HAMMURABI, CODE OF.
In the winter of 1901-1902 an expedition which was sent out by the French Government under the leadership of M. de Morgan as Director General, made a remarkable discovery on the acropolis of Susa, the ancient Persepolis, which was once the capital of an independent Elamite monarchy. This find was no less than an enor mous block of black didorite which had been broken in three pieces, but when fitted together they formed a monument 2.25 meters (nearly eight feet) in height and tapering from I.90 to 1.65 meters. At the upper end of the front side a sculptured bas-relief represents King Ham murahi receiving his code of laws from the sun god Shamas, or Chemosh.
Upon this stele is the longest inscription in cuneiform characters which has ever been dis covered. It is written in parallel columns, but each column is arranged like a belt around the curved surface of the rock. In some places the surface has been injured and part of the inscrip tion is thus lost, but when complete the whole consisted of 282 sections, and must have con tained about eight thousand words.
Careful "squeezes" of the inscription were taken and sent to France, and Prof. V. Schiel published the text by photogravure in "11e maire.1 de la Delegation en Terse." (Leroux, Paris.) The text was accompanied by a transliteration into Roman characters, a good first translation with footnotes, and a summary of the laws. This handsome quarto volume appeared in Oc tober of 1902, and at once produced great ex citement among scholars; hence a vast amount of literature has been published on the subject.
The monument not only contained the Code, but also a prologue and an epilogue, which are devoted mostly to the honor of the king, a description of his goodness and valor, the glory of his kingdom and that of the gods whom he worshiped. His summary of the cities over which he ruled would indicate that he reigned over all of Assyria and Babylonia and also the countries of the west.
The Code itself recognizes three social grades, the various trades and professions. These are called gentlemen, freemen and slaves. It cannot be denied that there is much of class distinction in the Code ; not only arc the aristocrat, the freeman and the slave treated separately, hut there is also special legislation for other classes.
(1) The gentlemen were the feudal land owners. They held the lands of the crown by service and had other duties in connection with the government, such as the maintenance of or der in their respective localities. They might be sent on the king's way," meaning perhaps a military expedition, hut including any royal business. For them to send a hired substitute meant death, and the substitute took the office thus made vacant : "If either an officer or a constable, who is ordered to go on an errand for the king, do not go but hire a substitute and despatch him in his stead, that officer or constable shall be put to death; his hired substitute shall take to himself his (the officer's) hous I." (Sec. 26.) For a governor or magistrate to allow such substitution was punishable with death also. (See sec. 33.) The officer could not be oppressed by the gov ernor, defrauded of his salary, nor wronged in court on pain of death: `'If a governor or a magistrate take the prop erty of an officer, plunder an officer, let an officer for hire, present an officer in a judgment to a man of influence, take the gift which the king has given to an officer, that governor or magis trate shall be put to death." (34.) (2) The Second Class, or Freemen, occu pies a much lower rank, but there is especial legislation for him: "If a man strike another man in a quarrel, and wound him, he shall swear, 'I struck him without intent,' and shall be responsible for the physician." (206.) "If he die as the result of the stroke, he shall swear (as above), and if he be a man (or gen tleman), he shall pay one-half mana of silver." (207.) "If he be a freeman, he shall pay one-third mana of silver." (208.) Again: "If a physician set a broken bone for a man or cure his diseased bowels, the patient shall give five shekels of silver to the physician.' (221.) "If he be a freeman, he shall give three shek els of silver." (223.) (3) The Slave was a veritable chattel. He could be sold or pledged: "If he bind over to service a male or a female slave, and if a mer chant transfer or sell such slave, there is no cause for complaint." (118.) The penalty for aiding a fugitive slave to escape was death: "If a man aid a male or a female slave of the palace, or a male or female slave of a freeman to escape from the city gate, he shall be put to death." (15.) "If a man harbor in his house a male or a female slave who has fled from the palace, or from a freeman, and do not bring him (the slave) forth at the call of the commandant, the owner of the house shall be put to death." (16.) The reward for returning fugitives, however, was not large: "If a man seize a male, or female slave, a fugitive, in the field and bring that slave hack to his owner, the owner of the slave shall pay him two shekels of silver." (17.) Damage done to a slave must be paid to his owner: "If a physician operate on the slave of a freeman for a severe wound with a bronze lan cet and cause his death, he shall restore a slave of equal value." (219.) "If he open an abscess in his eye with a bronze lancet and destroy his eye, he shall pay silver to the extent of one-half his price." ( 220. ) A slave who married one of his master's slave girls was able to acquire wealth, but his master was his sole heir and his children were slaves On the other hand, a slave in the serv ice of a great house could marry a free woman. In that case the children were free (175), and the free woman's marriage portion remained hers, for her children after her husband's death. (175.) A female slave could become her master's concubine, and if he acknowledged her children they could share his property with his other heirs after his death. (170.) If he did not acknowledge them, "the children of the maid servant shall not share in the goods of the father's house with the children of the wife." The maid servant and her children, however, shall be given their freedom. (171.) (4) The Death Penalty. According to the Code, the death penalty was executed upon offenders for thirty-nine different offenses, some of them apparently trivial : "If the purchaser (of stolen property) do not produce the seller who sold it to him, and the witnesses in whose presence he purchased it, and if the owner of the lost property produce witnesses to identify his lost property, the pur chaser shall be put to death as a thief ; the owner of the lost property shall recover his loss." ( to.) If a woman were unjustly accused of incon tinence she was required to throw herself into the river : "If the finger have been pointed at the wife of a man because of another man and she be not guilty, for her husband's sake she shall throw herself into the river." (132.) The penalty for poor housekeeping was drown ing: "If she have not been a careful mistress, have gadded about, have neglected her house and have belittled her husband, they shall throw that woman into the water." (143.)
