

3. If a man in a lawsuit has come forward (to bear) false witness, and has not justified the word he has spoken, if that lawsuit be a lawsuit of life,(175) that man shall be killed.

4. If he has come forward (to bear) witness concerning wheat or silver, he shall bear the guilt of that lawsuit.

5. If a judge has given judgment, and decided a decision, and delivered a tablet (thereupon), and afterwards his judgment is found faulty, that judge, for the fault in the judgment he had judged, they shall summon, and the claim which is in question(176) he shall (re)pay twelvefold, and in the assembly they shall make him rise up from his judgment-seat, and he shall not return, and he shall not sit again with the judges in judgment.

6. If a man has stolen the property of a god, or of the palace, that man shall be killed; and he who has received the stolen thing from his hand shall be killed.

7. If a man has bought either silver, or gold, or a man-slave, or a woman-slave, or an ox, or a sheep, or an ass, or anything whatever, from the hands of the son of a man or the slave of a man, without witness or contract, or has received it on deposit, that man is a thief—he shall be killed.

8. If a man has stolen either an ox, or a sheep, or an ass, or a pig, or a ship—if it be from a god or from the palace, he shall (re)pay thirtyfold; if it be from a poor man, he shall restore tenfold. If the thief have not wherewith to (re)pay, he shall be killed.

9. If a man who has lost his property meet with his lost property in the hands of a man, (and) the man in whose hands the lost thing has been found say “a certain seller sold it—I bought it before certain witnesses,” and the owner of the lost object say “Let me bring witnesses who will recognize my lost object,” the buyer shall bring forward the seller who sold it, and the witnesses before whom he bought (it), and the owner of the lost object shall bring forward the witnesses who will recognize his lost object. The judge shall see what they have to say, and the witnesses before whom the purchase was made, and the witnesses knowing the object lost shall speak before God,(177) and (if) the seller is the thief, he shall be killed. The owner of the lost object shall take (back) his lost object; the buyer shall receive (back) from the house of the seller the silver which he has paid.

10. If the buyer has not brought forward the seller who sold it to him and the witnesses before whom he bought (it), (and) the owner of the lost object has brought forward witnesses recognizing his lost object, the buyer is a thief—he shall be killed; the owner of the object lost shall take (back) the lost object.

11. If the owner of the lost object has not brought forward witnesses recognizing his lost object, he is a rogue, (and) has made a false accusation—he shall be killed.

12. If the seller has gone to his fate, the buyer shall receive from the house of the seller the claims of that judgment fivefold.

13. If that man have not his witnesses at hand, the judge shall grant him a delay of six months,(178) and if he have not procured his witnesses in six months,(179) that man is a rogue—he shall bear the guilt of that judgment.

14. If a man has stolen the young son of a man, he shall be killed.

15. If a man has caused to go forth from the gate either a slave of the palace, or a handmaid of the palace, or the slave of a poor man, or the handmaid of a poor man, he shall be killed.

16. If a man has sheltered the escaped male or female slave of the palace or of a poor man in his house, and at the request of the steward has not sent him forth, the master of that house shall be killed.

17. If a man has met the escaped male or female slave in the fields, and has taken him back to his master, the master of the slave shall give him two shekels of silver.

18. If that slave will not name his master, he shall take him to the palace, his intention shall be inquired into, and they shall return him to his master.

19. If he has shut up that slave in his house, and afterwards the slave has been found in his hands, that man shall be killed.

20. If a slave escape from the hands of the man who has found him, that man shall call God to witness(180) unto the master of the slave, and shall be held blameless.

21. If a man has made a breach in a house, in front of that breach they shall kill him and bury him.

22. If a man has exercised brigandage, and has been taken, that man shall be killed.

23. If the brigand has not been captured, the man who has been robbed shall take the thing which he has lost before God, and the city and the authorities within whose territory and boundaries the brigandage has been exercised shall make up to him what he has lost.

24. If (it be a question of) a life, the city and authorities shall pay one mana of silver to his people.

25. If the house of a man has been set on fire,(181) and a man who went to extinguish it has raised his eyes to the property of the owner of the house, and taken the property of the owner of the house, that man shall be thrown into that same fire.

26. If an army-leader or a soldier, who has been commanded to go his way on a royal expedition, does not go, and has hired a mercenary, and his substitute is taken, that army-leader or soldier shall be killed, he who changed with him shall take his house.

27. If an army-leader or a soldier, who by the king’s misfortune is kept prisoner, afterwards they have given his field and plantation to another, and he has carried on its administration; if (the original owner) then return and reach his city, they shall return to him his field and plantation, and he himself shall carry on its administration.

28. If the son of an army-leader or a soldier, who is kept prisoner by the king’s misfortune, is able to carry on the administration, they shall give to him the field and plantation, and he shall carry on the administration for his father.

29. If his son is young, and is unable to carry on the administration for his father, the third part of the field and plantation shall be given to his mother, and his mother shall bring him up.

30. If an army-leader or a soldier neglect his field, his plantation, and his house on account of the burden, and leave it waste, (and) another after him has taken his field, his plantation, and his house, and has carried on its administration for three years, if he return and wish to cultivate his field, his plantation, and his house, it shall not be given to him—he who took and has carried on its administration shall continue to administer.

31. If for one year (only) he has let (them) lie waste, and has returned, his field, his plantation, and his house they shall give to him, and he shall carry on his administration himself.

32. If a merchant has redeemed an army-leader or a soldier who has been kept prisoner upon a royal expedition, and has caused him to regain his city—if in his house there be (the wherewithal) for his redemption, he shall then redeem himself. If in his house there be not (the wherewithal) for his redemption, in the house of his city’s god he shall be redeemed. If in the house of his city’s god there be not (the wherewithal) for his redemption, the palace shall redeem him. His field, his plantation, and his house shall not be given for his redemption.

33. If a governor or a prefect have a substitute,(182) or for a royal expedition accept a mercenary as substitute and incorporate (him), that governor or prefect shall be killed.

34. If a governor or a prefect take the property of an army-officer, ruin an army-officer, lend an army-officer for hire, grant an army-officer in a lawsuit to a magnate, take the gift which the king has given to an army-officer, that governor or prefect shall be killed.

35. If a man purchase from the hands of an army-officer the cattle and sheep which the king has given to the army-officer, he shall forfeit his money.

36. Field, plantation, and house of an army-officer, soldier, and tax-payer he(183) shall not sell for silver.

37. If a man buy the field, plantation, or house of an army-officer, soldier, or tax-payer, his contract shall be broken, and he shall forfeit his money. The field, plantation, or house shall return to its owner.

38. Army-officer, soldier, or tax-payer shall not leave to his wife or his daughter (anything) from the field, plantation, and house of his administration, and shall not give them for his indebtedness.

39. He may leave to his wife and his daughter (any part) of the field, plantation, or house which he has bought and owns, and may give it for his indebtedness.

40. But to an agent or other official, he may give his field, his plantation, or his house for silver, (and) the purchaser shall carry on the administration of the field, plantation, and house which he has bought.

41. If a man has enclosed the field, plantation, or house of an army-officer, soldier, or tax-payer, and given substitutes, the army-officer, soldier, or tax-payer may return to his field, plantation, or house, and take the substitutes which have been given to him.

42. If a man has hired a field for cultivation, and has not caused wheat to be in that field, they shall summon him for not having done work in the field, and he shall give to the owner of the field wheat like his neighbour.

43. If he has not planted the field, and has let it lie, he shall give to the owner of the field wheat like his neighbour, and the field which he has let lie he shall break up for cultivation, shall enclose (it) and return (it) to the owner of the field.

