Crypt

Ur Nammu was a Sumerian king who lived around the year 2000 BC. He founded the third dynasty of Ur and initiated what is now known as the “Sumerian Renaissance,” a period of time in which Sumerian society heavily emphasized the arts and culture. The Code of Ur Nammu is the oldest legal code that exists in the world today. It was discovered by Samuel Kramer in 1952 in southeast Iraq — the site of the ancient city of Nippur. It is inscribed on clay cuneiform tablets and details nearly 60 laws.

The Code of Ur Nammu is older than the Code of Hammurabi, which dates back to roughly 1754 BC, and even the Ten Commandments, which was one of the earliest and most recognized concepts of laws.

The Code of Ur Nammu is distinct from these two law codes for reasons aside from its age. Unlike the Ten Commandments, the laws listed in the Code of Ur Nammu are not dictated by a god or religious figure but by the government. Compared to the Code of Hammurabi’s “eye-for-an-eye” rationale, each law is written in a “cause-and-effect” format, listing each crime and its respective punishment.

Here are just a few of the laws found in the 

Code of Ur Nammu:

• If a man commits a murder, that man must be killed.

• If a man commits a kidnapping, he is to be imprisoned and pay 15 shekels of silver.

• If a slave marries a slave, and that slave is set free, he does not leave the household.

• If a man violates the right of another and deflowers the virgin wife of a young man, they shall kill that male.

• If a man proceeded by force and deflowered the virgin female slave of another man, that man must pay five shekels of silver.

• If a man divorces his first-time wife, he shall pay (her) one mina of silver.