Code of Ur-Nammu
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Key facts
- Created
- c. 2100 BC
- Location
- Istanbul Archaeology Museums (Ni.3191) (originally Nippur , Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq ))
- Author
- Ur-Nammu
- Purpose
- Legal code
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- sources of law
- Country
- Third Dynasty of Ur
- Author
- Ur-Nammu
- Material used
- clay
- Collection
- Istanbul Archaeology Museums
- Location
- Ur
- Image
- Ur Nammu code Istanbul.jpg
Show 2 more facts
- start time
- 2050-00-00
- language of work or name
- Sumerian
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Code of Ur-Nammu is the oldest known surviving law code. It is from Mesopotamia and is written on tablets, in the Sumerian language. It contains strong statements of royal power like "I eliminated enmity, violence, and cries for justice."
Ur-Nammu's codes and reforms have been seen as some of the earliest documented cases of regard for widows, orphans, and the poor in the Fertile Crescent.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Code of Ur-Nammu” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.