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8.3 Sexual Offenses^189
8.3.1 Adultery^190
Adultery was consensual sexual intercourse by a married woman
with a man other than her husband. It was seen as an offense against
the husband.8.3.1.1 LE 28 provides that a wife caught in the lap of a man
“shall die; she shall not live.” This has been interpreted to mean
that the husband who catches her in flagrante delicto may kill her
with impunity.^191 LH 29, in the same circumstances, assumes that
the husband has brought the couple to court. The punishment is
death by drowning for both wife and paramour.^192 The husband has
the power to pardon his wife, but it will trigger a pardon of the
paramour by the king. A literary account of a trial for adultery sug-
gests that the husband had a wide discretion in the punishment of
his wife. Having caught the lovers in flagrante, the husband ties
them to the bed and brings them, bed and all, before the court.^193
The woman is condemned to pay divorce money, her pudendum is
shaved “(like?) a prostitute,” her nose is bored with a stick, and she
is led around the city.^1948.3.1.2 The law codes in principle allowed a wife whose husband
was captive abroad to remarry (see 5.1.4.2 above). LH 133, how-
ever, provides that it must be out of dire economic necessity, or the
woman will be drowned as an adulteress.8.3.1.3 LH 143 prescribes drowning for a woman who, after refus-
ing to marry her “husband,” is found by her local court to have en-
gaged in (unspecified) immoral behavior. This may refer to premarital(^189) Finkelstein, “Sex Offenses.. .”; Driver and Miles, Babylonian Laws, 275–90;
Yaron, Eshnunna, 278–85.
(^190) Westbrook, “Adultery...”
(^191) Westbrook, “Life and Death.. .,” following an earlier view of Yaron, which,
however, he now rejects: “Stylistic Conceits.. .” The same phrase occurs in LE 12
and 13 (see 8.4.4 below).
(^192) In UET 5 203 (a scribal exercise), a husband who catches the lovers in
flagrante approaches the king, who condemns them to the stake.
(^193) Greengus, “Textbook Case...”
(^194) Following the reconstruction of Greengus, “Textbook Case.. .,” and Roth,
“Scoundrel.. .,” 278.
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