The legal system of the Ancient World is a rather complex and multifaceted topic. On the one hand, they could then execute “without trial or investigation”, but on the other hand, many laws that existed at that time were far more fair than those that were and are in force in the territories of many modern states. King Hammurabi, who ruled in Babylon from time immemorial, is a good example of this versatility. More precisely, not himself, but the laws that were adopted during his reign.
When were they found?
In 1901-1902, a French scientific expedition conducted excavations in Susa. In the course of these works, scientists found a mysterious black bas-relief, the surface of which was covered with cuneiform symbols. Probably, this pillar appeared in the city after 1160 BC. e., when the Elams (the people who inhabited Susa) conquered and plundered many territories previouslybelonged to the Babylonians. Now this priceless monument of antiquity is stored in the French Louvre. The Babylonian king Hammurabi and his laws are immortalized on it.
Brief background
Babylon is one of the most ancient states in the history of our world. Once upon a time, laws adopted by the ancient Sumerians were in force on its territory, but at some point it became obvious that they were already very outdated and did not reflect the existing realities. And no wonder, since this legislation was enacted during the Third Dynasty of Ur!
Sumulailu, who was the second king of the first dynasty of Babylon, began to make changes in the legal norms of his state. King Hammurabi continued the work of his predecessor. He had to rule from 1792 to 1750. BC e.
Under what conditions did the new ruler adopt a new set of laws?
Like many rulers of his time, he tried to consolidate the social order that already existed in the country. More precisely, the power of medium and large slave owners. Obviously, the new king attached great importance to his lawmaking, since he began this work in the very first days of his reign. Unfortunately, we do not know exactly what King Hammurabi wrote at the very beginning: all the codes of laws he published refer to the later period of his reign. All earlier versions have been lost.
A right granted by the gods
The laws were carved on a huge pillar of black bas alt. On the topmost part is depictedprofile of the king standing before the sun god Shamash, who, in the beliefs of the Babylonians, was the patron of the court. Under this bas-relief, the text of the laws themselves is carved. The entire text is divided into three logical parts.
King Hammurabi himself believed that his laws were just and strong, that the throne was given to him by the gods for a fair reign, so that under him and under his descendants the strong would not dare to oppress the weaker. By the way, the sovereign really tried to fulfill these conditions in full.
After this follows a fairly detailed list of the good deeds that the king bestowed on the cities of his country. By the way, who was protected by the laws of King Hammurabi? The answer to this question can only be given after studying the set of these rules and regulations. This article covers all the most important aspects.
Cities mentioned
Among the cities, Larsa is especially distinguished, as well as Mari, Ashur, Nineveh. Thus, historians are completely sure that the pillar itself was erected after the brilliant victory over Rimsin. During this period, many of those cities, references to which can be found in the text of the code of laws, were just subject to the influence of Babylon. Most likely, "miniature" copies of this document were made for all more or less large cities of the kingdom, but we will never know about this.
The fact is that the story of King Hammurabi tells of the richest and most peaceful years for his country, when external enemies were much weaker. Subsequently, when the era of decline began, they were able tocapture and sack Babylon. There is nothing surprising in the fact that the conquerors did not stand on ceremony with the old monuments left over from the past ruler.
Missing part
After the introduction, numerous laws are carved in stone, and the "document" ends with a rather extensive and detailed conclusion. In general, the monument itself has been preserved very well, but on the front side there are sections on which the text has been destroyed. Most likely, this was done at the behest of the king of the Elamites, who, having conquered the territory of present-day Babylon, transferred the code of laws to his Susa. What laws did King Hammurabi describe in place of the destroyed articles?
Archaeologists and engineers, after conducting multi-stage research, found that a total of 35 articles were scraped off (out of a total of 282). However, do not worry: today we have information from many ancient libraries, so we can more or less accurately determine what was said in the erased laws.
Short List of Laws
So, in the first five articles, the king establishes the general rules for all Babylonian legal proceedings. Documents numbered 6 to 25 deal with the following points:
- Articles 6-13 indicate to the reader how a thief can be identified and how theft should be punished. These laws are quite severe: each purchase required the presence of witnesses. If there were none, then the buyer could be recognized as a thief and executed.
- Documents 14 to 20 deal with kidnapping of children andharboring runaway slaves. The laws provide for both punishment for these offenses and a reward for self-delivery or capture of a slave who escaped from the owner.
- Articles 21-25 again focus on various types of robbery and other misappropriation of property.
Land tenure issues
In another part of his code of laws, the Babylonian king Hammurabi analyzes in great detail many issues of land use. Here's what it says:
- Articles 26-41 reveal the rights and obligations of the military class, but most of the attention in these documents is paid to issues of their land ownership.
