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{{short description|Babylonian legal text}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox document
| document_name        = Code of Hammurabi
| image                = P1050763 Louvre code Hammurabi face rwk.JPG
| image_size           = 
| image_alt            = Photograph. The stele of the Code of Hammurabi in the Louvre Museum in Paris
| caption              = The Louvre stele
| image2               = 
| image2_size          = 
| image2_alt           = 
| caption2             = 
| date_created         = {{circa}} 1792–1750 BC ([[middle chronology]])
| date_presented       = 
| date_ratified        = 
| date_effective       = 
| date_repeal          = 
| location_of_document = {{ubl|The [[Louvre]], Paris, France (originally [[Sippar]], [[Mesopotamia]] 
 (modern-day [[Iraq]]), found at [[Susa]], Iran)|Replicas: various}}
| commissioned         = 
| writer               = King [[Hammurabi]] of [[Babylon]]
| signers              = 
| media_type           = [[Basalt]] [[stele]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sasson |first1=Jack |title=Civilizations of the Ancient Near East |publisher=Hendrickson |isbn=0684192799 |pages=901, 908}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ross |first1=Leslie |title=Art and Architecture of the World's Religions |publisher=Greenwood Press |pages=35}}</ref>
| subject              = Law, justice
| purpose              = Debated: [[legislation]], [[law report]], or [[jurisprudence]]
| wikisource           = Code of Hammurabi
}}
The '''Code of Hammurabi''' is a [[Babylon]]ian legal text composed during 1755–1750 BC. It is the longest, best-organized, and best-preserved legal text from the [[ancient Near East]]. It is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]], purportedly by [[Hammurabi]], sixth king of the [[First Dynasty of Babylon]]. The primary copy of the text is inscribed on a [[basalt]] [[stele]] {{height|m=2.25}} tall.

The stele was rediscovered in 1901 at the site of [[Susa]] in present-day Iran, where it had been taken as plunder six hundred years after its creation. The text itself was copied and studied by Mesopotamian scribes for over a millennium. The stele now resides in the [[Louvre Museum]].

The top of the stele features an image in [[bas-relief|relief]] of Hammurabi with [[Shamash]], the Babylonian [[sun god]] and god of justice. Below the relief are about 4,130 lines of [[cuneiform]] text: one fifth contains a prologue and epilogue in poetic style, while the remaining four fifths contain what are generally called the laws. In the prologue, Hammurabi claims to have been granted his rule by the gods "to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak". The laws are [[casuistic]], expressed as "if{{nbsp}}... then" [[conditional sentences]]. Their scope is broad, including, for example, [[criminal law]], [[family law]], [[property law]], and [[commercial law]].

Modern scholars responded to the Code with admiration at its perceived fairness and respect for the [[rule of law]], and at the complexity of Old Babylonian society. There was also much discussion of its influence on the [[Mosaic Law]]. Scholars quickly identified {{lang|la|[[lex talionis]]}}—the "eye for an eye" principle—underlying the two collections. Debate among [[Assyriologists]] has since centred around several aspects of the Code: its purpose, its underlying principles, its language, and its relation to earlier and later law collections.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding these issues, Hammurabi is regarded outside Assyriology as an important figure in the history of law and the document as a true legal code. The [[U.S. Capitol]] has a relief portrait of Hammurabi alongside those of other historic lawgivers. There are replicas of the stele in numerous institutions, including the [[headquarters of the United Nations]] in [[New York City]], the [[Pergamon Museum]] in [[Berlin]] and the University of Chicago's [[Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures]].
{{TOC limit|3}}

==Background==
===Hammurabi===
[[File: Hammurabi's Babylonia 1.svg|thumb|alt=Map of Babylonian territory before and after Hammurabi's reign|[[Babylon]]ian territory before (red) and after (orange) [[Hammurabi]]'s reign]]
[[Hammurabi]] (or Hammurapi), the sixth king of the [[Amorite]] [[First Dynasty of Babylon]], ruled from 1792 to 1750 BC ([[middle chronology]]). He secured Babylonian dominance over the [[Mesopotamia]]n plain through military prowess, diplomacy, and treachery. When Hammurabi inherited his father [[Sin-Muballit]]'s throne,{{sfnp|Renger|2020}} [[Babylon]] held little local sway; the local hegemon was [[Rim-Sin]] of [[Larsa]]. Hammurabi waited until Rim-Sin grew old, then conquered his territory in one swift campaign, leaving his organisation intact.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2007|pp=92–93}} Later, Hammurabi betrayed allies in [[Eshnunna]], [[Elam]], and [[Mari, Syria|Mari]] to gain their territories.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2007|pp=100–104}}

Hammurabi had an aggressive foreign policy, but his letters suggest he was concerned with the welfare of his many subjects and was interested in law and justice.{{sfnmp|1a1=Driver|1a2=Miles|1y=1952|1p=52|2a1=Van De Mieroop|2y=2007|2pp=111–113}} He commissioned extensive construction works, and in his letters, he frequently presents himself as his people's shepherd.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2007|pp=111–113}} Justice is also a theme of the prologue to the Code,{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|p=36}} and "the word translated 'justice' [{{lang|akk|ešērum}}]... is one whose root runs through both prologue and epilogue".{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|p=37}}

===Earlier law collections===
{{Main|Cuneiform law}}
Although Hammurabi's Code was the first Mesopotamian law collection to be discovered, it was not the first written; several earlier collections survive. These collections were written in [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] and [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]]. They also purport to have been written by rulers. There were almost certainly more such collections, as statements of other rulers suggest the custom was widespread.{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|p=9}} The similarities between these law collections make it tempting to assume a consistent underlying legal system.{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|p=9}} As with the Code of Hammurabi, however, it is difficult to interpret the purpose and underlying legal systems of these earlier collections, prompting numerous scholars to question whether this should be attempted.{{sfnmp|1a1=Kraus|1y=1960|1pp=295–296|2a1=Bottéro|2y=1992|2p=181|3a1=Roth|3y=1995b|3p=13}} Extant collections include:

* The [[Code of Ur-Nammu]] of [[Ur]].
* The [[Code of Lipit-Ishtar]] of [[Isin]].
* The [[Laws of Eshnunna]] (written by [[Bilalama]] or by [[Dadusha]]).
* The "Laws of X," which, rather than a distinct collection, may be the end of the Code of Ur-Nammu.{{Sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=36}}

There are additionally thousands of documents from the practice of law, from before and during the Old Babylonian period. These documents include contracts, judicial rulings, letters on legal cases, and reform documents such as that of [[Urukagina]], king of Lagash in the mid-3rd millennium BC, whose reforms combatted corruption. Mesopotamia has the most comprehensive surviving legal corpus from before the [[Digest of Justinian|'' Digest'' of Justinian]], even compared to those from [[ancient Greece]] and [[ancient Rome|Rome]].{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|pp=56–57}}

==Copies==
===Louvre stele===
{{multiple image
| total_width=500
| image1 = Tranchée de Jacques de Morgan sur l'acropole de Susa en Iran (Musée du Louvre, Arch AO 2267).jpg
| alt1 = Photograph. Refer to caption
| caption1 = The excavation of the [[Susa]] acropolis in 1897–1898, four years before the Code was found at the site
| image2 = Royal_City_and_Acropolis_Tepes.jpg
| alt2 = Photograph. Refer to caption
| caption2 = The Royal City (left) and Acropolis (right) of Susa in 2007
| direction = 
}}
The first copy of the text found, and still the most complete, is on a {{height|m=2.25}} [[stele]]. The stele is now displayed on the ground floor of the [[Louvre]], in Room 227 of the Richelieu wing.{{Sfnp|Louvre|n.d.}} At the top is an image of Hammurabi with [[Shamash]], the Babylonian [[sun god]] and god of justice. Below the image are about 4,130 lines of [[cuneiform]] text: One-fifth contains a prologue and epilogue, while the remaining four-fifths contain what are generally called the laws.{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|pp=15–16}} Near the bottom, seven columns of the laws, each with more than eighty lines, were polished and erased in antiquity.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=74}} The stele was found in three large fragments and reconstructed.{{sfnp|Scheil|1902|p=12}} It is {{height|cm=225}} high, with a circumference is {{height|cm=165}} at the summit and {{height|cm=190}} at the base.{{sfnp|Scheil|1902|p=12}} Hammurabi's image is {{height|cm=65}} high and {{height|cm=60}} wide.{{sfnp|Scheil|1902|p=12}}

The Louvre stele was found at the site of the ancient Elamite city of [[Susa]]. Susa is in modern-day [[Khuzestan Province]], Iran (Persia at the time of excavation). The stele was excavated by the French Archaeological Mission under the direction of [[Jacques de Morgan]].{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|pp=23–24}} Father [[Jean-Vincent Scheil]] published the initial report in the fourth volume of the ''Reports of the Delegation to Persia'' ({{lang|fr|Mémoires de la Délégation en Perse}}). According to Scheil, the stele's fragments were found on the [[tell (archaeology)|tell]] of the Susa acropolis ({{lang|fr|l'Acropole de Suse}}), between December 1901 and January 1902.{{sfnp|Scheil|1902|p=12}} The few, large fragments made assembly easy.{{sfnp|Scheil|1902|p=12}}

Scheil hypothesised that the stele had been taken to Susa by the Elamite king [[Shutruk-Nakhunte]] and that he had commissioned the erasure of several columns of laws to write his legend there.{{sfnp|Scheil|1902|p=12}} It has been proposed that the relief portion of the stele, especially the beards of Hammurabi and Shamash, was reworked at the same time.<ref>Ornan, Tallay, "Unfinished Business: the Relief on the Hammurabi Louvre Stele Revisited", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 71, pp. 85–109, 2019</ref> Roth suggests the stele was taken as plunder from Sippar,{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|pp=21–22}} where Hammurabi lived towards the end of his reign.{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|pp=29–30}}

