The Code of the Nesilim, c. 1650-1500 BCE
Nesilim is the Hittites' name for themselves.
1. If anyone slay a man or woman in a quarrel, he shall bring
this one. He shall also give four persons, either men or
women, he shall let them go to his home.
2. If anyone slay a male or female slave in a quarrel, he
shall bring this one and give two persons, either men or
women, he shall let them go to his home.
3. If anyone smite a free man or woman and this one die, he
shall bring this one and give two persons, he shall let them
go to his home.
4. If anyone smite a male or female slave, he shall bring
this one also and give one person, he shall let him or her go
to his home.
5. If anyone slay a merchant of Hatti, he shall give one and
a half pounds of silver, he shall let it go to his home.
6. If anyone blind a free man or knock out his teeth,
formerly they would give one pound of silver, now he shall
give twenty half-shekels of silver.
8. If anyone blind a male or female slave or knock out their
teeth, he shall give ten half-shekels of silver, he shall let
it go to his home.
10. If anyone injure a man so that he cause him suffering, he
shall take care of him. Yet he shall give him a man in his
place, who shall work for him in his house until he recovers.
But if he recover, he shall give him six half-shekels of
silver. And to the physician this one shall also give the
fee.
17. If anyone cause a free woman to miscarry, if it be the
tenth month, he shall give ten half-shekels of silver, if it
be the fifth month, he shall give five half-shekels of
silver.
18. If anyone cause a female slave to miscarry, if it be the
tenth month, he shall give five half-shekels of silver.
20. If any man of Hatti steal a Nesian slave and lead him
here to the land of Hatti, and his master discover him, he
shall give him twelve half-shekels of silver, he shall let it
go to his home.
21. If anyone steal a slave of a Luwian from the land of
Luwia, and lead him here to the land of Hatti, and his master
discover him, he shall take his slave only.
24. If a male or female slave run away, he at whose hearth
his master finds him or her, shall give fifty half-shekels of
silver a year.
31. If a free man and a female slave be fond of each other
and come together and he take her for his wife and they set
up house and get children, and afterward they either become
hostile or come to close quarters, and they divide the house
between them, the man shall take the children, only one child
shall the woman take.
32. If a slave take a woman as his wife, their case is the
same. The majority of the children to the wife and one child
to the slave.
33. If a slave take a female slave their case is the same.
The majority of children to the female slave and one child to
the slave.
34. If a slave convey the bride price to a free son and take
him as husband for his daughter, nobody dare surrender him to
slavery.
36. If a slave convey the bride price to a free son and take
him as husband for his daughter, nobody dare surrender him to
slavery.
40. If a soldier disappear, and a vassal arise and the vassal
say, AThis is my
military holding, but this other one is my tenancy,@
and lay hands upon the fields of the soldier, he may both
hold the military holding and perform the tenancy duties. If
he refuse the military service, then he forfeits the vacant
fields of the soldier. The men of the village shall cultivate
them. If the king give a captive, they shall give the fields
to him, and he becomes a soldier.
98. If a free man set a house ablaze, he shall build the
house, again. And whatever is inside the house, be it a man,
an ox, or a sheep that perishes, nothing of these he need
compensate.
99. If a slave set a house ablaze, his master shall
compensate for him. The nose of the slave and his ears they
shall cut off, and give him back to his master. But if he do
not compensate, then he shall give up this one.
158. If a man go for wages, bind sheaves, load it into carts,
spread it on the straw barn and so forth "till
they clear the threshing floor, for three months his wages
are thirty pecks of barley. If a woman go for wages in the
harvest, for two months he shall give twelve pecks of barley.
159. If anyone harness a yoke of oxen, his wages are one-half
peck of barley.
160. If a smith make a copper box, his wages are one hundred
pecks of barley. He who makes a copper dish of two-pound
weight, his wages are one peck of emmer.
164. If anyone come for borrowing, then make a quarrel and
throw down either bread or wine jug, then he shall give one
sheep, ten loaves, and one jug of beer. Then he cleanses his
house by the offering. Not until the year has elapsed may he
salute again the other's
house.
170. If a free man kill a serpent and speak the name of
another, he shall give one pound of silver; if a slave, this
one shall die.
173. If anyone oppose the judgment of the king, his house
shall become a ruin. If anyone oppose the judgment of a lord,
his head shall be cut off. If a slave rise against his
master, he shall go into the pit.
176. If anyone buy an artisan's
apprentice, buy either a potter, a smith, a carpenter, a
leatherworker, a tailor, a weaver, or a lace-maker, he shall
give ten half-shekels.
178. A plow-ox costs fifteen half-shekels of silver, a bull
costs ten half-shekels of silver, a great cow costs seven
half-shekels of silver, a sheep one half-shekel of silver, a
draft horse twenty half-shekels of silver, a mule one pound
of silver, a horse fourteen half-shekels of silver.
181-182. Four pounds of copper cost one half-shekel of
silver; one tub of lard, one half-shekel of silver; two
cheese one half-shekel of silver; a gown twelve half-shekels
of silver; one blue woolen garment costs twenty half-shekels
of silver; breeches cost ten half-shekels of silver. . .
187. If a man have intercourse with a cow, it is a capital
crime, he shall die. They shall lead him to the king's
hall. But the king may kill him, the king may grant him his
life. But he shall not approach the king.
188. If a man have intercourse with his own mother, it is a
capital crime, he shall die. If a man have intercourse with a
daughter, it is a capital crime, he shall die. If a man have
intercourse with a son, it is a capital crime, he shall die.
190. If a man and a woman come willingly, as men and women,
and have intercourse, there shall be no punishment. And if a
man have intercourse with his stepmother, there shall be no
punishment; except if his father is living, it is a capital
crime, the son shall die.
191. If a free man picks up now this woman, now that one, now
in this country, then in that country, there shall be no
punishment if they came together sexually willingly.
192. If the husband of a woman die, his wife may take her
husband's
patrimony.
194. If a free man pick up female slaves, now one, now
another, there is no punishment for intercourse. If brothers
sleep with a free woman, together, or one after the other,
there is no punishment. If father and son sleep with a female
slave or harlot, together, or one after the other, there is
no punishment.
195. If a man sleep with the wife of his brother, while his
brother is living, it is a capital crime, he shall die. If a
man have taken a free woman, then have intercourse also with
her daughter, it is a capital crime, he shall die. If he have
taken her daughter, then have intercourse with her mother or
her sister, it is a capital crime, he shall die.
197. If a man rape a woman in the mountain, it is the man's
wrong, he shall die. But if he rape her in the house, it is
the woman's fault,
the woman shall die. If the husband find them and then kill
them, there is no punishing the husband.
199. If anyone have intercourse with a pig or a dog, he shall
die. If a man have intercourse with a horse or a mule, there
is no punishment. But he shall not approach the king, and
shall not become a priest. If an ox spring upon a man for
intercourse, the ox shall die but the man shall not die. One
sheep shall be fetched as a substitute for the man, and they
shall kill it. If a pig spring upon a man for intercourse,
there is no punishment. If any man have intercourse with a
foreign woman and pick up this one, now that one, there is no
punishment.
200. If
anyone give a son for instruction, be it a carpenter, or a
potter, or a weaver, or a tailor, or a smith, he shall give
six half-shekels of silver for the instruction.
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