Weekly Insights for Thinkers

Code of Hammurabi

By Michael Alan Prestwood

Author and Natural Philosopher

07 Jul 2021
Published 5 years ago.
Updated 2 years ago.

Code of Hammurabi

1755 BCE

A set of about 300 legal laws written in stone from ancient Near East that withstood the test of time. Hammurabi, the sixth king of the First Dynasty of Babylonian, wrote it in cuneiform in the Old Babylonion dialect of Akkadian. The text itself was copied and studied by Mesopotamian scribes for over a millennium.

Translated examples:

  • If a man should blind the eye of another man, they shall blind his eye.
  • If a man bears false witness in a case, or does not establish the testimony that he has given, if that case is case involving life, that man shall be put to death.
  • If a man bears false witness concerning grain or money, he shall himself bear the penalty imposed in the case.
The end.
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