Do You like book The Code Of Hammurabi (2009)?
A list of laws, penalties, fines, wages and fees in ancient Babylonia. What is a fairly dry list of laws actually provides a lot of insight into life in ancient times. Reading the laws provides evidence of the presence of •tagriculture, irrigation canals, tillage, tenancy of land, corn and sesame, orchards, sheep grown for wool (and prey to lions), and allowance for storm, flood and drought•tbelief in magic and witchcraft•tslavery•tdoctors and veterinarians (with set fees, and penalties if their patients died)•tmerchants keeping written records and using money•tmarriage, separation, divorce, adoption and inheritance•tadultery, incest, rape, kidnapping and manslaughter•ttheft, assault, defamation, brawlingwith much resulting “put to death” or “bound and thrown into the water”, with the occasional burning alive, impalement and maiming. Even governors and magistrates were not immune to such harsh treatment. Also, the famous Old Testament “eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth” is literally recommended as fair retribution. Certainly not a volume for repeat reading for pleasure, but interesting nonetheless, and shows how original sources can inform historians about many social practices of the time. It also provided some legal protection for women and the poor in an age when their rights surely would not have been recognised otherwise, including a minimum wage and the presumption of innocence.Favourite line:#109 If a wine merchant has collected a riotous assembly in her house and has not seized those rioters and driven them to the palace, that wine merchant shall be put to death.This was book #2 in my journey to read all the classics of world literature. You can join me at my blog : www.chronolit.com
—Warren
Created out of divine authority, world's first code of laws is quite an amusing read.It surprised me with some of its humane laws:If a man has incurred a debt and a storm has flooded his field or carried away the crop, or the corn has not grown because of drought, in that year he shall not pay his creditor. Further, he shall post-date his bond and shall not pay interest for that year.I mean okay there is capital sentence even for such minor crimes as burgalaries and theft but that is to be expected from any laws written 3700 years ago (to put the figure in context - that is two centuries before Vedas and a thousand years before Homer) - and not only there were laws but there was administration to impose it.The state actually took responsibity of doing justice, taking loss on itself where it could capture criminal (which kind of makes you understand its severity when they were caught): If the highwayman has not beencaught, the man that has been robbed shall state on oath what he has lost and the city or district governor in whose territory or district the robbery took place shall restore to him what he has lost.I also found it interesting to find notion of average rent which probably was gained from experience of execution of other rent laws:If a man has hired a field to cultivate and has caused no corn to grow on the field, he shall be held responsible for not doing the work on the field and shall pay an average rent.
—Sidharth Vardhan
A very difficult book to rate, since it's not actually a book, but a historical document. It's interesting because it exists and we can read and understand the language, and thus learn something about the society this law text originated in. It's even fascinating to the curious layperson who knows next to nothing about this time and place in history (that would be me). I'll give it four stars because it's an important document. But it's of course most of interest to scholars. On a side note: It's fascinating to think what "law" must have been like in societies without written laws. The level of organization in a society which can achieve even this pretty basic law text is kind of impressive. The laws of Hammurabi are of course pretty outdated. To say it mildly. But I'm sure it in its time can have been a HUGE improvement and a mark of real progress. Even slaves had some rights. Not like the free, of course. There are interesting categories of people here: Man, Father, Wife, Son, Daughter, Rich man, Poor man, Manservant, Maidservant, Slave... I notice now that I can't sum it up neatly, but it's a lot of food for thought.
—that cute little red-eyed kitten