See Main Page for a guide to all contents of all sections.

This page unites the texts on various aspects of the history of law in the ancient world - law codes, specific enactments/decrees/treaties, philosophical discussions, and constitutional documents.

To continue looking at legal history texts in the middle ages, see  the Medieval Legal History page, at the Medieval Sourcebook, which also provides more texts than here on later Roman law, English Common Law, Jewish Law, and Muslim Sharia.

For comparative purposes, also included here are legal and constitutional texts from Ancient India, China, and Japan.

Comparative topics in interest to students might include:

• LAWGIVERS: Moses, Solon, Lycurgus, Manu

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

Notes:	In addition to direct links to documents, links are made to a number of other web resources.
2ND	Link to a secondary article, review or discussion on a given topic.
MEGA	Link to one of the megasites which track web resources.
WEB	Link to a website focused on a specific issue.. These are not links to every site on a given topic, but to sites of serious educational value.
ARGOS	Contact the ARGOS limited area web search engine to find out more about a topic or subject.

Ancient Legal Links

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

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Ancient Legal History: Discussions

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

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Ancient Near East

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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Egypt

• 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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People of Israel

• 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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Persia

• 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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Greece

• 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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The Hellenistic World

• 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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Rome

• 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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Late Antiquity

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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India

• 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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China

• 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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Japan

• 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.

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created 1998: last revised 3/12/2007