===Other copies===
Fragments of a second and possibly third stele recording the Code were found along with the Louvre stele at Susa.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=73}} Over fifty manuscripts containing the laws are known. They were found not only in Susa but also in Babylon, [[Nineveh]], [[Assur]], [[Borsippa]], [[Nippur]], [[Sippar]], Ur, Larsa, and more.{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|p=20}} Copies were created during Hammurabi's reign, and also after it, since the text became a part of the scribal curriculum.{{sfnmp|1a1=Driver|1a2=Miles|1y=1952|1pp=25–56|2a1=Van De Mieroop|2y=2016|2p=145}} Copies have been found dating from one thousand years after the stele's creation,{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=74}} and a catalog from [[Library of Ashurbanipal|the library]] of [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo-Assyrian]] king [[Ashurbanipal]] (685–631 BC) lists a copy of the "judgments of Hammurabi".{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=147}} The additional copies fill in most of the stele's original text, including much of the erased section.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=74}}

==Early scholarship==
[[File:Cours de M. le professeur Scheil (Assyriologie), la Sorbonne, École des hautes études.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph of Jean-Vincent Scheil at a desk with piles of books and paper|[[Jean-Vincent Scheil|Father Jean-Vincent Scheil]], first modern editor of the Code]]
The {{lang|la|editio princeps}} of the Code was published by Father Jean-Vincent Scheil in 1902,{{sfnp|Souvay|1910}} in the fourth volume of the ''Reports of the Delegation to Persia'' ({{lang|fr|Mémoires de la Délégation en Perse}}). After a brief introduction with details of the excavation,{{sfnp|Scheil|1902|pp=11–12}} Scheil gave a transliteration and a free translation into French,{{sfnp|Scheil|1902|pp=13–162}} as well as a selection of images.{{sfnp|Scheil|1902|loc=plates 3–15}} Editions in other languages soon followed: in German by [[Hugo Winckler]] in 1902,{{sfnp|Winckler|1902}} in English by [[Claude Hermann Walter Johns|C. H. W. Johns]] in 1903,{{sfnp|Johns|1903a}} and in Italian by Pietro Bonfante, also in 1903.{{sfnp|Bonfante|1903}}

The Code was thought to be the earliest Mesopotamian law collection when it was rediscovered in 1902—for example, C. H. W. Johns' 1903 book was titled ''The Oldest Code of Laws in the World''.{{sfnp|Johns|1903a}} The English writer [[H. G. Wells]] included Hammurabi in the first volume of ''[[The Outline of History]]'', and to Wells too the Code was "the earliest known code of law".{{sfnp|Wells|1920|p=245}} However, three earlier collections were rediscovered afterwards: the Code of Lipit-Ishtar in 1947, the Laws of Eshnunna in 1948, and the Code of Ur-Nammu in 1952.{{sfnp|Kramer|1988|pp=51–52}} Early commentators dated Hammurabi and the stele to the 23rd century BC.{{sfnmp|1a1=Johns|1y=1903b|1p=257|2a1=Harper|2y=1904|2loc=the title|3a1=Equitable Trust Company|3y=1910|3loc=the title}} However, this is an earlier estimate than even the "[[middle chronology|ultra-long chronology]]" would support. The Code was compiled near the end of Hammurabi's reign.{{sfnmp|1a1=Driver|1a2=Miles|1y=1952|1p=34ff.|2a1=Roth|2y=1995a|2p=71}} This was deduced partly from the list of his achievements in the prologue.{{sfnp|Finkelstein|1961|p=101}}

Scheil enthused about the stele's importance and perceived fairness, calling it "a moral and political masterpiece".{{sfnp|Scheil|1902|p=12}} C. H. W. Johns called it "one of the most important monuments in the history of the human race".{{sfnp|Johns|1903a|p=v}} He remarked that "there are many humanitarian clauses and much protection is given the weak and the helpless",{{sfnp|Johns|1904|p=68}} and even lauded a "wonderful modernity of spirit".{{sfnp|Johns|1903b|p=258}} [[John Dyneley Prince]] called the Code's rediscovery "the most important event which has taken place in the development of Assyriological science since the days of [[Henry Creswicke Rawlinson|Rawlinson]] and [[Austen Henry Layard|Layard]]".{{sfnp|Prince|1904|p=601}} [[Charles Francis Horne]] commended the "wise law-giver" and his "celebrated code".{{sfnp|Horne|1915}} [[James Henry Breasted]] noted the Code's "justice to the widow, the orphan, and the poor", but remarked that it "also allows many of the old and naïve ideas of justice to stand".{{sfnp|Breasted|1916|p=131}} Commentators praised the advanced society they believed the Code evinced.{{sfnmp|1a1=Johns|1y=1903b|1p=257|2a1=Souvay|2y=1910|3a1=Everts|3y=1920|3p=45}} Several singled out perceived [[secularism]]: Owen Jenkins,{{sfnp|Jenkins|1905|p=335}} for example, but even Charles Souvay for the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'', who opined that unlike the [[Mosaic Law]] the Code was "founded upon the dictates of reason".{{sfnp|Souvay|1910}} The question of the Code's influence on the Mosaic Law received much early attention.{{sfnmp|1a1=Sampey|1y=1904a|2a1=Sampey|2y=1904b|3a1=Davies|3y=1905|4a1=Johns|4y=1914|5a1=Everts|5y=1920|6a1=Edwards|6y=1921}} Scholars also identified Hammurabi with the Biblical figure [[Amraphel]],{{sfnmp|1a1=Johns|1y=1903a|1pp=v–vi|2a1=Prince|2y=1904|2pp=601–602|3a1=Souvay|3y=1910}} but this proposal has since been abandoned.{{sfnp|North|1993|p=5}}

==Frame==
===Relief===
[[File:F0182 Louvre Code Hammourabi Bas-relief Sb8 rwk.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph. Refer to caption and adjacent text|The [[bas-relief|relief]] on the [[Louvre]] [[stele]]]]

The relief appears to show Hammurabi standing before a seated Shamash.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=73}} Shamash wears the horned crown of divinity{{sfnmp|1a1=Van Buren|1y=1943|2a1=Black|2a2=Green|2y=1998|2pp=102–103|3a1=Slanski|3y=2012|3p=106}} and has a solar attribute, flames,{{sfnp|Black|Green|1998|p=183}} spouting from his shoulders.{{sfnp|Breasted|1916|p=132}} Contrastingly, Scheil, in his {{lang|la|editio princeps}},{{sfnp|Souvay|1910}} identified the seated figure as Hammurabi and the standing figure as Shamash. Scheil also held that the scene showed Shamash dictating to Hammurabi while Hammurabi held a scribe's [[stylus]], gazing attentively at the god.{{sfnp|Scheil|1902|p=12}} Martha Roth lists other interpretations: "that the king is offering the laws to the god; that the king is accepting or offering the emblems of sovereignty of the rod and ring; or—most probably—that these emblems are the measuring tools of the rod-measure and rope-measure used in temple-building".{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|pp=22–23}} Hammurabi may even be imitating Shamash.{{sfnp|Charpin|2010|pp=81–82}} It is certain, though, that the draughtsman showed Hammurabi's close links to the divine realm,{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|p=23}} using composition and iconography.{{sfnp|Elsen-Novák|Novák|2006|pp=148–149}}

===Prologue===
The prologue and epilogue together occupy one-fifth of the text. Out of around 4,130 lines, the prologue occupies 300 lines and the epilogue occupies 500.{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|pp=15–16}} They are in [[ring composition]] around the laws, though there is no visual break distinguishing them from the laws.{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|p=16}} Both are written in poetic style,{{sfnp|Huehnergard|2011|p=160}} and, as William W. Davies wrote, "contain much{{nbsp}}... which sounds very like braggadocio".{{sfnp|Davies|1905|p=15}}

The 300-line prologue begins with an [[etiology]] of Hammurabi's royal authority (1–49). [[Anu]]m, the Babylonian [[sky god]] and [[king of the gods]], granted rulership over humanity to [[Marduk]]. Marduk chose the centre of his earthly power to be Babylon, which in the real world worshipped him as its [[tutelary god]]. Marduk established the office of kingship within Babylon. Finally, Anum, along with the Babylonian [[wind god]] [[Enlil]], chose Hammurabi to be Babylon's king. Hammurabi was to rule "to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak" (37–39: {{lang|akk|dannum enšam ana lā ḫabālim}}). He was to rise like Shamash over the Mesopotamians (the {{lang|akk|ṣalmāt qaqqadim}}, literally the "black-headed people") and illuminate the land (40–44).{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|pp=76–77}}<ref group="note" name="CDLI and Roth">{{harvtxt|CDLI|2019}}'s line numbering, {{harvtxt|Roth|1995a}}'s translation. The line numbers may seem low, since the CDLI edition does not include sections not found on the Louvre stele.</ref>

Hammurabi then lists his achievements and virtues (50–291). These are expressed in noun form, in the Akkadian first person singular nominal sentence construction "[noun]{{nbsp}}... {{lang|akk|anāku}}" ("I am [noun]").{{sfnp|Huehnergard|2011|pp=11–12}} The first nominal sentence (50–53) is short: "I am Hammurabi, the shepherd, selected by the god Enlil" ({{lang|akk|ḫammurabi rē'ûm nibīt enlil anāku}}). Then Hammurabi continues for over 200 lines in a single nominal sentence with the {{lang|akk|anāku}} delayed to the very end (291).{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|pp=77–80}}<ref group="note" name="CDLI and Roth" />