44. If a man has hired an uncultivated field for cultivation(184) for three years, and he has been idle and has not cultivated the field, in the fourth year he shall break up the field for cultivation, shall hoe (it), and shall enclose (it) and return (it) to the owner of the field, and for every 10 _gan_ he shall measure (to him) 10 _gur_ of wheat.

45. If a man has given his field for rent to a planter, and has received the rent of his field, and afterwards a storm(185) has inundated the field, or has (otherwise) destroyed the produce, the loss belongs to the planter.

46. If he have not received the rent of his field, and has let the field for a half or a third (of the produce), the planter and the owner of the field shall share the wheat which has been produced in the field proportionately.

47. If the planter, because his husbandry did not yield profit(186) in the first year, direct the field to be cultivated (by another), the owner of the field shall not object. The planter then shall cultivate his field, and shall take the wheat at harvest-time, according to his contract.

48. If there be interest (upon a loan) against a man, and a storm(187) inundate his field, or has (otherwise) destroyed the produce, or by want of water there is no wheat in the field, that year he shall not return any wheat to the creditor.(188) He shall damp his tablet (? to alter it), and shall not pay interest(189) for that year.

49. If a man has borrowed money from an agent, and has given to the agent a field laboured for wheat or sesame, (and) has said to him: “Plant the field, and gather and take the wheat or the sesame which will be produced;” if the planter has caused wheat or sesame to be in the field, at harvest-time the owner of the field may take the wheat or sesame which has been produced in the field, and shall give to the agent wheat for his silver and his interest(190) which he received from the agent, and (for) the cost of the cultivation.

50. If he has given (as security) a planted field, or a field planted with sesame, the owner of the field shall take the wheat or sesame which is produced in the field, and shall return the silver and its interest to the agent.

51. If there be no silver (wherewith) to repay, he shall give to the agent sesame at their market-price for his silver and his interest, which he received from the agent, according to the tariff of the king.

52. If the planter has not caused wheat or sesame to be in the field, it does not annul his contract.

53. If a man has neglected to stren[gth]en his [dyke], and has not streng[thened his] dyke, [and] a breach has o[pened] in [his] dyke, and water has inundated the enclosure, the man in whose dyke the breach has been opened shall make good the wheat which it has destroyed.

54. If the wheat does not suffice to make good (the damage), they shall sell that (man) and his goods for silver, and the people(191) of the enclosure, whose wheat the water carried away, shall share together.

55. If a man has opened his irrigation-channel to water, (and) has been negligent, and the water has flooded the field of his neighbour, he shall measure (to him) wheat like(192) (that of) his neighbour.

56. If a man has opened the water, and the water flood the work of the field of his neighbour, he shall measure (to him) 10 _gur_ of wheat for each 10 _gan_.

57. If a shepherd has not agreed with the owner of a field for grass to pasture his sheep, and without the owner of the field has pastured sheep (in) the field, the owner shall reap _his_ fields; the shepherd who, without the owner of the field, pastured sheep (in) the field, shall pay to the owner of the field 20 _gur_ of wheat for every 10 _gan_ besides.

58. If, after the sheep have left the enclosure, (and) the whole flock has passed through the gate, the shepherd place the sheep (again) in the field, and cause the sheep to pasture (in) the field, the shepherd shall keep the field (where) he has pastured them, and shall measure to the owner of the field, at harvest-time, 60 _gur_ of wheat for every 10 _gan_.

59. If a man, without (the permission of) the owner of a plantation, has cut down a tree in the plantation of a man, he shall pay half a mana of silver.

60. If a man has given a field to a gardener to plant as a plantation, (and) the gardener has planted the plantation, he shall tend the plantation for four years. In the fifth year the owner of the plantation and the gardener shall share equally; (thereafter) the owner of the plantation shall apportion and take his share.

61. If a gardener has not completed the plantation of a field, and has left an uncultivated place, they shall set for him the uncultivated place in his share.

62. If he has not planted the field which has been given him for a plantation, if (it be) grain, the gardener shall measure to the owner of the field the produce of the field, for the years during which it has been neglected, like his neighbour; and he shall do the work of the field, and return (it) to the owner of the field.

63. If the field (was) waste land, he shall do the work of the field, and return (it) to the owner of the field, and he shall measure for every year 10 _gur_ of wheat for each 10 _gan_.

64. If a man has given his plantation to a gardener to cultivate, the gardener, as long as he holds the plantation, shall give two-thirds of the produce of the plantation to the owner of the plantation, (and) shall take a third himself.

65. If the gardener has not cultivated the plantation, and has diminished the produce, the gardener [shall measure to the owner of the field] produce (like) his neighbour.

(Five columns have here been erased, apparently by the Elamite king who intended to inscribe his name upon the monument. Prof. Scheil estimates that this contained about 35 sections of the laws, containing the remaining sections referring to the cultivation of plantations or orchards, the letting of houses, and the laws relating to commercial transactions, of which a portion is preserved after the gap. As pointed out by Prof. Scheil, the following sections, from fragments of tablets found at Nineveh by Hormuzd Rassam and the late Geo. Smith, probably came in here.)

[If a man has borrowed silver from an agent, and has given] to the agent [a date-orchard, and] has said to him: “Take for thy money the dates, [as much as] will be produced in [my] orchard, for thy money;” (if) that agent be not in agreement, the owner of the orchard shall take the dates which are produced in the orchard, and return to the agent the silver and its interest, according to his tablet; and the owner of the orchard may ta[ke] the surplus dates which have been produced in the orchard.

[If a man has hired a house, and] the man has paid to the owner of [the house] the complete money for his rent for a year, [and] the owner of the house, before the days are full, command the ten[ant] to go [forth],—the owner of the house, [as] he sends the tenant [forth] from his house before the time,(193) [shall return to the tenant a proportionate sum, for having gone forth from his house], from the money which the tenant has pai[d to him].

[If a man] owe (?) wheat (or) silver, and has not wheat or silver [wherewith] to [pay], but possess (other) goods, whatever is in his hands he shall gi[ve] to the agent, before witnesses, as profit, [and] the agent shall not f[ind fault], and shall ac[cept it].

(Portions of other laws are also preserved, but they are too fragmentary to enable the sense to be gathered.)

100. [If an agent has advanced silver to a commissioner, and he has had good fortune in the place to which he went], he shall write down the profits of his silver, as much as he has received, and the day when they make up their accounts he shall pay (it) to his agent.

101. If he found no profit where he went, he shall make up the silver which he took, and the commissioner shall repay it to the agent.(194)

102. If an agent has advanced silver to a commissioner for profit, and he found loss where he went, he shall return the capital of the silver to the agent.

103. If, whilst going on his way, an enemy caused him to lose what he was carrying, the commissioner shall call God to witness(195) and shall go free.

104. If an agent has given to a commissioner grain, wool, oil, or any other goods for trading, the commissioner shall write down the silver (received), and shall return it to the agent. The commissioner shall take a sealed document of the silver which he gives to the agent.(196)

105. If the commissioner has been negligent, and has not taken a sealed document of the silver which he has given to the agent, the silver not certified shall not be placed in the business.(197)

106. If a commissioner has taken silver from an agent, and dispute (withhold it from) his agent, that agent shall summon the commissioner before God and the witnesses concerning the money taken; the commissioner shall repay to the agent the silver, as much as he has taken, threefold.

107. If an agent act unjustly to a commissioner, and the commissioner has returned to the agent everything which the agent had given to him, (and) the agent dispute with the commissioner (concerning) anything which the commissioner has repaid to him, that commissioner shall summon the agent before God and the witnesses, and the agent, for having disputed (with) his commissioner, anything which he has received he shall repay to the commissioner sixfold.

108. If a wine-woman has not accepted wheat as the price of drink, (but) has accepted silver by the large stone, or has set the tariff of the drink below the tariff of the wheat, they shall summon that wine-woman, and shall throw her into the water.

