1.1.2 Type
Two admittedly rough and sometimes contradictory criteria may be
employed in assessing the credibility of the historical records. The
primary criterion is whether they provide direct or indirect evidence of
legal norms. The distinction is not a sharp one; it is rather a ques-
tion of degree, depending on the origin of the document (public or
private) and whether it expounds an actual norm or principle or
merely alludes to one. A secondary criterion is the self-consciousness
with which a source presents the law. Ancient sources (and not only
ancient ones) are not necessarily neutral in their presentation of legal
norms. Paradoxically, the most direct statement of a law may be a
distortion, by reason of ideology, self-interest, or idealization. The
more incidental a value judgment of the law in question is to the
purpose of the source, the less it is likely to be biased in its report.
The various types of legal sources found in the ancient Near East
are presented here in roughly descending order of directness.1.1.2.1 Decrees
The source most closely identifiable with what we would think of
today as statutes are royal decrees, at least those which were of gen-
eral application. There are many references to such decrees, but only
a few actual texts are preserved.
The earliest known text is from Sumer: the Edict of King Irikagina
of Lagash, dating from the twenty-sixth century. It is not found in
an independent document, but in the body of several dedicatory
inscriptions as part of an historical narrative reciting the abuses of
former times and the reforms undertaken by the king. The extant
versions post-date the actual reforms by some years.
The Old Babylonian period has furnished the texts of three decrees,
from kings of the Hammurabi dynasty. Two are fragments: the Edict
of Samsu-iluna from the late eighteenth century, and an edict of an
unknown king (Edict X). The most complete exemplar is the Edict
of Ammi-ßaduqa from the late seventeenth century, with twenty-two
paragraphs preserved, including a preamble.
From Anatolia, the texts of two royal decrees have been preserved.
The earlier is the Edict of King Telipinu, from the late sixteenth
century. There are nine copies in Hittite and two fragmentary copies
in Akkadian, all dating from several hundred years later. It is prob-
able that Akkadian was the original language of the decree, which
was then translated into Hittite. The later decree is the Edict of6
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