The sixth king of the ancient Babylonian Kingdom, who reigned from about 1792 to 1750 BC, is famous for his historical activities of unifying the two river basins and promulgating legal codes. Domestically, measures were taken to ease class conflicts, strengthen royal authority and develop the economy, suppress debt slavery, and provide a relatively stable rear for long-term military deployment abroad. This contributed to the prosperity of the country, and the city of Babylon became the largest political, economic, and cultural center in West Asia. According to the socio-economic situation and class hierarchical relations, during his reign, he formulated a code "Code of Hammurabi" that reflected the interests of the slave-owning ruling class, providing valuable information for future generations to study the socio-economic relations of ancient Babylon and the legal history of West Asia. Material.
The written code formulated by King Hammurabi of the ancient Kingdom of Babylon when he was in power was designed to maintain the private ownership of property, comprehensively adjust the relationship between free people, and consolidate the existing order. The exact time when the code was formulated is unclear, but it was probably drafted in 1791 or 1790 BC and completed after the unification of Babylonia. The code consists of three parts: preface, main body, and conclusion. The preface is full of words that deify and beautify Hammurabi. The main text includes 282 laws, involving procedural law, civil law, criminal law, marriage law, etc. in the modern sense. It is intended to mediate various economic relations and social, social, Marital relationship. The Code shows that there were three basic classes in ancient Babylonian society: slave owners, slaves, and small producers. In addition, there were hierarchical relationships that were inconsistent with class relationships. The free people were divided into two classes: the powerful Averu and the semi-powerful Mushgennu. The former means "person" and enjoys some privileges; the latter may mean "worship" and has a low legal status. The code restrained debt slavery and usury, and restricted excessive plunder of small producers to avoid destabilizing military and tax sources. The code strictly protects slavery, which reflects the nature of the code. In addition to continuing to praise Hammurabi, the concluding part also emphasizes the immutability of the principles of the code. The formulation of the code marked the progress of ancient Western Asia's legal system and the maturity of the country.
In December 1901, an archaeological team composed of French and Iranians conducted excavations at the site of an ancient city called Susa in southwestern Iran. One day, they found a piece of black basalt stone, and a few days later they found two more pieces. When the three pieces were put together, they happened to be an oval cylindrical stone tablet.
From December 1901 to January 1902, a French archaeological team led by J. Morgan discovered a stele of the Code of Hammurabi engraved in Akkadian at the site of Susa, the ancient capital of Elam. The stele is composed of three pieces of black basalt, with a height of 2.25 meters, a circumference of 1.65 meters at the top, and a circumference of 1.90 meters at the bottom. The upper part of the stele is a relief (0.65 meters high and 0.6 meters wide) of the sun god and justice god Shamash conferring royal power on Hammurabi. Below the relief is the codex inscription engraved around the stele, with 3,500 lines in total, and the cuneiform script is written vertically. Some of the inscriptions in the Code (Articles 66 to 100 of the Code) were worn away in ancient times. According to research, the Elamite king Sutruknathan invaded Babylonia around 1150 BC and transported the Codex stele back to Susa as a trophy. Presumably, he had some of the original text worn out in order to engrave his achievements on the stone tablet. But for some reason (perhaps because he died soon) he could not re-engrave it. The incomplete inscription was partly reconstructed based on fragments of a codex copy unearthed in Susa, and partly filled in based on clay tablet manuscripts found in Nineveh, the ancient capital of Assyria, and other urban sites in the Mesopotamia. The codex stele is made of hard stone and has exquisite calligraphy. It is a typical official document of the First Dynasty of Babylon. The stele is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.
The Code of Hammurabi consists of three parts: a preface, articles (282 articles) and a conclusion, including litigation procedures, theft treatment, military land tenure, tenancy, employment, commercial usury, marriage, inheritance, Hurts, debts, slaves, etc. The basic characteristics of the code: first, it clearly safeguards the interests of the slave-owning class and protects the private ownership of slavery; second, the code also preserves some remnants of customary law, such as the principle of homogenous revenge of "a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye" (Art. 196, 200) and the custom of divine judgment (Articles 2, 132), etc.; Thirdly, in the modern sense, the Code of Hammurabi does not distinguish between public law, private law (civil law) and criminal law, all laws are unified, and legal regulations Determined from both a civil law perspective and a criminal law perspective.
On the one hand, the Code of Hammurabi codified the customary laws of the Amorites, and on the other hand, it absorbed the inherent Sumerian and Akkadian legislation of the Mesopotamia and the Isin Larsa era. The results of city-state legislation. However, it was mainly a product of the social and economic system at that time, reflecting the reality of all aspects of society at that time.
The promulgation and dating of the Code of Hammurabi
Before the ancient Babylonian era, the so-called legislative tradition of establishing justice in the country had already been formed in the Mesopotamia. The inscription of the Ulukakina Reform (about 2378-2371 BC) in the city-state of Lagash mentions "he established the order of previous eras". Sargon, the king of Akkad, was called "the righteous king and the one who speaks justice". The inscription of King Ur-N-Gur of Ur records, "According to the righteous laws of Shamash, he makes...justice triumph." King Singashed of Uruk was the earliest known ruler in the Mesopotamia to set maximum prices for daily necessities such as grain, vegetable oil and wool. During the Third Dynasty of Ur, the first legal code in history known to date (the Ur-Nam Code, archaeologists have only found fragments of it) was formulated. The preface of the code declared that it was forbidden to bully orphans and widows, and the rich were not allowed to abuse the poor. Since the period of the Sumerian city-states, the social divisions in the two river basins have become increasingly serious. The struggle of slaves and common people against the nobles has become increasingly fierce. Foreign tribes (mountain tribes) have continued to invade. The rulers of the Sumerian city-states have tried to prevent the country from being destroyed and the dynasty from being overthrown. , it is very necessary to implement the rule of law to suppress social unrest and resist foreign invasion. This is a summary of the ruling experience of successive rulers of the city-states in the Mesopotamia.
By the time of Old Babylonia (that is, from the time of Isin Larsha to the demise of the First Babylonian Dynasty), the Mesopotamia entered the heyday of code codification. This was due to the rapid development of the slave economy and commodity-monetary relations during this period, as well as the unprecedented growth of private ownership of land and slaves, as well as tenant-employment relations and usury activities. The city-states under the rule of the Amorites formulated many codes aimed at safeguarding the private ownership of the slave-owning class on the basis of inheriting Sumerian legislation. For example, the fifth king of Isin, Libit Isda, and the king of Eshnuna, the code of Balalama, and the sixth king of the first dynasty of Babylon, Hammurabi (about 1792-1750 BC) Combining the culmination of previous code compilations, the famous Code of Hammurabi was formulated. In addition, according to research, various city-states in the Babylonian era issued so-called moral decrees for debt relief and relief more than a hundred times. From the time of the Sumerian city-states to the period of the First Babylonian Dynasty, the tradition of rule of law in Mesopotamia did not interrupt its continuity. The preface to the code of King Libit Ishda of Isin states, "I established justice in Sumer and Akkad." The preface to the Code of Hammurabi states in almost the same form, "Anu and Enlil command me, Hammurabi, the glorious and god-fearing monarch, for the welfare of mankind, to promote justice in the world and to destroy lawlessness and evil. Man, make the strong not bully the weak, make me like Shamash, shining on the head of Guizhou and shining on the earth."