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River Ordeal: Divine Adjudication by Water

A reference page linking a name, group, or concept to the materials that discuss it.

An ancient procedure referring a difficult dispute to a river with divine status; legal and archival witnesses differ.

A modern conceptual illustration places river and vessel together to contrast two distinct procedures. It depicts no documented ordeal or specific artifact; the tablet's marks are decorative and not legible text. IL Archive / CC0
A modern conceptual illustration places river and vessel together to contrast two distinct procedures. It depicts no documented ordeal or specific artifact; the tablet's marks are decorative and not legible text. IL Archive / CC0Modern conceptual illustration: IL Archive / CC0 · CC0

Text

HammurapiHammurabiKing of Babylon in Mesopotamia, reigning around 1792–1750 BCE. A celebrated legal text preserved on a stele and cuneiform copies bears his name.Glossary · Click to read the explanation’s collection sends a sorcery accusation to the River, while MariMariAn ancient city and kingdom on the Euphrates, at Tell Hariri in eastern Syria.Glossary · Click to read the explanation letters report people or substitutes taken to water. The witnesses do not describe a single physical method, and a model rule alone cannot show frequency of practice. [1][4][6]

References and notes

  1. CDLI composite Laws of Hammurapi, selected §§1–2 and 131–132 only Laws of Hammurapi composite P464358, §§1–3, 131–132 Return to the text ↑
  2. Jack M. Sasson, From Babylon to Jerusalem: Water Ordeals, 2022; selected portions Jack M. Sasson (2022), From Babylon to Jerusalem: Water Ordeals in the Ancient World, printed pp. 324–345, DOI 10.1163/9789004511538_017 Return to the text ↑
  3. Joanna Töyräänvuori, Trial by Water through the Ages; selected pp. 309–313 and 317–320 Joanna Töyräänvuori, Trial by Water through the Ages, Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 27/2 (2021), 301–330, especially printed pp. 309–313 and 317–320 Return to the text ↑

Research history

Substantive changes are retained here. Minor copy edits remain in the internal operational log.

  1. Edition 2 · 12 October 2026 · editor:aladmin

    Substantive record update

    Read this revision in its original language (Arabic)

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Cite this record

IL Archive, «River Ordeal: Divine Adjudication by Water», Edition 2, https://ilarchive.com/en/entities/river-ordeal