Ancient History

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Internet Ancient History Sourcebook:
Legal Texts

Contents

• General
  • Ancient Legal Links
  • Ancient Legal History: Discussions
• Ancient Near East
  • Ancient Near East
  • Egypt
  • People of Israel
  • Persia
• Greece and Hellenism
  • Greece
  • The Hellenistic World
• Rome: Republic and Empire
  • Rome
  • Late Antiquity
• Other Ancient Cultures
  • India
  • China
  • Japan

• WEB Legal History Links [At Pitt]
• 2ND The Timetable of World Legal History [At Duhaime]

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• 2ND Henry Sumner Maine: Ancient Law [At McMaster]

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Sumeria (c. 3100-c. 2000 BCE)

• The Emergence of Kingship: Inscription of Umma and Lagash, c. 2500BCE [At Then Again]
• Shamash Hymn [At Enteract.com]
  The justice of the god.

Akkadia (c.2350-2200 BCE)

Babylonia (c.2000-1600 BCE)

• A Collection of Mesopotamian Laws, c. 2250 - 550 BCE [At this Site]
• A Collection of Contracts from Mesopotamia, c. 2300 - 428 BCE [At this Site]
• Code of Hammarabi
  • Code of Hammarabi c.1780 BCE [This Site][Full Text, with introductions]
    Hammurabi (or Hammarapi), r. c. 1792-1750 BCE
  • Code of Hammarabi c.1780 BCE [At EAWC][Full Text]
  • Code of Hammarabi c.1780 BCE extracts [At WSU]
  • Code of Hammarabi c.1780 BCE extracts and images [At K. C. Hanson's website]

Kassites and Hittites (c.1600-717 BCE)

• Code of the Nesilim, c. 1650-1500 BCE
  Excerpts on sex and gender matters.

Assyria (c.1350- 612 BCE)

• Code of the Assyrians, c. 1075 BCE
  Excerpts on sex and gender matters.
• Tiglathpileser I (r. 1115-1077 BCE): Inscription [At Then Again]
• Tiglathpileser I, King of Assyria, B.C  (r. 1115-1077 BCE): Inscription [At MUniv]

Chaldea/Neo-Babylonia (612-539 BCE)

• Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar (r. 604-561 BCE) [At M Univ]
• Ishtar Gate Inscription c.600 BCE [At K. C. Hanson's website]
• Treaty between Mursilis and Duppi-Tessub ANET 203-5 [At Internet Archive, from Creighton]
• Some Neo-Babylonian Legal Decisions, c. 555-427 BCE [At this Site]

Phoenicia 950 BCE on

Carthage: The Punic Empire

• Aristotle: The Constitution of Carthage, c. 340 BCE, from Politics [This Site]

Gender and Sexuality

• For Women: see WEB Diotima
  • Old Assyrian Marriage Contract 19th Cent. BCE [At U. Penn.]

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• The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep, 6th Dynasty [This Site]
• The Instruction of Ptah Hotep 6th Dynasty (2300-2150 BCE)[in Egyptian][on AOL]
  Contains Middle Kingdom copies of an Old Kingdom text.
• Egyptian economic and legal documents [At Diotima][added 10/14/98 to ANE/Egypt page]

Gender and Sexuality

• For Women: see WEB Diotima
  • Status of Women in Egyptian Society, by Peter Piccione [At Internet Archive, from NWU]

