I was interested in the law codes of ancient middleeastern cultures to compare with the Jewish law (aka Mosaic Law). In a book entitled "Old Testament Parallels, Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East" (V. Matthews and D.Benjamin) I found many interesting things. One that I thought I would mention is an issue often here discussed, that being the treatment of women as possessions. The Code of Ur-Nammu (2100 BC)
Article 6 says: If a citizen rapes a woman, who is marriageable and is engaged to another citizen, then the sentence is death.
Article 8 says: If one citizen rapes the slave/girl of another, who is marriageable, the fine is one and two thirds ounces of siver (5 shekels).
Just like Deuteronomy 22:23-4 and Lev 19:20-1 the Summerian people saw a great distiction between raping a woman engaged from raping a non-engaged one. The issue is not the injustice done the woman but the only the financial loss suffered by her owner/husband.
The Code of Hammurabi (c.1792 BC)reads: "If a Citizen rapes a woman, who is marriageable, engaged and still living with her parents, then the man is sentenced to death, but the woman is exonerated."
The Hittite Code (c1400BC) reads: "If a citizen rapes a woman while they are in the mountains together, then the sentence for the man is death, the woman is not guilty. If a citizen rapes a woman while they are in a house together, then the sentence for the woman is also death. if the woman's husband discovers them in the act, then he may execute them without a trial.
The middle Assyrian Code (c1100BC)art12: "If one citizen forces himself upon the wife of another when she is outside her house and says,'have intercourse with me' and does have intercourse with her, even though she resists him and does not consent, regardless of whether he has been caught in the act or has been accused by witnesses, the man is executed. The woman is not guilty.