109. If a wine-woman, (when) riotous fellows are assembled at her house, does not seize those riotous fellows and take them to the palace, that wine-woman shall be killed.

110. If a devotee who dwells not in a cloister open a wine-house, or enter a wine-house for drink, that female they shall burn.

111. If a wine-woman has given 60 _qa_ of second (?) quality drink, for thirst, she shall take 50 _qa_ of corn at harvest-time.

112. If a man is travelling,(198) and has given to (another) man silver, gold, (precious) stones, and his other property(199) and has caused him to take them for delivery, (and) that man has not delivered what he was to transmit at the place to which he was to transmit (it), and has taken it away, the owner of the consignment shall summon that man for anything which he took and did not deliver, and that man shall give (back) to the owner of the consignment fivefold anything which had been given to him.

113. If a man have (an account of) wheat or silver against a man, and without the owner of the wheat has taken wheat from the barn or the depository, they shall summon that man, for having taking wheat, without the owner of the wheat, from the barn or depository, and he shall return the wheat, as much as he took, and he shall forfeit whatever it may be, as much as he lent.(200)

114. If a man have no (account of) wheat or silver against a man, and make his distraint, for every distraint he shall pay one-third of a mana of silver.

115. If a man have (an account of) wheat or silver against a man, and make his distraint, and the person distrained(201) die, by his fate, in the house of the distrainer, that lawsuit has no claim.

116. If the person distrained die in the house of the distrainer by blows or by ill-treatment, the owner of the person distrained shall summon his agent;(202) and if (the person distrained) was the son of the man, they shall kill his (the distrainer’s) son; if he was the servant (slave) of the man, he shall pay one-third of a mana of silver; and he shall forfeit whatever it may be, as much as he lent.

117. If a man has contracted a debt, and has given his wife, his son, (or) his daughter for the money, or has let (them) out for service, three years they shall serve the house of their purchaser or master, in the fourth year he shall grant their freedom.

118. If he let out a male or female slave for service, (and) the agent pass (them) on (and) give them for silver, there is no claim.

119. If a man has contracted a debt, and has sold his female-slave who has borne him children, the owner of the slave may (re)pay the silver which the agent has paid, and redeem his slave.

120. If a man has delivered his grain for storage in the house of a man, and a deficiency appears in the granary, or the master of the house has opened the storehouse and taken the grain, or he has disputed as to the total of the grain which was delivered at his house, the owner of the grain shall claim his grain before God, and the master of the house shall cause the grain which he has taken to be made up, and shall give (it) to the owner of the grain.

121. If a man has delivered grain (for storage) at the house of a man, he shall pay yearly 5 _qa_ of grain for every _gur_ (as) the price of the storage.

122. If a man give silver, gold, or anything else, to a man on deposit, he shall show the witnesses everything, whatever he gives; he shall make contracts, and (then) give (it) on deposit.

123. If he has given it on deposit without witnesses and contracts, and they dispute (this) to him where he gave it, that lawsuit has no claim.

124. If a man has given silver, gold, or anything else, to a man, before witnesses, on deposit, and (the man) dispute with him, he shall summon that man, and whatever he has disputed, he shall make up and give (back).

125. If a man has given his property on deposit, and where he gave (it), his property disappeared, with the property of the owner of the house, either through a breaking in or through a trespass, the master of the house which was in fault shall compensate for his property which he gave him on deposit and (which) was lost, and he shall make (it) up to the owner of the property. The master of the house shall seek his lost property, and take it from the thief.

126. If a man, his property not being lost, say that his property is lost, he shall bring forward his deficiency. As his property has not been lost, he shall state his deficiency before God, and whatever he has claimed they shall cause him to make up, and he shall give (it) to (make up) his deficiency.

127. If a man has caused the finger to be raised against a devotee or the wife of a man, and has not justified it, they shall set that man before the judges, and mark his forehead.

128. If a man has taken a wife, and has not made her contract,(203) that woman is not a wife.

129. If the wife of a man is taken in adultery with another male, they shall tie them together, and throw them into the water. If the owner of the wife spare his wife, and the king spare his servant....

130. If a man force the wife of a man who has not yet known a male, and (who) dwells in the house of her father, and has lain in her bosom, and they have found him, that man shall be killed, the woman shall be allowed to go.

131. If the wife of a man has been accused by her husband,(204) and he has not found her on the couch with another male, she shall swear by God,(205) and return to her house.

132. If, on account of another male, the finger has been pointed at the wife of a man, and she has not been found with another male on the couch, she shall plunge into the river for her husband(’s sake).

133. If a man has been made captive, and there is in his house the wherewithal to eat, (and) his [wife] has [gone] forth [from] her [house], [and afterwards?] has [en]tered into another house, [as] that woman has not guarded her homestead, and has entered another house, they shall summon that woman, and throw her into the water.

134. If a man has been made captive, and there is not in the house the wherewithal to eat, his wife may enter another house; that woman is not in fault.

135. If a man has been made captive, and there is not in his house the wherewithal to eat,(206) (and) his wife has entered another house, and has borne children, (and) afterwards her husband return, and reach his city, that woman shall(207) return to her husband; the children shall go to their father.

136. If a man has abandoned his city and fled, (and) afterwards(208) his wife has entered another house, if that man return, and (wish to) take his wife, as he hated his city and fled, the wife of the deserter shall(209) not return to her husband.

137. If a man set his face to repudiate a concubine who has borne him children, or a wife who has caused him to have children, he shall return to that woman her (marriage) gift, and shall give to her the usufruct of field, plantation, and goods, and she shall bring up her children. After she has brought up her children, they shall give to her, from the property which has been given to her children, (a share of) the produce like (that of) one son, and she may marry the husband of her choice.(210)

138. If a man (wish to) repudiate his spouse, who has not borne him children, he shall give to her silver, as much as was her dower, and he shall restore to her the wedding-gift which she brought from the house of her father, and shall repudiate her.

139. If there be no dower, he shall give her one mana of silver for the repudiation.

140. If (he be) a poor man, he shall give her one-third of a mana of silver.

141. If the wife of a man, who dwells in the house of the man, set her face to go forth, commit foolishness (?), ruin her house, despise her husband, they shall summon her, and if her husband say: “I have divorced her,” he shall let her go her way. (As for) her repudiation(-gift), nothing shall be given to her. If her husband say: “I have not repudiated her,” her husband may marry(211) another woman; that woman shall dwell in her husband’s house like a servant.

142. If a woman hate her husband, and say: “Thou shalt not possess me,” her reason for that which she lacks shall be examined, and if she has been continent, and have no fault, and her husband go out, and neglect her greatly, that woman has no defect; she shall take her wedding-gift, and shall go to the house of her father.

143. If she has not been continent, and has gone about, she has ruined her house, (and) despised her husband; they shall throw that woman into the water.

144. If a man has married a wife, and that wife has given a maid-servant to her husband, and she has had children, (if) that man set his face to take a concubine, they shall not allow that man—he shall not take a concubine.

145. If a man has married a wife, and she has not caused him to have children, and he set his face to take a concubine, that man may take a concubine, (and) may introduce her into his house, (but) he shall not make that concubine equal with (his) wife.

146. If a man has married a wife, and she has given a maid-servant to her husband, and (the maid-servant) has borne children, (if) afterwards that maid-servant make herself equal with her mistress, as she has borne children, her mistress shall not sell her for silver; she shall place a mark(212) upon her, and count her with the maid-servants.

147. If she has not borne children, her mistress may sell her for silver.

148. If a man has married a wife, and a malady has seized her, (and) he has set his face to marry a second, he may marry. He shall not divorce the wife whom the malady has seized; she may stay in the house he has made, and he shall support her as long as she lives.

