Download Law Code of Eshnunna Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq) was an

Law Code of Eshnunna
Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq) was an ancient Sumerian city and city-state in lower
Mesopotamia. Although situated in the Diyala Valley north-east of Sumer proper, the city
nonetheless belonged securely within the Sumerian cultural milieu.
The tutelary deity of the city was Tishpak (Tispak).
History
Occupied from the Early Dynastic Period, Eshnunna was eventually drawn within the
sphere of Third Dynasty of Ur, before achieving a short-lived political prominence--after Ur's
decline and fall--within the first two centuries of the second millennium BC. At this time, Eshnunna
again represented the focus of an independent polity of significant size and influence. Because of
its control over lucrative trade routes, Eshnunna did function somewhat as a gateway between
Mesopotamian and Iranian culture. The trade routes gave it access to many exotic, sought after
goods such as horses, copper, tin, and other precious stones and metals.
After being occupied by Elam, Eshnunna was ultimately conquered by Hammurabi, ruler of
Babylon, and absorbed within the Old Babylonian Empire (sometimes called the First Babylonian
Dynasty). Thereafter, the city appears but rarely within cuneiform textual sources, reflecting a
probable decline and eventual disappearance.
Archaeology
The remains of the ancient city are now preserved in the mound of Tell Asmar, near
Baqubah, excavated in the early 1930s by a Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago team
led by Henri Frankfort with Thorkild Jacobsen. Despite the long passage of time since the
excavations at Tell Asmar, the work of examining and publishing the remaining finds from that dig
continues to this day.
Laws of Eshnunna
The Laws of Eshnunna consist of two tablets (found at Tell Harmal) and a fragment (found
at Tell Haddad). They were written sometime around the reign of king Dadusha of Eshnunna and
appear to not be official copies. When the actual laws were composed is unknown. They are
similar to the Code of Hammurabi.
Square Temple of Abu
During the Early Dynastic period, the Abu Temple at Tell Asmar (Eshnunna) went through
a number of phases. This included the Early Dynastic Archaic Shrine, Square Temple, and
Single-Shrine phases of construction. They, along with sculpture found there, helped form the
basis for the three part archaeological separation of the Early Dynastic period into ED I, ED II, and
ED III for the ancient Near East. A cache of 12 gypsum sculptures, in a geometric style, were
found in the Square Temple. They are some of the best known examples of ancient Near East
sculpture. (From Wikipedia, on the Internet)
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