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Le Code De Hammurabi
Lorsque Hammurabi succède à son père sur le trône de Babylone, cette cité contrôle déjà un vaste territoire et des villes importantes. Certes l'Assyrie s'est rendue maîtresse de tout le Moyen-Euphrate et semble en passe de réaliser à son profit l'unité de la Mésopotamie; mais la compétition pour l'hégémonie est rude et l'Assyrie soumise à trop de pressions va céder du terrain.
C'est alors Babylone qui va l'emporter, grâce aux qualités guerrières et diplomatiques de Hammurabi. Pour un temps, sa souveraineté sera bientôt incontestée, mais la primauté intellectuelle et religieuse de Babylone survivra un millénaire à son hégémonie politique.
La stèle des lois de Hammurabi (telle que nous la connaissons) date de la fin du long règne de ce souverain (1792-1750) mais les lois et édits divers qui s'y trouvent réunis avaient déjà largement circulé, sous forme de stèles ou de tablettes plus ou moins complètes et avec des différences importantes : elles étaient bientôt devenues un « classique » étudié dans les écoles de scribes et de juristes.
Le texte le plus complet de ce monument de la littérature orientale ancienne est celui de la stèle du Louvre, retrouvée à Suse en 1902. La traduction intégrale en est donnée ici, assortie de notes qui fournissent éclaircissements et compléments tirés de l'étude des nombreuses tablettes.
C'est alors Babylone qui va l'emporter, grâce aux qualités guerrières et diplomatiques de Hammurabi. Pour un temps, sa souveraineté sera bientôt incontestée, mais la primauté intellectuelle et religieuse de Babylone survivra un millénaire à son hégémonie politique.
La stèle des lois de Hammurabi (telle que nous la connaissons) date de la fin du long règne de ce souverain (1792-1750) mais les lois et édits divers qui s'y trouvent réunis avaient déjà largement circulé, sous forme de stèles ou de tablettes plus ou moins complètes et avec des différences importantes : elles étaient bientôt devenues un « classique » étudié dans les écoles de scribes et de juristes.
Le texte le plus complet de ce monument de la littérature orientale ancienne est celui de la stèle du Louvre, retrouvée à Suse en 1902. La traduction intégrale en est donnée ici, assortie de notes qui fournissent éclaircissements et compléments tirés de l'étude des nombreuses tablettes.
- GenresHistory
176 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1973
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* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
See also: Anonymous
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 17, 2019
I’ve read (and cited!) this text a time or two over the years. This version caught my eye because it purports to be autographed. Not sure which bit of cuneiform is the autograph of the Great God Marduk or his collaborators, but I’m glad to know it’s in there.
This version has GORGEOUS indexes and codexes. Seriously quantities of cuneiform.
As we all know, Marduk gave Hammurabi the law “to cause justice to prevail in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil, to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak.” (prologue).
Reading it this time, it really struck me how much I recognize and how alien is its organization. Briefly, it starts as something of a code of criminal procedure. The very first section: “If a man bring an accusation against a man, and charge him with a (capital) crime, but cannot prove it, the accuser, shall be put to death.” But capital crimes aren’t first defined. It starts with the consequences for false witness. In a book dictated by a god.
It goes on to talk about theft and murder, frolics and detours. Then it moves on to business regulation. So much business regulation. Bit of timber trespass (§59). Whole lot of tavern regulation, including the death penalty for priestesses who open one or enters one. (§ 110).
Then we move on to when a man can sell his wife and children and when divorce is legal. While there are many protections for married women that would be envied in millennia later in some towns, it does countenance the death penalty for a wife’s adultery. The woman is to be bound and thrown into the waters, though the husband is explicitly allowed to pull her out.
Then the text jumps to criminal punishments for various types of assault against different stations of people. Eye for an eye for equals; fee schedule for those god has set below you.
And then: medical malpractice! And other types of malpractice! Regulation of slave branding! Building regulations! Wage regulation! More about slaves!
Ends with a mighty curse upon all those would change the judgments of the king.
Good romp.
This version has GORGEOUS indexes and codexes. Seriously quantities of cuneiform.
As we all know, Marduk gave Hammurabi the law “to cause justice to prevail in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil, to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak.” (prologue).
Reading it this time, it really struck me how much I recognize and how alien is its organization. Briefly, it starts as something of a code of criminal procedure. The very first section: “If a man bring an accusation against a man, and charge him with a (capital) crime, but cannot prove it, the accuser, shall be put to death.” But capital crimes aren’t first defined. It starts with the consequences for false witness. In a book dictated by a god.
It goes on to talk about theft and murder, frolics and detours. Then it moves on to business regulation. So much business regulation. Bit of timber trespass (§59). Whole lot of tavern regulation, including the death penalty for priestesses who open one or enters one. (§ 110).
Then we move on to when a man can sell his wife and children and when divorce is legal. While there are many protections for married women that would be envied in millennia later in some towns, it does countenance the death penalty for a wife’s adultery. The woman is to be bound and thrown into the waters, though the husband is explicitly allowed to pull her out.
Then the text jumps to criminal punishments for various types of assault against different stations of people. Eye for an eye for equals; fee schedule for those god has set below you.
And then: medical malpractice! And other types of malpractice! Regulation of slave branding! Building regulations! Wage regulation! More about slaves!
Ends with a mighty curse upon all those would change the judgments of the king.
Good romp.
Displaying 1 of 1 review