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