On many occasions you will have read, in books or web pages, that the oldest code of laws of humanity is that of Hammurabi . The truth is that this is not quite true. Actually, when the author of the day writes the text he should specify that it is the oldest code of laws BEST PRESERVED. It has come down to us with the almost complete text, which is wonderful to get a complete idea of what the society of the first Babylonian empire was like. So much so, that many authors suffer from the tendency to extrapolate these laws to the rest of the Sumerian period, which is a mistake, since there are centuries of difference and the various societies were changed and evolved.
There were other codes of laws prior to Hammurabi's, and each of them had its own character. Interestingly, many of these older codes were more liberal and even “modern in approach. ”, about women or slaves. We can highlight among those older ones, for example, the Gudea Code , that of Eshnunna , that of Naram-Sin , that of Sargon of Akhad , Shulgi's , he of Ur-Nammu or the one from Urulkagina . The problem is that these legal treaties have reached us very fragmented. In some cases we only know them thanks to the fact that in some legal tablet (contracts, judicial sentences, etc.) reference is made to laws of the current code. This allows us to know that the Sumerian society was much less chauvinistic than, for example, the later Babylonian.
And it is among these fragments of laws where we come across a unique case, both due to its nature and its antiquity. In the city of Kish , around 2400 BC, we find a code of laws promulgated by Kug-Bau . And it turns out that Kug-Bau was… a woman . She is the only queen to appear on the Sumerian Royal List . Apparently, and according to said list, she began her career as a tavern keeper, later becoming queen, although we do not know the circumstances of such promotion as the list does not go into detail. In addition to this, it is indicated that she reigned for 100 years, which is highly exaggerated. Correlating dates, it can be assumed that, rather, they were around 20 years of reign.
Kug-Bau
She must have been a good legislator for the Sumerian Royal List to feature it on her “resume ”, Although she as a general she was not so much, because her reign ended when she was defeated in a battle. However, that does not detract from the fact that she was the first known legislator in history , member of the club of the oldest legislators of humanity. And by the way, her beer must also have been very good, since the compiler of the Sumerian Royal List did not hesitate to point out her nature as a tavern keeper.
Contributed by Joshua BedwyR author of In a Dark Blue World