April 11, 2012--The Code of Ur-Nammu
In my continuing pursuit of insight about human nature, I've been reading Jonathan Haidt's quite good new book The Righteous Mind.
He is a social psychologist with a particular interest in the psychology and evolution of morality. His work resonates with my own thinking in that he provides considerable evidence that our natures are largely controlled by intuition--we have nearly instantaneous perceptions about other people and the things they do, as well as judgements of right and wrong. And in spite of the Enlightenment and the beliefs of political liberals, reason can only tweak those intuitions, most commonly finding justifications for what has already been perceived and emotionally felt.
Among the many things he discusses is the Code of Hammurabi, one of the world's oldest written legal and moral codes which is most famous, from my high school recollection of it, for it's harsh call for "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."
Rummaging around to learn more about Hammurabi and his more than 3,700-year-old Code, I stumbled upon an even older one--the Code of Ur-Nammu. It is the oldest known surviving law code. It was written in the Sumerian language in about 2100 BCE.
Below are its 32 surviving rules, some thankfully misogynistically archaic, though less severe than Hammurabi's; others by today's standards amusing; and still more that feel remarkably contemporary.
I thought you might like to see them. To help understand the levels of fines it imposes, the mina was equal to 60 shekels.
1. If a man commits a murder, that man must be killed.
2. If a man commits a robbery, he will be killed.
3. If a man commits a kidnapping, he is to be imprisoned and pay 15 shekels of silver.
4. If a slave marries a slave, and that slave is set free, he does not leave the household.
5. If a slave marries a native (i.e. free) person, he/she is to hand the firstborn son over to his owner.
6. If a man violates the right of another and deflowers the virgin wife of a young man, they shall kill that male.
7. If the wife of a man followed after another man and he slept with her, they shall slay that woman, but that male shall be set free.
8. If a man proceeded by force, and deflowered the virgin slavewoman of another man, that man must pay five shekels of silver.
9. If a man divorces his first-time wife, he shall pay her one mina of silver.
10. If it is a widow who he divorces, he shall pay her half a mina of silver.
11. If the man had slept with the widow without there having been any marriage contract, he need not pay any silver.
13. If a man is accused of sorcery he must undergo ordeal by water; if he is proven innocent, his accuser must pay 3 shekels.
14. If a man accused the wife of a man of adultery, and the river ordeal proved her innocent, then the man who had accused her must pay one-third of a mina of silver.
15. If a prospective son-in-law enters the house of his prospective father-in-law, but his father-in-law later gives his daughter to another man, the father-in-law shall return to the rejected son-in-law twofold the amount of bridal presents he had brought.
17. If a slave escapes from the city limits, and someone returns him, the owner shall pay two shekels to the one who returned him.
18. If a man knocks out the eye of another man, he shall weigh out ½ a mina of silver.
19. If a man has cut off another man’s foot, he is to pay ten shekels.
20. If a man, in the course of a scuffle, smashed the limb of another man with a club, he shall pay one mina of silver.
21. If someone severed the nose of another man with a copper knife, he must pay two-thirds of a mina of silver.
22. If a man knocks out a tooth of another man, he shall pay two shekels of silver.
24. If he does not have a slave, he is to pay 10 shekels of silver. If he does not have silver, he is to give another thing that belongs to him.
25. If a man’s slave-woman, comparing herself to her mistress, speaks insolently to her, her mouth shall be scoured with 1 quart of salt.
28. If a man appeared as a witness, and was shown to be a perjurer, he must pay fifteen shekels of silver.
29. If a man appears as a witness, but withdraws his oath, he must make payment, to the extent of the value in litigation of the case.
30. If a man stealthily cultivates the field of another man and he raises a complaint, this is however to be rejected, and this man will lose his expenses.
31. If a man flooded the field of a man with water, he shall measure out three kur of barley per iku of field.
32. If a man had let an arable field to another man for cultivation, but he did not cultivate it, turning it into wasteland, he shall measure out three kur of barley per iku of field.
