Code of Ur-Nammu

The first recension of the code (Ni 3191), an Old Babylonian period copy in two fragments found at Nippur, in what is now Iraq, was translated by Samuel Kramer in 1952. These fragments are held at the Istanbul Archaeology Museums. Owing to its partial preservation, only the long prologue and five of the laws were discernible. Kramer noted that luck was involved in the discovery: Two further Old Babylonian period tablet fragments (IM 85688+85689) now held at Iraq Museum in Baghdad, with no prologue or concluding formula, were found in Ur and translated in 1965, allowing some 30 of the 57 laws to be reconstructed. Two Old Babylonian period exemplars were found in Sippar. One (Si 277), held at the Istanbul Museum, bears the prologue and lines 125-79. The other (BM 54722+), held at the British Museum, bears the laws and part of the concluding formula. A clay cylinder (MS 2064) of unknown origin and provenance contains 8 (of 10) columns at least partially preserved. It has been dated to the Ur III period and is held in the Schoyen Collection. ==Background==

(seated), the creator of the Code of Ur-Nammu, bestows governorship on Ḫašḫamer, ensi of Iškun-Sin (cylinder seal impression, c. 2100 BC) The preface directly credits the laws to king Ur-Nammu of Ur (2112–2095 BC). The author who had the laws written onto cuneiform tablets is still somewhat under dispute. Some scholars have attributed it to Ur-Nammu's son Shulgi. Although it is known that earlier law-codes existed, such as the Code of Urukagina, this represents the earliest extant legal text. It is three centuries older than the Code of Hammurabi. The laws are arranged in casuistic form of IF (crime) THEN (punishment)—a pattern followed in nearly all later codes. It institutes fines of monetary compensation for bodily damage as opposed to the later lex talionis ('eye for an eye') principle of Babylonian law. However, murder, robbery, adultery and rape were capital offenses. The code reveals a glimpse at societal structure during Ur's Third Dynasty. Beneath the lugal ("great man" or king), all members of society belonged to one of two basic strata: the lu or free person, or the slave (male: arad; female: geme). The son of a lu was called a dumu-nita until he married, becoming a "young man" (gurus). A woman (munus) went from being a daughter (dumu-mi) to a wife (dam), then if she outlived her husband, a widow (nu-ma-su), who could remarry. In one section, regarding slaves, ur-Nammu contrasts law under Gutian rule with the new law implemented by Ur-Nammu at the beginning of his rule. ==Content==

The prologue, typical of Mesopotamian law codes, invokes the deities for Ur-Nammu's kingship, Nanna and Utu, and decrees "equity in the land". One mina ( of a talent) was made equal to 60 shekels (1 shekel = 8.3 grams, or 0.3 oz). Surviving laws Among the surviving laws are these: ==See also==