The Oldest Code of Laws in the World | Page 2

a monument, only disinterred
in January, has been copied, transcribed, translated, and published, in a
superb quarto volume, by October. The ancient text is reproduced by
photogravure in a way that enables a student to verify word by word
what the able editor, Father V. Scheil, _Professeur a l'Ecole des
Hautes-Etudes_, has given as his reading of the archaic signs. The
volume, which appears as _Tome IV., Textes Elamites-Semitiques_, of
the Memoires de la Delegation en Perse (Paris, Leroux, 1902), is
naturally rather expensive for the ordinary reader. Besides, the
rendering of the eminent French savant, while distinguished by that
clear, neat phrasing which is so charming a feature of all his work, is
often rather a paraphrase than a translation. The ordinary reader who
desires to estimate for himself the importance of the new monument
will be forced to wonder how and why the same word in the original
gets such different renderings. Prolonged study will be needed to bring
out fully the whole meaning of many passages, and it may conduce to
such a result to present the public with an alternative rendering in an
English dress. Needless to say, scholars will continue to use Scheil's
edition as the ultimate source, but for comparative purposes a literal
translation may be welcome as an introduction.
The monument itself consists of a block of black diorite, nearly eight
feet high, found in pieces, but readily rejoined. It contains on the

obverse a very interesting representation of the King Hammurabi,
receiving his laws from the seated sun-god Samas, 'the judge of heaven
and earth.' Then follow, on the obverse, sixteen columns of writing
with 1114 lines. There were five more columns on this side, but they
have been erased and the stone repolished, doubtless by the Elamite
conqueror, who meant to inscribe his name and titles there. As we have
lost those five columns we may regret that he did not actually do this,
but there is now no trace of any hint as to who carried off the stone. On
the reverse side are twenty-eight columns with more than 2500 lines of
inscription.
A great space, some 700 lines, is devoted by the king to setting out his
titles, his glory, his care for his subjects, his veneration of his gods, and
incidentally revealing the cities and districts under his rule, with many
interesting hints as to local cults. He also invokes blessing on those
who should preserve and respect his monument, and curses those who
should injure or remove it. A translation of this portion is not given, as
it is unintelligible without copious comment and is quite foreign to the
purpose of this book, which aims solely at making the Code
intelligible.
I desire to express my obligations to Dr. F. Carr for his many kind
suggestions as to the meaning of the Code.
The Index will, it is hoped, serve more or less as a digest of the Code.
One great difficulty of any translation of a law document must always
be that the technical expressions of one language cannot be rendered in
terms that are co-extensive. The rendering will have implications
foreign to the original. An attempt to minimise misconceptions is made
by suggesting alternative renderings in the Index. Further, by labelling
a certain section, as the law of incest, for example, one definitely fixes
the sense in which the translation is to be read. Hence it is hoped that
the Index will be no less helpful than the translation in giving readers
an idea of what the Code really meant.
No doubt this remarkable monument will be made the subject of many
valuable monographs in the future, which will greatly elucidate
passages now obscure. But it was thought that the interest of the subject

warranted an immediate issue of an English translation, which would
place the chief features of the Code before a wider public than those
who could read the original. The present translation is necessarily
tentative in many places, but it is hoped marks an advance over those
already published.
Dr. H. Winckler's rendering of the Code came into my hands after this
work was sent to the publishers, and I have not thought it necessary to
withdraw any of my renderings. In some points he has improved upon
Professor Scheil's work, in other points he is scarcely so good. But any
discussion is not in place here. I gratefully acknowledge my obligations
to both, but have used an independent judgment all through. I hope
shortly to set out my reasons for the differences between us in a larger
work. A few of Dr. Winckler's renderings are quoted in the Index, and
marked--Winckler's tr.
C. H. W. JOHNS.
CAMBRIDGE, January 31, 1903.

THE TEXT OF THE CODE
section 1. If a man weave a