§ 137

Law § 137 of Hammurabi's Code

Translation
If a man has decided to divorce a junior wife who bore him children or a nadītum who provided him with children, that woman’s dowry will be returned to her; further half of the field, orchard, and property will be given to her so that she may raise her children; after she has raised her children she will be given a share like (that of) an individual heir from whatever was given to her children, and then the man of her heart may marry her.
Law Code
Law Code of Hammurabi
Law Group
Family and Divorce
Inscription

Cuneiform

Law § 137 - Cuneiform - Law Code of Hammurabi

Source: Bergmann (1953, p. 16–17, col. R VI–VII, lns. 73–85; 1–13)

Transliteration

šum-ma a-wi-lum a-na míšu-gi4-tim ša DUMU.MEŠ ul-du-šum ù lu LUKUR ša DUMU.MEŠ ú-šar-šu-šu e-zé-bi-im pa-ni-šu iš-ta-ka-an a-na MUNUS šu-a-ti še-ri-ik-ta-ša ú-ta-ar-ru-ši-im ù mu-ut-ta-at A.ŠÀ KIRI6 ù bi-ši-im i-na-ad-di-nu-ši-im-ma DUMU.MEŠ-ša ú-ra-ab-ba iš-tu DUMU.MEŠ-ša úr-ta-ab-bu-ú i-na mi-im-ma ša a-na DUMU.MEŠ-ša in-na-ad-nu zí-it-tam ki-ma ap-lim iš-te-en i-na-ad-di-nu-ši-im-ma mu-tu li-ib-bi-ša i-iḫ-ḫa-as-sí

Source: Huehnergard (2011, p. 383)

Normalization

šumma awīlum ana šugītim ša mārī uldūšum ū lū nadītim ša mārī ušaršûšu ezēbim pānīšu ištakan, ana sinništim šuāti šeriktaša utarrūšim; u muttat eqlim kirîm u bīšim inaddinūšim-ma mārīša urabba; ištu mārīša urtabbû ina mimma ša ana mārīša innadnu zīttam kīma aplim ištēn inaddinūšim-ma mutu libbīša iḫḫassi.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 101)

Translation

If a man has decided to divorce a junior wife who bore him children or a nadītum who provided him with children, that woman’s dowry will be returned to her; further half of the field, orchard, and property will be given to her so that she may raise her children; after she has raised her children she will be given a share like (that of) an individual heir from whatever was given to her children, and then the man of her heart may marry her.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 101)

Inscription

Location of Law § 137 · Powered by Stele3DSM

Orientation Back
Side(s) Sides 6 – 4 (overflow)
Column(s) Cols. 29–30
Line(s) Lns. 74–13
Key
Law § 137
Prologue
Laws
Epilogue
Damage
Open Law § 137 in Stele3DSM

Logic

Logic Map for § 137 · Powered by LawgicSnifferSM

#
Steps
  • 1 If
  • 2
  • 3 a man
  • 4 has decided to divorce
  • 5 a hunior wife
  • 6 who bore
  • 7 him
  • 8 children
  • 9 or
  • 10 a naditum
  • 11 who provided
  • 12 him
  • 13 (with) children,
  • 14
  • 15 [then]
  • 16
  • 17 that woman's
  • 18 that woman's
  • 19 dowry
  • 20 will be returned to
  • 21 her;
  • 22 her;
  • 23
  • 24 further
  • 25
  • 26 half of
  • 27 the field,
  • 28 [or]
  • 29 orchard,
  • 30 and
  • 31 property
  • 32 will be given
  • 33 to her
  • 34 to her
  • 35 so that
  • 36 she
  • 37 she
  • 38 may raise
  • 39 her
  • 40 her
  • 41 children,
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45 after
  • 46 she
  • 47 she
  • 48 has raised
  • 49 her
  • 50 her
  • 51 children
  • 52
  • 53 [then]
  • 54
  • 55 she
  • 56 she
  • 57 will be given
  • 58 a share
  • 59 like that of
  • 60 an individual heir
  • 61 from
  • 62 whatever
  • 63 was given to
  • 64 her
  • 65 her
  • 66 children,
  • 67
  • 68 and
  • 69 then
  • 70
  • 71 the man
  • 72 (of) her
  • 73 (of) her
  • 74 heart
  • 75 may marry
  • 76 her.
  • 77 her.
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80

Vocabulary

Akkadian Words · Powered by GrammarSnifferSM

šumma (conditional Particle) "if; whether"

awīlum (Noun form) Masculine Singular Nominative of awīlu "man"

šugītim (Noun form) Feminine Singular Genitive of šugītu "priestess"

Citation

Dedović, B. "§ 137 - eHammurabi." OMNIKA Foundation, 2 Nov. 2023, ehlaw.org/law/137. [Accessed 3 Nov. 2024]

MLA 9

Dedović, B. (2023, November 2). § 137 - eHammurabi. OMNIKA Foundation. https://ehlaw.org/law/137

APA 7

Dedović, Boban. "§ 137 - eHammurabi." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created November 2, 2023. Modified October 18, 2024. Accessed November 3, 2024. https://ehlaw.org/law/137.

CMS 16

Bibliography

Abulhab, Saad D. The Law Code of Hammurabi: Transliterated and Literally Translated from its Early Classical Arabic Language. New York, NY: Blautopf, 2017.

ACH

Bergmann, Eugen. Codex Ḫammurabi: Textus Primigenius. Rome, Italy: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, 1953.

CHTP

Huehnergard, John. A Grammar of Akkadian (Third Edition). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2011.

HAG3

Huehnergard, John. Key to a Grammar of Akkadian (Third Edition). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2013.

HKEY3

OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. "OMNIKA: Digital Mythology Library & Search Engine." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation, accessed November 14, 2023. https://omnika.org. [Visit]

–

Richardson, Mervyn E.J. Hammurabi's Laws: Text, Translation and Glossary. New York, NY: T & T Clark International, 2004.

RHL

Sound of Text Contributors. "Sound of Text: AI Text-to-Speech." Accessed November 14, 2023. https://soundoftext.app. [Visit]

SoT

eHammurabi Glossary

The § symbol commonly denotes "a shorthand notation for the word 'section'."

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eHammurabi Glossary

The term Cuneiform commonly means "an ancient writing system used by various cultures around Mesopotamia."

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eHammurabi Glossary

The term Normalization commonly means "the application of grammatical rules unto transliterated sound values."

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eHammurabi Glossary

The term Translation commonly means "the conversion of linguistic contents and their meanings from one language into another."

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eHammurabi Glossary

The term Transliteration commonly means "the conversion of sound values from one writing system into another."

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