- The Neo-Babylonian Laws (NBL), from Sippar in central Meso-
potamia, in Akkadian and dating to the seventh century.
The examples from Mesopotamia are all written in cuneiform.
- The Hittite Laws (HL), from Anatolia, written in cuneiform script in
Hittite and dating between the sixteenth and the twelfth centuries.
Two codes (or possibly fragments of codes) have been identified in
the Hebrew Bible:- The Covenant Code (CC), found in chapters 21 and 22 of Exodus.
- The Deuteronomic Code (DC), scattered over chapters 15–25 of
Deuteronomy, with the main concentration in chapters 21 and 22.^7
There is no consensus among scholars as to the date of the biblical
codes, but the majority would place the Deuteronomic Code in the
seventh century.
The best known of the codes, LH, is a large diorite obelisk, at
the top of which is carved a representation of King Hammurabi
before Shamash, the god of justice. Covering the rest of the stone
is an inscription consisting of a prologue, the collection of legal rules,
and an epilogue. It was one of several such obelisks set up in tem-
ples in various parts of the kingdom. It was recovered by archaeo-
logists from Susa, whither it had been brought as booty at some
point. The Laws of Ur-Namma and of Lipit-Ishtar have the same
tripartite structure and were apparently copied from monuments.
The original context of the Laws of Eshnunna was probably the
same, although no epilogue is preserved and it begins with a date
rather than a prologue. LU, LL and LE are preserved in copies on
clay tablets which were, in fact, scribal exercises, forming part of the
school curriculum of trainee scribes. Similar versions exist of sections
of LH, which was excerpted and copied as a regular part of the
scribal curriculum until well into the first millennium. The Neo-
Babylonian Laws are likewise a scribal copy.
The Middle Assyrian Laws, on the other hand, give no indica-
tion of having originally had a monumental form, nor are they a
school exercise. They are associated with royal archives and may(^7) Scholars have associated scattered laws found in Leviticus and Numbers with
a similar law code, mostly concerned with sacral law (Priestly Code). The Ten
Commandments do not belong to this genre; they are a unique source, perhaps
not to be associated with positive law at all.
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