Hammurabi repeatedly calls himself {{lang|akk|na'dum}}, "pious" (lines 61, 149, 241, and 272). The metaphor of Hammurabi as his people's shepherd also recurs. It was a common metaphor for [[ancient Near East]]ern kings, but is perhaps justified by Hammurabi's interest in his subjects' affairs.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2005|p=82}} His affinities with many different gods are stressed throughout. He is portrayed as dutiful in restoring and maintaining temples and peerless on the battlefield. The list of his accomplishments has helped establish that the text was written late in Hammurabi's reign. After the list, Hammurabi explains that he fulfilled Marduk's request to establish "truth and justice" ({{lang|akk|kittam u mīšaram}}) for the people (292–302), although the prologue never directly references the laws.{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|pp=40–41}} The prologue ends "at that time:" (303: {{lang|akk|inūmišu}}) and the laws begin.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|pp=80–81}}<ref group="note" name="CDLI and Roth" />

===Epilogue===
[[File:Enki(Ea).jpg|thumb|alt=Ea or Enki, depicted on a cylinder seal with streams of fish spouting from his shoulders. Refer to caption|[[Ea (mythology)|Ea/Enki]], [[god of wisdom]] whom Hammurabi implores to confuse any defacer of his stele, depicted on a [[cylinder seal]] c.&nbsp;2300 BC]]
Unlike the prologue, the 500-line epilogue is explicitly related to the laws.{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|pp=40–41}} The epilogue begins (3144'–3151'): "These are the just decisions which Hammurabi{{nbsp}}... has established" ({{lang|akk|dīnāt mīšarim ša ḫammurabi... ukinnu-ma}}). He exalts his laws and his magnanimity (3152'–3239').{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|pp=133–134}} He then expresses a hope that "any wronged man who has a lawsuit" ({{lang|akk|awīlum ḫablum ša awātam iraššû}}) may have the laws of the stele read aloud to him and know his rights (3240'–3256').{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=134}} This would bring Hammurabi praise (3257'–3275') and divine favour (3276'–3295').{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|pp=134–135}} Hammurabi wishes for good fortune for any ruler who heeds his pronouncements and respects his stele (3296'–3359').{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|pp=135–136}} However, he invokes the wrath of the gods on any man who disobeys or erases his pronouncements (3360'–3641', the end of the text).{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|pp=136–140}}<ref group="note" name="CDLI and Roth" />

The epilogue contains much legal imagery, and the phrase "to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak" (3202'–3203': {{lang|akk|dannum enšam ana lā ḫabālim}}){{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=133}} is reused from the prologue. However, the king's main concern appears to be ensuring that his achievements are not forgotten and his name not sullied.{{sfnmp|1a1=Driver|1a2=Miles|1y=1952|1p=37|2a1=Bottéro|2y=1992|2p=167}} The list of curses heaped upon any future defacer is 281 lines long and extremely forceful. Some of the curses are very vivid: "may the god [[Sin (mythology)|Sin]]{{nbsp}}... decree for him a life that is no better than death" (3486'–3508': {{lang|akk|sîn... balāṭam ša itti mūtim šitannu ana šīmtim lišīmšum}});{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=138}} "may he [the future defacer] conclude every day, month, and year of his reign with groaning and mourning" (3497'–3501': {{lang|akk|ūmī warḫī šanāt palēšu ina tānēḫim u dimmatim lišaqti}});{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=138}} may he experience "the spilling of his life force like water" (3435'–3436': {{lang|akk|tabāk napištišu kīma mê}}).{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=137}} Hammurabi implores a variety of gods individually to turn their particular attributes against the defacer. For example: "may the [[storm god|[storm] god]] [[Adad]]{{nbsp}}... deprive him of the benefits of rain from heaven and flood from the springs" (3509'–3515': {{lang|akk|adad... zunnī ina šamê mīlam ina nagbim līṭeršu}});{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=138}} "may the [[god of wisdom|god [of wisdom]]] [[Ea (Babylonian god)|Ea]]{{nbsp}}... deprive him of all understanding and wisdom, and may he lead him into confusion" (3440'–3451': {{lang|akk|ea... uznam u nēmeqam līṭeršu-ma ina mīšītim littarrūšu}}).{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=137}}<ref group="note" name="CDLI and Roth" /> Gods and goddesses are invoked in this order:{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|pp=136–140}}

{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
# Anum (3387'–3394')
# Enlil (3395'–3422')
# [[Ninlil]] (3423'–3439')
# Ea (3440'–3458')
# Shamash (3459'–3485')
# Sin (3486'–3508')
# Adad (3509'–3525')
# [[Zababa]] (3526'–3536')
# [[Ishtar]] (3537'–3573')
# [[Nergal]] (3574'–3589')
# [[Nintu]] (3590'–3599')
# [[Ninkarrak]] (3600'–3619')
# All the gods (3620'–3635')
# Enlil, a second time (3636'–3641')
{{div col end}}

==Laws==
The Code of Hammurabi is the longest and best-organised legal text from the ancient Near East,{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=71}} as well as the best-preserved.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=144}} The classification below (columns 1–3) is Driver & Miles',{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|pp=43–45}} with several amendments, and Roth's translation is used.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|pp=76–142}} Laws represented by letters are those reconstructed primarily from documents other than the Louvre stele.

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
|+ Legal areas covered in the Code of Hammurabi, along with specific provisions and examples
|-
! scope="col" | Legal area
! scope="col" | Laws
! scope="col" | Specific provisions
! scope="col" | Example (English)
! scope="col" | Example (Akkadian)
|-
! scope="row" | Offences against the administration of law
| 1–5
| {{plainlist|
*false charges (1–2)
*false testimony (3–4)
*falsification of judgement (5)
}}
| If a man accuses another man and charges him with homicide, but cannot bring proof against him, his accuser shall be killed. (1){{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=81}}
| {{lang|akk|šumma awīlum awīlam ubbir-ma nērtam elišu iddi-ma lā uktīnšu mubbiršu iddâk}} (1)
|-
! scope="row" | Property offences
| 6–25
| {{plainlist|
*stealing and receiving stolen property (6–13)
*kidnapping (14)
*harbouring fugitive slaves (15–20)
*breaking and entering (21)
*burglary (22–24)
*looting burning houses (25)
}}
| If a man breaks into a house, they shall kill him and hang him in front of that very breach. (21){{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=85}}
| {{lang|akk|šumma awīlum bītam ipluš ina pāni pilšim šuāti idukkūšu-ma iḫallalūšu}} (21)
|-
! scope="row" | Land and houses
| 26–k
| {{plainlist|
*[[land tenure|tenure]] of [[fief]]s (26–41)
*duties of farmers (42–48)
*debts of farmers (49–52)
*irrigation offences (53–56)
*cattle trespass (57–58)
*cutting down trees (59)
*care of date orchards (60–a)
*offences connected with houses (b–k)
}}
| If a man has a debt lodged against him, and the storm-god Adad devastates his field or a flood sweeps away the crops, or there is no grain grown in the field due to insufficient water—in that year he will not repay grain to his creditor; he shall suspend performance of his contract [literally "wet his clay tablet"] and he will not give interest payments for that year. (48){{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=90}}
| {{lang|akk|šumma awīlum ḫubullum elišu ibašši-ma eqelšu adad irtaḫiṣ u lū bibbulum itbal u lū ina lā mê še'um ina eqlim lā ittabši ina šattim šuāti še'am ana bēl ḫubullišu ul utār ṭuppašu uraṭṭab u ṣibtam ša šattim šuāti ul inaddin}} (48)
|-
! scope="row" | Commerce
| l–126
| {{plainlist|
*loans and trade (l–107)
*innkeeping (108–111)
*fraud by couriers (112)
*[[distraint]] and pledge of persons for debt (113–119)
*safe custody or deposit (120–126)
}}
| If a merchant should give silver to a trading agent for an investment venture, and he [the trading agent] incurs a loss on his journeys, he shall return silver to the merchant in the amount of the capital sum. (102){{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=100}}
| {{lang|akk|šumma tamkārum ana šamallim kaspam ana tadmiqtim ittadin-ma ašar illiku bitiqtam ītamar qaqqad kaspim ana tamkārim utār}} (102)
|-
! scope="row" | Marriage, family, and property
|style="white-space: nowrap;"|127–194
|style="white-space: nowrap;"| {{plainlist|
*slander of {{lang|akk|ugbabtum}}-priestesses or married women (127)
*definition of "married woman" (128)
*adultery (129–132)
*remarriage in husbands' absence (133–136)
*divorce (137–143)
*marriage to {{lang|akk|nadītum}}-women (144–147)
*maintenance of sick wives (148–149)
*gifts from husbands to wives (150)
*liability of spouses for debt (151–152)
*murder of husbands (153)
*incest (154–158)
*inchoate marriage (159–161)
*devolution of marriage-gifts after wives' deaths (162–164)
*gifts to sons {{lang|la|[[inter vivos]]}} (165)
*succession amongst sons (166–167)
*disinheritance of sons (168–169)
*legitimation (170)
*widows' property (171–174)
*marriage of {{lang|akk|awīlum}}-class women to slaves (175–176)
*remarriage of widows (177)
*sacral women (178–184)
*adoption and nursing of infants (185–194)
}}
| If a man takes in adoption a young child at birth [literally "in its water"] and then rears him, that child will not be reclaimed. (185){{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=119}}
| {{lang|akk|šumma awīlum ṣeḫram ina mêšu ana mārūtim ilqe-ma urtabbīšu tarbītum šī ul ibbaqqar}} (185)
|-
! scope="row" | Assault
| 195–214
| {{plainlist|
*assaults on fathers (195)
*assaults on {{lang|akk|awīlum}}-class men (196–208)
*assaults causing miscarriage (209–214)
}}
| If an [{{lang|akk|awīlum}}] should blind the eye of another [{{lang|akk|awīlum}}], they shall blind his eye. (196){{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=121}}
| {{lang|akk|šumma awīlum īn mār awīlim uḫtappid īnšu uḫappadū}} (196)
|-
! scope="row" | Professional men
| 215–240
| {{plainlist|
*surgeons (215–223)
*veterinary surgeons (224–225)
*branders (226–227)
*builders (228–233)
*shipbuilders and boatmen (234–240)
}}
| If a builder constructs a house for a man but does not make it conform to specifications so that a wall then buckles, that builder shall make that wall sound using his silver. (233){{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=125}}
| {{lang|akk|šumma itinnum bītam ana awīlim īpuš-ma šipiršu lā ušteṣbi-ma igārum iqtūp itinnum šū ina kasap ramānišu igāram šuāti udannan}} (233)
|-
! scope="row" | Agriculture
| 241–273
| {{plainlist|
*oxen (241–252)
*theft of fodder by tenants (253–256)
*hire of agricultural labourers (257–258)
*theft of agricultural implements (259–260)
*hire of herdsmen (261)
*duties of shepherds (262–267)
*hire of beasts and wagons (268–272)
*hire of seasonal labourers (273)
}}
| If an ox gores to death a man while it is passing through the streets, there is no legal basis for claims
. (250){{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=128}}
| {{lang|akk|šumma alpum sūqam ina alākišu awīlam ikkip-ma uštamīt dīnum šū rugummâm ul išu}} (250)
|-
! scope="row" | Rates of hire
| 274–277
| {{plainlist|
*wages of craftsmen (274)
*hire of boats (275–277)
}}
| If a man rents a boat of 60-[{{lang|akk|kur}}] capacity, he shall give one-sixth [of a shekel] of silver per day as its hire. (277){{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=132}}
| {{lang|akk|šumma awīlum elep šūšim īgur ina ūmim ištēn šuduš kaspam idīša inaddin}} (277)
|-
! scope="row" | Slaves
| 278–282
| {{plainlist|
*warranties on sale of slaves (278–279)
*purchase of slaves abroad (280–281)
*denial of mastership (282)
}}
| If a slave should declare to his master, "You are not my master", he [the master] shall bring charge and proof against him that he is indeed his slave, and his master shall cut off his ear. (281){{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=132}}
| {{lang|akk|šumma wardum ana bēlišu ul bēlī atta iqtabi kīma warassu ukānšu-ma bēlšu uzunšu inakkis}} (282)
|}

