§ 177

Law § 177 of Hammurabi's Code

Translation

If a widow whose children are very young has decided to enter the house of another man, she will not enter without the consent of the judges; when she enters the house of another man, the judges will investigate the circumstances of her previous husband’s estate, and assign the estate of her previous husband to her future husband and that woman, and have them make out a document; they will look after the estate and raise the young children; they will not sell the furnishings; the buyer who buys the furnishings of the widow’s children will forfeit his silver; the property will return to its owner.

Law Code

Law Code of Hammurabi

Law Group

Inheritance

Inscription

Cuneiform

Source: Bergmann (1953, p. 23, col. R XIV, lns. 22–60)

Transliteration

šum-ma NU.MU.SU ša DUMU.MEŠ-ša ṣe-eḫ-ḫe-ru a-na É ša-ni-im e-re-bi-im pa-ni-ša iš-ta-ka-an ba-lum da-a-a-ni ú-ul i-ir-ru-ub i-nu-ma a-na É ša-ni-im i-ir-ru-bu da-a-a-nu wa-ar-ka-at É mu-ti-ša pa-ni-im i-pár-ra-su-ma É ša mu-ti-ša pa-ni-im a-na mu-ti-ša wa-ar-ki-im ù MUNUS šu-a-ti i-pa-aq-qí-du-ma DUB-pa-am ú-še-ez-ze-bu-šu-nu-ti É i-na-ṣa-ru ù ṣe-eḫ-ḫe-ru-tim ú-ra-ab-bu-ú ú-ni-a-tim a-na KUG.BABBAR ú-ul i-na-ad-di-nu ša-a-a-ma-nu-um ša ú-nu-ut DUMU.MEŠ NU.MU.SU i-ša-am-mu i-na KUG.BABBAR-šu i-te-el-li NÍG.GA a-na be-lí-šu i-ta-ar

Source: Huehnergard (2011, p. 351)

Normalization

šumma almattum ša mārūša ṣeḫḫerū ana bīt(im) šanîm erēbim pānīša ištakan, balum dayyānī ul irrub; inūma ana bīt(im) šanîm irrubu, dayyānū warkat bīt mutīša pānîm iparrasū-ma bītam ša mutīša pānîm ana mutīša warkîm u sinništim šuāti ipaqqidū-ma ṭuppam ušezzebūšunūti; bītam inaṣṣarū u ṣeḫḫerūtim urabbû; uniātim ana kaspim ul inaddinū; šayyāmānum ša unūt mārī almattim išammu ina kaspīšu ītelli; makkūrum ana bēlīšu itâr.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 88)

Translation

If a widow whose children are very young has decided to enter the house of another man, she will not enter without the consent of the judges; when she enters the house of another man, the judges will investigate the circumstances of her previous husband’s estate, and assign the estate of her previous husband to her future husband and that woman, and have them make out a document; they will look after the estate and raise the young children; they will not sell the furnishings; the buyer who buys the furnishings of the widow’s children will forfeit his silver; the property will return to its owner.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 88)

Inscription

Location of Law § 177 · Powered by Stele3D^SM

Orientation Back

Side(s) Side 5

Column(s) Col. 37

Line(s) Lns. 22–60

Key

Law § 177

Prologue

Laws

Epilogue

Damage

Open Law § 177 in Stele3D^SM

Logic

Logic Map for § 177 · Powered by LawgicSniffer^SM

#

Steps

1 If
2
3 a widow (whose)
4 children
5 are very young
6 [and]
7 [she]
8 has decided to enter
9 the house
10 (of) another man,
11
12 [then]
13
14 she
15 will not
16 enter without the consent of
17 the judges;
18
19 [and]
20
21 (when) she
22 enters
23 the house of
24 another man,
25
26 [then]
27
28 the judges
29 will investigate the circumstances of
30 her
31 previous husband’s
32 estate,
33
34
35
36 [they]
37 [will] assign
38 the estate of
39 her
40 previous husband
41 (to) her
42 future husband
43 and
44 that woman,
45 and
46 have
47 them [the woman and future husband]
48 make out
49 a document;
50
51 [and]
52
53 they
54 will look after
55 the estate
56 and
57 [they]
58 [will] raise
59 the young children;
60
61 [and]
62
63 they
64 will not
65 sell
66 the furnishings;
67
68 [and]
69
70 the buyer
71 who buys
72 the furnishings
73 (of) the widow's
74 children
75 will forfeit
76 his
77 silver;
78
79 [and]
80
81 the property
82 will return to
83 its
84 owner.
85
86
87

Citation

Dedović, B. "§ 177 - eHammurabi." OMNIKA Foundation, 4 Nov. 2023, ehlaw.org/law/177. [Accessed 3 Nov. 2024]

MLA 9

Dedović, B. (2023, November 4). § 177 - eHammurabi. OMNIKA Foundation. https://ehlaw.org/law/177

APA 7

Dedović, Boban. "§ 177 - eHammurabi." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created November 4, 2023. Modified August 25, 2024. Accessed November 3, 2024. https://ehlaw.org/law/177.

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

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§ 177