Archaeological artifacts such as Judge Hammurabi are unique. This code of laws was created in the middle of the XVIII century BC. In order to save it for posterity, the Babylonians knocked out a text on a basalt pillar, which was originally stored in the interfluve of the Tigris and Euphrates. A few hundred years later, when this power fell, the monument was moved to Susa. Now it is southwestern Iran. It was here that the lawyer Hammurabi was found by French archaeologists during the expedition of 1901-1902.
Description of the monument
On the front side the pillar was scraped. This was done by the Elamites, who captured the pillar, transporting it to their capital to the east. The king of these people commanded to erase part of the original inscriptions in order to report on his great victory over Babylon in the vacated place.
Nevertheless, this does not prevent this monument from being the most ancient code of laws of mankind. It is placed on the same shelf with other codes adopted by different cultures of the then world. For example, the lawyer Hammurabi and the laws of Manu, adopted in India, often become objects of mutual analysis. It is such documents that make it possible to understand what people lived then and how they looked at the world around them.
At the top of the column is carved a graphic drawing. It depicts King Hammurabi himself. He prays to the god of justice and the sun, Shamasha, who will bestow these laws on the ruler. The entire remaining surface of the column is filled with texts of articles. There is also a conclusion.
Researchers divided this array into 282 articles. Due to the fact that part of the image was erased, only 247 survived. Already after 1902, archaeologists managed to find a continuation of this text on clay tablets that were stored in other settlements of this region, as well as in the famous library of Nineveh.
History of creation
Centuries before Hammurabi, a centralized state existed in Mesopotamia . It was united around Sumer and Akkad. After the invasion of nomadic Amorites from nearby steppes, this formation collapsed. In its place appeared several small states, including the Babylonian one. In 1755 BC, King Hammurabi united disparate kingdoms. He also busted Susa. It was after this important victory that the judge of King Hammurabi was published.
Laws are an important source for knowledge of the law of the ancient East. The orders that appeared under Hammurabi lasted for many centuries. The reform significantly strengthened the role of the state in the daily life of the inhabitants of the kingdom.
The inscriptions on the stone are written in the Babylonian dialect of Akkadian. At the same time, the opening and closing parts have a special rhythm.
First estate
Like other collections of laws, the lawyer Hammurabi introduces a clear division of society into several social groups. The upper class were considered residents of small communities. These groups had the right to self-government. Each member of such an entity received ownership of a piece of community fertile land. This order already existed at the time of the accession of Hammurabi - he only confirmed this custom. The kings of Babylon did not interfere in their lives, much less tried to regulate the distribution of land. Government officials were forbidden to touch these plots. Nevertheless, the communities consistently paid taxes to the royal treasury. These contributions constituted a considerable part of the wealth of the Babylonian state. Judge Hammurabi assigned the ruler the right to appoint community elders. On this his influence on their life ended. The property and obligations of the court judge of King Hammurabi depended primarily on social status.
Property transactions were common within communities. Land was sold, leased and made an object of usury. The size of the allotment of Avilum (a resident of such a group) could be from 1 to 60 hectares.
Second estate
Representatives of the second estate were called muskenums. This term refers to people who were not members of the communities and did not have their own allotment. Therefore, they had to get state land and cultivate it, falling into a certain dependence on the power of the king. Often members of such a class became ruined residents of communities who gave their own land for debts.
Since Babylon was the cultural center of the entire region, residents of other countries came here. For example, they were nomads who wanted to settle on the ground. To do this, they could get an allotment from the king and be in his service. The muskenums were equally treated by noble public service officials and poor peasants.
The second estate did not have self-government. This meant that his life was completely ruled by the tsarist administration. The owners of state plots could be attributed without warning to another place. The property of the second estate, in comparison with the property of the Avilums, was guarded much more strictly, since it remained state. For example, according to Article 8 , theft of such property was punishable by a fine of ten times. If the thief could not pay the state from his own wallet, then he was killed.
The main sources of the lawyer, Hammurabi, say that the size of the allotment issued by the state depended on the position held by the person. Most prized was the service of temple priestesses and merchants (tamkars). Such people could receive from 12 to 75 hectares of land. The property and obligations under Hammurabi, a criminal, of those who were in military service, were also negotiated. Soldiers and artisans received an allotment of 9 to 12 hectares. Herders were content with the smallest plots.
Slaves
The third estate was made up of slaves, or wards. Such people had a master who could freely manage their life and free time. A very small fine was levied for the killing of a slave.
The property and obligations under the lawyer Hammurabi were spelled out in the most detailed way. It concerned slaves. So, for example, for harboring a fugitive slave person a heavy punishment awaited until execution. Slaves who were accused of fighting with free residents were sentenced to cut off an ear. And this could be done by their owner.
Slave status was inherited, except when the child was born from a free woman. If a person fell into the ownership of the state or the second estate, then his position was not so difficult. He could start a family. Slaves who were attributed to the community lived in difficult conditions, since the state did not interfere in any way with their owners.
Belonging to a particular estate determined primarily the social situation, and not the wealth of a person. This can be easily seen by the value of the lives of residents of communities and those who worked for the state. For example, if the healer cured Avilum, then he received a reward of 10 silver shekels. If his patient was a muskenum, then 5. For the health of the slave, 2 shekels were given. If the doctor harmed the health of a resident of the community, his arm was cut off.