149. If that woman is not content to dwell in the house of her husband, he shall deliver to her her marriage-gift, which she brought from the house of her father, and she shall go her way.

150. If a man has presented to his wife a field, a plantation, a house, and property, (and) has left her a sealed tablet, after her husband(’s death) her sons shall make no claim against her. The mother may give her property(213) to the son whom she loves,—to the brother she need not give.

151. If a woman who dwells in the house of a man contract with her husband, and cause (him) to deliver a tablet, so that a creditor(214) of her husband may not seize her, if that man have interest of money against him before he marries that woman, his creditor shall not seize his wife, and if that woman have interest of money against her before she enter the house of the man, her creditor shall not seize her husband.

152. If interest accrue against them after that woman has entered the house of the man, they shall both be responsible to the agent.

153. If the wife of a man cause her husband to be killed on account of another male, they shall impale that woman.(215)

154. If a man has known his daughter, they shall expel that man from the city.

155. If a man has chosen a bride for his son, and his son has known her, (and if) he (himself) then afterwards has lain in her bosom, and they have found him, they shall bind that man, and cast her into the water.(216)

156. If a man has chosen a bride for his son, and his son has not known her, and he (himself) has lain in her bosom, he shall pay her half a mana of silver, and shall restore to her whatever she brought from the house of her father, and she shall marry the husband of her choice.

157. If a man, after his father, has lain in the bosom of his mother, they shall burn them both.

158. If a man, after his father, be found in the bosom of her who brought him up, (and) who has brought forth children, that man shall be turned out of (his) father’s house.

159. If a man, who has brought to his father-in-law’s house furniture(217) (and) has given a dower, pay attention to another woman, and say to his father-in-law: “I will not marry thy daughter,” the father of the girl shall take the property which has been brought to him.

160. If a man has brought furniture to the house of his father-in-law, (and) given a dower, and the father of the girl say: “I will not give thee my daughter,” the property, as much as has been brought to him, he shall cause to be equal,(218) and shall return.

161. If a man has brought furniture to the house of his father-in-law, (and) given a dower, and his friend slander him, (and) his father-in-law say to the husband of the wife:(219) “Thou shalt not marry my daughter,” he shall cause to be equal the property, as much as has been brought to him, and return (it), and his friend shall not marry his wife.

162. If a man has married a wife, (and) she has borne him children, and that woman has gone to (her) fate, her father shall have no claim upon her marriage-gift—her marriage-gift belongs to her sons.

163. If a man has married a wife, and she has not caused him to have children, (and) that woman has gone to (her) fate, if his father-in-law has returned to him the dower which that man took to the house of his father-in-law, her husband shall have no claim upon the marriage-gift of that woman—her marriage-gift belongs to the house of her father.

164. If his father-in-law has not returned to him the dower, he shall deduct from her marriage-gift all her dower, and return (the balance of) her marriage-gift to her father’s house.

165. If a man has presented to his son, who is foremost in his eyes, a field, a plantation, and a house, (and) has written for him a tablet, (and) afterwards the father has gone to (his) fate, when the brothers share together, he shall take the gift which the father gave him, and they shall share equally in the property of the house of the father besides.

166. If a man has taken wives for the sons which he has had, (and) has not taken a wife for his youngest son, (and) afterwards the father has gone to (his) fate, when the brothers share together, they shall set aside the money of a dower for their youngest brother, who has not taken a wife, from the property of the father’s house, besides his (lawful) share, and shall cause him to take a wife.

167. If a man has married a wife, and she has borne him sons, (and) that woman has gone to (her) fate, (and) after her he has married another woman, and she has brought forth sons, (and) afterwards the father has gone to (his) fate, the sons shall not share according to the mothers. They shall take the marriage-gifts of their mothers, and the property of the father’s house they shall share equally.

168. If a man set his face to discard his son, he shall say to the judge: “I discard my son;” the judge shall inquire into his reasons. If the son has not committed a grave fault which cuts him off from sonhood, the father shall not cut off his son from sonhood.(220)

169. If he has committed against his father a grave fault which cuts him off from sonhood, the first time (the father) shall refrain. If he has committed a grave fault a second time, the father shall cut his son off from the sonhood.

170. If a man’s wife has borne him children, and his maid-servant has borne him children, (and) the father in his lifetime say to the children whom the maid-servant has borne to him: “My children,” he has reckoned them with the children of the wife. After the father has gone to (his) fate, the children of the wife and the children of the maid-servant shall share in the property of the father’s house equally; the son (who is) the child of the wife shall choose and take at the sharing.

171. And if the father, during his lifetime, has not said to the children whom the maid-servant has borne to him: “My children,” after the father has gone to (his) fate, the children of the maid-servant shall not share in the property of the father’s house with the children of the wife. (If) he has set free the maid-servant and her children, the children of the wife shall not claim the children of the maid-servant for service. The wife shall take her marriage-gift and the dowry which her husband gave her (and) recorded upon a tablet, and she shall sit in the seat of her husband; as long as she lives, she shall enjoy (them)—she shall not sell them for money—they belong to her children after her.

172. If her husband has not given her a dowry, they shall make up to her her marriage-gift, and she shall take, from the property of her husband’s house, a share like (that of) one son. If her sons afflict her, to send her forth from the house, the judge shall inquire into her reasons, and (if) he set the fault upon the children, that woman shall not go forth from her husband’s house. If that woman set her face to go forth, she shall leave to her children the dowry which her husband gave her. She shall take the marriage-gift of her father’s house, and the husband of her choice shall marry her.

173. If that woman, in the place where she has entered, has borne to her second husband children, after that woman has died, the former and latter children shall share her marriage-gift.

174. If she has not borne children to her second husband, then the children of her (first) spouse shall take her marriage-gift.

175. If a slave of the palace or the slave of a poor man has married the daughter of a (free) man, and has borne children, the owner of the slave shall not make a claim upon the children of a (free) man’s daughter for servitude.

176a. And if a slave of the palace or a slave of a poor man has married a (free) man’s daughter, and when he has married her, she has entered the house of the slave of the palace or the slave of the poor man with a wedding-gift from the house of her father, and after they have been established, they have built a house and have property, (if) afterwards the slave of the palace or the slave of the poor man has gone to (his) fate, the daughter of the (free) man shall take her marriage-gift, and they shall divide the property, which her husband and she had after they were established, into two parts, and the owner of the slave shall take half, (and) the daughter of the (free) man shall take half for her children.

176b. If the daughter of the (free) man had no marriage-gift, the property which her husband and she possessed after they were established they shall divide into two parts, and the master of the slave shall take half, the daughter of the (free) man shall take half for her children.

177. If a widow whose children are young set her face to enter another house,(221) she shall not enter without the judge. When she enters another house, the judge shall inquire concerning what remains of her first husband’s house, and they shall entrust the first husband’s house to the second husband and to that woman, and shall cause them to deliver a tablet. They shall keep that house and bring up the young (children). They shall not sell (any) utensil for silver. The buyer who buys a utensil of the children of a widow shall forfeit his money; the property shall return to its owner.

178. If a devotee, or a public woman, to whom her father has presented a gift, (and) has written for her a tablet, (and) on the tablet which he has written for her has not written for her (concerning) the giving of what she should leave to whomsoever she pleased, and has not let her follow the desire of her heart, after the father has gone to (his) fate, her brothers shall take her field and her plantation, and according to the amount of her share shall give to her food, oil, and clothing, and shall satisfy her heart. If her brothers have not given her food, oil, and clothing according to the amount of her share, and have not satisfied her heart, she may give her field and plantation to the farmer who may seem good to her, and her farmer shall support her. Field, plantation, and property, which her father gave her, she shall enjoy as long as she lives—she shall not give (them) for silver, nor shall she be answerable (to) another (therewith)—her share as daughter belongs to her brothers.(222)

179. If a devotee or a public woman, to whom her father has presented a gift, (and) has written for her a sealed tablet, (and) on the tablet which he has written for her has written for her (concerning) the giving of what she should leave to whomsoever she pleased, and has let her follow the desire of her heart, after the father has gone to (his) fate, she shall give what she leaves to whomsoever she pleases—her brothers have no claim upon her.

