The Laws of Hammurabi
This page delivers no verdict; it presents claims and evidence with their sources. No theory in science is absolute. Method
For everyone
Around 280 provisions carved on a stone stele under the Babylonian king Hammurabi form one of the most extensive early written legal texts known. They regulate "an eye for an eye", trade, family and punishments, which vary with a person's social class. Whether the text was a code actually applied in daily life or a display of the king's justice is debated.
For specialists
The stele is now in the Louvre. The text consists of a prologue, the provisions and an epilogue. The earlier law collections of Ur-Nammu and Lipit-Ishtar are shorter. Some legal historians note that the text is rarely cited in the court records of the period and therefore read it as a collection of exemplary judgements rather than a binding law code.
Claims
- The Laws of Hammurabi were a binding law code applied in Babylon.[1]
Positions
Connections
Sources
- Book (1997). Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Scholars Press, Atlanta (SBL Writings from the Ancient World 6), 2nd edition
- Article (1989). Cuneiform law codes and the origins of legislation. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 79, 201–222
Search the literature
Look for scholarly work on this topic in other indexes:
Cite this page
Athena contributors. (2026). The Laws of Hammurabi. Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/hammurabi/
@misc{athena_hammurabi,
title = {The Laws of Hammurabi},
author = {{Athena contributors}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/hammurabi/}},
note = {Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Accessed: 2026-11-01}
}Added: September 27, 2026 · Last changed: September 27, 2026 · Page history