"For a building of faulty construction, the builder must pay the penalty with his life pro vided the collapse result in the death of the owner." "If a builder build a house for a man and do not make its construction firm, and the house which he built collapse and cause the death of the owner of the house, that builder shall be put to death." (229.) "If it cause the death of a slave of the owner of the house, he shall give to the owner of the house a slave of equal value." (231.) The death penalty was also pronounced upon theft, provided the unfortunate thief had no money : "If a man steal the property of a temple or palace, that man shall be put to death ; and he who received from his hand the stolen (prop erty) shill also he put to death." (6.) "If a man steal an ox, sheep, ass, pig, or goat —if it be from a temple he shall restore thirty fold—if it be from a freeman, he shall render ten fold. If the thief have nothing with which to pay, he shall be put to death." (8.) The death penalty was inflicted in various ways : By burning in the case of theft at a con flagration and several other offenses : "If a fire break out in a man's house and a man who goes to extinguish it cast his eye on the furniture of the owner of the house, and take the furniture of the owner of the house, that man shall be thrown into the fire." (25.) Drowning was the penalty, not only for poor housekeeping but also for irregularities in the sale of wine and various other offenses : "If a wine seller do not receive grain as the price of drink, but if she receive money by the great stone, or make the measure for drink smaller than the measure for corn, they shall call that wine seller to account, and they shall throw her into the water." ( to8.) Impalement was the method of inflicting the death penalty at times : "If a woman bring about the death of her husband for the sake of another man, they shall impale her." (153.) (5) Dismemberment for fraud, if unable to meet his obligation for grain misappropriated : "If a man hire a man to oversee his farm and furnish him with seed grain and entrust him with oxen and contract with him to culti vate the field, and that man steal either the seed or the crop, and it be found in his posses sion, they shall cut off his fingers." (253.) "If he be not able to meet his obligation, they shall leave him in that field with the cattle (to be torn to pieces)." (256.) (6) Mutilation. Other mutilations were in flicted in many cases : "If the son of a ner-se-ga (a palace warder), or the son of a devotee, say to his father who has reared him, or the mother who has reared him, 'MY father thou art not,' My mother thou art not,' they shall cut out his tongue." (192.) "If the son of a ver-se-ga, or the son of a devotee, identify his own father's house, and hate the father who has reared him and the mother who has reared him and go back to his father's house, they shall pluck out his eye." (193.) "If a man give his son to a nurse and that son die in the hands of the nurse, and the nurse substitute another son without the consent of his father of mother, they shall call her to ac count, and because she has substituted another son without the consent of his father or mother, they shall cut off her breast." (194.) "If a son strike his father, they shall cut off his fingers." (195.) "If a man's slave strike a man's son, they shall cut off his (the slave's) ear." (205.) "If a brander. without the consent of the owner of the slave, brand a slave with the sign that he cannot be sold, they shall cut off the fingers of the brander." (226.) For malpractice : "If a physician operate on a man for a severe wound with a bronze lancet and cause a man's death ; or open an abscess of a man (ill the eye), and destroy the man's eye, they shall cut off his fingers." (218.) (7) Scourging is mentioned only once : "If a man strike the person of a mall who is his superior, he shall receive sixty strokes with an ox-tail whip in public." (202.) (8) Temple Devotees are also made the sub ject of especial legislation. A woman might be devoted to the service of a god and thus be came the bride of the god and might thus be dowered by her father as in marriage (178). Of if he gave her no dowry, she might receive a small portion of his estate at his death, but only one-third of the portion given to a son : "If a father do not give a dowry to his daughter, a priestess of Marduk of Babylon, and do write for her a deed of gift ; after her father dies she shall receive as her share with her brothers one-third the portion of a son in the goods of her father's house, but she shall not conduct the business thereof. A priestess of garduk may give to whomsoever she may please or transfer for use after her death." (182.) She must be temperate : "If a priestess who is not living in a convent open a wine shop or enter a wineshop for a drink, they shall burn that woman." (Ho.) Some claim that these devotees were virginal, but in Harper's translation of the Code they are listed as "sacred prostitutes," and three sec tions of the Code pertain to the children of devotees : "The son of a ner-se-ga, a palace warder, or the son of a vowed woman, no one has any claim upon." (187, see also 192 and 193.) These priestesses were called by several names: They were kadishtu, holy ones ; also kharimtu, which embodies a similar idea—that of being set aside ; they were also styled sha»zkhatu, meaning "pleasure maiden." (9) Marriage and Family Life. The suitor appears to have been free to make his choice of a wife, but the woman in the case is not free ; her father gives her in marriage; it is he who accepts or rejects the applicant for her hand. He often brought a present to the house of the father, and if lie were accepted he made a marriage settlement, but if he afterward changed his mind he forfeited whatsoever he had brought : "If a man who has brought a present to the house of his father-in-law and has given a mar riage settlement, look with longing upon another woman and say to his father-in-law, 'I will not take thy daughter,' the father of the daughter shall take to himself whatever was wrought to him." (139.) I f, however, on the other hand, it was the father of the girl who changed his mind, he was the one to pay the forfeit : "If a man bring a present to the house of his father-in-law and give a marriage settlement and the father of the daughter say, 'I will not give thee my daughter,' he (the father) shall double the amount and return it." (16o, also 161.) If a wife brought a dowry into the family of her husband it was her own, and at her death it was returned to her family by her hus band if she died childless, but lie might deduct the amount of the marriage settlement, if any, which he had made upon his wife.