The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1903-04-04
OLDEST OF LAW BOOKS.
Code of King Hammurabi In 9toHs
lust Found at Susa'


"This inscription is doubtless the
most important find that has ever peen
made in Babylonian literature.
Such is the opinion expressed ny
prof Hugo Winckler, of the UNIVERSE
ty of Berlin, in his translation just
published, of the Laws OF Hammurdol'
taken from a STEELE discovered rev
months ago by the French eXpeoltlon
that has been for years engaged IN
archaeological researches in Susa' the
ancient capital of Persia, under the Oh
rection Of Prof. De Morgan. Inc III
scription was found on d1orlte Dlock'
2.25 meters in height, taken from the
old royal castle in Susa.
The STEELE contains, besides picture
illustrating how King Hammurabl re-
ceived these laws from the sun god,
complete legal code Of 2S2 separate
laws, Of which, however, Nos. 66 to w
have been chiseled out. The gap Is IN
part remedied by fragments found IN
the great library Of Assurbanipal.
There are sixteen columns Of inscr1p-
ton found on the front Of the stone
beneath the picture Of Hammurabi,
and twenty-eight on the rear
A special Introduction and conclud-
ing admonition to future generations
to observe faithfully the requirements
of this code indicate that the laws con-
tanned in it were made by Hammurabi
the contemporary Of Abraham, the Am
raphal Of the Scriptures, and that this
Is the oldest corpus juris eXtant, ante
dating even the days Of Moses by half
a thousand years or more, the date Of
the Hammurabi being about 23OO b. Z.
That a Babylonian inscription of this
sort should be found in the Persian
capital is readily explained by the fact
that 1t was brought to Susa as booty
by the Elamite kings, and it Is not the
| only specimen Of the kind here found,
the transfer being made probably in
| the seventeenth or sixteenth century.
The discovery only confirms what was
indicated by the Tel-el-Amarua finds In
| Egypt dating from the fourteenth cen
fury, which are also In cuneifOrm writ
ing, namely. that this was at that early
period the common language of d.
plomacy and international and bust
ness communication.
An analysis of these laws shows that
| the code was confined to secular mat
| ters; and, while In many instances 1t
forces upon the reader, both by its
| agreements and its disagreements, a
comparison with the legal system Of
Pentateuch, it is sharply distinguished
from this by the absence Of religious
or ceremonial commands and prohibit
lions.
1t is exclusively a civil code. In
general it shows its Semitic origin by
recognizing, even to a greater extent
than Is done by the Pentateuch, the
lex talionis Of an eye for an eye and a
merciful characteristics of the Mosaic
legislation are conspicuous by their alb
sence. But within these limitations il
doubtless is what Winckler calls it.
zone Of the most important original
J sources in the history of mankind In
| general"
The original text, together, with a
French translation, is published by
the Assyriologist of the expedition, P
V. Scheil, in the fourth volume of the
Delegation en- Perse," the official mar
rative Of the expedition. There Is O
remarkable monotony in the forms OF
these laws, each beginning with the
word If" and this popularity, as wei
as its stringent measures, is suggestive
of the Draconian legislation.-New
York Sun.