Why did ancient societies stop singing their laws and start carving them in stone?
In short: Professor Melissa Lane examines the transition from oral legal traditions to written codes in the ancient world. By comparing the Code of Hammurabi with early Greek inscriptions, she explores how writing transformed law from flexible, spoken decisions into rigid, public blueprints that reshaped human governance.
Writing was not initially invented for justice; the earliest cuneiform script, emerging before 3,200 BC in Uruk, served as a bookkeeping tool for bread and beer rations. It took roughly a millennium for this technology to be applied to law, with the Code of Ur-Nammu appearing around 2000 BCE. Unlike modern laws meant for circulation, ancient laws were often engraved in giant public inscriptions, fixed in place for the public to view.
Lane uses the metaphor of a blueprint to explain the impact of this shift. Just as blueprints allow for precise replication but introduce inflexibility, written laws enabled consistent application across cases while potentially resisting necessary adaptation. This evolution, seen in the work of lawgivers like Solon and early Greek inscriptions from Dreros, highlights how the medium of law—whether oral or inscribed—fundamentally alters its function and authority.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Writing Laws: Hammurabi to Solon - Melissa Lane
- Also: Writing Laws: Hammurabi to Solon
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