# Code of Ur-Nammu ## Overview The Code of Ur-Nammu (~2100–2050 BCE) is the oldest known surviving legal code, predating the Code of Hammurabi by ~300 years. It was issued by Ur-Nammu (or his son Shulgi) of the Third Dynasty of Ur. @t[~2100 BCE..~2050 BCE] ## Key Facts - Date: ~2100–2050 BCE @t[~2100 BCE..~2050 BCE] - Issuer: Ur-Nammu (r. 2112–2095 BCE) or his son Shulgi (r. 2094–2047 BCE), Third Dynasty of Ur - Language: Sumerian (cuneiform script on clay tablets) - Discovered: Fragments found at Nippur, Ur, and Sippar; primary tablet (Ni 3191) held at Istanbul Archaeology Museums - First translated: Samuel Noah Kramer, 1952 [^2] ## Physical Record - Primary tablet (Ni 3191): Two fragments from Nippur, Old Babylonian period copy; held at Istanbul Archaeology Museums - Ur fragments (IM 85688+85689): Found at Ur, translated 1965; held at Iraq Museum, Baghdad - Sippar exemplars: Two tablets — Si 277 (Istanbul Museum) bears the prologue; BM 54722+ (British Museum) bears the laws - Schoyen Collection cylinder (MS 2064): Clay cylinder of unknown provenance, dated to Ur III period, preserves 8 columns [^3] - Total laws: ~57 reconstructed across all fragments; ~30 legible in any single recension [^3] ## Content - Prologue invokes deities Nanna (moon god) and Utu (sun god), establishing the king as agent of divine justice - Prologue also records standardization of weights and measures (the bronze sila-measure, one-mina weight, shekel of silver) [^3] - Laws arranged in casuistic form: IF (crime) THEN (punishment) — a pattern followed in nearly all later codes [^1] - Uses monetary compensation (fines in silver) rather than *lex talionis* ("eye for an eye") for most offenses [^1] - Capital offenses: murder, robbery, adultery (by a woman), and rape of a virgin wife [^3] - Covers: Bodily injury, kidnapping, slavery, marriage and divorce, sexual offenses, agricultural disputes, sorcery accusations ## Social Structure Reflected - Society divided into two strata: *lu* (free person) and slave (*arad* male, *geme* female) [^3] - Fines and penalties differentiated by social status - Prologue emphasizes protection of the weak: "the orphan was not delivered up to the rich man; the widow was not delivered up to the mighty man" [^3] ## Significance - Oldest known surviving legal code, predating Hammurabi by ~300 years - Earlier code of Urukagina (~24th century BCE) is known only through references; Ur-Nammu's is the earliest extant text [^4] - Favored fines over physical punishment, contrasting with the later *lex talionis* of Hammurabi's code - Influenced subsequent Mesopotamian codes: Laws of Eshnunna (~1930 BCE) and Code of Lipit-Ishtar (~1870 BCE), which in turn shaped the Code of Hammurabi [^4] - Demonstrates sophisticated legal thinking in the 3rd millennium BCE [^2] ## Related Documents - [Code of Hammurabi](../legal-codes/code-of-hammurabi.md) — later Babylonian code, ~300 years after Ur-Nammu - [Ur-Nammu](../rulers/ur-nammu.md) — issuer of the code - [Third Dynasty of Ur](../cities/ur.md) — political context --- [^1]: Roth, M.T. *Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor* (1997) [^2]: Kramer, S.N. "Ur-Nammu Law Code" *Orientalia* 23 (1954); *History Begins at Sumer* (1956) [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, "Code of Ur-Nammu," *Wikipedia* (accessed 2026-02-23), citing Finkelstein (1968), Yildiz (1981), Frayne (1997), Gurney & Kramer (1965) [^4]: Mark, J.J. "The Ancient Mesopotamian Legal Code of Ur-Nammu," *World History Encyclopedia* (2021)