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The Western Experience book cover
The Western Experience, 8/e
Mortimer Chambers, University of California - Los Angeles
Barbara Hanawalt, Ohio State University
Theodore Rabb, Princeton University
Isser Woloch, Columbia University
Raymond Grew, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
The First Civilizations

Guide To Documents

  1. Hammurabi's Law Code
    Here are some excerpts from the "judgments" laid down by Hammurabi in his famous law code.
    • "When Marduk [the patron god of Babylon] sent me to rule the people and to bring help to the country, I established law and justice in the language of the land and promoted the welfare of the people. At that time I decreed:
      • "1. If a man accuses another man of murder but cannot prove it, the accuser shall be put to death.
      • "2. If a man bears false witness in a case, or cannot prove his testimony, if that case involves life or death, he shall be put to death.
    • "22. If a man commits robbery and is captured, he shall be put to death.
    • "23. If the robber is not captured, the man who has been robbed shall, in the presence of the god, make a list of what he has lost, and the city and the governor of the province where the robbery was committed shall compensate him for his loss.
    • "138. If a man wants to divorce his wife who has not borne him children, he shall give her money equal to her marriage price and shall repay to her the dowry she brought from her father; and then he may divorce her.
    • "142. If a woman hates her husband and says, "You may not possess me," the city council shall inquire into her case; and if she has been careful and without reproach and her husband has been going about and belittling her, she is not to blame. She may take her dowry and return to her father's house.
    • "195. If a son strikes his father, they shall cut off his hand.
    • "196. If a man destroys the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye.
    • "197. If he breaks another man's bone, they shall break his bone.
    • "200. If a man knocks out a tooth of a man of his own rank, they shall knock out his tooth."

    From Robert F. Harper, (trans.). The Code of Hammurabi, Gordon Press, 1904, 1991, language modified.
  1. The Salvation of Israel
  2. Jeremiah Reproaches Israel








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