Hammurabi - ruled 1793 BC e. - 1750 BC e. King of Babylon, creator of the code of laws - the Code of Hammurabi.
How it all began
In 1901-1902. a French scientific expedition conducted excavations in Susa. During these works, the researchers discovered a mysterious black bas-relief, the surface of which was covered with cuneiform symbols. Perhaps this pillar appeared in the city after 1160 BC. e., when the Elams conquered and plundered many territories formerly belonging to the Babylonians. Now this unique monument of antiquity is kept in the Louvre (France). It immortalizes the king of Babylon Hammurabi and his laws.
What is known about Hammurabi
Babylonia is now believed to have been not a separate country. Babylon is the final splash of a dying Sumerian civilization. The first king of the most beautiful and most mysterious city, it is believed, was the great Hammurabi, who ruled in 1792-1750. BC e. It was he who, with a tough hand, was able to unite the country, scattered after the next troubles, he also resumed trade, construction, toughened the laws that made it possible to prolong the death throes of the Sumerian kingdom.
Hammurabi was the sixth and most famous king of the 1st dynasty. He ascended the throne at a fairly young age after the death of his father Sinmuballit. When he was still heir to the throne, he took an active part in public affairs and performed important administrative duties. The size, location, military strength of the state inherited by Hammurabi made him one of the strongest kings in Babylonia.
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The beginning of the reign of Hammurabi
Hammurabi, like many other kings of Mesopotamia before him, began his reign with the traditional event - the establishment of "justice", that is, with the cancellation of debts and forgiveness of arrears. The first five years Hammurabi devoted to urban planning and, possibly, the preparation of military operations against rivals.
International environment
One of the most important areas of political activity of Hammurabi, which he also inherited from his ancestors, was the desire to gain control over the distribution of the waters of the Euphrates. This policy inevitably led to a clash with the kingdom of Lars, which was in a less advantageous position downstream of the Euphrates. Hammurabi made the first attempts in this direction at the very beginning of his reign.
The first wars
In the sixth year of his reign (c. 1787 BC) Hammurabi decided to strike at Larsa. The Babylonian army was in the same passage from the capital of Rome-Sina. But the triumph of the young king was premature. The next year, the war with Larsa continued, but hostilities took place much closer to Babylon than to Larsa. Since then, peace has been established between Hammurabi and Rim-Sin for a long time.
Expanding boundaries
1764 BC e. - Hammurabi renewed wars with neighbors and was able to crush them with lightning strikes one after another. First of all, he defeated the united army of Eshnuna (a city located north of the Tigris in the Diyala valley), Malgium (a city on the Tigris at the mouth of the Diyala) and Elam. With this victory, according to Hammurabi, he "established the foundation of the kingdom of Sumer and Akkad." Indeed, having secured a flank from the mountains, the king of Babylonia opposed the aged king Larsa Rim-Sin. Occupying Nippur, the Babylonians in 1763 BC. e. approached the walls of Larsa.
Babylonian kingdom during the reign of Hammurabi
A few months later, the capital fell, Rim-Sin was deposed, and his entire vast country was annexed to Babylonia. 1762 BC e. - Hammurabi again opposed the northerners. 1761 BC e. - Malgium and the kingdom of Mari (the state above Babylon along the Euphrates) were captured. 1757 BC e. - the Babylonians were able to take the Assyrian cities on the Tigris - Ashur and Nineveh. 1756 BC e. - the authority of Hammurabi recognized Eshnun. So, a state of unprecedented size arose, covering the entire Lower and significant part of Upper Mesopotamia.
Hammurabi's laws
But this tsar entered history not with his wars and international politics. Hammurabi's name is closely related to legislation. The reign of King Hammurabi was marked by the creation of collections of laws. The tsar, attaching great importance to legislative activity, started it at the very beginning of his reign. The first codification was created in the second year of the reign; this was the year when the king "established the right to the country." This codification, unfortunately, has not survived, and the laws of Hammurabi known today refer to the end of his reign.
The Hammurabi code contained 282 articles, which included criminal, administrative and civil laws. Although no theoretical writings on law have survived from Mesopotamia to this day (they, as in other sciences, apparently did not exist), the laws of Hammurabi are the fruit of a tremendous work of collecting, generalizing and systematizing legal norms. This work was based on principles that were significantly different from those used today, but were carried out in general, very strictly and consistently.
These laws were carved into a large black basalt pillar. Above, on the front side of the pillar, there is an image of the king standing in front of the sun god Shamashsh - the patron of the court. Under the relief, the text of the laws is inscribed, filling both sides of the pillar. All 282 articles of the Code affect and regulate almost all areas of life of that era, and death as a punishment is found in a small number of articles of the Code.
The text is split into three parts. The first part is an extensive introduction in which the king announces that the gods have handed over the kingdom to him "so that the strong will not oppress the weak." Then comes the enumeration of the blessings that were given to Hammurabi to the cities of his state. After the introduction, the articles of laws are posted, which in turn end with a detailed conclusion.
When compiling the collection, it was based on the old customary law, the Sumerian legal codes, and new legislation. The initial form of vendetta flourished: an eye for an eye. Everything was simple and at the same time bloody.
Contrary to the prevailing opinion that the code is written in such a way that in it almost everything is punished with death, this is far from the case. The laws of Hammurabi directly follow from the Sumerian legal tradition and are one of the most important sources for studying the law and socio-economic structure of Mesopotamia at that time. The focus of the laws is on economic, economic and family relations. Private property relations are limited and regulated, and state control over economic life is established.