180. If a father has not presented a gift(223) to his daughter, who is a recluse or a public woman, after the father has gone to (his) fate, she shall take a share in the property of the father’s house like a son, and enjoy (it) as long as she lives. What she leaves belongs to her brothers.

181. If a father has brought to a god a hierodule or a virgin, and has not presented to her a gift,(224) after the father has gone to (his) fate, she shall share in the property of the father’s house a third (as) her inheritance, and she shall enjoy (it) as long as she lives. What she leaves belongs to her brothers.

182. If a father has not presented a gift to his daughter, priestess of Merodach of Babylon, (and) has not written for her a sealed tablet, after the father has gone to (his) fate, she shall share, with her brothers, in the property of the father’s house a third part (as) her inheritance, and she shall not carry on its administration. The priestess of Merodach may give what she leaves to whomsoever she pleases.

183. If a father has presented a marriage-gift to his concubine-daughter, given her to a husband, (and) written for her a sealed tablet, after the father has gone to (his) fate, she shall not share in the property of the father’s house.(225)

184. If a man has not presented to his concubine-daughter a marriage-gift, (and) has not given her to a husband, after the father has gone to (his) fate, her brothers shall give her a wedding-gift according to the amount (of the property) of the father’s house, and shall give her to a husband.

185. If a man has adopted(226) a child by its name,(227) and has brought it up, that foster-child cannot be claimed back.

186. If a man has adopted a child, and when he had adopted him, he rebelled against his (foster-)father and his (foster-)mother, that foster-child shall return to his father’s house.

187. The son of a favourite attending the palace, and the son of a public woman, cannot be claimed back.(228)

188. If an artizan(229) has taken a child to bring up,(230) and has taught him his handicraft, he cannot be claimed back.

189. If he has not taught him his handicraft, that foster-child(231) may return to his father’s house.

190. If a man has not reckoned with his sons a young child which he has adopted and brought up, that foster-child may return to the house of his father.

191. If a man who has adopted a child and brought him up, has built a dwelling, (and) after he has children (of his own) set his face to cut off the foster-child, that child shall not go his way. His foster-father shall give him one-third of his property as his inheritance and (then) he shall go. He shall give him nothing of the field, plantation, and house.

192. If the son of a favourite or the son of a public woman say to his foster-father and his foster-mother, “Thou art not my father, thou art not my mother,” they shall cut out his tongue.(232)

193. If the child of a favourite or the child of a public woman come to know his father’s house, and despise his foster-father and his foster-mother, and go to his father’s house, they shall tear out his eyes.(233)

194. If a man has given his child to a nurse, and that child has died in the hands of the nurse, and the nurse, without [his] father and his mother, rear another child, they shall summon her, and as she has rear[ed] another child without [his] father and mother, they shall cut off her breasts.

195. If a son smite his father, they shall cut off his hands.

196. If a man has destroyed the eye of the son of a man, they shall destroy his eye.

197. If he has broken the limb of a man, they shall break his limb.

198. If he has destroyed the eye of a poor man, or broken the limb of a poor man, he shall pay one mana of silver.

199. If he has destroyed the eye of a man’s slave, or broken the limb of a man’s slave, he shall pay half his value.(234)

200. If a man has knocked out the teeth of a man of his rank, they shall knock out his teeth.

201. If he has knocked out the teeth of a poor man, he shall pay one-third of a mana of silver.

202. If a man has struck the head(235) of a man who is greater than he, he shall be struck in the assembly sixty times with an ox-hide whip.

203. If the son of a man(236) has struck the head of the son of a man who is like himself, he shall pay one mana of silver.

204. If a poor man has struck the head of a poor man, he shall pay ten shekels of silver.

205. If the slave of a man has struck the head of the son of a man, they shall cut off his ear.

206. If a man has struck a man in a quarrel, and do him hurt, that man shall swear: “I did not strike him knowingly,” and he shall be responsible for the physician.

207. If he die of his blows, he shall swear (the same). If (it was) the son of a man, he shall pay one-half a mana of silver.

208. If it was the son of a poor man, he shall pay one-third of a mana of silver.

209. If a man has struck the daughter of a man, and caused what was within her to fall from her, he shall pay ten shekels of silver for what was within her.

210. If that woman die, they shall kill his daughter.

211. If by blows he has made what was within the daughter of a poor man to fall from her, he shall pay five shekels of silver.

212. If that woman die, he shall pay one-half a mana of silver.

213. If he has struck a man’s slave-woman and made that which was within her fall from her, he shall pay two shekels of silver.

214. If that slave-woman die, he shall pay one-third of a mana of silver.

215. If a physician has treated a man for a grave injury with a bronze lancet, and cured the man, or opened the cataract of a man with a bronze lancet, and cured the eye of the man, he shall receive ten shekels of silver.

216. If it was the son of a poor man, he shall receive five shekels of silver.

217. If it was a man’s slave, the owner of the slave shall pay to the physician two shekels of silver.

218. If a physician has treated a man for a grave injury with a bronze lancet, and caused the man to die, or opened the cataract of a man with a bronze lancet, and destroyed the eye of a man, they shall cut off his hands.

219. If a physician has treated a poor man’s slave for a grave injury with a bronze lancet, and has caused (him) to die, he shall make good slave for slave.(237)

220. If he has opened his cataract with a bronze lancet, and destroyed his eye, he shall pay half his value in silver.(238)

221. If a physician has made sound the broken limb of a man, or saved a diseased part, the patient(239) shall pay to the physician five shekels of silver.

222. If it be the son of a poor man, he shall pay three shekels of silver.

223. If it was a man’s slave, the owner of the slave shall pay to the physician two shekels of silver.

224. If an ox-doctor or an ass-doctor has treated an ox or an ass for a grave injury, and has saved (it), the owner of the ox or the ass shall pay to the physician one-sixth (of a shekel) of silver (as) his hire.

225. If he has treated the ox or the ass for a grave injury, and caused (it) to die, he shall give to the owner of the ox or the ass a quarter of its price.

226. If a barber, without the (knowledge of the) owner of a slave, has marked an inalienable slave with a mark, they shall cut off the hands of that barber.(240)

227. If a man has deceived a barber, and he has marked an inalienable slave with a mark, they shall kill that man, and bury him in his house; the barber shall swear: “I did not mark knowingly,” and shall go free.

228. If a builder has made a house for a man, and has finished it (well), for a house of one _šar_, he shall give him two shekels of silver as his pay.

229. If a builder has made a house for a man, and has not done his work strongly, and the house he has made has fallen down, and killed the owner of the house, that builder shall be killed.

230. If it cause the son of the owner of the house to die, they shall kill the son of that builder.

231. If it cause the slave of the owner of the house to die, he shall give to the owner of the house a slave like (his) slave.

232. If it has destroyed the property, whatever it has destroyed, he shall make good. And as he did not make strong the house he constructed, and it fell, from his own property he shall rebuild the house which fell.

233. If a builder has made a house for a man, and has not caused his work to be firm, and the wall has fallen over, that builder shall strengthen that wall with his own money.

234. If a boatman has calked a vessel of 60 _gur_ (burthen) for a man, he shall give him two shekels of silver as his pay.

