Code of Hammurabi

The Code of Hammurabi is a legal text from the 2nd millennium BCE, produced in 1755-1750 BCE by the Babylonian king Hammurabi. The eponymous author was the 6th king of the Amorite First Dynasty of Babylon, reigning during the period of the Old Babylonian Empire. The text of the Code is written in Akkadian and exists in a single source document: A black basalt stele (a pillar-shaped stone monument), 2.25 meters tall and inscribed in cuneiform text on every side. This stele appears to have been an official original version of the text produced during Hammurabi’s reign. It was discovered by archaeologists in 1901 and now resides in the Louvre. 

While the Code of Hammurabi is the longest and best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East, there were earlier law codes (such as that of the Sumerian king Ur-Nammu). The Code is composed of a Prologue, 282 individual case laws, and an Epilogue. It is a foundational document in the history of law.

This study guide uses Leonard William King’s classic translation, as reproduced in the 2024 Alicia Editions volume. Parenthetical citations refer to page numbers in that edition, but this study guide will also include law numbers for any references within the text, so it can be used with any edition of the Code of Hammurabi.

Summary

The Code of Hammurabi, inscribed in Akkadian with cuneiform script, begins with a Prologue written in poetic form. The Prologue occupies about 300 lines of text on the stele, out of a total of 4,130 lines. The Prologue and Epilogue together constitute about 20% of the whole, with the Prologue being a bit shorter than the Epilogue. The text opens with a brief recounting of the founding of Babylon and the calling of Hammurabi to be its king, with an emphasis on Hammurabi’s piety as a worshiper of the gods. The Prologue lauds Hammurabi’s character and accomplishments, holding him up as a paragon of virtue and a champion of the downtrodden, a courageous conqueror and a wise administrator.

The main body of the Code’s text consists of 282 case laws. Many of these are written in casuistic form: If this particular infraction occurs, then this is the penalty. Unlike previous law codes, however, the Code of Hammurabi adds new levels of complexity to its analysis, expanding simple casuistic laws with considerations of contingencies that might alter or mitigate the penalties required. Penalties for offenses can take the form of capital punishment, corporal punishment, or the assessment of a fine, and the scale of such penalties depends on the severity of the offense and the social status of the people involved.

There are no sectional subdivisions in the Code; all the laws proceed one after another. Nevertheless, they are internally arranged into broad topical categories, so it is possible to divide the laws into three main groups. The first group, Laws 1-126, addresses issues of trial law, property law, and business law. The second group, Laws 127-194, addresses aspects of family law, dealing with issues of marriage, divorce, and adultery, as well as family property. There are fewer laws in this section than in either of the other two, but the laws here tend to be longer and more involved. The third and final group, Laws 195-282, represents a miscellaneous set of concerns not covered in the foregoing sections. These laws address cases of assault, of injuries related to professional disciplines like doctors and builders, of agricultural labor and livestock, and a few closing rules regarding the status and treatment of enslaved persons.

The laws of the Code of Hammurabi establish several important legal precedents in the history of jurisprudence. They introduce one of the earliest and clearest forms of the lex talionis, the law of reciprocal punishment, famously expressed in the adage “an eye for an eye.” Unlike previous law codes, which largely focused on providing monetary compensation for the victims of crimes, this precedent established the rule of penalties for offenders, which might include forms of corporal punishment. The Code also created a foundation for the presumption of innocence in legal cases, allowing an accused person to mount a legal defense with witnesses. Further, it also provided the grounds for mitigating a penalty based on the perpetrator’s lack of intention. If an injury occurred but was not willfully intended, the defendant might receive a lighter sentence, which was an important step in the history of legal codes. Hammurabi’s Code is also notable for the protections that it gives to women in cases of family and property law.

The Code ends with an Epilogue of about 500 lines. The Epilogue underscores the virtues and piety of Hammurabi once again, promoting an idealized vision of him as a divinely inspired lawgiver, whose system of justice is perfect. The Epilogue, like the Prologue, also focuses on the ways in which Hammurabi’s laws offer protection and stability to the poor and other disenfranchised members of society. It encourages the kings who come after Hammurabi to respect the Code and enact its laws faithfully. It then ends with a long litany of curses against any future rulers who would alter or misuse the Code, calling down the punishments of nearly the entire pantheon of Mesopotamian gods on such an offender.