Writing, law, and kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia / Dominique Charpin ; translated by Jane Marie Todd.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Charpin, Dominique.

Contributor:

Todd, Jane Marie, 1957-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Diplomatics, Cuneiform--Iraq--History.

Diplomatics, Cuneiform.

Law, Assyro-Babylonian--Language.

Law, Assyro-Babylonian.

Civilization, Assyro-Babylonian.

Cuneiform writing--History.

Cuneiform writing.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 182 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Ancient Mesopotamia, the fertile crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now western Iraq and eastern Syria, is considered to be the cradle of civilization-home of the Babylonian and Assyrian empires, as well as the great Code of Hammurabi. The Code was only part of a rich juridical culture from 2200-1600 BCE that saw the invention of writing and the development of its relationship to law, among other remarkable firsts. Though ancient history offers inexhaustible riches, Dominique Charpin focuses here on the legal systems of Old Babylonian Mesopotamia and offers considerable insight into how writing and the law evolved together to forge the principles of authority, precedent, and documentation that dominate us to this day. As legal codes throughout the region evolved through advances in cuneiform writing, kings and governments were able to stabilize their control over distant realms and impose a common language-which gave rise to complex social systems overseen by magistrates, judges, and scribes that eventually became the vast empires of history books. Sure to attract any reader with an interest in the ancient Near East, as well as rhetoric, legal history, and classical studies, this book is an innovative account of the intertwined histories of law and language.

Contents:

Introduction: The historian's task and sources

Reading and writing in Mesopotamia : the business of specialists?

Outline for a diplomatics of Mesopotamian documents

Old Babylonian law : gesture, speech, and writing

The transfer of property deeds and the constitution of family archives

The status of the Code of Hammurabi

The "restoration" edicts of the Babylonian kings and their application

Hammurabi and international law

Controlling cross-border traffic

Conclusion: A civilization with two faces.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612901812

9781282901810

1282901818

9780226101590

0226101592

OCLC:

688291751