Mesopotamia in ancient history is modern day Iraq.Its reputation as the first city of human civilisation is engraved in gold. Here was the beginning of the profitable art of writing or record kee


#If a man has accused a man and has
charged him with manslaughter and
then has
not proved [it against] him, his
accuser shall be put to death.

#If a man has charged a man with
sorcery and then has not proved [it
against]
him, he who is charged with the
sorcery shall go to the holy river;
he shall
leap into the holy river and, if the
holy river overwhelms him, his
accuser
shall take and keep his house; if the
holy river proves that man clear [of
the
offense] and he comes back safe,
he who has charged him with
sorcery shall be
put to death; he who leapt into the
holy river shall take and keep the
house
of his accuser.

#If a man has come forward in a case
to bear witness to a felony and
then has
not proved the statement that he
has made, if that case [is] a capital
one,
that man shall be put to death.

#If he has come forward to bear
witness to [a claim for] corn or
money, he
shall remain liable for the penalty
for that suit.

#If a judge has tried a suit, given a
decision, caused a sealed tablet to
be
executed, [and] thereafter varies
his judgment, they shall convict
that judge
of varying [his] judgment and he
shall pay twelve-fold the claim in
that suit;
then they shall remove him from
his place on the bench of judges in
the
assembly, and he shall not [again]
sit in judgment with the judges.

#If a free person helps a slave to
escape, the free person will be put
to
death.

#If a man has committed robbery
and is caught, that man shall be put
to death.

#If the robber is not caught, the man
who has been robbed shall formally
declare whatever he has lost
before a god, and the city and the
mayor in whose
territory or district the robbery
has been committed shall replace
whatever he
has lost for him.

#If [it is] the life [of the owner that
is lost], the city or the mayor shall
pay one maneh of silver to his
kinsfolk.

#If a person owes money and Adad
[the river god] has flooded the
person's
field, the person will not give any
grain [tax] or pay any interest in
that
year.

#If a person is too lazy to make the
dike of his field strong and there is
a
break in the dike and water
destroys his own farmland, that
person will make
good the grain [tax] that is
destroyed.

#If a merchant increases interest
beyond that set by the king and
collects it,
that merchant will lose what was
lent.

#If a trader borrows money from a
merchant and then denies the fact,
that
merchant in the presence of god
and witnesses will prove the trader
borrowed
the money and the trader will pay
the merchant three times the
amount
borrowed.

#If the husband of a married lady has
accused her but she is not caught
lying
with another man, she shall take an
oath by the life of a god and return
to
her house.

#If a man takes himself off and there
is not the [necessary] maintenance
in his
house, his wife [so long as] her
[husband is delayed], shall keep
[herself
chaste; she shall not] enter
[another man's house].

#If that woman has not kept herself
chaste but enters another man's
house, they
shall convict that woman and cast
her into the water.

#If a son strikes his father, they
shall cut off his forehand.

#If a man has put out the eye of a
free man, they shall put out his
eye.

#If he breaks the bone of a [free]
man, they shall break his bone.

#If he puts out the eye of a villain or
breaks the bone of a villain, he shall
pay 1 maneh of silver.

#If he puts out the eye of a [free]
man's slave or breaks the bone of a
[free]
man's slave, he shall pay half his
price.

#If a man knocks out the tooth of a
[free] man equal [in rank] to him
[self],
they shall knock out his tooth.

#If he knocks out the tooth of a
villain, he shall pay 1/3 maneh of
silver.

#If a man strikes the cheek of a
[free] man who is superior [in rank]
to
him[self], he shall be beaten with
60 stripes with a whip of ox-hide in
the
assembly.

#If the man strikes the cheek of a
free man equal to him[self in rank],
he
shall pay 1 maneh of silver.

#If a villain strikes the cheek of a
villain, he shall pay 10 shekels of
silver.

#If the slave of a [free] man strikes
the cheek of a free man, they shall
cut
off his ears.

What good did it serve them?

Nice i always wanted to read this code