Excerpts. 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.