Some of the researchers note that the modern principle of the presumption of innocence ("innocent until proven otherwise") follows from the Hammurabi Code. In the case of self-harm, the principle of talion (tit for tat) is consistently applied, although if the social status of the guilty person is higher than that of the victim, the punishment is much milder.
With his legislation, Hammurabi tried to consolidate the social system of the state, in which small and medium-sized slaveholders were to become the dominant force. This is the first known collection of laws that sanctified the slave system. The laws contain remnants of the tribal system, which is manifested in the severity of punishments, the preservation of the talion principle, and the use of the horde.
The Code establishes the right to private property. Ownership of the land belonged to: the king, temples, communities, individuals. Both the royal and the temple economy were ruled by the king, and this was the most important source of income. The importance of the tsarist economy was great in the field of trade and exchange. The royal temple property could be transferred to certain categories of persons (warriors, priests, etc.) or be leased to farmers who were in one way or another depending on the royal temple economy. Community land - in collective or private family ownership. The communal peasant had significant rights: he could change, sell.
During the reign of Hammurabi, private property reached a high level of development. This was largely due to the expansion of the network of channels. Private land tenure varied in scope. Large landowners used the labor of slaves and hired workers, small ones worked their own land. The development of private ownership of land led to the reduction of communal lands, the decline of the community. Lands could be freely sold, leased, inherited, no restrictions on the part of the community are mentioned in the sources.
What the laws provided
The laws of Hammurabi provide for obligations of harm. Responsibility is borne by the one who causes the death of the slave (the master must give the slave for the slave); a shipman who sunk a ship together with the property entrusted to him for transportation is obliged to reimburse the cost of everything that was lost. The slave was a thing. The owner could freely dispose of it - sell, donate, inherit. The theft of a slave was punished with the death penalty.
A marriage was considered valid only if there was a written agreement concluded between the future husband and the bride's father. Family relationships were built on the leadership of the husband. The wife was severely punished for infidelity. If the wife was barren, the husband could have a side wife. But a married woman was not powerless: she could have her own property, retained the right to a dowry, had the right to divorce, and could inherit property with her children after her husband.
Stele (and its fragment) with the Laws of Hammurabi in the Louvre
The very strong power of the father over the children was manifested in the ability to sell them, to give them up as hostages for debts, to cut off the tongue for slandering the parents. However, the law limited this power. So, the father could not deprive the son of the inheritance, who did not commit a crime. Hammurabi's laws recognized the adoption of children. Inheritance by will is already in force, but with certain restrictions. The predominant way of inheritance is inheritance by law. The heirs were: children, adopted children, grandchildren, children from a slave-concubine, if the father recognized them as his own.
Among the crimes that undermine the foundations of the family, the laws call adultery (while only on the part of the wife), incest (for example, the relationship between a mother and a son, a father with a daughter, and between other close relatives). Actions that undermine the power of the father are called crimes (the son who hit his father lost his hand).
In general, the laws of Hammurabi regulated all the main aspects of the life and management of citizens. Most of the laws from the code adopted by Hammurabi are understandable and look pretty fair in our time (except, perhaps, the death penalty for almost any reason).
Law is the guarantee of statehood
The process was the same in both criminal and civil cases. The case began with a statement from the injured party. Testimonies, oaths, hordes (laws mention the test by water) served as evidence. The norms of procedural law required judges to personally “examine the case”. The judge could not change his mind. If he did this, then he paid a fine in 12 times the amount of the claim and was deprived of his place without the right to judge ever.
The laws of Hammurabi, unlike other oriental codifications, do not contain religious and moralizing elements, although in the preface to the articles of the laws there are numerous religious formulas glorifying the gods and the king. Moreover, it is especially noted that the main features of Hammurabi that make him a worthy ruler are his humility before the gods and obedience to their will. In addition, a significant part is made up of curses against the one who will not accept the laws, and the punishments that the gods will inflict on the disobedient are listed. Despite this, the legal framework of Hammurabi is based on human, more precisely civil, relations (and not the relationship between man and gods).
The meaning of laws
The reformatory and legislative activity of Hammurabi, grandiose in scale and purposefulness, made a great impression on his contemporaries and remained in the memory of posterity for a long time. But these measures, often innovative in form and method of implementation, were essentially aimed not at the renewal of society, but at maintaining traditional social institutions, such as subsistence farming, communal ownership of land, and did not affect the economic basis of society.
The laws of Hammurabi are the largest and most important legal monument of ancient Mesopotamia. These laws are imperfect in terms of their completeness and in their categorical nature, they do not provide for various phenomena of life. The texts are composed mainly in a casuistic form. There are no general principles or systems in presentation, although there is a certain logic. But all the cases presented are dealt with with great detail.
Nevertheless, the code of laws of Hammurabi is a monument of the most ancient law. Its value and undoubted importance lies in the fact that the tsar, the ruler of the state, set as his goal and carried out the creation of a “document” that regulated the life of the citizens of his country. And this "document" was not a one-time decree or resolution - but a single set for all areas of law and for all social categories. For its thoughtfulness, consistency and consistency, the Hammurabi Code for many centuries had no equal in the legislative practice of the Ancient East.
A. Mudrova