Laws of Eshnunna
The Laws of Eshnunna (abrv. LE) are inscribed on two
In distinction from the other Mesopotamian collections of law, this one got its name after the city where it had originated – Eshnunna, located on the bank of the Diyala River, tributary to the Tigris, north of Ur. Eshnunna became politically important after the fall of the third dynasty of Ur, founded by Ur-Nammu.
Contents
This collection of laws is not a real systemized
The conditional sentence (“If A then B” – as it also is the case with the other Mesopotamian laws) is an attribute of this codification. In 23 paragraphs, it appears in the form šumma awilum – “If a man…” After the disposition, a precise sanction follows, e.g. LU42(A): “If a man bit and severed the nose of a man, one mina silver he shall weigh out.”
The Laws clearly show signs of social stratification, mainly focussing on two different classes: the muškenum and awilum. The audience of the Laws of Eshnunna is more extensive than in the case of the earlier cuneiform codifications: awilum – free men and women (mar awilim and marat awilim), muškenum, wife (aššatum), son (maru), slaves of both sexes – male (wardum) and female (amtum) – which are not only objects of law as in classical slavery, and delicts where the victims were slaves have been sanctioned, and other class designations as ubarum, apþarum, mudum that are not ascertained.
Reuven Yaron has divided the offences of the Laws of Eshnunna into five groups. The articles of the first group had to be collected from all over the Laws and the articles of the other four were roughly ordered one after the other:
1. Theft and related offences,
2. False distraint,
3. Sexual offences,
4. Bodily injuries,
5. Damages caused by a goring ox and comparable cases.
The majority of these offences were penalized with pecuniary fines (an amount of silver), but some serious offences such as burglary, murder, and sexual offences were penalized with death. It seems that the capital punishment was avoidable (in contrast to the Code of Hammurabi), because of the standard formulation: “It is a case of life … he shall die”.
See also
- Akkadian Empire
- Eshnunna
- Cuneiform law
- Code of Hammurabi
- Code of Ur-Nammu
- Code of Lipit-Ishtar
- List of ancient legal codes
References
- ^ Albrecht Goetze, "The Laws of Eshnunna", Sumer, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 63-102, September 1948
- ^ Mustafa, Abdul-Kader Abdul-Jabbar. The Old Babylonian tablets from Me-Turan (Tell al-Sib and Tell Haddad). University of Glasgow (United Kingdom), 1983.
- ^ Albrecht Goetze. The Laws of Eshnunna, The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Vol. 31, The Laws of Eshnunna (1951 - 1952), pp. v-197
- ISBN 978-90-04-08534-3
Further reading
- Eichler, Barry L. (1987). "Literary Structure in the Laws of Eshnunna". In ISBN 0940490676.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Finkelstein, J. J. (1970). "Review: On Some Recent Studies in Cuneiform Law". JSTOR 598140.
- Speiser, E. A. (1963). "Cuneiform Law and the History of Civilization". JSTOR 986110.