§ 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 Group
Inscription

Cuneiform

Law § 177 - Cuneiform - Law Code of Hammurabi

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 Stele3DSM

Orientation Back
Side(s) Side 5
Column(s) Col. 37
Line(s) Lns. 22–60
Key
Law § 177
Prologue
Laws
Epilogue
Damage

Logic

Logic Map for § 177 · Powered by LawgicSnifferSM

#
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 28 Sep. 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 September 28, 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

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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