Tracing Humanity’s Dark Past
Murder is as old as humanity itself. From the earliest myths of Cain and Abel to real cases written on clay tablets, papyrus, and parchment, the act of killing another person deliberately has fascinated and horrified societies for thousands of years. While violence was common in ancient times — wars, raids, and executions were part of daily life — murder stood out because it represented a violation of both law and morality.
But who were the first documented murderers in history? How did ancient civilizations record these crimes, and what can they tell us about the societies in which they lived? This article explores some of the earliest known cases of murderers in human history, separating legend from fact, and showing how ancient peoples understood and punished killers.
🏺 Murder in Myth and Religion: Cain and Abel
One of the earliest and most famous stories of murder comes not from archaeology but from the Biblical Book of Genesis. The story of Cain and Abel describes the first fratricide: Cain, jealous of God’s favor toward his brother Abel, kills him in a fit of rage.
While historians do not treat this as a literal event, it shows how ancient peoples used myth to explain the origins of violence. For ancient communities, murder was not just a crime against another person but a cosmic violation that demanded divine justice.
This story set the tone for later civilizations, where murder was often framed as not only a crime but also a sin.
📜 The First Legal Records of Murder
Moving from myth to documented history, we find evidence of murder in the world’s earliest legal systems. Ancient Mesopotamia, often called the “cradle of civilization,” gives us some of the first written accounts.
The Code of Ur-Nammu (c. 2100 BCE)
One of the earliest surviving law codes, from the Sumerian city of Ur, already prescribed punishments for homicide. Unlike later codes, it often required financial compensation (blood money) rather than execution.
The Code of Hammurabi (c. 1750 BCE)
The famous Babylonian code carved on stone steles addressed murder directly. In many cases, the punishment was death, reflecting the principle of lex talionis (“an eye for an eye”). This shows that by the 18th century BCE, societies not only documented murder but also created systematic responses to deter and punish it.
🏛️ The First Named Murderers in History
Unlike law codes, which speak in general terms, some ancient sources give us the names and stories of specific killers.
🗡️ Lugal-Anne-Mundu and Palace Assassinations
In Sumerian and Akkadian records, palace intrigue often involved assassination. While not always framed as “murder” in the modern sense, the deliberate killing of rulers and rivals was documented as part of political life.
🗡️ Amenemhat I of Egypt (c. 20th century BCE)
Ancient Egyptian texts, like The Instruction of Amenemhat, describe how Pharaoh Amenemhat I was assassinated in his palace, likely by members of his own guard. While the perpetrators’ names are lost to history, this case is one of the earliest recorded political murders.
🗡️ The Tale of Sinuhe (c. 19th century BCE)
This famous Egyptian story refers to political unrest following Amenemhat’s death. It reflects how murder shaped politics and literature, showing that the killing of rulers was seen as both shocking and world-changing.
⚖️ Murder in Ancient Trials
As civilizations developed, so did their legal and administrative systems. Some of the earliest trial records give us insights into how murder was investigated.
Ancient Mesopotamia
Clay tablets from Mesopotamia sometimes preserve court cases involving homicide. Judges questioned witnesses, examined circumstances, and delivered rulings. Unlike modern trials, there was little separation between legal, religious, and political authority.
Ancient Greece
By the 7th century BCE, Athens had specific courts to handle homicide. Murder cases were tried in front of juries, with both accuser and accused presenting arguments. These trials produced some of the earliest detailed forensic-style reasoning, where motive, opportunity, and method were debated.
👑 Murderers in Power: When Kings and Nobles Killed
In many cases, the earliest documented murderers were rulers or nobles whose crimes were recorded precisely because they disrupted politics.
Herostratus (356 BCE)
Though not technically a murderer, Herostratus killed something symbolic: the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. He admitted under torture that he did it to gain fame. Authorities tried to erase his name from history — but ironically, he became one of the first “fame-driven criminals” remembered today.
Cleopatra and Political Killings
Ancient accounts of Egyptian Queen Cleopatra describe her involvement in political assassinations, including her brothers and rivals. Whether exaggerated or true, such stories show how murder was woven into dynastic struggles.
⚔️ Serial and Ritual Killers in Antiquity
While individual murders were shocking, some cases suggest patterns of repeated killings, which today might be classified as serial murder.
The Roman Empire
Roman historians like Suetonius and Tacitus record emperors such as Caligula and Nero ordering or committing numerous killings. While these were political executions, ancient writers often portrayed them as acts of cruelty and bloodlust, blurring the line between ruler and murderer.
The Case of Locusta (1st century CE)
Locusta, a professional poisoner in Rome, became notorious for preparing lethal concoctions used in high-level assassinations. Emperors like Nero employed her services, making her one of the first documented contract killers in history.
🌍 Murder Beyond the West
Murder was recorded in many early civilizations outside Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece:
- China: Historical texts like Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian (1st century BCE) document political murders and executions in the courts of early dynasties.
- India: The Arthashastra (4th century BCE), a treatise on statecraft, discusses assassination as a political tool. It reveals a pragmatic acceptance of murder in governance.
- Mesoamerica: Maya and Aztec records show ritual killings, though distinguishing between religious sacrifice and murder is complex.
🕵️ Motives of the First Murderers
Studying early cases reveals common motives that are still recognizable today:
- Power and Politics: Palace assassinations, dynastic rivalries.
- Greed and Wealth: Killings for inheritance or plunder.
- Revenge and Honor: Personal disputes escalating into murder.
- Fear and Superstition: Some murders were justified as preventing curses, omens, or witchcraft.
What changes across time is not the motives but the framework of explanation: while modern criminology looks at psychology and social factors, ancient societies saw murder through the lens of honor, divine will, or cosmic disorder.
📖 Murder as Story: From History to Legend
Many of the earliest murderers survive not only in legal documents but also in literature, myth, and folklore. Ancient societies turned real crimes into cautionary tales, embedding them in cultural memory.
- Cain and Abel symbolized jealousy and sin.
- Locusta became a stock figure of female poisoners.
- Palace assassinations were retold as lessons about loyalty and betrayal.
This shows that murder was never just an act — it was also a storytelling device that helped societies define morality, justice, and order.
✅ Conclusion: Humanity’s Oldest Crime
The history of murder stretches back to humanity’s beginnings. From mythic tales of Cain and Abel to the clay tablets of Mesopotamia and the courts of Athens and Rome, the first documented murderers reveal much about how ancient peoples understood crime, justice, and human nature.
While the methods of investigation and punishment have changed, the fundamental human concerns remain the same: Why do people kill? How should society respond? And what does murder tell us about ourselves?
Studying the first murderers in history reminds us that while civilizations rise and fall, the struggle to understand violence is timeless.
📚 Sources
- Van De Mieroop, Marc. A History of the Ancient Near East.
- Roth, Martha T. Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor.
- Sima Qian. Records of the Grand Historian.
- Ginzburg, Carlo. Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath.
- Suetonius. The Twelve Caesars.
- Lefkowitz, Mary. Women in Greek Myth.
- Kemp, Barry. Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization.
