Note 132.1 — Chapter VII · The Deities as Social-Powers.

One clause is of interest as showing that Hammurabi was not afraid of any opposition from the priesthood if he wished to tax Church property; for he enacts that the ransom of his captured feudal followers (about whom he is particularly thoughtful) “shall be paid out of the property of the temple nearest to the place where they were taken prisoners.”132.1 But the most interesting part of the code from the religious point of view, are the enactments concerning a class of women who are devoted to the service of religion, sisters or wives, as they are here called, of Marduk: but it will be more convenient to consider these later on when the question of ritual is dealt with.