He is a social psychologist with a particular interest in the psychology and evolution of morality. His work resonates with my own thinking in that he provides considerable evidence that our natures are largely controlled by intuition--we have nearly instantaneous perceptions about other people and the things they do, as well as judgements of right and wrong. And in spite of the Enlightenment and the beliefs of political liberals, reason can only tweak those intuitions, most commonly finding justifications for what has already been perceived and emotionally felt.
Among the many things he discusses is the Code of Hammurabi, one of the world's oldest written legal and moral codes which is most famous, from my high school recollection of it, for it's harsh call for "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."
Rummaging around to learn more about Hammurabi and his more than 3,700-year-old Code, I stumbled upon an even older one--the Code of Ur-Nammu. It is the oldest known surviving law code. It was written in the Sumerian language in about 2100 BCE.
Below are its 32 surviving rules, some thankfully misogynistically archaic, though less severe than Hammurabi's; others by today's standards amusing; and still more that feel remarkably contemporary.
I thought you might like to see them. To help understand the levels of fines it imposes, the mina was equal to 60 shekels.
1. If a man commits a murder, that man must be killed.
2. If a man commits a robbery, he will be killed.
3. If a man commits a kidnapping, he is to be imprisoned and pay 15 shekels of silver.
4. If a slave marries a slave, and that slave is set free, he does not leave the household.
5. If a slave marries a native (i.e. free) person, he/she is to hand the firstborn son over to his owner.
6. If a man violates the right of another and deflowers the virgin wife of a young man, they shall kill that male.
7. If the wife of a man followed after another man and he slept with her, they shall slay that woman, but that male shall be set free.
8. If a man proceeded by force, and deflowered the virgin slavewoman of another man, that man must pay five shekels of silver.
9. If a man divorces his first-time wife, he shall pay her one mina of silver.
10. If it is a widow who he divorces, he shall pay her half a mina of silver.
11. If the man had slept with the widow without there having been any marriage contract, he need not pay any silver.
13. If a man is accused of sorcery he must undergo ordeal by water; if he is proven innocent, his accuser must pay 3 shekels.
14. If a man accused the wife of a man of adultery, and the river ordeal proved her innocent, then the man who had accused her must pay one-third of a mina of silver.
15. If a prospective son-in-law enters the house of his prospective father-in-law, but his father-in-law later gives his daughter to another man, the father-in-law shall return to the rejected son-in-law twofold the amount of bridal presents he had brought.
17. If a slave escapes from the city limits, and someone returns him, the owner shall pay two shekels to the one who returned him.
18. If a man knocks out the eye of another man, he shall weigh out ½ a mina of silver.
19. If a man has cut off another man’s foot, he is to pay ten shekels.
20. If a man, in the course of a scuffle, smashed the limb of another man with a club, he shall pay one mina of silver.
21. If someone severed the nose of another man with a copper knife, he must pay two-thirds of a mina of silver.
22. If a man knocks out a tooth of another man, he shall pay two shekels of silver.
24. If he does not have a slave, he is to pay 10 shekels of silver. If he does not have silver, he is to give another thing that belongs to him.
25. If a man’s slave-woman, comparing herself to her mistress, speaks insolently to her, her mouth shall be scoured with 1 quart of salt.
28. If a man appeared as a witness, and was shown to be a perjurer, he must pay fifteen shekels of silver.
29. If a man appears as a witness, but withdraws his oath, he must make payment, to the extent of the value in litigation of the case.
30. If a man stealthily cultivates the field of another man and he raises a complaint, this is however to be rejected, and this man will lose his expenses.
31. If a man flooded the field of a man with water, he shall measure out three kur of barley per iku of field.
32. If a man had let an arable field to another man for cultivation, but he did not cultivate it, turning it into wasteland, he shall measure out three kur of barley per iku of field.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
5:05 AM
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