MESOPOTAMIAOLD BABYLONIAN PERIOD
Raymond Westbrook
- S L
The Old Babylonian period is particularly rich in sources, both in
quantity and type. The following types of source may be distinguished.1.1 Law Codes^1
Three law codes have been preserved. The earliest is the Laws of
Lipit-Ishtar (LL), named after the ruler of the southern Mesopotamian
kingdom of Isin (ca. 1930). It is written in Sumerian, a prologue,
an epilogue and some fifty paragraphs (by a modern division) being
preserved. The Laws of Eshnunna (LE) is a code named after the
northern Mesopotamian kingdom of Eshnunna and is probably dat-
able to the reign of Dadusha (ca. 1770). It has been divided by
scholars into sixty paragraphs. The Laws of Hammurabi (LH) is a
code promulgated by King Hammurabi of Babylon towards the end
of his reign (ca. 1750). It comprises a prologue, an epilogue, and a
body of provisions divided by scholars into 282 paragraphs. It is
inscribed on a black diorite stela discovered at Susa, whence it had
been taken as booty. The Elamites erased a portion containing about
35 paragraphs, most of which has been reconstructed thanks to dupli-
cate copies from scribal exercise tablets. The other two codes are
preserved only on exercise tablets but would also have originated as
monumental inscriptions.361
(^1) The law codes have been most recently edited and translated by Roth, Law
Collections... See also Driver and Miles, Babylonian Laws... (legal commentary on
LH), and Yaron, Eshnunna... (legal commentary on LE).
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