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• The Exodus and Sinai Covenant [At Internet Archive, from CUA][Modern Summary]
• Reforms By Hezekiah (r. 715-687 BCE): 2 Chronicles 30:1-
  The enforcement of Monotheism.
  See 2ND Oded Borowski: Hezekiah's Reforms and the Revolt against Assyria [At TFBA][Modern Account]
• Discovery of Deuteronomy (c.621 BCE): 2 Kings 18:4, 22
• Ezra, excerpts [At Then Again]
  Nehemiah (gov. c.445-c.433) and Ezra (mid-5th Cent. BCE) define the Community
• Pharisees
  • 1 Maccabees 7:12-25
  • Josephus (37- after 93 CE): Antiquities 13:10:6, 297
  • 2ND D R de Lacey: In Search of a Pharisee [At Ioudaios][Modern Account]
  • 2ND Steve Mason: Current Scholarship on the Pharisees [At Ioudaios][Modern Account]
• The Qumran Sect
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls
    • The Community Rule [At ibiblio]
    • WEB Scrolls from the Dead Sea [Website-UNC]
      See especially the extensive text page.
    • WEB Dead Sea Scroll Texts [At UPenn]
    • WEB Dead Sea Scrolls [At LCongress]
• Rabbinic Judaism
  • WEB Post Biblical Judaism [Online Course-U Alberta]
  • The Talmud
  • Page from the Babylonian Talmud [At Calgary]

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• Cyrus (b.580-r.560/59-529 BCE, ): Cylinder Recording Conquest of Babylon (mid 6th Cent. BCE) [At British Museum]
• Kurash (Cyrus) the Great: Decree of Return for the Jews, 539 BCE [At this Site]
  From Persian and Biblical sources.
• Accounts of Persian "Despotism" and Law, c. 430-300 BCE [At this Site]
  From Herodotus and Biblical sources.
• WEBAchaemenid Royal Inscriptions [At U Chicago]

Persian Religions

• WEB Avesta Page [Website]
  A significant collection of Zoroastrian texts.

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• Athens
  • The Athenian Constitution [At MIT]
  • The Athenian Constitution [At this Site, formerly ERIS][Full Text][Ascii Text in one file]
  • Solon (c.640-after 561 BCE): Selected Fragments, [At Saskatchewan]
  • Cleisthenes (c.525-after 507 BCE): Reform Texts [At Internet Archive, from Reed]
  • Texts on Ostracism at Athens [At CSUN]
• Sparta
  • The Great Rhetra [At CSUN]
    A somewhat cryptic document which laid down the rules of government.
  • The Krypteia [At CSUN]
    Forced theiving.
  • Plutarch (c.46-c.120 CE): Life of Lycurgus [At MIT]
  • Aristotle (384-323 BCE): The Spartan Constitution from the Politics [This Site]
  • 2ND Legal Status of Women in Sparta [At Internet Archive, from Reed]
• Codes and Practices
  • Law Code of Gortyn (Crete), c. 450 BCE  [At this Site]
    The most complete surviving Greek Law code.
  • Aeschines (c.390-c.322 BCE): Against Timarchus, full text, [At PWH]
    A complete prosecutorial speech.
  • Aeschines (c.390-c.322 BCE): On the Embassy, full text [At this Site]
• Philosophical/Literary Discussion
  • Sophocles: Antigone 442 BCE [At Project Gutenberg]
    See 2ND Study Guide [At Brooklyn College]
  • Sophocles: Antigone- 442 BCE [At Diotima]
    A much more modern translation, with extensive annotation.
  • Plato: The Republic [At MIT][Full Text][Chapter length files]
    See 2ND Study Guide [At Brooklyn College]
  • Plato: The Laws, c. 360 BCE, complete [At MIT]
  • Aristotle: The Politics, excerpts from Books I, III, VII and VIII, [At this Site]
  • Aristotle: The Politics, c. 350 BCE, complete [At MIT]

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• Plutarch (c.46-c.120 CE): Life of Demetrius [At MIT]
• Athanaeus (fl. c. 200 CE): The Great Spectacle and  Procession of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, 285 BCE [This Site]

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• 2ND Edward Gibbon: The Idea of Roman Jurisprudence [At this Site]

Foundations

• Livy (59 BCE-17 CE): The Roman Way of Declaring War, c. 650 BCE, from History of Rome I.34 [At this Site]
• The Twelve Tables 451/450 BCE selections, [At CSUN] and in The Twelve Tables 451/450 BCE selections, [At this Site]
• Polybius  (c.200-after 185 BCE): Rome at the End of the Punic Wars [History, Book 6] [At this Site] (Public Domain unlike next selection, which is a more recent version.)
  Includes an extended comparison of Rome and Carthage.
• Polybius (c.200-after 185 BCE) Book 6.11-18: The Constitution of the Roman Republic [At Saskatchewan]
• Polybius (c.200-after 185 BCE): Extensive Selections, [At Internet Archive, from Princeton]
  Book I, sections 1-6 , 14 , 17 , 59 , 63-64; Book VI. 1-42, 53-58; Book X. 2-3; Book XXXI. 22-30
• 2ND The Concepts of Fides and Virtus [At CSUN]
• 2ND The Republican Constitution [Modern Account][At Internet Archive, from Reed]