==Theories of purpose==
The purpose and legal authority of the Code have been disputed since the mid-20th century.{{sfnp|Kraus|1960|p=292}} Theories fall into three main categories: that it is [[legislation]], whether a [[code of law]] or a body of [[statute]]s; that it is a sort of [[law report]], containing records of past cases and judgments; and that it is an abstract work of [[jurisprudence]]. The jurisprudence theory has gained much support within Assyriology.{{sfnmp|1a1=Kraus|1y=1960|2a1=Oppenheim|2y=1977|3a1=Bottéro|3y=1992|3loc=chapter 10|4a1=Van De Mieroop|4y=2016|4loc=chapters 6–7}}

===Legislation===
{{multiple image
| total_width       = 300
| image1            = Mosaic of Justinianus I - Basilica San Vitale (Ravenna).jpg
| alt1              = Mosaic of Justinian I
| image2            = Napoleon Bonaparte.jpg
| alt2              = Painting of Napoleon Bonaparte in His Study at the Tuileries
| footer            = [[Justinian I]] of the [[Byzantine Empire]] (L) and [[Napoléon Bonaparte]] of France (R) both created legal codes to which the Louvre stele has been compared.
}}

The term "code" presupposes that the document was intended to be enforced as legislation. It was used by Scheil in his {{lang|la|editio princeps}},{{sfnmp|1a1=Souvay|1y=1910|2a1=Kraus|2y=1960|2p=283}} and widely adopted afterwards. C. H. W. Johns, one of the most prolific early commentators on the document, proclaimed that "the Code well deserves its name".{{sfnp|Johns|1903b|p=258}} Recent Assyriologists have used the term without comment,{{sfnmp|1a1=Pfeifer|1y=2011|2a1=Rositani|2y=2017}} as well as scholars outside Assyriology.{{sfnmp|1a1=Alkadry|1y=2002–2003|2a1=Pearn|2y=2016}} However, only if the text was intended as enforced legislation can it truly be called a code of law and its provisions laws.

The document, on first inspection, resembles a highly organised code similar to the [[Code of Justinian]] and the [[Napoleonic Code]].{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=170}} There is also evidence that {{lang|akk|dīnātum}}, which in the Code of Hammurabi sometimes denote individual "laws", were enforced.{{sfnp|Oppenheim|Reiner|1959|pp=150–153}} One copy of the Code calls it a {{lang|akk|ṣimdat šarrim}}, "royal decree", which denotes a kind of enforced legislation.{{sfnp|Bottéro|1992|pp=180–181}}

However, the arguments against this view are strong. Firstly, it would make a very unusual code—Reuven Yaron called the designation "Code" a "persistent misnomer".{{sfnp|Yaron|2013|p=580}} Vital areas of society and commerce are omitted.{{sfnmp|1a1=Driver|1a2=Miles|1y=1952|1pp=45ff.|2a1=Bottéro|2y=1992|2p=161}} For example, [[Marc Van De Mieroop]] observes that the Code "deals with cattle and agricultural fields, but it almost entirely ignores the work of shepherds, vital to Babylonia's economy".{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=165}} Then, against the legislation theory more generally, highly implausible circumstances are covered, such as [[threshing]] with goats, animals far too unruly for the task (law 270).{{sfnmp|1a1=Van De Mieroop|1y=2016|1p=167|2a1=Roth|2y=1995a|2p=130}} The laws are also strictly casuistic ("if{{nbsp}}... then"); unlike in the Mosaic Law, there are no apodictic laws (general commands). These would more obviously suggest prescriptive legislation. The strongest argument against the legislation theory, however, is that most judges appear to have paid the Code no attention. This line of criticism originated with [[Benno Landsberger]] in 1950.{{sfnp|Kraus|1960|p=292}} No Mesopotamian legal document explicitly references the Code or any other law collection,{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=170}} despite the great scale of the corpus.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=172}} Two references to prescriptions on "a stele" ({{lang|akk|narû}}){{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=173}} come closest. In contrast, numerous judgments cite royal {{lang|akk|mīšarum}}-decrees.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=170}} [[Raymond Westbrook]] held that this strengthened the [[argument from silence]] that ancient Near Eastern legal "codes" had legal import.{{sfnp|Westbrook|2003|p=19}} Furthermore, many Old Babylonian judgments run entirely counter to the Code's prescriptions.{{sfnmp|1a1=Oppenheim|1y=1977|1p=211|2a1=Bottéro|2y=1992|2pp=163–164|3a1=Roth|3y=1995a|3pp=5–6}}

===Law report===
[[File:Library of Ashurbanipal.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph. Refer to caption|A [[British Museum]] display of tablets from the [[Library of Ashurbanipal]]. The Library lists a copy of the "judgments of Hammurabi" over a millennium after Hammurabi's death.]]

A second theory is that the Code is a sort of law report, and as such contains records of past cases and judgments, albeit phrased abstractly. This would provide one explanation for the casuistic format of the "laws"; indeed, [[Jean Bottéro]] believed he had found a record of a case that inspired one.{{sfnp|Bottéro|1992|pp=171–172}} However, such finds are inconclusive and very rare, despite the scale of the Mesopotamian legal corpus.{{sfnp|Bottéro|1992|pp=163–164}} Furthermore, legal judgments were frequently recorded in Mesopotamia, and they recount the facts of the case without generalising them.{{sfnmp|1a1=Roth|1y=2001|2a1=Klein|2y=2007}} These judgments were concerned almost exclusively with points of fact, prompting Martha Roth to comment: "I know of only one case out of thousands extant that might be said to revolve around a point of law".{{sfnp|Roth|2001|p=255}}

===Jurisprudence===
A third theory, which has gained traction within Assyriology, is that the Code is not a true code but an abstract treatise on how judgments should be formulated. This led Fritz Rudolf Kraus, in an early formulation of the theory, to call it jurisprudence ({{lang|de|Rechtssprüche}}).{{sfnp|Kraus|1960|p=288}} Kraus proposed that it was a work of Mesopotamian scholarship in the same category as omen collections like {{lang|akk|[[šumma ālu]]}} and {{lang|akk|ana ittišu}}.{{sfnp|Kraus|1960|p=288}} Others have provided their own versions of this theory.{{sfnmp|1a1=Saggs|1y=1965|1pp=80ff.|2a1=Oppenheim|2y=1977|2p=287|3a1=Bottéro|3y=1992|3pp=166–167|4a1=Van De Mieroop|4y=2016|4loc=chapters 6–7}} [[A. Leo Oppenheim]] remarked that the Code of Hammurabi and similar Mesopotamian law collections "represent an interesting formulation of social criticism and should not be taken as normative directions".{{sfnp|Oppenheim|1977|p=158}}

This interpretation bypasses the problem of low congruence between the Code and actual legal judgments. Secondly, the Code does bear striking similarities to other works of Mesopotamian scholarship. Key points of similarity are the list format and the order of the items,{{sfnmp|1a1=Bottéro|1y=1992|1pp=173ff.|2a1=Van De Mieroop|2y=2016|2pp=165ff}} which Ann Guinan describes as a complex "serial logic".{{sfnp|Guinan|2014|p=115}} Marc Van De Mieroop explains that, in common with other works of Mesopotamian scholarship such as omen lists, king lists, and god lists, the entries of the Code of Hammurabi are arranged according to two principles. These are "opposition"—whereby a variable in one entry is altered to make another entry—and "pointillism"—whereby new conditions are added to an entry, or paradigmatic series pursued, to generate a sequence.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|pp=165ff.}} Van De Mieroop provides the following examples:

{{Blockquote|text=If a physician performs major surgery with a bronze lancet upon an [{{lang|akk|awīlum}}] and thus heals the [{{lang|akk|awīlum}}], or opens an [{{lang|akk|awīlum}}]'s temple with a bronze lancet and thus heals the [{{lang|akk|awīlum}}]'s eye, he shall take ten shekels of silver (as his fee).|title=Law 215{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=123}}|}}
{{Blockquote|text=If a physician performs major surgery with a bronze lancet upon an [{{lang|akk|awīlum}}] and thus causes the [{{lang|akk|awīlum}}]'s death, or opens an [{{lang|akk|awīlum}}]'s temple with a bronze lancet and thus blinds the [{{lang|akk|awīlum}}]'s eye, they shall cut off his hand.|title=Law 218{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=123}}|}}

Laws 215 and 218 illustrate the principle of opposition: one variable of the first law, the outcome of the operations, is altered to create the second.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=166}}

{{Blockquote|text=If there is either a soldier or [an auxiliary] who is taken captive while serving in a royal fortress [...] if he should [...] return and get back to his city, they shall return to him his field and orchard and he himself shall perform his service obligation.

