Middle Assyrian Laws

Historical source page 46

An Assyrian Law Code 45 practises 11 sorcery is to be put to death. A man who witnessed the performance of sorcery, or the one who from the mouth of an eye witness 12 to the sorcery heard him say about them, 13 'I saw it', any one who hears 14 (this), must go (and) report it to the king. 16 If a witness who was (supposed) to report to the king denies it, and in the presence of Mercury, 16 the son of the Sun, declares 17 that he did not say so, — he is free. 18 The eye witness 19 who (is reported to have) said so and denies it, the king interro- gates him as much as possible and sees his back. 20 The sorcerer 21 on the day that they bring him (sc. to the king) shall be forced to confess^ and one should tell him 22 that 'from the oath 23 which thou hast sworn to the king and to his son, he (i. e., the king) will 12 a-ml-ra-a-wi, literally: 'the one who saw', an eye-witness. 13 About the man or woman suspected of sorcery. 14 &d-ml-a-nu 'the hearer', i. e., 'an ear-witness.' 16 1, e., either of these two kinds of witnesses (a) the amiranu, the direct witness and (b) the lamianu, the one who heard — and therefore an indirect witness — must report the occurrence to the king. This direct reference to the king — and later on in the law also to the king's son (as the heir to the throne) — may be taken as an indication of the antiquity of the law, just as in the Hammurabi Code the section dealing with sorcery belongs to the oldest stratum of the Code. See Jastrow, 'Older and Later Elements in the Code of Hammurabi' (JAOS 36, p. 32). 16 The god Gud ('bull') is the planet Mercury, frequently mentioned in Astrological texts. Mercury as the smallest of the five planets known to the Babylonians and Assyrians and being always near the sun is appropriately designated as the son of the sun-god (Shamash). This reference to 'Gud, the son of Samas' occurs again in an omen text, Cuneiform Texts, XXVII, 4. 19 ( = PI. 6, 15), describing twins born to a woman, 'with a joint like Mercury, the son of the Sun' (sc. is joined to the sun). It is a case like that of the famous Siamese twins. 17 1, e., swears. 18 za-a-ku. 18 a ml-ra-a-nu. 20 Exactly what is meant by this phrase is not clear — perhaps 'he dismisses him'. 41 a-M-pu. 22 u hX-ut i-lfa-ab-bi, i. e., warn him. 23 ma-mi-ta, i.e., the clearance oath.