235. If a boatman has calked a vessel for a man, and has not perfected his work, and in that (same) year that vessel sail, (if) it have a defect, the boatman shall alter that vessel, and repair (it) with his own capital, and give the repaired vessel to the owner of the vessel.(241)

236. If a man has given his vessel to a boatman for hire, and the boatman has been neglectful, and sunk or lost the vessel, the boatman shall replace the vessel to the owner of the vessel.

237. If a man has hired a boatman and a vessel, and has freighted it with wheat, wool, oil, dates, and any other kind of freight; (if) that boatman be neglectful, and sink the vessel, and lose what is within (it), the boatman shall replace the vessel which he has sunk, and whatever he lost, which was within it.

238. If a boatman has sunk a man’s vessel, and refloated it, he shall pay half its value(242) in silver.

239. If a man [has hired] a boatman, he shall give him 6 _gur_ of wheat yearly.

240. If a down-stream vessel collide with an up-stream vessel, and sink (it), the owner of the sunken vessel shall declare before God whatever has been lost in his vessel, and (he) of the down-stream vessel which sank the up-stream vessel shall replace for him his vessel and whatever was lost.

241. If a man has driven the ox (of another) to work, he shall pay one-third of a mana of silver.

242 and 243. If a man has hired for a year, (as) hire of a draught-ox he shall pay to its owner 4 _gur_ of wheat. (As) hire of a carrier(?)-ox, 3 _gur_ of wheat.

244. If a man has hired an ox (or) an ass, and a lion kill it in the field, (the loss) is its owner’s.

245. If a man has hired an ox, and cause it to die by negligence or by blows, to the ox’s owner he shall make up ox for ox.(243)

246. If a man has hired an ox, and has broken its foot or cut its nape,(244) to the ox’s owner he shall make up ox for ox.

247. If a man has hired an ox, and has poked out its eye, he shall pay to the ox’s owner half its value in silver.

248. If a man has hired an ox, and has broken its horn, cut off its tail, or pierced(245) its nostril, he shall pay a quarter of its value in silver.

249. If a man has hired an ox, and God has stricken it and it has died, the man who hired the ox shall swear by God,(246) and shall go free.

250. If a mad bull, in its onset, has gored a man, and caused (him) to die, that case has no claim.(247)

251. If a man’s ox—goring for goring—has made known to him its vice,(248) and he has not sawn off its horns, (if) he has not shut up his ox, and that ox has gored the son of a man, and caused him to die, he shall pay half a mana of silver.

252. [If] it be a man’s servant, he shall give one-third of a mana of silver.

253. If a man has hired a man to stay upon his field, and [ha]nded to him the produce (?), confided to him the oxen, [and] contracted with him [to] cultivate the field, if that man has stolen the wheat or the vegetables, and it is found in his hands, they shall cut off his hands.

254. If he has taken away the produce and deprived(249) the oxen, he shall replace the amount of the wheat which he has wasted (?).

255. If he has let out(250) the oxen of a man for hire, or stolen the wheat, and not made (it) to grow in the field, they shall summon that man, and for every 10 _bur-gan_ he shall measure 60 _gur_ of wheat.

256. If his borough cannot respond for him, they shall leave him in that field with the oxen.

257. If a man has hired a field-labourer, he shall give him 8 _gur_ of wheat yearly.

258. If a man has hired an ox-herd (?), he shall give him 6 _gur_ of wheat yearly.

259. If a man has stolen a watering-machine from the enclosure, he shall give to the owner of the watering-machine five shekels of silver.

260. If he has stolen a shadoof or a plough, he shall give three shekels of silver.

261. If a man has hired a herdsman to pasture oxen and sheep, he shall give him 8 _gur_ of wheat yearly.

262. If a man an ox or sheep for....

263. ... If he has lost [an ox] or a sheep which has been given to [him], he shall restore to [their] owner, ox for [ox], sheep for [sheep].

264. If a [herdsman], to whom oxen or sheep have been given to pasture, has received his wages, everything (?) as agreed (?), and is satisfied,(251) has reduced the oxen, (or) reduced the sheep, (or) lessened (their) young, he shall give (back) young and increase according to his contracts.

265. If a herdsman, to whom oxen and sheep have been given to pasture, has acted wrongly, and changed the natural increase,(252) and has given (it) for silver, they shall summon him, and ten times what he has stolen, oxen and sheep, he shall make good to their owner.

266. If in the fold an act of God has taken place, or a lion has killed, the herdsman shall declare his innocence before God, and the owner of the fold shall meet the destruction of the fold.

267. If the herdsman has been in fault, and has caused damage in the fold, the herdsman shall make up the loss caused by(253) the damage which he has brought about in the fold, (both) oxen and sheep, and shall give (them) to their owner.

268. If a man has hired an ox for treading out (the corn), 20 _qa_ of wheat is his hire.

269. If he has hired an ass for treading out (the corn), 10 _qa_ of wheat is his hire.

270. If he has hired a young animal for treading out (the corn), 1 _qa_ of wheat is his hire.

271. If a man has hired oxen, a cart, and its driver, he shall give 180 _qa_ of wheat daily.

272. If a man has hired the cart by itself, he shall give 40 _qa_ of wheat daily.

273. If a man has hired a workman, from the beginning of the year to the fifth month he shall give six grains(254) of silver daily; from the sixth month to the end of the year, he shall give five grains of silver daily.

274. If a man hire an artizan, (as) wages of a ... five [grains] of silver; (as) wages of a brickmaker (?)(255) five grains of silver; (as) wages of a linen-weaver(256) five grains of silver; (as) wages of a stone-worker(?)(257) ... grains of silver; (as) wages of a milkman (?) ... [grains] of silver; (as) [wages] of a ... ... [grains] of silver; (as) [wages] of a carpenter four grains of silver; (as) wages of a ... four grains of silver; (as) [wages] of a house-superintendent (?) ... grains of silver; (as) [wages] of a builder (?), ... grains of silver. [dai]ly [he shall g]ive.

275. [If] a man has hired a small boat (?), three grains of silver is its hire daily.

276. If he has hired a down-stream (vessel), he shall give two grains and a half of silver (as) its hire daily.

277. If a man has hired a vessel of 60 _gur_, he shall give one-sixth (of a shekel) of silver daily (as) its hire.

278. If a man has bought a male or female slave, and before he has fulfilled his month an infirmity has fallen upon him, he shall return him to his seller, and the buyer shall receive back the silver he has paid.

279. If a man has bought a male or female slave, and he is liable to be reclaimed,(258) his seller shall respond to the claim.(259)

280. If a man, in a foreign country, has bought a male (or) female slave of a man, (and) when they have arrived in the midst of the land, a (former) owner of the male or female slave recognize his male or female slave, if their male and female slave are children of the land, he shall set them free without payment.(260)

281. If they are children of another land, the buyer shall declare before God the money(261) he has paid, and the (former) owner of the male or female slave shall give to the agent the money he has paid, and shall recover his male or female slave.

282. If a slave has said to his master: “Thou art not my master,” he shall summon him as his slave, and his master shall cut off his ear.

Decrees of equity, which Ḫammurabi, the able king, has established, and has procured (for) the country lasting security and a happy rule. Ḫammurabi, the accomplished king, am I. For the head-dark (ones),(262) whom Bel assigned, (and whose) shepherding Merodach has given, I have not been neglectful, I have not relaxed—peaceful localities have I found for them,(263) I have opened the narrow defiles, light have I caused to go forth to them. With the powerful weapon which Zagaga and Ištar have conferred upon me, with the acuteness which Aê has bestowed, with the might which Merodach has bestowed, I have rooted out the enemy above and below.(264) I have dominated the depths,(265) I have made happy the flesh of the land, the people of the dwellings (therein) have I caused to lie down in security—fear caused I not to possess them. The great gods have elected(266) me, and I am the shepherd giving peace, whose sceptre is just, setting up my good shadow in my city. I have pressed the people of the land of Šumer and Akkad in my bosom; by my protective spirit fraternally (?) have I guided them in peace; in my wisdom have I protected them. For the strong not to oppress the weak, to direct the fatherless (and) the widow, I have raised its(267) head in Babylon, the city of God and Bel. In Ê-sagila, the house whose foundations are firm like heaven and earth, I have written on my monument my most precious words to judge the justice of the land, to decide the decisions of the land, to direct the ignorant; and I have placed (them) before my image as king of righteousness.