If there is either a soldier or [an auxiliary] who is taken captive in a royal fortress, and his son is able to perform the service obligation, the field and orchard shall be given to him, and he shall perform his father's service obligation.

If his son is young and is unable to perform his father's service obligation, one third of the field and orchard shall be given to his mother, and his mother shall raise him.|title=Laws 27–29{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=86}}|}}

Here, following the principle of pointillism, circumstances are added to the first entry to create more entries.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|pp=166–167}} Pointillism also lets list entries be generated by following paradigmatic series common to multiple branches of scholarship. It can thus explain the implausible entries. For example, in the case of the goat used for threshing (law 270),{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=130}} the previous laws concern other animals that ''were'' used for threshing. The established series of domesticated beasts dictated that a goat come next.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=167}}

[[Wolfram von Soden]], who decades earlier called this way of thinking {{lang|de|Listenwissenschaft}} ("list science"),{{sfnp|von Soden|1936}} often denigrated it.{{sfnmp|1a1=von Soden|1y=1936|2a1=von Soden|2y=1994|2pp=146, 158}} However, more recent writers, such as Marc Van De Mieroop, Jean Bottéro, and Ann Guinan, have either avoided value judgments or expressed admiration. Lists were central to Mesopotamian science and logic, and their distinctive structural principles let entries be generated infinitely.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=167}} Linking the Code to the scribal tradition within which "list science" emerged also explains why trainee scribes copied and studied it for over a millennium.{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|p=20}} The Code appears in a late Babylonian (7th–6th century BC) list of literary and scholarly texts.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=175}} No other law collection became so entrenched in the curriculum.{{sfnp|Charpin|2010|p=81}} Rather than a code of laws, then, it may be a scholarly treatise.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=173}}

Much has been written on what the Code suggests about Old Babylonian society and its legal system.{{failed verification|date=March 2023}} For example, whether it demonstrates that there were no professional advocates,{{sfnp|Johns|1911}} or that there were professional judges.{{sfnp|Charpin|2010|p=52}} Scholars who approach the Code as a self-contained document renounce such claims.{{sfnmp|1a1=Kraus|1y=1960|1pp=295–296|2a1=Roth|2y=1995b|2pp=13ff}}

==Underlying principles==
One principle widely accepted to underlie the Code is {{lang|la|[[lex talionis]]}}, or "eye for an eye". Laws 196 and 200 respectively prescribe an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth when one man destroys another's. Punishments determined by {{lang|la|lex talionis}} could be transferred to the sons of the wrongdoer.{{sfnp|Johns|1911}} For example, law 229 states that the death of a homeowner in a house collapse necessitates the death of the house's builder. The following law 230 states that if the homeowner's son died, the builder's son must die also.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=125}}

Persons were not [[equal before the law]]; not just age and profession but also class and gender dictated the punishment or remedy they received. Three main kinds of person, {{lang|akk|awīlum}}, {{lang|akk|muškēnum}}, and {{lang|akk|wardum}} (male)/{{lang|akk|amtum}} (female), are mentioned throughout the Code. A {{lang|akk|wardum}}/{{lang|akk|amtum}} was a male/female slave. As for {{lang|akk|awīlum}} and {{lang|akk|muškēnum}}, though contentious, it seems likely that the difference was one of social class, with {{lang|akk|awīlum}} meaning something like "gentleman" and {{lang|akk|muškēnum}} something like "commoner".{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|pp=72–73}} The penalties were not necessarily stricter for a {{lang|akk|muškēnum}} than an {{lang|akk|awīlum}}: a {{lang|akk|muškēnum}}'s life may have been cheaper, but so were some of his fines.{{sfnp|Jenkins|1905|p=339}} There was also inequality within these classes: laws 200 and 202, for example, show that one {{lang|akk|awīlum}} could be of higher rank than another.{{sfnmp|1a1=Roth|1y=1995b|1pp=34ff.|2a1=Roth|2y=1995a|2p=121}}

The above principles are distant in spirit from modern systems of [[common law|common]] and [[civil law (legal system)|civil law]], but some may be more familiar. One such principle is the [[presumption of innocence]]; the first two laws of the stele prescribe punishments, determined by {{lang|la|lex talionis}}, for unsubstantiated accusations. Written evidence was valued highly,{{sfnmp|1a1=Johns|1y=1911|2a1=Roth|2y=1995a|2p=72}} especially in matters of [[contract]].{{sfnp|Horne|1915}} One crime was given only one punishment.{{sfnp|Prince|1904|p=607}} The laws also recognized the importance of the intentions of a defendant.{{sfnp|Johns|1911}} Lastly, the Code's establishment on public stelae was supposedly intended to increase access to justice. Whether or not this was true, suggesting that a wronged man have the stele read aloud to him (lines 3240'–3254')<ref group="note" name="CDLI and Roth" /> is a concrete measure in this direction, given the inaccessibility of scribal education in the Old Babylonian period.{{sfnp|George|2005|p=7}}

The prologue asserts that Hammurabi was chosen by the gods. Raymond Westbrook observed that in ancient Near Eastern law, "the king was the primary source of legislation".{{sfnp|Westbrook|2003|p=26}} However, they could delegate their god-given legal authority to judges.{{sfnp|Bottéro|1992|p=165}} However, as Owen B. Jenkins observed, the prescriptions themselves bear "an astonishing absence{{nbsp}}... of all theological or even ceremonial law".{{sfnp|Jenkins|1905|p=335}}

==Language==
[[File:Code of Hammurabi IMG 1937.JPG|thumb|alt=Cuneiform on the stele. Refer to adjacent text|The text. The arrangement of the Code's [[cuneiform]] was antiquated when it was written.]]
The laws are written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian. Their style is regular and repetitive, and today they are a standard set text for introductory Akkadian classes.{{sfnp|Richardson|2004|p=7}} However, as A. Leo Oppenheim summarises, the [[cuneiform]] signs themselves are "vertically arranged{{nbsp}}... within boxes placed in bands side by side from right to left", an arrangement already antiquated by Hammurabi's time.{{sfnp|Oppenheim|1977|p=240}}

The laws are expressed in [[casuistic]] format: they are [[conditional sentences]] with the case detailed in the protasis ("if" [[clause]]) and the [[legal remedy|remedy]] given in the apodosis ("then" clause). The protasis begins {{lang|akk|šumma}}, "if",{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=8}} except when it adds to circumstances already specified in a previous law (e.g. laws 36, 38, and 40).{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=88}} The [[preterite]] is used for simple past verbs in the protasis, or possibly for a simple conditional.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=8}} The [[perfect (grammar)|perfect]] often appears at the end of the protasis after one or more preterites to convey sequence of action, or possibly a hypothetical conditional.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=8}} The [[durative]], sometimes called the "present" in Assyriology, may express intention in the laws.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=8}} For ease of English reading, some translations give preterite and perfect verbs in the protasis a present sense.{{sfnmp|1a1=Roth|1y=1995a|2a1=Van De Mieroop|2y=2016|2loc=chapters 6–7}} In the apodosis, the verbs are in the durative, though the sense varies between permissive—"it is permitted that ''x'' happen"—and instructive—"''x'' must/will happen".{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|pp=7–8}} In both protasis and apodosis, sequence of action is conveyed by suffixing verbs with {{lang|akk|-ma}}, "and".{{sfnp|Huehnergard|2011|pp=49–50}} {{lang|akk|-ma}} can also have the sense "but".{{sfnp|Huehnergard|2011|p=50}}

The Code is relatively well-understood, but some items of its vocabulary are controversial.{{vague|date=March 2023}} As mentioned, the terms {{lang|akk|awīlum}} and {{lang|akk|muškēnum}} have proved difficult to translate. They probably denote respectively a male member of a higher and lower social class.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|pp=8–9}} Wolfram von Soden, in his ''[[Akkadisches Handwörterbuch]]'', proposed that {{lang|akk|muškēnum}} was derived from {{lang|akk|šukênum}}, "to bow down/supplicate".{{sfnp|von Soden|1972|p=684}} As a word for a man of low social standing, it has endured, possibly from a Sumerian root, into Arabic ({{lang|ar|miskīn}}), Italian ({{lang|it|meschino}}), Spanish ({{lang|es|mezquino}}), and French ({{lang|fr|mesquin}}).{{sfnp|Wohl|1968|p=6}} However, some earlier translators, also seeking to explain the {{lang|akk|muškēnum}}'s special treatment, translated it as "leper" and even "noble".{{sfnp|Johns|1914|p=76}} Some translators have supplied stilted readings for {{lang|akk|awīlum}}, such as "seignior",{{sfnp|Meek|1958|pp=139ff}} "elite man",{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016}} and "member of the aristocracy";{{sfnp|Bottéro|1992|p=166}} others have left it untranslated.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|pp=76ff}} Certain legal terms have also proved difficult to translate. For example, {{lang|akk|dīnum}} and {{lang|akk|dīttum}} can denote the law in general as well as individual laws, verdicts, divine pronouncements and other phenomena.{{sfnmp|1a1=Kraus|1y=1960|1p=285|2a1=Roth|2y=1995b|2p=20|3a1=Charpin|3y=2010|3p=72}} {{lang|akk|mīšarum}} can likewise denote the law in general as well as a kind of royal decree.{{sfnmp|1a1=Kraus|1y=1960|1p=294|2a1=Finkelstein|2y=1961|3a1=Charpin|3y=2010|3p=72}}

