Hittite laws

thumb|He shall look to his house for it. The Hittite laws, also known as the Code of the Nesilim, constitute an ancient legal code dating from c. 1650 – 1500 BC. They have been preserved on a number of Hittite cuneiform tablets found at Hattusa (CTH 291–292, listing 200 laws). Copies have been found written in Old Hittite as well as in Middle and Late Hittite, indicating that they had validity throughout the duration of the Hittite Empire (ca. 1650–1100 BC). Quotes thumb|If anyone abducts the male slave of a Luwian man from the land of Luwiya and brings him to the land of Hatti, and his owner later recognizes him, the owner shall only take back his own slave: there shall be no compensation. [If] anyone kills [a man] or a woman in a [quarr]el, he shall [bring him] for burial and shall give 4 persons, male or female respectively. He shall look [to his house for it.] 1 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) [If] anyone kills [a male] or female slave in a quarrel, he shall bring him for burial [and] shall give [2] persons (lit., heads), male or female respectively. He shall look to his house for it. 2 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) [If] anyone strikes a free [man] or woman so that he dies, but it is an accident, he shall bring him for burial and shall give 2 persons. He shall look to his house for it. 3 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If anyone strikes a male or female slave so that he dies, but it is an accident, he shall bring him for burial and shall give one person. He shall look to his house for it. 4 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If anyone kills a Hittite merchant (in a foreign land), he shall pay 4,000 shekels of silver. He shall look to his house for it. If it is in the lands of Luwiya or Pala, he shall pay the 4,000 shekels of silver and also replace his goods. If it is in the land of Hatti, he shall also bring the merchant himself for burial. 5 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If anyone blinds a free person or knocks out his tooth, they used to pay 40 shekels of silver. But now he shall pay 20 shekels of silver. He shall look to his house for it. 7 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If anyone blinds a male or female slave or knocks out his tooth, he shall pay 10 shekels of silver. He shall look to his house for it. 8 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If anyone injures a person and temporarily incapacitates him, he shall provide medical care for him. In his place he shall provide a person to work on his estate until he recovers. When he recovers, his assailant shall pay him 6 shekels of silver and shall pay the physician's fee as well. 9 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If anyone causes a free woman to miscarry, [if] it is her tenth month, 12 he shall pay 10 shekels of silver, if it is her fifth month, he shall pay 5 shekels of silver. He shall look to his house for it. 17 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If anyone causes a female slave to miscarry, if it is her tenth month, he shall pay 5 shekels of silver. 18 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a Hittite man abducts a Hittite male slave from the land of Luwiya, and leads him here to the land of Hatti, and subsequently the abducted per-son's owner recognizes him, the abductor shall pay him 12 shekels of silver. He shall look to his house for it. 20 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If anyone abducts the male slave of a Luwian man from the land of Luwiya and brings him to the land of Hatti, and his owner later recognizes him, the owner shall only take back his own slave: there shall be no compensation. 21 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a male or female slave runs away, the one at whose hearth the slave-owner finds him/her shall pay one month's wages: 12 shekels of silver for a man, 6 shekels of silver for a woman. 24 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a free man and a female slave are lovers and live together, and he takes her as his wife, and they make a house and children, but afterwards either they become estranged or they each find a new marriage partner, they shall divide the house equally, and the man shall take the children, with the woman taking one child. 31 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a male slave [takes] a [free] woman in marriage, [and they make a home and children], if they separate, they shall divide their possessions [equally, and the free woman shall take] most of [the children,] with [the male slave taking] one child. 32 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a male slave takes a female slave in marriage, [and they have children,] when they divide their house, they shall divide their possessions equally. [The slave woman shall take] mos[t of the children,] with the male slave [taking] one child. 33 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a male slave pays a brideprice for a woman and takes her as his wife, no one shall free her from slavery. 34 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a slave pays a brideprice for a free young man and acquires him as a son-in-law, no one shall free him from slavery. 36 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a free man sets fire to a house, he shall rebuild [the house]. And whatever perished in the house-whether it is persons, [cattle, or sheep], it is damage(?). He shall make compensation for it. 98 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a slave sets fire to a house, his owner shall make compensation for him, and they shall disfigure the slave's nose and ears and return him to his owner. But if the owner will not make compensation, he shall forfeit that slave. 99 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a free man hires himself out for wages, to bind sheaves, load them on wagons, deposit them in barns, and clear the threshing floors, his wages for 3 months shall be 1,500 liters of barley. If a woman hires herself out for wages in the harvest season, her wages shall be 600 liters of barley for 3 months' work. 158a–b (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If anyone hitches up a team of oxen for one day, its rent shall be 25 liters of barley. 