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Secondary sourceBook1905 (book); recording modern

The Codes of Hammurabi and Moses

William W. Davies · 1905 (book); recording modern

A LibriVox audio reading of a 1905 book comparing Hammurabi's code with the laws of Moses.

A modern reading of a secondary book comparing Hammurabi's ancient law code with the laws of Moses.

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William W. Davies, The Codes of Hammurabi and Moses, 1905. LibriVox volunteer audio reading, read by InTheDesert.

About this source

What it is

This is a volunteer audio recording from LibriVox of a book by William W. Davies, originally published in 1905, which compares the Code of Hammurabi with the laws of Moses. The recording is a modern reading of the text, not Hammurabi's own voice.

Why it matters

Davies' book shows how the discovery of Hammurabi's code excited scholars interested in the Bible and ancient law, since it let them compare Babylonian and Mosaic legal traditions directly. It reveals how Hammurabi's laws became part of wider debates about history, religion, and the origins of law.

Look closer

  • Why would a professor of Hebrew be especially interested in comparing these two law codes?
  • How is listening to a modern reading different from reading the original ancient text?
  • What does comparing two legal codes from different cultures reveal, and what might it hide?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Hammurabi on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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