An inscription of the Code of Hammurabi.

The upper part of the stele of Hammurabi's code of laws

The stele containing the Code of Hammurabi was discovered in December 1901 by the egyptologist Gustave Jéquier, a member of the expedition headed by Jacques de Morgan. The stele was discovered in what is now Khuzestan, Iran (ancient Susa, Elam), where it had been taken as plunder by the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte in the 12th century BC.^[4] It is currently on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris.^[1] At the top of the stele is a bas-relief image of a Babylonian god (either Marduk or Shamash), with the king of Babylon presenting himself to the god, with his right hand raised to his mouth as a mark of respect.^[1] The text covers the bottom portion with the laws written in Old Babylonian cuneiform script. The text has been broken down by translators into 282 laws, but this division is arbitrary, since the original text contains no divisional markers.

Hammurabi (ruled ca. 1796 BC ? 1750 BC) believed that he was chosen by the gods to deliver the law to his people. In the preface to the law code, he states, "Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land."^[5]

The code is often pointed to as the first example of the legal concept that some laws are so fundamental as to be beyond the ability of even a king to change.

The Code of Hammurabi was one of several sets of laws in the Ancient Near East.^[6][7] Earlier collections of laws include the Codex of Ur-Nammu, king of Ur (ca. 2050 BC), the Laws of Eshnunna (ca. 1930 BC) and the codex of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin (ca. 1870 BC).^[8], while later ones include the Hittite laws, the Assyrian laws, and Mosaic Law. These codes come from similar cultures in a relatively small geographical area, and they have passages which resemble each other.

View of the back side of the stele.

The Babylonians and their neighbors developed the earliest system of economics that was fixed in a legal code, using a metric of various commodities. The early law codes from Sumer could be considered the first (written) economic formula, and had many attributes still in use in the current price system today... such as codified amounts of money for business deals (interest rates), fines in money for 'wrong doing', inheritance rules, laws concerning how private property is to be taxed or divided, etc. The Code does not provide for an opportunity for explanation or justification, though it does imply one's right to present evidence. For a summary of the laws, see Babylonian law.

See also

• Code of the Assura
• Babylonian law
• Cuneiform Law
• Quid pro quo

References

Sources

• Falkenstein, A. (1956–57). Die neusumerischen Gerichtsurkunden I–III. München.
• Elsen-Novák, G. / Novák, M.: Der 'König der Gerechtigkeit'. Zur Ikonologie und Teleologie des 'Codex' Hammurapi. In: Baghdader Mitteilungen 37 (2006), pp. 131-156.
• Julius Oppert and Joachim Menant (1877). Documents juridiques de l'Assyrie et de la Chaldee. París.
• Thomas, D. Winton, ed. (1958). Documents from Old Testament Times. London and New York.

External links

• Law Code of Hammurabi, king of Babylon | Musée du Louvre
• English Translation | University of Evansville
• English translation of the Code of Hammurabi
• See also the French Wikipedia page: Code d'Hammurabi, for a more extensive discussion.

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