Civil Wars and Revolution

• Appian {1st Cent CE): The Civil Wars (On the Gracchi) [This Site]
• Plutarch (c.46-c.120 CE): Life of Tiberius Gracchus (c.164-133 BCE) [At MIT]
• Plutarch (c.46-c.120 CE): Tiberius Gracchus(c.164-133 BCE) translated by John Dryden, excerpts [At this Site]
  See 2ND Sources on Tiberius Gracchus [At Reed]
• Plutarch (c.46-c.120 CE) Life of Caius Gracchus (c.121 BCE)[At MIT]
• The Gracchi [Modern Account][At Internet Archive, from Reed]
• Cicero (105-43 BCE)
  • Cicero (105-43 BCE): On the Laws, excerpts from Books II and III, [At this Site]
  • Cicero (105-43 BCE): On the Republic, excerpts from Book I, [At this Site]
  • Cicero (105-43 BCE): On the Republic: Scipio's Dream, excerpts from Book VI, [At this Site]
• The Roman Candidate, 64, 54 BCE [At this Site]
  Quintus Cicero, Letter to His Brother Marcus Cicero, on the problems of running for office.

The Principate to 192 CE

• Augustus
  • Cicero (105-43 BCE): Selections from Letters on the Rise of Augustus [At Saskatchewan]
  • Tacitus (b.56/57-after 117 CE): The End of the Republic [This Site]   
  • Tacitus: (b.56/57-after 117 CE): The Life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola [At UNRV]
    Augustus' friend and, if you follow R. Syme, fellow conspirator. Contains a famous speech condemning imperialism by Calgacus.
  • Augustus (63 BCE-14 CE): Acts of the Divine Augustus (Res Gestae Divi Augusti) [At MIT]
  • Augustus (63 BCE-14 CE): Res Gestae [In Latin][At CSUN]
  • Augustus (63 BCE-14 CE): Selections from the Acts of the Divine Augustus (Res Gestae Divi Augusti) [At Saskatchewan]
  • Augustus (63 BCE-14 CE): Res Gestae Divi Augusti, c. 14 CE, long excerpts, in English. [At this Site]
  • Augustus (63 BCE-14 CE): Select Testimonia [At Saskatchewan]
  • Augustan Encomiums, c. 31 BCE - 14 CE [At this Site]
    Horace (65-8 BCE): Secular hymn, and Vergil (70-19 BCE): Aeneid, VI.ii.789-800, 847-853.
  • Suetonius (c.69-after 122 CE): Life of Augustus (outline)(63 BCE-14 CE) [At CSUN]
  • Suetonius (c.69-after 122 CE): Life of Augustus (63 BCE-14 CE) [At this Site]
  • Nicolaus of Damascus (1st Cent CE): Life of Augustus (63 BCE-14 CE)[At CSUN]
  • Augustus' Legislation [At CSUN]
  • Velleius Paterculus (c.19 BCE-after 30 CE): The Battle of Teutoburg Forest, 9 CE [At Hillsdale]
• The Julio-Claudian Dynasty 14-68 CE
  • Proclamation of Nero's Succession Nov 17,-CE [in Greek and English][At K. C. Hanson's website]
• The Flavian Emperors 69-96 CE
  • Tacitus (b.56/57-after 117 CE): The Legions Proclaim Vespasian Emperor, 69 CE [This Site]
  • Lex De Imperio Vespasiano "The Law concerning the power of Vespasian" [document designation: ILS 244] 69/70 CE [At Internet Archive, from Iowa State]
• The Adoptive Emperors 96-192 CE
  • Tacitus (b.56/57-after 117 CE): The Principle of Adoption [At this Site] 

