Code of Hammurabi (Long Version) - Analysis | Milestone Documents - Milestone Documents

Code of Hammurabi (Long Version)

( ca. 1752 BCE )
  • “The gods Anu and Enlil … named me by my name: Hammurabi, the pious prince, who venerates the gods, to make justice prevail in the land, to abolish the wicked and the evil, to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak, to rise like the sun-god Shamash over all humankind, to illuminate the land.” - Prologue
  • “If a man accuses another man and charges him with homicide but cannot bring proof against him, his accuser shall be killed.” - Law 1
  • “If the owner of the lost property could not produce witnesses who can identify his lost property, he is a liar, he has indeed spread malicious charges, he shall be killed.” - Law 11
  • “If an awilu should blind the eye of another awilu, they shall blind his eye. If he should break the bone of another awilu, they shall break his bone. If he should blind the eye … or break the bone of a commoner, he shall weigh and deliver 60 shekels of silver. If he should blind the eye … or break the bone of an awilu's slave, he shall weigh and deliver one-half of his value.” - Laws 196–199
  • “Let any wronged man who has a lawsuit come before the statue of me, the king of justice, and let him have my inscribed stela read aloud to him, thus may he hear my precious pronouncements and let my stela reveal the lawsuit for him.” - Epilogue
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Hammurabi (Library of Congress)

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