The king who is great among the city-king(s) am I; my words are renowned, my power has no equal; by the command of Šamaš, the great judge of heaven and earth, may righteousness have power in the land;(268) by the word of Merodach, my lord, may my bas-reliefs not have a destroyer; in Ê-sagila, which I love, may my name be commemorated in happiness for ever. The ignorant man, who has a complaint,(269) let him come before my image (as) king of righteousness, and let him read my inscribed monument and let him hear my precious words, and my monument explain to him the matter. Let him see his judgment, let his heart expand, (saying): “Ḫammurabi is a lord who is like a father, a parent to the people; he has caused the word of Merodach, his lord, to be reverenced, and has gained the victory for Merodach above and below. He has rejoiced the heart of Merodach, his lord, and fixed for the people happiness(270) for ever, and (well) has he governed the land.” Let him pronounce (it) aloud, and with his heart perfect, let him pray before Merodach, my lord, (and) Zērpanitum, my lady. May the winged bull, (and) the protecting spirit, the gods of the entrance of Ê-sagila, (and) the wall of Ê-sagila, daily further (his) desires(271) in the presence of Merodach, my lord, and Zērpanitum, my lady.

For the future, the course(272) of days for all time: May the king who is in the land protect the words of righteousness which I have written on my monument. Let him not change the law of the land which I have adjudged, the decisions of the country which I have decided; let him not cause my bas-relief to be destroyed. If that man have intelligence, and wish to govern his country well, let him pay attention to the words which I have written on my monument, and may this monument show him the path, the direction, the law of the land which I have pronounced, the decisions of the land which I have decided. And let him rule his people,(273) let him pronounce justice for them, let him decide their decision. Let him remove the evil and the wicked from his land, let him rejoice the flesh of his people.

Ḫammurabi, the king of righteousness, to whom Šamaš has given (these) enactments,(274) am I. My words are noble, my works have no equal—they have brought forth the proud (?) to humility (?) the humble (?) to wisdom (?) (and) to renown. If that man(275) is attentive to my words, which I have written on my monument, and set not aside my law, change not my word, alter not my bas-relief—that man like me, the king of righteousness, may the god Šamaš make his sceptre to endure, may he guide his people in righteousness. If that man regard not my words, which I have written on my monument, and despise my curse, and fear not the curse of God, and do away the law which I have ordained—(if) he change my word, alter my bas-relief, destroy my written name, and write his (own) name, (or) on account of these curses cause another to do so,(276) that man, whether king, or lord, or viceroy, or personage who has been elected,(277) may the great God, the father of the gods, proclaimer of my reign, take back from him the glory of my kingdom, break his sceptre, curse his destiny. May Bel, the lord who determines the destinies, whose command is unchangeable, he who has magnified my kingdom, rouse against him revolts which his hand cannot suppress, causing (?) his destruction upon his seat.(278) A reign of sighing, days (but) few, years of want, darkness without light, death the vision of (his) eyes, may they set for him as (his) destiny. May he decree with his grave lips the destruction of his city, the dispersion of his people, the taking away of his royalty, the annihilation of his name and his record in the land. May Beltis, the great mother whose command is supreme(279) in E-kura, the lady who makes my thoughts propitious, instead of judgment and decision, make his word evil before Bel, may she accomplish the ruin of his country, the loss of his people, the pouring out of his life like water by the command of Bel the king. May Aê, the great prince, whose decisions have the precedence,(280) the sage of the gods, he who knows everything, who lengthens the days of my life, take back from him understanding(281) and wisdom, bring him back into forgetfulness.(282) May he dam up his rivers at (their) sources, (and) cause grain, the life of the people, not to exist in his land. May Šamaš, the great judge of heaven and earth, he who rules living things, the lord my trust, destroy his dominion; may he not pronounce his judgment, may he confuse his path, may he annihilate the course of his army. May he place for him, in his oracles,(283) an evil design to snatch away the foundation of his dominion and to destroy his country. May Šamaš’s word of misfortune speedily attack him; may he snatch him from the living on high, beneath in the earth may he deprive his spirit(284) of water. May Sin, lord of the heavens, the god my creator, whose brightness(285) shines resplendent among the gods, withdraw from him crown and throne of dominion. May he fix upon him a grave misdeed, his great fault, which will not disappear from his body, and may he cause the days, the months, the years of his reign to end in sighing and tears. May he increase for him the burthen of his dominion, may he fix for him as (his) fate a life which is comparable(286) with death. May Hadad, lord of fertility, dominator of heaven and earth, my helper, withhold from him the rains in the heavens, the flood in the springs. May he destroy his country with want and famine, may he angrily rage over his city, and turn his country to mounds of the flood.(287) May Zagaga, the great warrior, the eldest son of (the temple) Ê-kura, he who goes at my right hand, break his weapons on the battle-field. May he turn for him day into night, and may he set his enemy over him. May Ištar, lady of war and battle, who lets loose my weapons, my propitious genius, lover of my reign, in her angry heart, in her great wrath, curse his dominion, his favours into evils may she turn, may she turn.(288) In the place of war and battles may she break his weapons, may she make for him confusion and revolt, may she cast down his warriors, may she cause the earth to drink their blood, may she cast down in the plain a heap of corpses of his warriors, may she not cause his soldiers to have [burial?]. As for him, may she deliver him into the hand of his enemy, and bring him as a captive to the land which is hostile to him. May Nergal, the strong one among the gods, unrivalled battle,(289) he who causes me to attain my victory, in his great might burn(290) his people like a tiny bundle of reeds. With his strong weapon may he subjugate him, and may he crush his members like an image of clay. May Nintu, the supreme lady of the lands, the mother my creator, withhold from him his son, and cause him to have no name, in the midst of his people may she not produce a human seed. May Nin-Karrak, daughter of Anu, she who announces my happiness, let forth from Ê-kura upon his members a grave sickness, an evil pestilence, a grievous injury, which they cannot cure, whose nature the physician does not know, which he cannot ease with a bandage, (and which), like the bite of death, cannot be removed. Until she take possession of his life, may he groan for his manliness.(291)

May the great gods of heaven and earth, the Anunna(292) in their assembly, the divine bull of the house,(293) the bricks of Ê-babbara,(294) curse that (man), his reign, his country, his army, his people, and his nation, with a deadly curse—with powerful curses may Bel, by his word which cannot be changed, curse him, and speedily may they overtake him.

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These laws, as being the oldest known, have attracted considerable attention, and much has been said concerning their connection with the Mosaic Code. Whatever connection there may be between them, however, it must be kept well in mind, that they have been formulated and compiled from totally different standpoints. Notwithstanding the references in the Code of Ḫammurabi to religious things, there is no doubt that the laws given therein are purely civil, and compiled either by the king as temporal ruler of the land, or by his advisers, or by the judges who “decided the decisions of the land.” Charitable enactments were therefore as far from the intention of the compilers of the Babylonian code as such things are from the intention of the legislation of this or any other modern civilized community or nationality. The Law of Moses, on the other hand, has long been recognized as a Priestly Code, into which all kinds of provisions for the poor, the fatherless, the necessitous, were likely to enter, and have, in fact, entered. From this point of view, Moses’ code is immeasurably superior to that of the Babylonian law-giver, and can hardly, on that account, be compared with it.

