§ 170

Law § 170 of Hammurabi's Code

Translation
If a man’s wife bore him children and his slave bore him children, (and) the father during his life said to the children that the slave bore him, “my children,” he has included them with the children of the wife; after the father has passed on, the children of the wife and the children of the slave will share in the property of the paternal estate equally; the chief heir of the wife will take first choice of the inheritance.
Law Code
Law Code of Hammurabi
Law Group
Inheritance
Inscription

Cuneiform

Law § 170 - Cuneiform - Law Code of Hammurabi

Source: Bergmann (1953, p. 21–22, col. R XII, lns. 38–60)

Transliteration

šum-ma a-wi-lum ḫi-ir-ta-šu DUMU.MEŠ ú-li-súm ù GEME2-sú DUMU.MEŠ ú-li-súm a-bu-um i-na bu-ul-ṭì-šu a-na DUMU.MEŠ ša GEME2 ul-du-šum DUMU.MEŠ-ú-a iq-ta-bi it-ti DUMU.MEŠ ḫi-ir-tim im-ta-nu-šu-nu-ti wa-ar-ka a-bu-um a-na ši-im-tim it-ta-al-ku i-na NÍG.GA É A.BA DUMU.MEŠ ḫi-ir-tim ù DUMU.MEŠ GEME2 mi-it-ḫa-ri-iš i-zu-uz-zu IBILA DUMU ḫi-ir-tim i-na zi-it-tim i-na-sà-aq-ma i-le-qé

Source: Huehnergard (2011, p. 291)

Normalization

šumma awīlum ḫīrtašu mārī ulissum u amassu mārī ulissum, abum ina bulṭīšu ana mārī ša amtum uldūšum “mārūya” iqtabi, itti mārī ḫīrtim imtanūšunūti; warka abum ana šīmtim ittalku ina makkūr bīt abim mārū ḫīrtim u mārū amtim mitḫāriš izuzzū; aplum mār(i) ḫīrtim ina zīttim inassaq-ma ileqqe.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 69)

Translation

If a man’s wife bore him children and his slave bore him children, (and) the father during his life said to the children that the slave bore him, “my children,” he has included them with the children of the wife; after the father has passed on, the children of the wife and the children of the slave will share in the property of the paternal estate equally; the chief heir of the wife will take first choice of the inheritance.

Source: Richardson (2004, p. 69)

Inscription

Location of Law § 170 · Powered by Stele3DSM

Orientation Back
Side(s) Side 5
Column(s) Col. 35
Line(s) Lns. 37–59
Key
Law § 170
Prologue
Laws
Epilogue
Damage
Open Law § 170 in Stele3DSM

Logic

Logic Map for § 170 · Powered by LawgicSnifferSM

#
Steps
  • 1 If
  • 2
  • 3 a man's
  • 4 wife
  • 5 bore
  • 6 him
  • 7 children [the wife's]
  • 8
  • 9 and
  • 10
  • 11 his
  • 12 slave
  • 13 bore
  • 14 him
  • 15 children, [the slave's]
  • 16
  • 17 and
  • 18
  • 19 the father
  • 20 during
  • 21 his (life)
  • 22 said to
  • 23 the children (that)
  • 24 the slave
  • 25 bore
  • 26 him,
  • 27 "my
  • 28 children,"
  • 29
  • 30 [then]
  • 31
  • 32 he
  • 33 has included
  • 34 them (with)
  • 35 the children of
  • 36 the wife;
  • 37
  • 38 [and] after
  • 39
  • 40 the father
  • 41 has passed on,
  • 42 the children of
  • 43 the wife
  • 44 and
  • 45 the children of
  • 46 the slave
  • 47 will share in
  • 48 the property of
  • 49 the paternal estate
  • 50 equally;
  • 51
  • 52 [and]
  • 53
  • 54 the chief heir
  • 55 (of) the wife
  • 56 will take first choice of
  • 57 the inheritance.
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60

Citation

Dedović, B. "§ 170 - eHammurabi." OMNIKA Foundation, 4 Nov. 2023, ehlaw.org/law/170. [Accessed 3 Nov. 2024]

MLA 9

Dedović, B. (2023, November 4). § 170 - eHammurabi. OMNIKA Foundation. https://ehlaw.org/law/170

APA 7

Dedović, Boban. "§ 170 - eHammurabi." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created November 4, 2023. Modified October 27, 2024. Accessed November 3, 2024. https://ehlaw.org/law/170.

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'."

Read more

eHammurabi Glossary

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

Read more

eHammurabi Glossary

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

Read more

eHammurabi Glossary

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

Read more

eHammurabi Glossary

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

Read more