==Relation to other law collections==
{{see also|List of ancient legal codes}}

===Other Mesopotamian===
[[File:Prologue code Lipit-Ishtar AO 5473.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph. A clay tablet containing the prologue to the Code of Lipit-Ishtar written in cuneiform|Prologue to the Code of [[Lipit-Ishtar]]]]
The Code of Hammurabi bears strong similarities to earlier Mesopotamian law collections. Many purport to have been written by rulers, and this tradition was probably widespread.{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|p=9}} Earlier law collections express their god-given legitimacy similarly.{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|p=5}} Like the Code of Hammurabi, they feature prologues and epilogues: the Code of Ur-Nammu has a prologue, the [[Code of Lipit-Ishtar]] a prologue and an epilogue, and the Laws of Eshnunna an epilogue. Also, like the Code of Hammurabi, they uphold the "one crime, one punishment" principle.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=161}} The cases covered and language used are, overall, strikingly similar.{{sfnp|Driver|Miles|1952|p=9}} Scribes were still copying earlier law collections, such as the [[Code of Ur-Nammu]], when Hammurabi produced his own Code.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|pp=144–145}} This suggests that earlier collections may have not only resembled the Code but influenced it. Raymond Westbrook maintained that there was a fairly consistent tradition of "ancient Near Eastern law" which included the Code of Hammurabi,{{sfnp|Westbrook|2003|pp=4ff.}} and that this was largely [[customary law]].{{sfnp|Westbrook|2003|p=21}} Nonetheless, there are differences: for example, Stephen Bertman has suggested that where earlier collections are concerned with compensating victims, the Code is concerned with physically punishing offenders.{{sfnp|Bertman|2003|p=71}} Additionally, the above conclusions of similarity and influence apply only to the law collections themselves. The actual legal practices from the context of each code are mysterious.{{sfnmp|1a1=Kraus|1y=1960|1pp=295–296|2a1=Roth|2y=1995b|2p=13}}

The Code of Hammurabi also bears strong similarities to later Mesopotamian law collections: to the casuistic [[Middle Assyrian Empire|Middle Assyrian]] Laws and to the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire|Neo-Babylonian]] Laws,{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=145}} whose format is largely relative ("a man who{{nbsp}}..."). It is easier to posit direct influence for these later collections, given the Code's survival through the scribal curriculum.{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|p=20}} Lastly, although influence is more difficult to trace, there is evidence that the [[Hittite laws]] may have been part of the same tradition of legal writing outside Mesopotamia proper.{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|p=19}}

===Mosaic, Graeco-Roman, and modern===
[[File:Moses receives the Law, Leo Bible (Vatican, Biblioteca Vaticana MS. Reg. gr. 1), folio 155v, c.&nbsp;930–940, 41 x 27 cm.jpg|thumb|alt=Illumination from the Byzantine Leo Bible of Moses on Mount Sinai, receiving the law from heaven|[[Moses]] receiving the law on [[Mount Sinai]], depicted in the Byzantine [[Leo Bible]]]]

The relationship of the Code of Hammurabi to the [[Mosaic Law]], specifically the [[Covenant Code]] of [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] 20:22–23:19, has been a subject of discussion since its discovery.{{sfnmp|1a1=Sampey|1y=1904a|2a1=Sampey|2y=1904b|3a1=Davies|3y=1905|4a1=Johns|4y=1914|5a1=Everts|5y=1920|6a1=Edwards|6y=1921}} [[Friedrich Delitzsch]] argued the case for strong influence in a 1902 lecture, in one episode of the "{{lang|de|Babel und Bibel}}" ("Babel and Bible", or "[[Panbabylonism]]") debate on the influence of ancient Mesopotamian cultures on [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|ancient Israel]]. However, he was met with strong resistance.{{sfnp|Ziolkowski|2012|p=25}} There was cultural contact between Mesopotamia and [[the Levant]], and [[Middle Bronze Age]] tablets of casuistic cuneiform law have been found at [[Tel Hazor|Hazor]].{{sfnp|Horowitz|Oshima|Vukosavović|2012}} There are also similarities between the Code of Hamurabi and the Covenant Code: in the casuistic format, in principles such as {{lang|la|lex talionis}} ("eye for an eye"), and in the content of the provisions. Some similarities are striking, such as in the provisions concerning a man-goring ox (Code of Hammurabi laws 250–252,{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=128}} Exodus 21:28–32).{{sfnp|Wright|2009|loc=chapter 8}} Certain writers have posited direct influence: [[David P. Wright]], for example, asserts that the Covenant Code is "directly, primarily, and throughout dependent upon the Laws of Hammurabi", "a creative rewriting of Mesopotamian sources{{nbsp}}... to be viewed as an academic abstraction rather than a digest of laws".{{sfnp|Wright|2009|p=3}} Others{{who|date=March 2023}} posit indirect influence, such as via [[Arameans|Aramaic]] or [[Phoenicia]]n intermediaries.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|p=152}} The consensus, however, is that the similarities are a result of inheriting common traditions.{{sfnp|Wright|2009|p=vii}} In 1916, George A. Barton cited "a similarity of antecedents and of general intellectual outlook".{{sfnp|Barton|1916|p=340}} More recently, [[David Winton Thomas]] has stated: "There is no ground for assuming any direct borrowing by the Hebrew from the Babylonian. Even where the two sets of laws differ little in the letter, they differ much in the spirit".{{sfnp|Thomas|1958|p=28}}

The influence of the Code of Hammurabi on later law collections is difficult to establish. Marc Van De Mieroop suggests that it may have influenced the Greek [[Gortyn Code]] and the Roman [[Twelve Tables]].{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|pp=152–153}} However, even Van De Mieroop acknowledges that most [[Roman law]] is not similar to the Code, or likely to have been influenced by it.{{sfnp|Van De Mieroop|2016|pp=153–154}}

Knowing the Code's influence on modern law requires knowing its influence on Mosaic and Graeco-Roman law. Since this is contentious, commentators have restricted themselves to observing similarities and differences between the Code and, e.g., [[United States law]] and [[medieval]] law.{{sfnmp|1a1=Equitable Trust Company|1y=1910|2a1=Jenkins|2y=1905|3a1=Driver|3a2=Miles|3y=1952|3p=57|4a1=Van De Mieroop|4y=2016|4p=154}} Some{{who|date=March 2023}} have remarked that the punishments found in the Code are no more severe, and, in some cases, less so.{{sfnmp|1a1=Johns|1y=1903b|1p=258|2a1=Driver|2a2=Miles|2y=1952|2p=57}}{{update inline|date=March 2023}}

Law 238 stipulates that a [[sea captain]], [[Technical management|ship-manager]], or [[Chartering (shipping)|ship charterer]] that saved a ship from [[Shipwreck|total loss]] was [[Pro rata|only required to pay one-half the value of the ship]] to the [[ship-owner]].<ref name="Sommer 1903 p. 86">{{cite journal |translator-last=Sommer |translator-first=Otto |author=Hammurabi |author-link=Hammurabi |title=Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon |year=1903 |journal=Records of the Past |place=[[Washington, D.C.|Washington, DC]] |publisher=[[Records of the Past Exploration Society]] |volume=2 |issue=3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924060109703/page/n27/mode/2up 86] |access-date=20 June 2021 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924060109703/mode/2up |quote=238. If a skipper wrecks ... money to its owner.}}</ref><ref name="Harper 1904 p. 85">{{cite web |translator-last=Harper |translator-first=Robert Francis |author=Hammurabi |author-link=Hammurabi |year=1904 |title=Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon |place=[[Chicago]] |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |edition=2nd |page=[https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/hammurabi-the-code-of-hammurabi#lf0762_label_461 85] |website=[[Liberty Fund]] |url=https://oll-resources.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/oll3/store/titles/1276/0762_Bk.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613091052/https://oll-resources.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/oll3/store/titles/1276/0762_Bk.pdf |archive-date=13 June 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=20 June 2021 |quote=§238. If a boatman sink ... one-half its value.}}</ref><ref name="King 1910">{{cite web |translator-last=King |translator-first=Leonard William |author=Hammurabi |author-link=Hammurabi |year=1910 |title=Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon |place=[[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven, CT]] |publisher=[[Yale Law School]] |website=[[Avalon Project]] |url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/hamframe.asp |access-date=20 June 2021 |quote=238. If a sailor wreck ... its value in money. |archive-date=10 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510072841/https://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/hamframe.asp |url-status=live}}</ref> In the ''[[Digest (Roman law)|Digesta seu Pandectae]]'' (533), the second volume of the [[Corpus Juris Civilis|codification of laws ordered]] by [[Justinian I]] (527–565) of the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]], a [[legal opinion]] written by the [[Roman law|Roman jurist]] [[Julius Paulus|Paulus]] at the beginning of the [[Crisis of the Third Century]] in 235 AD  was included about the ''[[List of Roman laws|Lex Rhodia]]'' ("Rhodian law") that articulates the [[general average]] principle of [[marine insurance]] established on the island of [[Rhodes]] in approximately 1000 to 800 BC as a member of the [[Doric Hexapolis]], plausibly by the [[Phoenicia]]ns during the proposed [[Dorian invasion]] and emergence of the purported [[Sea Peoples]] during the [[Greek Dark Ages]] (c.&nbsp;1100 – c.&nbsp;750) that led to the proliferation of the [[Doric Greek]] [[Ancient Greek dialects|dialect]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Civil Law, Volume I, The Opinions of Julius Paulus, Book II |year=1932 |translator-first=S.P. |translator-last=Scott |publisher=Central Trust Company |website=[[Constitution Society|Constitution.org]] |url=https://constitution.org/2-Authors/sps/sps01_4-2.htm |quote=TITLE VII. ON THE LEX RHODIA. It is provided by the ''Lex Rhodia'' that if merchandise is thrown overboard for the purpose of lightening a ship, the loss is made good by the assessment of all which is made for the benefit of all. |access-date=16 June 2021 |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624195244/https://constitution.org/2-Authors/sps/sps01_4-2.htm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Prudential pp. 5–6">{{cite book |year=1915 |title=The Documentary History of Insurance, 1000 B.C. – 1875 A.D. |publisher=[[Prudential Financial|Prudential Press]] |place=[[Newark, New Jersey|Newark, NJ]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924030231736/page/n7/mode/2up 5–6] |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924030231736/mode/2up |access-date=15 June 2021}}</ref><ref name="Duhaime">{{cite web |url=http://www.duhaime.org/LawMuseum/LawArticle-383/Lex-Rhodia-The-Ancient-Ancestor-of-Maritime-Law-800--BC.aspx |title=Duhaime's Timetable of World Legal History |work=Duhaime's Law Dictionary |access-date=9 April 2016 |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624195657/http://www.duhaime.org/LawMuseum/LawArticle-383/Lex-Rhodia-The-Ancient-Ancestor-of-Maritime-Law-800--BC.aspx |url-status=dead}}</ref> The law of general average constitutes the fundamental [[principle]] that underlies all [[insurance]].<ref name="Prudential pp. 5–6" />{{better source needed|date=March 2023}}

