The Code of Ur-Nammu

THE CODE OF UR-NAMMU

• Language: Sumerian

• Province: Ur

• Date: ~2000 BC

• It is the oldest discovered law code (older than Hammurabi by 300 years)

https://zoraweb.com/code-ur-nammu-2100-2050-bce

After An and Enlil gave the kingship to Nanna in Ur, he then made laws for equity and truth. He is said to be a great warrior, established by Ur’s god, Nanna. He “established equity in the land; he banished malediction, violence and strife, and set the monthly Temple expenses at 90 gur of barley, 30 sheep, and 30 sila of butter.” He standardized weights for selling and buying things and protected orphans and widows. God likewise chooses Zion as his city and Judah as his people and the mighty warrior David as their king. Solomon also gives God a wealthy amount of sacrifices after dedicating the temple to him. Further, many laws and Proverbs speak to the evil of loaded weights and to God being the protector of orphans and widows.

1-2. Murderers and robbers are to be killed. Leviticus 24:17 likewise prescribes capital punishment for murder, with laws for cities of refuge from blood-avengers in cases of manslaughter added on in Numbers. While the Book of the Covenant does not punish people who kill robbers in the evening, Exodus 22:7-9 says that the robber is to pay back double what they stole.

3. Kidnappers are to be imprisoned and fined 15 silver shekels. While the Hebrew Bible is less severe in its punishment for theft, it is more severe for kidnappers, as Exodus 21:16 prescribes death for kidnapping.

4-5. If a slave marries another slave who is going to be set free, they will both have to stay enslaved together. If a slave marries a native free person, they need to give their firstborn son to the owner of the slave. Exodus 21:2-6 likewise allows for a Hebrew slave to go free along with his wife after six years, if they were sold into slavery together. If he marries while a slave, he can choose to go free alone or stay a slave and stay with his wife, similar to this verse.

6. If a man sleeps with a virgin betrothed to another man, the man is to die. Exodus 22:16-17 says that a man who sleeps with a betrothed virgin must pay the bride price for her.

7. If someone’s wife follows another man and they sleep together, the woman is to die and the man to be set free. Since women are not as strong as men, this law makes women who seek out fornication the same as men who force women who sleep with them. There is no equivalent verse in the Bible, but there are later laws that condemn both the man and woman to death if the man seizes the woman in a situation where she could call for help but doesn’t.

8. If a man sleeps with a virgin slave betrothed to another man, the man is to pay five shekels. Compared with the sixth law in this code, the punishment for stealing a slave’s virginity is significantly less than for stealing a freed woman’s. The Hebrew Bible has no separate law for slave women here.

9-11. If a man divorces his wife, he is to pay her one silver mina. If she was widowed before, he is to pay her half a silver mina, and if he slept with her but they weren’t married, he doesn’t need to pay anything. Deuteronomy 24:1-4 allows for a man to divorce his wife if he finds her “displeasing” instead of just being for whatever reason. However, this is both a later law (found in Deuteronomy) and does not make separate policies for widows. In fact, the Hebrew Bible does not portray divorce positively at all.

12 is missing.

13. If a man is accused of sorcery, he must jump into a river. If he survives, the one who accused him must pay him 3 shekels. Ancient Near Eastern law frequently used jumping into rivers as a method of divine discernment: if one was rushed away and drowned, then the gods had fated it because they did the crime. If they survived, it was the gods’ desire to prove the person innocent. Exodus 22:18 strictly says not to let a witch live, but there are no laws for false accusations of witchery.

14. If a man accuses a woman of adultery, she must jump into a river. If she survives, the man must pay her one third of a silver mina. On jumping into rivers, see the above commentary. Again, such a bold accusation is left up to what is seen as divine fate and there is no Hebrew Bible law equivalent.

15. If a prospective father-in-law ends up turning down his prospective son-in-law, he must give him double the amount of bridal presents.

16 is missing.

17. If an escaped slave returns, the owner must pay the one who returned him two shekels. Deuteronomy 23:15-16 specifically deals with slaves who escape to Israel from other lands, mandating that they must not be sent back, perhaps on the grounds that God had delivered Israel from slavery and Israel was to be a sort of refuge city for other slaves.

18-22. One must pay the appropriate fines for knocking out another’s eye, cutting off their foot, smashing their limb with a club, severing their nose with a copper knife, or knocking out their tooth. Exodus 21:22-25 likewise prescribes “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”, although the idea behind both sets of laws is not that the attacker loses that body part but pays a set fine equal to the body part.

23 & 24 are lost and fragmentary.

25. If a slave girl compares herself to her mistress and puts her down, her mouth will be scoured with a quart of salt.

26 & 27 are missing.

28 & 29. If a man lies as a legal witness, or withdraws his oath in witnessing, he must pay an appropriate fine.

30-32 deal with workers who don’t take care of their fields.