King Hammurabi wrote down the first laws in history
The sixth king of Babylonia, Hammurabi, ruled from 1793 to 1750 BC. This powerful sovereign managed to unite under his rule the lands from the Persian Gulf to Assyria. But at the time of his accession, Babylonia was a relatively modest and young kingdom. The successes achieved allowed him to boastfully declare in the preamble to his famous collection of laws: “I am the caring descendant of Sumulael, obedient to the great gods, the mighty heir of Sinmuballit, the eternal seed of royalty, the mighty king, the sun of Babylon, who gave light to the land of Sumer and Akkad, to the king who forced obedience to the four countries of the world, the favorite of the goddess Ishtar."
Basalt text
The creation of a single set of laws designed to maintain order in the vast kingdom was no less an outstanding act of Hammurabi than his success in battles. The tsar ordered to carve the full contents of all his institutions on a stone pillar 2.25 meters high. He stood in the main city temple called Esagila. But during the endless wars between Babylonia and Elam, the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte I (ruled about 1185-1155 BC) expelled the Babylonian army from his lands. Then he made a victorious campaign in Babylonia, plundered her cities and took rich booty from Babylon to Susa (the capital of Elam). Including a stone with laws carved on it.
In 1902, a French archaeological expedition during excavations of ancient Susa found three black basalt monoliths of an almost cylindrical shape with cuneiform records of almost three hundred articles of the Hammurabi code of law. It turned out to be the same pillar, divided into three parts. It was then that the world learned about their existence and purpose, and the Parisian Louvre Museum became the owner of perhaps the most famous example of Babylonian culture.
At the top of the monolith is depicted the legislator himself, standing in front of the sun god Shamash. He respectfully accepts the code of laws from the deity, thereby demonstrating their heavenly (supernatural) origin. And then the text runs, covering the entire post on both sides.
The first legal code in world history that defines the rights and obligations of free citizens (not slaves - they will for a long time be considered not people, but property!) Begins with a historical introduction. Hammurabi announces that the gods called him to rule "for the establishment of justice in the country and the extermination of the wicked and the evil, so that the strong would not oppress the weak, in order to render justice to the orphan and the widow, so that I, like Shamash, ascend over the black-headed and illuminate the country for the good of the people."
The introduction is followed by a presentation of the legislative acts themselves. A total of 282 articles covering almost all aspects of the life of Babylonian society at that time (civil, criminal and administrative law). The text ends with a curse calling all sorts of punishments on the heads of lawbreakers.
An eye for an eye
First of all, the law protected property. Theft of property was punishable by death. For damage - severe punishment. If the new ship leaked, then the shipmaster had to build another, more durable one at his own expense. If someone was careless about strengthening dams and canals vital to the country, and as a result of a dam break, foreign fields were flooded, then he had to compensate for the losses to all neighbors. The law monitored the timely payment of rent and the repayment of debt.
The Hammurabi code accepts, though not always consistently, the principle of guilt and ill will. For example, a difference is established in the punishment for premeditated and unintentional murder. But bodily injuries were punished according to the principle "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" dating back to ancient times. Even for the slightest offenses, the convicted were pierced or cut off their ears, lips, fingers, and sometimes they poured boiling resin over their faces.
If the doctor inaccurately makes an incision and causes death to the patient or, removing the thorn with a bronze knife, injures the eye, he should chop off his hand. If an architect builds a house for someone and this house is fragile and collapses on its owner, then the architect is worthy of death. If the house collapsed through the fault of the builder and the owner's son died in its ruins, the builder was punished with the death of his own son.
Warriors (tsarist mercenaries) received from the state land plots, slaves and domestic animals, but at the first request of the tsar they were obliged to march. These plots were inherited through the male line and were inalienable. The creditor could take for debts only the property of the warrior that he himself acquired. The donor granted by the king remained inviolable.
In order not to reduce the number of soldiers and taxpayers, Hammurabi sought to alleviate the fate of those strata of the free population who found themselves in a difficult financial situation. In particular, one of the articles of the laws limited debt slavery, which was previously a lifelong, three years of work for a creditor. After that, the loan, regardless of the amount, was considered fully repaid. If, due to a natural disaster, the debtor's harvest was destroyed, then the maturity of the loan and interest was automatically transferred to the next year.
Much attention was paid to family and marriage. For a marriage to be considered legal, it was necessary to conclude a contract. Adultery by a husband was considered a crime if he seduced the wife of a free man. This act was punishable by a large fine. But with regard to unfaithful women, the law was much more severe - to drown. If the husband wanted to forgive the unfaithful wife, not only she, but also her seducer were exempted from punishment.
The following was reported about the punishment of negligent housewives: "If she talked a lot, if she neglected her home and did not raise her children with decent people, then she should be thrown into the water!" As for the father, he had no right to deprive his sons of inheritance, if they did not commit crimes, and was obliged to teach them his craft.
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Pattern for the Old Testament
Under Hammurabi, citizens began to be judged not by elders, as in former times, but by special officials-judges appointed by the king in each city. All cases were decided in a strictly defined order. The clerk recorded the entire course of the trial. If the case was difficult and the judge could not make a decision, the offender was escorted to the capital, where the case was heard in the main court. Dissatisfied with the decision could appeal it to the king.
To this day, scholars argue about whether the Old Testament contains direct borrowings from the Hammurabi code of law. Probably yes, because the biblical patriarch Abraham lived at the time of the Babylonian legislator. This means that the ancient Jews did not yet have their own state. But some believe that the laws of Hammurabi and the Pentateuch were based on more general ancient rules that were rooted throughout the East by the beginning of the II millennium BC.
Comparing the laws of the Old Testament and the laws of Hammurabi, the outstanding Russian orientalist Boris Turaev noted their similarity in details and composition. So, for example, certain articles of the Hammurabi code correspond to the Old Testament principle of criminal punishment (“eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” in the Book of Exodus). The marriage rules in the Hammurabi code and the laws of Moses have much in common. The ethical focus of both codes is similar.
Hammurabi's laws are not perfect, but they were among the first in humans. The oldest code in the world, although it was built on the foundation of harsh customs that have existed since time immemorial, offered, of course, reasonable and just rules of law. The most progressive feature in Babylonian law was that individual revenge for injustice was usually replaced by state revenge. So the tribal system was gradually replaced by new relations.
Magazine: Mysteries of History No. 22, Irina Strekalova