Texts to read: selected laws from Hammurabi's stela
Towards the end of his reign, the Babylonian king Hammurabi PGP (r. 1792–1750 BC) commissioned an enormous stone monument depicting him as šar mēšarim, "king of justice". The laws inscribed on this stela are an excellent introduction to reading real cuneiform, as the signs are clearly written, the grammar clear and consistent, and the vocabulary relatively restricted. These pages present photographs of selected laws, grouped in increasing order of difficulty.
The original stela is now in the Louvre Museum, Paris. It stands over 2 metres high, and shows Hammurabi (standing) receiving the insignia of righteous kingship from Šamaš, the god of justice, above a long inscription which includes over 280 different laws. Photo by Karen Radner. View large image.
You will probably be ready to try reading the Level 1 laws after completing the first four or five Cuneiform exercises and their associated Akkadian language pages. The Level 2 laws are designed to be read after Cuneiform exercise 6 and the Level 3 laws after Cuneiform exercise 8. You will find all the signs you need somewhere in the eight Signs to Learn lists on the Cuneiform exercises pages.
Level 1
- Law 14 On helping a slave to escape
- Law 21 On breaking and entering
- Law 22 On robbery
- Law 195 On hitting one's father
- Law 197 On breaking bones
Level 2
- Law 121 On renting a granary
- Law 154 On incest
- Law 196 On blinding (I)
- Law 198 On blinding (II)
- Law 199 On blinding (III)
Level 3
- Law 128 On marriage contracts
- Law 132 On accusations of adultery
- Law 134 On wives of absent men
- Law 153 On murder and adultery
- Law 244 On death by lion
Level 4
- Law 1 On false accusation
- Law 108 On corrupt beer-sellers
- Law 148 On secondary marriage
- Law 168 On disinheritance
- Law 282 On insolent slaves
For a full translation of Hammurabi's laws, see Roth, Law Collections (2nd ed. 1997).
Content last modified on 09 Jan 2017.