§ 6

Law § 6 of Hammurabi's Code

Summary
the punishment for stealing property from a deity or temple, or acquiring said property, is execution.
Translation
If a man stole property of a god or the palace, that man will be executed; moreover, whoever received stolen property from him will be executed. · ·
Inscription

Cuneiform

Law § 6 - Cuneiform - Law Code of Hammurabi

Source: Bergmann (1953, p. 4, col. VI, lns. 31–40)

Transliteration

šum-ma a-wi-lum NÍG.GA DINGIR ù É.GAL iš-ri-iq a-wi-lum šu-ú id-da-ak ù ša šu-úr-qá-am i-na qá-ti-šu im-ḫu-ru id-da-ak

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 42)

Normalization

šumma awīlum makkūr ilim ū ekallim išriq awīlum šū iddâk; u ša šurqam ina qātīšu imḫuru iddâk.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 42)

Translation

If a man stole property of a god or the palace, that man will be executed; moreover, whoever received stolen property from him will be executed.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 42)

Inscription

Location of Law § 6 · Powered by Stele3DSM

Orientation Front
Side(s) Side 2
Column(s) Col. 6
Line(s) Lns. 31–40
Key
Law § 6
Prologue
Laws
Epilogue
Damage

Logic

Logic Map for § 6 · Powered by LawgicSnifferSM

#
Steps
  • 1 If
  • 2
  • 3 a man
  • 4 stole property
  • 5 of a god
  • 6
  • 7 or
  • 8
  • 9 [stole property]
  • 10 [of the] the palace,
  • 11
  • 12 [then]
  • 13
  • 14 whoever
  • 15 received stolen property from
  • 16 him
  • 17 will be executed.
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20

Vocabulary

Akkadian Words · Powered by GrammarSnifferSM

šumma (conditional Particle) "if; whether"

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

iddâk (N-Stem Durative Verb form) 3rd Person Common Singular of dâku "to kill"

Staff notes

  1. 'Robbing deities?'
    Added on January 22, 2024 by eHammurabi Staff

    It is unclear how one would steal from a deity. This raises a few possibilities: (1) the translation may be partially inaccurate or incomplete; (2) the accusation implies an idiomatic meaning; or (3) the ancient accusation had a particular meaning that escapes modern understanding.

Citation

Dedović, B. "§ 6 - eHammurabi." OMNIKA Foundation, 23 Oct. 2023, ehlaw.org/law/6. [Accessed 3 Nov. 2024]

MLA 9

Dedović, B. (2023, October 23). § 6 - eHammurabi. OMNIKA Foundation. https://ehlaw.org/law/6

APA 7

Dedović, Boban. "§ 6 - eHammurabi." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created October 23, 2023. Modified September 4, 2024. Accessed November 3, 2024. https://ehlaw.org/law/6.

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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