==Reception outside Assyriology==
[[File:Hammurabi bas-relief in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph. Refer to caption|The relief portrait of Hammurabi in the [[U.S. Capitol]], by [[Thomas Hudson Jones]]]]

The Code is often referred to in legal scholarship, where its provisions are assumed to be laws, and the document is assumed to be a true code of laws. This is also true outside academia.{{sfnmp|1a1=United Nations|1y=1985|2a1=Schwartz|2y=1993|3a1=Mark|3y=2021|4a1=International Court of Justice|4y=2014|5a1=Rattini|5y=2019|6a1=Scharping|6y=2020|7a1=United Nations|7y=n.d.|8a1=Louvre|8y=n.d.|9a1=Hammurabi Human Rights Organization|9y=n.d.}}{{original research inline|date=March 2023}}

There is a relief portrait of Hammurabi over the doors to the [[United States Capitol#House Chamber|House Chamber]] of the [[U.S. Capitol]], along with portraits of 22 others "noted for their work in establishing the principles that underlie American law".{{sfnp|Architect of the Capitol|n.d.}} There are replicas of the Louvre stele in institutions around the world,{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} including the [[Headquarters of the United Nations]] in [[New York City]]{{sfnp|United Nations|n.d.}} and the [[Peace Palace]] in [[The Hague]] (seat of the [[International Court of Justice]]).{{sfnp|International Court of Justice|2014}}

==Medico-legal legacy and political implications==
Hammurabi's Code is notable for its comprehensive approach to law, covering subjects from criminal acts to medical practices. The Code includes specific rules that regulate medical treatments, set surgery fees, and punish malpractice. For instance, if a physician caused the death of a noble during surgery, they would be severely punished, sometimes having their hand cut off. This harshness portrays how seriously medical responsibility was taken even in ancient times.

From a political science perspective, Hammurabi's Code is valuable and fundamental because it demonstrates how law was used to reinforce social hierarchies and maintain control. {{harvtxt|Pearn|2016}} writes that the Code's laws were applied differently depending on a person's social class, so nobles received greater protection than commoners and enslaved people. This legal stratification reflects the power dynamic of Babylonian society and shows how law was used not just to govern but also to preserve the social order.{{sfnp|Pearn|2016}}

Finally, the Hammurabi's Code could be considered impressive by its power (despite its modern irrelevancy) and severity. The harsh punishments may seem extreme by modern standards, but they were likely necessary to maintain order in a society where survival depended on strict adherence to rules. At the same time, Hammurabi's Code represents a significant step forward in the development of law, medicine and the medico-legal system. By codifying laws and making them public, Hammurabi established a system that would influence generations so that the principles of justice, fairness, and accountability that underpin the Code continue to resonate today.

== See also ==

* [[History of institutions in Mesopotamia]]
* [[Pillars of Ashoka]]

== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{reflist|group=note}}

=== Citations ===
{{reflist|20em}}

===Sources===
====Books and journals====
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41288176 |last=Alkadry |first=Mohamad G. |author-link= |date=2002–2003 |title=Bureaucracy: Weber's or Hammurabi's? Ideal or Ancient? |journal=Public Administration Quarterly |series= |volume=26 |issue=3/4 |pages=317–345 |doi=10.1177/073491490202600303 |jstor=41288176 |access-date=18 February 2021 |archive-date=30 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211030042053/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41288176 |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}
*{{cite book |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43070/43070-h/43070-h.htm |last=Barton |first=George A. |date=1916 |title=Archæology and the Bible |publisher=[[InFaith|American Sunday-School Union]] |location=[[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]] |oclc=38608139 |access-date=6 April 2021 |archive-date=29 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229070133/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/43070/43070-h/43070-h.htm |url-status=live}}
*{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1C4NKp4zgIQC |last=Bertman |first=Stephen |title=Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia |edition=illustrated |date=2003 |isbn=0195183649 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=[[Oxford, England]]}}
*{{cite book |url=https://www.academia.edu/4845062 |last1=Black |first1=Jeremy |author-link1=Jeremy Black (assyriologist) |last2=Green |first2=Anthony |others=Illustrated by Tessa Rickards |title=Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary |edition=2nd |date=1998 |publisher=[[British Museum Press]] |location=[[London, England]] |isbn=0714117056 |access-date=22 February 2021 |archive-date=28 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028171026/https://www.academia.edu/4845062 |url-status=live}}
*{{cite book |url= |last=Bonfante |first=Pietro |author-link= |title={{lang|it|Le leggi di Hammurabi re di Babilonia (a. 2285-2242 a. C.) con prefazione e note}} |volume= |date=1903 |publisher=Società Editrice Libraria |location=[[Milan, Italy]] |oclc=458622280}}
*{{cite book |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo3684684.html |last=Bottéro |first=Jean |author-link=Jean Bottéro |translator-last1=Bahrani |translator-first1=Zainab |translator-link1=Zainab Bahrani |translator-last2=Van De Mieroop |translator-first2=Marc |translator-link2=Marc Van De Mieroop |title=Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods |date=1992 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |location=[[Chicago, IL]] |isbn=0226067262 |access-date=6 April 2021 |archive-date=3 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303090718/https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo3684684.html |url-status=live}}
*{{cite book |url=http://www.friendsofsabbath.org/Further_Research/World%20History/AncientTimes-Breasted(1916).pdf |last=Breasted |first=James H. |author-link=James Henry Breasted |date=1916 |title=Ancient Times: A History of the Early World. An Introduction to the Study of Ancient History and the Career of Early Man |volume=1 |publisher=[[Ginn and Company]] |location=[[Boston]] |oclc=819692479 |access-date=21 March 2021 |archive-date=7 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210807185638/http://www.friendsofsabbath.org/Further_Research/World%20History/AncientTimes-Breasted(1916).pdf |url-status=live}}
*{{cite book |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo8226731.html |last=Charpin |first=Dominique |author-link=Dominique Charpin |translator-last=Todd |translator-first=Jane M. |translator-link= |title=Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia |date=2010 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |location=[[Chicago, IL]] |isbn=9780226101583 |access-date=18 February 2021 |archive-date=2 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302102539/https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo8226731.html |url-status=live}}
*{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028541856/page/n5/mode/2up |last=Davies |first=William W. |author-link= |title=The Codes of Hammurabi and Moses |volume= |date=1905 |publisher=Jennings & Graham |location=[[Cincinnati, OH]] |isbn=9781594621437}}
*{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lPFJAwAAQBAJ |last1=Driver |first1=Godfrey R. |author-link1=Godfrey Rolles Driver |last2=Miles |first2=John C. |title=The Babylonian Laws: Edited with Translation and Commentary |volume=1: Legal Commentary |date=1952 |publisher=[[Clarendon Press]] |location=[[Oxford, England]] |isbn=9781556352294 |oclc=493362814}}
*{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.179400/mode/2up |last=Edwards |first=Chilperic |author-link= |title=The Hammurabi Code and the Sinaitic Legislation |edition=3rd |date=1921 |publisher=[[Watts & Co.]] |location=[[London, England]] |oclc=1057941378}}
*{{cite journal |url=http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/935/1/Novak_Koenig_der_Gerechtigkeit_2006.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181101151718/http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/935/1/Novak_Koenig_der_Gerechtigkeit_2006.pdf |archive-date=1 November 2018 |url-status=live |last1=Elsen-Novák |first1=Gabriele |author-link= |last2=Novák |first2=Mirko |date=2006 |title=Der "König der Gerechtigkeit": Zur Ikonologie und Teleologie des 'Codex' Ḫammurapi |journal=Baghdader Mitteilungen |series= |volume=37 |pages=131–155}}
*{{cite book |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.35112104297504&view=1up&seq=9 |last=Equitable Trust Company |author-link= |title=Laws of Descent and Inheritance, Ancient and Modern: A Comparison of the Code of Hammurabi (Babylon 2250 B.C.) with the Present Law of Illinois |chapter= |edition= |date=1910 |pages= |publisher= |location=[[Chicago, IL]] |oclc=12714901 |access-date=18 February 2021 |archive-date=7 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307010434/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.35112104297504&view=1up&seq=9 |url-status=live}}
*{{cite journal |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/003463732001700104#articleCitationDownloadContainer |last=Everts |first=William W. |author-link= |date=1920 |title=The Laws of Moses and of Hammurabi |journal=[[Review and Expositor]] |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=37–50 |doi=10.1177/003463732001700104 |s2cid=147308826|url-access=subscription }}
*{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1359019.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325023523/https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1359019.pdf |archive-date=25 March 2022 |url-status=live |last=Finkelstein |first=J. J. |author-link= |date=1961 |title=Ammiṣaduqa's Edict and the Babylonian "Law Codes" |journal=[[Journal of Cuneiform Studies]] |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=91–104 |doi=10.2307/1359019 |jstor=1359019 |s2cid=159897894}}
*{{cite book |url=https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/1618/ |author-last=George |author-first=Andrew R. |author-link=Andrew R. George |editor-last=Sefati |editor-first=Yitzhak |chapter=In search of the é . d u b . b a . a : The ancient Mesopotamian school in literature and reality |pages=127–137 |year=2005 |title="An Experienced Scribe who Neglects Nothing". Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honor of Jacob Klein |publisher=CDL Press |location=[[Bethesda, MD]] |isbn=1883053838 |access-date=22 February 2021 |archive-date=2 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502074817/https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/1618/ |url-status=live}}
*{{cite book |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269075911 |last=Guinan |first=Ann |author-link= |editor-last=Fincke |editor-first=Jeanette C. |title=Divination in the Ancient Near East: a workshop on divination conducted during the 54th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Würzburg, 2008 |chapter=Laws and Omens: Obverse and Inverse |edition= |date=2014 |pages=105–121 |publisher=[[Eisenbrauns]] |location=[[Winona Lake, IN]] |isbn=9781575063010}}
*{{cite book |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hc2uir&view=1up&seq=7 |last=Harper |first=Robert F. |author-link= |title=The Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon: About 2250 B.C. |chapter= |edition= |date=1904 |pages= |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |location=[[Chicago, IL]] |isbn=9781584770039 |access-date=21 March 2021 |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407142236/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hc2uir&view=1up&seq=7 |url-status=live}}
*{{cite book |url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/hamcode.asp |last=Horne |first=Charles F. |author-link=Charles Francis Horne |editor-last1=Horne |editor-first1=Charles F. |editor-link1=Charles Francis Horne |editor-last2=King |editor-first2=Leonard W. |editor-link2=Leonard William King |title=The Code of Hammurabi |chapter=Introduction |volume= |date=1915 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |location= |isbn=9781517169084 |access-date=18 February 2021 |archive-date=27 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227074503/https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/hamcode.asp |url-status=live}}
*{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/43855622.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210807190448/https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/43855622.pdf |archive-date=7 August 2021 |url-status=live |jstor=43855622 |last1=Horowitz |first1=Wayne |author-link1=Wayne Horowitz |last2=Oshima |first2=Takayoshi |last3=Vukosavović |first3=Filip |title=Hazor 18: Fragments of a Cuneiform Law Collection from Hazor |year=2012 |journal=[[Israel Exploration Journal]] |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=158–176}}
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{{Refend}}