- Documents numbered 42 to 47 talk about the rights and obligations of those citizens who lease land, both public and private origin. Their rules are strict. So, if a person, renting fertile land, didn’t grow anything on it (launched the fields, allowed them to overgrow), then he still has to give the state or the usurer the amount of grain due to them.
- Articles 48-52 dwell on usury and indicate what percentage of crops or other products the usurer is en titled to (subject to the provision of banking services). Largely due to this, the reign of King Hammurabi was marked by an increase in taxes collected, but at the same time, the well-being of his subjects grew, since they could not be shamelessly robbed.
- Documents in the range from 53 to 56 can be called "environmental", as they establish responsibility for those people whowho carelessly handled the irrigation network. In particular, if the dam burst, due to which the water washed away the wheat, was caused by the negligence of its owner, then he was obliged to fully compensate the losses to all victims from his own pocket.
- Articles 57-58 discuss in sufficient detail the punishments that will be incurred by the owners of livestock if they decide to drive them through the sown and fruitful fields.
- Articles 59-66 similarly speak of orchard owners, their rights, and the rights of usurers to part of the harvest if they lent money to the land owner.
Regulation of the social sphere
All other laws can be called more “social”, since land use issues are practically not considered in them, but the problems of society are affected, and from the text of the laws we can learn a lot about the mores of that time. So here they are:
- Articles 100-107 talk about the rights and obligations of merchants (tamkars), and also mention those for their assistants.
- Documents numbered 108-111 strictly regulate the activities of taverns (taverns), which were also brothels.
- At once 14 articles (Nos. 112-126) are set aside for consideration of debt law, including the conditions for maintaining the debtor's family and the storage of property belonging to him, which was taken as a pledge.
- You should not assume that the power of King Hammurabi extended exclusively to the business aspects of the society. So, in laws numbered from 127 to 195family law is described in great detail.
- In articles 196-225, the ruler establishes the amount of fines and describes other types of punishment that should be applied to persons who arbitrarily inflicted beatings on another person.
- Documents 226 and 227 describe prohibitions against willfully branding slaves.
- Architects, shipbuilders and engineers were honored with separate laws numbered 228 to 235.
- The rest of the laws partly deal with recruitment issues, along the way also touching on slaves. Articles 236 to 277 were used for the legal regulation of the labor of hired workers. Thus, the pages of the code of laws indicate the specific amounts of the minimum wage when hiring artisans. Articles 278 to 282 deal directly with aspects of slavery. They say that a slave cannot be killed just like that, that the death of someone else's slave must be compensated by the person who caused it.
Some conclusions
So, who was protected by the laws of King Hammurabi? If you look at a short list of them, the picture emerges quite normal: there are many measures and rules that protect not only private property, but also human life and he alth; norms of activity for usurers were legislatively established, which they did not have the right to violate under fear, if not the death pen alty, then large fines for sure.
For the ancient world, the situation was really unique when it was possible to take a girl as a wife only after obtaining her consent, as well as fixing the marriageagreement” in the presence of witnesses, in writing. Otherwise, the marriage was declared illegal. In addition, the laws provided for the obligation of a person who married a widow with children to raise, feed, clothe and shoe these children. We repeat once again that such high-quality and fully prescribed standards did not exist everywhere in the Middle Ages, not to mention more ancient times.
Meaning of laws
King Hammurabi believed that his laws would bring peace and prosperity to the state, and he was right. For example, unfounded slander and denunciations were strictly forbidden: if a person said that someone was guilty of a crime, he had to prove it with facts. Otherwise, he could be executed. It was impossible to take possession of other people's property, just kill a slave, spoil a thing belonging to another person. Many of the provisions of the laws of that time, one way or another, became part of Roman law, on which the legal norm of almost all Western states and our country is based.
So this ruler truly immortalized his name for centuries, as he was perhaps the first legislator who really cared about the well-being of all his people, about justice and responsibility for each member of society, whether a free person or a slave. In a word, the story of the Babylonian king Hammurabi proves that even in the ancient world there were states in which human rights were actually respected, and where the law was not an empty phrase.
The law is the guarantee of statehood
Also,the legislative norms of this ruler protected not only large slave owners and landowners, but also ordinary citizens. They could not be robbed, killed, their things could not be spoiled, and their wives could not be taken away. People felt protected, and therefore the authority of the king was very high. The Babylonian king Hammurabi and his laws proved that the regulation of legal aspects can strengthen the state foundation and make it really unshakable.
Conclusion
It is not surprising that Babylon at the time of its heyday was a rich and powerful state. Enemies were able to defeat him only through intrigue and the conclusion of multiple military alliances. Hammurabi really did a lot for his country, contributed to its prosperity and continuous development. In the future, many advanced rulers, advocating for the strengthening of their state, were guided by his example. This king proved for the first time that statehood can be based not only on violence, but also on strict observance of laws that were the same for everyone.
