The earliest law code from Mesopotamia was the Code of Urukagina, written in the 24th century BCE.
No surviving cuneiform tablet of the codes have been discovered yet.
We only know about its existence through references in other ancient works.
The cuneiform tablet inscribed with the Code of Ur-Nammu at the Istanbul Archaeology Museums.
Owing to its partial preservation, only the prologue and 5 of the laws were discernible.
Another copy found in Sippar contains slight variants.
3191 of the Nippur collection of the Museum …
Since Sumerian law tablets are extremely rare, I had No.
3191 brought to my working table at once.
There it lay, a sun-baked tablet, light brown in color, 20 by 10 centimeters in size.
More than half of the writing was destroyed, and what was preserved seemed at first hopelessly unintelligible.
The laws were framed in the conditional if-this-then-that formata pattern followed in nearly all later codes.
If a man knocks out a tooth of another man, he shall pay two shekels of silver.
However, murder, robbery, adultery and rape were capital offenses and were punishable by death.
If a man commits a murder, that man must be killed.
If a man commits a robbery, he will be killed.
The son of aluwas called adumu-nitauntil he married, becoming a “young man” (gurus).
Who was Ur-Nammu?
However, the Gutians proved to be poor rulers.
After this battle, Ur-Nammu earned the title ‘king of Sumer and Akkad.’
Ur-Nammu was also responsible for ordering the construction of a number of ziggurats, including theGreat Ziggurat of Ur.
