The PLEA: Hammurabi's Code

Translations of Hammurabi’s Code

Several translations of Hammurabi’s Code were examined for the writing of this resource. Most include thoughtful commentary on Hammurabi and his code of laws:

• Driver, G.R. and Miles, J.C. (1952). The Babylonian Laws: Legal Commentary. London: Oxford University Press. Find it at your library.
• Driver, G.R. and Miles, J.C. (1955). The Babylonian Laws: Transliterated Text, Translation, Philological Notes, Glossary. London: Oxford University Press. Find it at your library.
• Edwards, C. (1904). The Hammurabi Code. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press. Find it at your library.
• Harper, R.F. (1904). The Code of Hammurabi King of Babylon about 2250 BC. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press Callaghan and Company. Find it at the Online Library of Liberty: http://oll.libertyfund.org/tit...
• Johns, C.H.W. (1903). The Oldest Code of Laws in the World. Edinburgh, Scotland: T. & T. Clark. Find it at Project Gutenburg: www.gutenberg.org/files/17150/...
• King, L. W. (1915). The Code of Hammurabi. Find it at the Yale Law School Avalon Project: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/sub...
• Richardson, M.E.J. (2000). Hammurabi’s Laws: Text, Translation and Glossary. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press. Find it at your library.
• Roth, M.T. (1997). Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press. Find it at your library.
• Sommer, H.O. (1903). The Laws of Hammurabi, King of Babylonia. Records of the Past, 2(3). 66-96. Find it at: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki...

Hammurabi’s Code at the Louvre

The Louvre Curatorial Department has an online exhibit of the stele containing Hammurabi’s Code. Find it at www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notice...

Hammurabi’s Code and Mosaic Law

Though the accepted wisdom generally has been that Mosaic Law was developed independently of Hammurabi’s Code, David Wright’s recent book Inventing God’s Law: How the Covenant Code of the Bible used and Revised the Laws of Hammurabi has re-opened this debate. Find it at your library.

Hammurabi’s Reign

Jack Sasson’s chapter “King Hammurabi of Babylon” in the Hendrickson Publishers anthology Civilizations of the Ancient Near East provides an easy-to-understand introduction to the life of Hammurabi. Find it at your library.