Court
The general characteristic of the criminal, Hammurabi, suggests that false accusation was severely punished in Babylon. It is with the description of such punishments that the list of articles on basalt stone begins. The first sentence states that if a person accused another of murder and could not prove it in court, he himself will be executed for informing him. This severity is explained by the principle of equal compensation (another name is talion). Many people know this rule by the phrase “an eye for an eye” or “a tooth for a tooth”.
The Babylonians were very superstitious people. Therefore, accusations of witchcraft were common. Accused of such a crime was to plunge into a deep river, which, according to religious beliefs, the deity ruled. It was it that determined the guilt of man. If he was drowning, then the prosecutor could take the sorcerer’s house. The tradition of divine judgment was common not only in ancient societies. She survived until the Middle Ages, when Christians determined the guilt of a person by whether his hand would survive if it was lowered into boiling water.
The main sources of the lawyer Hammurabi also report on the strict liability of judges. If the judge made a decision and already executed the document, confirmed by the seal, and after that decided to reconsider the case, then he paid a large fine and lost his post. A similar practice was later applied in Rome.
If the court failed to find the robber who robbed a person of his property, then the community compensated the victim for his damage (Article 23). This rule applied only to Avilums. If a family member was killed, then a free person received compensation from the community in the amount of one mine of silver (article 24). This ancient measure was used in different cultures, for example, in Greece, while everywhere it was calculated differently. In ancient Babylon, one mine was approximately 600 grams. These obligations under Hammurabi are one of the few points governing the life of the community.
Looting was strictly punished. For example, if there was a fire, and a neighbor came to the house of a free man to profit, then he could be immediately thrown into that same fire. This phrase is literal. That is, the characteristic of the criminal Hammurabi suggests that the laws did not prohibit lynching on criminals.
Physical punishment
The son who hit his father should have lost his hand. This and many other articles reproduce the principle by which the “guilty” part of the body was punished. According to a court decision, an eye was gouged out for gouging. The same was true for broken bones, broken teeth, and other injuries.
For a blow to the cheek, a man belonging to the upper class was sentenced to 60 lashes. If a similar conflict arose between equals (for example, between the muskenums), then the culprit was punished with a fine.
Wage labor and trade
Many articles were devoted to hackwork and inattention. For example, if a carpenter built a wall, which after collapsed, then he had to erect it again at his own expense.
In Babylon, the services of boaters who transported goods were very important. If a ship with dates, etc., died due to their fault, then they were obliged to pay the owner the value of the deceased property. The general characteristic of the lawyer king Hammurabi is that any misconduct was examined in a state court that could determine the amount of the penalty.
The laws that regulated wage labor also determined the cost of the services of craftsmen, artisans, builders, shepherds, etc. Fixed prices made it possible to avoid conflicts between parties to the transaction.
As mentioned above, theft of state property was punishable by execution. Other acts were attributed to theft. For example, if a person bought something from the son of Avilum. The fact was that the children could not dispose of the property of the family. In this case, such a transaction was equated with theft and punished by the death of the buyer. Transactions that were not executed through an agreement were also punished. The code of laws of Hammurabi generally strictly related to contracts. For example, a marriage that was not executed with the appropriate paper could not be considered legal.
Military service
People who ended up in the army of the king received an allotment, that is, they belonged to the second estate. They were called redums (they were awarded cattle in addition to land) and bairums. Military status was inherited. If the military accumulated enough funds, he could acquire private property, but at the same time he continued to serve. Transactions with state property given in the allotment were prohibited. If someone bought it (for example, cattle), then they lost not only their purchase, but also their silver.
These military men were ordinary. They obeyed officers - centurions and foremen. In order for the army to have strict discipline, the state severely punished hazing. Harassment of officers, including robbery, was punishable by death. Redums were heavily armed infantry, while the bairums received bows and became arrows.
A family
The upper class lived in a strict family. So, the head of the clan could mortgage his children or his wife. In addition, the man determined the future spouses for his offspring. The woman was dependent on the head of the family. So, according to article 177, she was supposed to be faithful even to her dead husband. Only women who became priestesses were independent. However, they could not start a family at all, devoting their lives to the service of the gods (article 110).
If the wife could not bear children for her husband, then he could leave her. To do this, he needed to pay a ransom equal to the dowry brought from her father's house. After that, a divorce could be considered legal. If during the wedding the wife did not buy at all, the husband had to leave her one silver mine. Divorce was regulated by the court.
If the wife was stubborn, did not obey her spouse or publicly humiliated him, then he had the right to divorce her without paying a ransom. In addition, her husband could leave her with him and marry a second time. At the same time, the ex-wife became a slave in his house.
But the court also defended his spouse. For example, if a husband was drunk and loved to humiliate her, then his wife could go to court, which had the right to allow her to leave the house and take her dowry with her. Family members caught in incest were burned at the stake. This was considered a terrible sin and blasphemy.
Conclusion
After listing 282 articles on a basalt stone, a conclusion follows on behalf of Hammurabi. In it, he lists the successes of his reign and hopes that his laws will give happiness and tranquility to his country.
In conclusion, the general characteristic of the criminal Hammurabi is given. The king declares that his laws are necessary so that no one can oppress the weak. He also states that justice should be for everyone - from nobles to orphans and widows.
In his appeals, the king often calls himself excellent, excellent and wise. The source of such confidence is that the king believed that the laws were given to him by the gods, including Shamash, Marduk, etc.
A general description of the laws of Judge Hammurabi is given in the very last paragraph. The sovereign believed that in their execution a perfect order and a perfect society were possible, which would exist until the end of time.