4 - Law, Education, Literature, and the Path to Supremacy

Summary

The content and significance of Hammurabi’s law code stela, including material and artistic aspects as well as text, are described and related to earlier law codes from other cities and biblical parallels. Protection of property, trade, family, warfare, and personal injury are among the topics. The separate content of its prologue and epilogue are discussed. The system of scribal education that lay behind its composition, from primary school to tertiary, was based on a formal curriculum beginning with sign lists and word lists. Model contracts and model letters, and extracts from myths and epics are found alongside satire and humour. The importance of divination and oracles for military success is emphasized. Precursors to themes later found in the Epic of Creation, such as gods waging war against Chaos can already be found in contemporary literature. The rise of Marduk can be traced in relation to Hammurabi’s conquests. The downside of warfare is explored in the Poem of Agushaya. The Epic of Creation is of central importance for Marduk and Babylon as world leaders, superseding earlier claimants. Epics from southern Mesopotamia are earlier and do not feature Marduk or Babylon.