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 to 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.

About the Author
Dominique Charpin is directeur d'etudes, section des Sciences historiques et philologiques, Ecole pratique des hautes etudes at the University of Paris. He is the author of Lire et Ecrire a Babylone, most recently, among several other books. Jane Marie Todd is the translator of numerous books for the University of Chicago Press.

Reviews
"Charpin is to be congratulated, for he has furthered considerably our understanding of an important period in Mesopotamian history." - Journal of the American Oriental Society"



Book Information
ISBN 9780226101583
Author Dominique Charpin
Format Hardback
Page Count 200
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 425g
Dimensions(mm) 24mm * 16mm * 2mm