The Laws of the Hittites: A Critical Edition.

• Author: GOEDEBUURE, PETRA
• Position: Review

The laws of the Hittites: A Critical Edition. By HARRY ANGIER HOFFNER, JR. Documenta et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui, vol. 23. New York: E. J. BRILL, 1997. Pp. xx + 362, 10 plates, HF1 233, $145.75.

In 1959 a critical edition of the Hittite laws was published by J. Friedrich, giving an important impetus to all areas of Hittitology and comparative law. In the foreword to his edition of the Hittite Laws, Hoffner ends by saying that he will be grateful "if this book is half as successful as its predecessor in serving the community of scholars of the Ancient Near East...."(p. x). One can safely assume that his wish will be fulfilled, and more. This first full English edition of the Laws incorporates all fragments and joins which have been found since 1959, some of which were discovered by the author himself (see tables 8 and 9, pp. 160-64). Every manuscript's version of each law has been presented separately, which is clearly very important for diachronic and comparative study of Hittite syntax. The use of photos has given Hoffner the opportunity to improve on several readings, thereby sometimes changing the translation and interpretation of a law. The commentary gives, apart from discussions of individual laws and their difficulties, not only cross references to related Hittite laws, but also systematic references to other law corpora of the ancient Near East. Although the edition is therefore suited for the study of comparative law, non-hittitologist specialists in this field will have difficulty in using the commentary because of many untranslated Hittite passages.

The contents of the book consist of: "Introduction" (pp. 1-16), "Text of the Laws" (pp. 17-164), "Commentary" (pp. 165-228), "Manuscripts" (pp. 229-66), "Glossary" (pp. 267-336), "Bibliography" (pp. 337-52), and "Indices" (pp. 353-62). The introduction discusses terms concerning law, verdict, litigant, executioners of law and authority, lists of prices and commodities and wages, syntax, etc. The chapter on manuscripts presents not only a list of the manuscripts, but also very useful tables on paleography, orthography of Old Script versus post-Old Script manuscripts and orthography, and grammar arranged by lexemes. Together with the commentary, these chapters are a Fundgrube of grammatical remarks and observations. We owe great thanks to the author for this wonderful edition. Following are some notes of the reviewer:

P. 19, fn. 13: Move this footnote to the second "if (it is in the...