====Web====
{{Refbegin}}
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*{{cite web |url=https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/law-code-hammurabi-king-babylon |url-status=dead |title=Law Code of Hammurabi, king of Babylon |last=[[Louvre]] |date=n.d. |website=louvre.fr |publisher=[[Louvre]], Department of Near Eastern Antiquities: Mesopotamia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205050436/http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/law-code-hammurabi-king-babylon |archive-date=5 December 2020 |access-date=16 February 2021}}
*{{cite web |url=https://www.pbase.com/k_amj/tehran_museum |title=PERSIA the ANCIENT IRAN |last=Majdfar |first=Ali |date=n.d. |website=pbase.com/k_amj |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=15 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915101518/http://www.pbase.com/k_amj/tehran_museum |url-status=live}}
*{{cite web |url=https://music.apple.com/us/album/miss-hammurabi-original-television-soundtrack/1406217591 |title=Miss Hammurabi (Original Television Soundtrack) |last=[[Music&NEW]] |date=2018 |publisher=[[Apple Music]] |access-date=20 March 2021 |archive-date=7 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307011050/https://music.apple.com/us/album/miss-hammurabi-original-television-soundtrack/1406217591 |url-status=live}}
*{{cite web |url=https://music.apple.com/us/album/titans-of-creation/1493544060 |last=[[Nuclear Blast]] |title=Titans of Creation |date=2020 |website=music.apple.com |publisher=[[Apple Music]] |access-date=6 May 2021 |archive-date=6 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506211239/https://music.apple.com/us/album/titans-of-creation/1493544060 |url-status=live}}
*{{cite web |url=https://oi-idb.uchicago.edu/id/270ff396-6544-4843-9045-75b541e2b549 |title=Stele (Cast) |last=[[Oriental Institute (Chicago)|Oriental Institute]] |date=n.d. |website=oi-db.uchicago.edu |publisher=[[Oriental Institute (Chicago)|University of Chicago Oriental Institute]] |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=28 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928232024/https://oi-idb.uchicago.edu/id/270ff396-6544-4843-9045-75b541e2b549 |url-status=live}}
*{{cite web |url=https://www.penn.museum/collections/object/287069 |title=Law Code of Hammurabi |last=[[Penn Museum]] |date=n.d. |website=penn.museum |publisher=[[Penn Museum]] |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=6 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306043239/https://www.penn.museum/collections/object/287069 |url-status=live}}
*{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/people/reference/hammurabi/ |title=Who was Hammurabi? |last=Rattini |first=Kristin Baird |date=22 April 2019 |publisher=[[National Geographic]] |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=12 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812094910/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/people/reference/hammurabi/ |url-status=dead}}
*{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hammurabi |last=Renger |first=Johannes M. |title=Hammurabi |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |edition=online |date=27 March 2020 |access-date=6 May 2021 |archive-date=27 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627205031/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hammurabi |url-status=live}}
*{{cite web |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/how-the-ancient-code-of-hammurabi-reveals-a-society-both-similar-and-alien |title=How the Ancient Code of Hammurabi Reveals a Society Both Similar and Alien to Ours |last=Scharping |first=Nathaniel |date=1 December 2020 |website=discovermagazine.com |publisher=[[Discover Magazine]] |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=25 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125064921/https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/how-the-ancient-code-of-hammurabi-reveals-a-society-both-similar-and-alien |url-status=live}}
*{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1993/04/15/the-louvre-and-the-lawgiver/d20d0fce-5c79-4509-b577-e19fd2113719/ |title=The Louvre and the Lawgiver |last=Schwartz |first=Amy E. |date=15 April 1993 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=7 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307010925/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1993/04/15/the-louvre-and-the-lawgiver/d20d0fce-5c79-4509-b577-e19fd2113719/ |url-status=live}}
*{{cite book |url=https://www.kumc.edu/Documents/history%20of%20med/Newsletter_111616.pdf |title=Newsletter |date=2016 |website=kumc.edu |editor1-last=Stark |editor1-first=Julie |editor2-last=McNeill |editor2-first=Heather |publisher=[[University of Kansas]] Medical Center |location=[[Kansas City, KS]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210807185345/https://www.kumc.edu/Documents/history%20of%20med/Newsletter_111616.pdf |archive-date=7 August 2021}}
*{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/ungifts/content/replica-codes-hammurabi |title=Replica of The Codes of Hammurabi |last=[[United Nations]] |date=n.d. |website=un.org |publisher=[[United Nations]] |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=19 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220419181200/https://www.un.org/ungifts/content/replica-codes-hammurabi |url-status=live}}
*{{cite web |url=https://www.unmultimedia.org/s/photo/detail/111/0111529.html |title=Gift of Iraq to the United Nations |last=[[United Nations]] |date=1 August 1985 |website=unmultimedia.org |publisher=[[United Nations]] |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=10 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510072042/https://www.unmultimedia.org/s/photo/detail/111/0111529.html |url-status=live}}
*{{cite web |url=https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMKEZG_Code_of_Hammurabi_Pergamon_Museum_Berlin_Germany |title=Code of Hammurabi – Pergamon Museum, Berlin, Germany |last=Waymarking |date=n.d. |website=waymarking.com |publisher=Waymarking |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=8 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208170417/https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMKEZG_Code_of_Hammurabi_Pergamon_Museum_Berlin_Germany |url-status=live}}
*{{cite web |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Code_of_Hammurabi/ |title=Code of Hammurabi |last=Mark |first=Joshua J. |date=24 June 2021 |website=[[World History Encyclopedia]] |access-date=4 May 2023 |archive-date=4 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230504112835/https://www.worldhistory.org/Code_of_Hammurabi/ |url-status=live}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons and category}}
{{Wikisource|Codex Hammurabi}}
{{Wikiversity|Hammurabi's Code}}
* [https://cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/464358 CDLI's transliteration, normalisation, and translation]
* [https://archive.org/stream/mmoires04franuoft#page/n6/mode/1up Scheil's {{lang|la|editio princeps}}] (in French)
* [http://www.general-intelligence.com/library/hr.pdf King's translation]
* [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/17150/17150-h/17150-h.htm Johns' translation]
* [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Code_of_Hammurabi_(Harper_translation) Harper's translation (Wikisource)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20201205050436/http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/law-code-hammurabi-king-babylon The Louvre's page]
{{Louvre Museum}}
{{Insurance}}
{{Means of Exchange}}
{{portal bar|Law|Middle East|Iraq|Iran}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Code of Hammurabi}}
[[Category:First Babylonian Empire]]
[[Category:Legal codes]]
[[Category:Jurisprudence]]
[[Category:Legal history]]
[[Category:Comparative law]]
[[Category:Ancient Near East law]]
[[Category:Ancient Near East steles]]
[[Category:18th-century BC steles]]
[[Category:Akkadian inscriptions]]
[[Category:Akkadian literature]]
[[Category:Babylonia]]
[[Category:Babylon]]
[[Category:Susa]]
[[Category:1901 archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:1901 in Iran]]
[[Category:Archaeological discoveries in Iran]]
[[Category:Near Eastern and Middle Eastern antiquities in the Louvre]]
[[Category:Hammurabi]]