Later Roman Law

• WEB See the Medieval Legal History page, at the Medieval Sourcebook, for texts on late Roman law and the Corpus Juris Civilis.
• Citizenship
  • Tacitus (b.56/57-after 117 CE): Admitting Provincials to the Senate, 48 CE [At this Site] 
    A speech by the emperor Claudius.
  • Claudius (b. 10 BCE, r. 41 CE - d.54 CE).: A Discourse  in the Senate, c. 48 CE [At this Site]
    Same speech as above, but based on a surviving inscription.
• Egypt
  • Egypt under the Roman Empire, excerpts from Strabo (64/3 BC- c.21 CE): Geography and Oxyrhynchus papyri. [At This Site]
  • Rules for Administering the "Special Account" of Egypt, c. 150/161 CE, [Berlin pap. 1210] [At Diotima]
    This link contains those regulations (out of 115) pertaining to women and marriage. The document as a whole shows the Roman exploitation of Egypt.

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Military Revolution and Government

• Diocletian (r.284-305 CE): Prices Edict, 301 CE  in Latin [At Bib.Augustana]
• Diocletian (284-305 CE) and Constantine (308-337 CE): Efforts to Stabilize the Economy [This Site]
• Map: The Fourfold Division of the Empire [At Citrag]
• The Tetrarchs [At Bluffton]
2ND Edward Gibbon: On the Fall of the Roman Empire [At this Site][added 7/2/98 to Rome page]
• 2ND Bruce Bartlett: How Excessive Government Killed Ancient Rome, Cato Institute Journal 14: 2, Fall 1994 [At Cato.org]
  An example of ancient history being seen through distinctly modern eyes! [Be wary of all such "explanations" which do not consider the survival of the Eastern Empire.]

The "Triumph" of the Church

• Eusebius (c.260-340 CE): Ecclesiastical History - Conversion of Constantine [At Medieval Sourcebook]
• Edit of Galerius and the "Edict of Milan" 311/313 [At Medieval Sourcebook]
• Codex Theodosianus: On Religion, 4th Cent CE. [At Medieval Sourcebook]
• Junillus: Instituta Regularia c. 542 CE [At U Penn]

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• WEB See Indian History Sourcebook
• The Laws of Manu, c. 1500 BCE, full text, [At this Site]
• The Vinaya [Buddhist Monastic Code], full text [At Access to Insight]
• Kautilya: The Arthashastra, c. 250 BCE [At this Site]
  Extensive selections
• Ashoka (c. 265-238 BCE; also given as c. 273-232 BCE): The Edicts of King Ashoka, complete, [At Colorado State]
• Ashoka (c. 265-238 BCE; also given as c. 273-232 BCE): The Rock Edicts, c. 257 BCE, excerpts, [At this Site]

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• WEB See East Asian History Sourcebook
• Mencius: Selections from the Mencius
• Xunzi: Selections from the Xunzi
• Han Fei tzu (d. 233 BCE): Selections from the Writings of Han Fei. c. 230 BCE
• Han Fei Tzu (d. 233 BCE): Legalist Views on Good Government [At WSU]
• Han Fei tzu: Legalism [At Internet Archive, from CCNY]
• Sima Qian: The Legalist Polices of the Qin
  includes text of edicts.
• K'ang-Hsi: The Sacred Edicts [At WSU]

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• WEB See East Asian History Sourcebook
• Prince Shotoku: The Seventeen Article Constitution from the Nihongi, 604 CE [At WSU]
• Ancient Japanese Constitution [At WSU]
• Emperor Kotoku: Taika Reform Edicts, 645 CE [At WSU]
  By which Japan was centralized as one country.

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NOTES:

Dates of accession of material added since July 1998 can be seen in the New Additions page..

The date of inception was 4/8/1998.

Links to files at other site are indicated by [At some indication of the site name or location].

Locally available texts are marked by [At this Site].

WEB indicates a link to one of small number of high quality web sites which provide either more texts or an especially valuable overview.