2017-09-06

Table Comparing Homicide Laws: Biblical, Mesopotamian and Greek

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

by Neil Godfrey

The table here is a simplified summary of some of the points Russell Gmirkin discusses in Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible. It is far from being a complete representation of his discussion. It is best read as an easy reference guide in conjunction with the detail covered in the book. The table is only a starting guide: it will be expanded and modified as the details of laws are further explored. I expect to do a few more similar tables for other types of laws. (Still putting on hold the discussion of the final chapter of Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible as I backtrack to sections I covered too briefly earlier or inadvertently omitted altogether.)

ANE = Ancient Near Eastern laws

Greece/Plato = Laws as implemented in Athens and/or Laws presented as ideals by Plato in Laws

GORING OX	Bible	ANE	Greece/Plato
Ox stoned	✓	X	✓
Carcass not to be eaten	✓	X	✓
Money compensation for loss	✓	✓	✓
If ox kills a man after owner was warned and failed to act, — money compensation	X	✓
If ox kills a man after owner was warned and failed to act, — owner executed	✓	X	✓*


HOMICIDE	Bible	ANE	Greece/Plato
A homeowner justified in killing a night burglar	✓	X	✓
Blood pollution of the land to be cleansed	✓	X	✓
Kin to the victim required to prosecute the murderer	✓	X	✓
Kin to the victim required to carry out the punishment	✓	X	✓**
Asylum cities / temples for refuge	✓	X	✓
Exile for unintentional homicide	✓	X	✓
Execution by Burning	X	✓	X
Execution by Drowning	X	✓	X
Execution by Impalement	X	✓	X
Execution by Beheading	X	✓	X
Execution by Stoning	✓	X	✓
State officials carry out the penalty	X	✓
Community carries out the penalty	✓	X

* owner tried for murder
** if the accused prematurely returned from exile

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3 thoughts on “Table Comparing Homicide Laws: Biblical, Mesopotamian and Greek”

Bob Jase says:

2017-09-06 20:21:24 GMT+0000 at 20:21

Who knew oxen used to be so deadly? I’ve seen many an ox draw at a fair and they never attacked anyone.

Reply
1. Neil Godfrey says:
  
  2017-09-06 22:30:13 GMT+0000 at 22:30
  
  Mmm…. right, ox is probably not the best translation
  
  We find it has become standard, though, in translations in Roth’s Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor (2nd ed, 1997):
  
  Eshnunna’s
  
  #53 If an ox gores another ox and thus causes its death, the two ox-owners shall divide the value of the living ox and the carcass of the dead ox.
  
  #54 If an ox is a gorer and the ward authorities so notify its owner, but he fails to keep his ox in check and it gores a man and thus causes his death, the owner of the ox shall weigh and deliver 40 shekels of silver.
  
  #55 If it gores a slave and thus causes his death, he shall weigh and deliver 15 shekels of silver.
  
  And Hammurabi’s
  
  #250 If an ox gores to death a man while it is passing through the streets, that case has no basis for a claim,
  
  #251 If a man’s ox is a known gorer and the authorities of his city quarter notify him that it is a known gorer, but he does not blunt(?) its horns or control his ox, and that ox gores to death a member of the awtlu-class, he (the owner) shall give 30 shekels of silver,
  
  #252 If it is a man’s slave (who is fatally gored), he shall give 20 shekels of silver.
  
  Oxen knew how to be real oxen back in them days.
  
  Reply
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