§ 16

Law § 16 of Hammurabi's Code

Summary
the punishment for hiding missing slaves upon notice is execution.
Translation
If a man has hidden in his house a slave or slave-girl who has disappeared from the temple or from a workman and does not produce them when the alarm is raised, the owner of that house shall be killed.
Inscription

Cuneiform

Law § 16 - Cuneiform - Law Code of Hammurabi

Source: Bergmann (1953, p. 6, col. VIII, lns. 37–48)

Transliteration

šum-ma a-wi-lum lu wardam lu amtam ḫal-ga-am ša êkallim u lu MAŠ.EN.KAK i-na bi-ti-šu ir-ta-ki-ma a-na ši-si-it na-gi-ri-im la uš-te-zi-a-am be-el bîtim šu-u id-da-ak

Source: Abulhab (2017, p. 32)

Normalization

šumma awīlum lu wardam lu amtam ḫalqam ša ekallim u lu muškēnim ina bītišu irtaqīma ana šisīt nāgirim la ušteṣiam, bēl bītim šû iddâk.

Source: Richardson (2004, p. 46)

Translation

If a man has hidden in his house a slave or slave-girl who has disappeared from the temple or from a workman and does not produce them when the alarm is raised, the owner of that house shall be killed.

Source: Richardson (2004, p. 47)

Inscription

Location of Law § 16 · Powered by Stele3DSM

Orientation Front
Side(s) Side 2
Column(s) Col. 8
Line(s) Lns. 37–48
Key
Law § 16
Prologue
Laws
Epilogue
Damage

Logic

Logic Map for § 16 · Powered by LawgicSnifferSM

#
Steps
  • 1 If
  • 2
  • 3 a man
  • 4 has hidden in his house
  • 5 a slave or a slave-girl
  • 6 who has disappeared from the temple or from
  • 7 a workman
  • 8
  • 9 and
  • 10
  • 11 [he]
  • 12 does not produce them when the alarm is raised,
  • 13
  • 14 [then]
  • 15
  • 16 the owner of that house
  • 17 shall be killed.
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20

Vocabulary

Akkadian Words · Powered by GrammarSnifferSM

šumma (conditional Particle) "if; whether"

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

muškēnim (Noun form) Masculine Singular Genitive of muškēnu "commoner"

Citation

Dedović, B. "§ 16 - eHammurabi." OMNIKA Foundation, 10 Oct. 2023, ehlaw.org/law/16. [Accessed 27 Oct. 2024]

MLA 9

Dedović, B. (2023, October 10). § 16 - eHammurabi. OMNIKA Foundation. https://ehlaw.org/law/16

APA 7

Dedović, Boban. "§ 16 - eHammurabi." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created October 10, 2023. Modified September 3, 2024. Accessed October 27, 2024. https://ehlaw.org/law/16.

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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