From existing duplicates of this inscription, we know that it bore a title which, in accordance with the usual custom in ancient times, was taken from the first few words of the inscription, in this case _Ninu îlu ṣîrum_, “When the supreme God.” In the Ninevite duplicate in the British Museum, however, a kind of title in the modern sense of the word is given, namely, _Dinani Ḫammurabi_, “The Laws of Ḫammurabi,” the first word being from the common Semitic root which appears, in Semitic Babylonian, under the form of _dânu_, “to judge.” As far as our information goes, it would seem that, whilst the Hebrew _tôrah_ was both judicial, ceremonial, and moral, the Babylonian _dînu_ was judicial only. Ceremonial enactments are entirely foreign to it, and morality, in the modern sense of the word, though represented, does not hold a very high place, though it must not be forgotten that five columns of the text are wanting.

That there should be, therefore, but few parallels between the Codes of Moses and of Ḫammurabi was to be expected, though naturally likenesses and parallelisms are to be found, the Hebrews being practically of the same stock as the Babylonians, and also, as has been shown, under the influence of the same civilization. It will be noticed, in reading through the code, that not only are there no laws against sorcery, worshipping other than the national god or gods, and prostitution, but there are actually enactments referring to the first and the last, showing that they were recognized. Moral, religious, ceremonial, and philanthropic enactments are, in fact, entirely absent.

3-4. With the enactments concerning false witness, cp. Ex. xx. 16; Deut. v. 20, etc. More especially, however, are the directions in Deut. xix. 16 ff. noteworthy. Here the direction is, to do to the false witness “as he had thought to do to his brother.” In this case, too, the logical penalty would be death, in a matter involving the life of a man.

7 (liability to be regarded as a thief on account of the purchase or receiving of things without witnesses or a contract) is to a certain extent paralleled by Lev. vi. 2 ff., where, however, the penalty for wrongful possession is not death, but the restoration of the object detained, with a fifth part of the value added thereto.

8 (theft of live-stock) is illustrated by Ex. xxii. 1, where it is ordered that the thief restore five oxen for a stolen ox, and four sheep for a stolen sheep. All laws dealing with theft seem to have been more severe among the Babylonians than among the Hebrews, and inability to make the object good, with the penalties attached thereto, was visited with death (6-11, 14, 15, etc.).

14. This enactment is exactly parallel with Ex. xxi. 16: “He that stealeth a man ... shall surely be put to death.”

21 (housebreaking). Ex. xxii. 2-4, justifies the killing of a burglar caught in the act before sunrise, but not otherwise.

57. In the case of unlawful pasturing, it is probable that Ex. xxii. 5 may furnish the key to the obscurities of this Babylonian enactment. According to the Mosaic law, the owner of the cattle had to make the damage good with the best of his field or vineyard. To ensure getting the best, and his due share, the most satisfactory way would be to reap the offender’s field, if he had one.

110. The opening (seemingly in the English sense) of a wine-house by a temple-devotee, or her merely entering such a place, was in all probability equivalent to prostituting herself, and if so, this law may be compared with Lev. xxi. 9, in which the daughter of a priest, if she profaned herself (and her father) by playing the whore, was to be put to death by burning.

117. As is shown by the preceding enactments, the person of a man might be seized for debt, but this shows that he might allow his wife, his son, or his daughter to be taken to work it off, and in that case they were to be set free in the fourth year. In Hebrew law (Ex. xxi. 2) an ordinary purchased slave was free after six years’ service, but if a man sold his daughter (v. 7), she did not “go out as the men-servants do.”(295)

125. The theft of things on deposit entailed only restitution if the person with whom they were deposited were not in fault. In Ex. xxii. 7-9 the person condemned had to pay or restore double the value of the things stolen.

129. In this law the conditional clause at the end is incomplete, but it may be supposed that liberty was accorded therein to the king and to the injured husband to exercise mercy, and commute the death-penalty in any way they thought fit, attaching thereto any other penalty which might seem good to them. According to Lev. xx. 10, the adulterer and the adulteress were to be put to death, but in what manner is not stated. To all appearance no mercy was given.

130. As this is a case of a married woman living in her father’s house, Ex. xxii. 16 is not an exact parallel. The woman being unbetrothed, the man who had violated her had to endow and marry her.

155. Incest of the nature referred to here is practically a complete parallel with Lev. xx. 12, where, however, the nature of the death-penalty is not stated. If the correction of the code of Ḫammurabi suggested in the footnote (“they shall bind that man, and cast _him_ into the water”) be the true one, the man would seem to have been regarded as the chief sinner, and the woman was probably left to be dealt with by the son’s family. The mere binding of the man, as in the text, would be no adequate punishment, and the correction: “They shall bind _them_, and cast _them_ into the water,” pre-supposes a very serious mistake on the part of the scribe.

157. This is a parallel with Lev. xviii. 8, and xx. 11, and the penalty is death in both codes. The word “mother” in the Babylonian Code probably includes “step-mother” as well.

195. This is parallel with Ex. xxi. 15, where, however, the smiting of the mother is included, and the more severe penalty of death is prescribed, instead of merely cutting off the offending members as a punishment.

196, 197, 200, 210. These illustrate the dictum: “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for tooth” (Ex. xxi. 24, 25; Lev. xxiv. 20; Deut. xix. 21; Matt. v. 38). They were naturally the common punishments of the period when the penalty of imprisonment could not be imposed.

199. The destruction of the eye of a man’s slave, or the fracture of his limb, was apparently held to entail the diminution of his value by one-half, which the person who inflicted the injury had to pay. Nothing is said, however, concerning injury to a slave by his master, and this law, therefore, has no parallel in the Mosaic ordinance given in Ex. xxi. 26, 27, where the master is spoken of as the possible aggressor, and had to set his slave free on account of the injury he had received.(296)

206. The law regarding injuries inflicted upon a man in a quarrel is parallel with Ex. xxi. 18, 19, except that the latter decrees that the person inflicting the injury, in addition to causing the injured man to be completely healed, has also to pay for his loss of time. On the other hand, it is noteworthy that, in the Code of Ḫammurabi, he who committed the injury had to swear that he did not do it knowingly—that is, with the intention of injuring the man, otherwise he probably came under the law of retaliation, Nos. 196, 197, and 200.

209. This is parallel with Ex. xxi. 22, but whereas the penalty for the injury to the woman was fixed at ten shekels of silver, the law of Moses allowed the husband to estimate the compensation, which was certified and probably revised by the judges.

210. It was not only “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” but also “a daughter for a daughter,” even when a mortal injury may not have been intended. This is practically the same as Ex. xxi. 23: “And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life.”

241. As this law stands, it refers to the unlawful working of another man’s ox, and not to an ox taken in pledge, for the working of which there could be no remedy, any more than there was for taking a man’s wife, child, or slave, in pledge to work out a debt.

244 (loss of an animal through attack by a wild beast). Compare Ex. xxii. 13: “If it (an animal delivered into the care of another) be torn in pieces, then let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn.” Apparently there was no obligation to place the animal in a safe place. Cf. Gen. xxxi. 39 (Jacob’s reproof to Laban): “That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it.”

245 ff. These are to a certain extent illustrated by Ex. xxii. 14, 15, in which passage, if the owner of the injured animal was not present, the borrower had to make good any loss. If, however, the owner was there to protect it, there was no penalty, as he could in all probability have prevented the injury from being inflicted, and in any case might be supposed to have control over the animal.

250. The owner of a furious bull was protected from loss, even though the result was fatal, if he did not know that the animal was vicious. In Ex.