159 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a smith makes a copper box weighing 1½ minas, his wages shall be 5,000 liters of barley. If he makes a bronze axe weighing 2 minas, his wages shall be 50 liters of wheat. 160a–b (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If anyone goes to someone's house to impress something, starts a quarrel, and breaks either the sacrificial bread or the libation vessel, he shall give one sheep, 10 loaves of bread, and one jug of ... beer, and reconsecrate his house. Until [a year's] time has passed he shall keep away from his house. 164–165 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a free man kills a snake, and speaks another's name, he shan pay 40 shekels of silver. If it is a slave, he alone shall be put to death. 170 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If anyone rejects a judgment of the king, his house will become a heap of ruins. If anyone rejects a judgment of a magistrate, they shall cut off his head. If a slave rebels against his owner, he shall go into a clay jar. 173a–b (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If anyone buys a trained artisan: either a potter, a smith, a carpenter, a leather-worker, a fuller, a weaver, or a maker of leggings, he shall pay 10 shekels of silver. 176b (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) The price of a plow ox is 12 shekels of silver. The price of a bull is 10 shekels of silver. The price of a full-grown cow is 7 shekels of silver. The price of a yearling plow ox or cow is 5 shekels of silver. The price of a weaned calf is 4 shekels of silver. If the cow is pregnant with a calf, the price is 8 shekels of silver. The price of one calf is 2 (variant: 3) shekels of silver. The price of one stallion, one mare, one male donkey, and one female donkey are the same. 178 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) The price of 4 minas of copper is one shekel of silver, of one bottle of fine oil is 2 shekels of silver, of one bottle of lard is one shekel of silver, of one bottle of butter/ghee is one shekel of silver, of one bottle of honey is one shekel of silver, of 2 cheeses is one shekel [of silver], of 3 rennets is one shekel of silver. 181 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) The price of a ... garment is 12 shekels of silver. The price of a fine garment is 30 shekels of silver. The price of a blue wool garment is 20 shekels of silver. The price of a ... garment is 10 shekels of silver. The price of a tattered(?) garment is 3 shekels of silver. The price of a ... garment is 4 shekels of silver. The price of a sackcloth garment is one shekel of silver. The price of a sheer/thin tunic is 3 shekels of silver. 182 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a man has sexual relations with a cow, it is an unpermitted sexual pairing: he will be put to death. They shall conduct him to the king's court. Whether the king orders him killed or spares his life, he shall not appear before the king (lest he defile the royal person). 187 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a man has sexual relations with his own mother, it is an unpermitted sexual pairing. If a man has sexual relations with his daughter, it is an unpermitted sexual pairing. If a man has sexual relations with his son, it is an unpermitted sexual pairing. 189 If they... with the dead — man, woman — it is not an offense. If a man has sexual relations with his stepmother, it is not an offense. But if his father is still living, it is an unpermitted sexual pairing. 190 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a free man sleeps with free sisters who have the same mother and with their mother-one in one country and the other in another, it is not an offense. But if it happens in the same location, and he knows of the relationship, it is an unpermitted sexual pairing. 191 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a free man sleeps with slave women who have the same mother and with their mother, it is not an offense. If brothers sleep with a free woman, it is not an offense. If father and son sleep with the same female slave or prostitute, it is not an offense. 194 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If anyone's male and female slaves enter into unpermitted sexual pairings, they shall move them elsewhere: they shall settle one in one city and one in another. A sheep shall be offered in place of one and a sheep in place of the other. 196 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a man seizes a woman in the mountains (and rapes her), it is the man's offense, but if he seizes her in her house, it is the woman's offense: the woman shall die. If the woman's husband discovers them in the act, he may kill them without committing a crime. 197 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If an ox leaps on a man (in sexual excitement), the ox shall die; the man shall not die. They shall substitute one sheep for the man and put it to death. If a pig leaps on a man (in sexual excitement), it is not an offense. 199 (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If a man has sexual relations with either a horse or a mule, it is not an offense, but he shall not approach the king, nor shall he become a priest. 200a (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) If anyone gives his son for training either as a carpenter or a smith, a weaver or a leatherworker or a fuller, he shall pay 6 shekels of silver as the fee for the training. If the teacher makes him an expert, the student shall give to his teacher one person. 200b (tr. Martha T. Roth, 1995) See also Code of Hammurabi Exodus · Leviticus · Deuteronomy External links Martha T. Roth, Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, ed. Piotr Michalowski (Atlanta GA: Scholars Press, 1995), Ch. 12: Hittite Laws "Ancient History Sourcebook: The Code of the Nesilim, c. 1650-1500 BC", Internet History Sourcebook (August 1998, rev. January 2020) Category:Law Category:History of Turkey