Editing Code of Hammurabi (section)

{{short description|Babylonian legal text}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox document
| document_name        = Code of Hammurabi
| image                = P1050763 Louvre code Hammurabi face rwk.JPG
| image_size           = 
| image_alt            = Photograph. The stele of the Code of Hammurabi in the Louvre Museum in Paris
| caption              = The Louvre stele
| image2               = 
| image2_size          = 
| image2_alt           = 
| caption2             = 
| date_created         = {{circa}} 1792–1750 BC ([[middle chronology]])
| date_presented       = 
| date_ratified        = 
| date_effective       = 
| date_repeal          = 
| location_of_document = {{ubl|The [[Louvre]], [[Paris]], France (originally [[Sippar]], [[Mesopotamia]] 
 (modern-day [[Iraq]]), found at [[Susa]], Iran)|Replicas: various}}
| commissioned         = 
| writer               = King [[Hammurabi]] of [[Babylon]]
| signers              = 
| media_type           = [[Basalt]] [[stele]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sasson |first1=Jack |title=Civilizations of the Ancient Near East |publisher=Hendrickson |isbn=0684192799 |pages=901, 908}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ross |first1=Leslie |title=Art and Architecture of the World's Religions |publisher=Greenwood Press |pages=35}}</ref>
| subject              = Law, justice
| purpose              = Debated: [[legislation]], [[law report]], or [[jurisprudence]]
| wikisource           = Code of Hammurabi
}}
The '''Code of Hammurabi''' is a [[Babylon]]ian legal text composed during 1755–1750 BC. It is the longest, best-organized, and best-preserved legal text from the [[ancient Near East]]. It is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]], purportedly by [[Hammurabi]], sixth king of the [[First Dynasty of Babylon]]. The primary copy of the text is inscribed on a [[basalt]] [[stele]] {{height|m=2.25}} tall.

The stele was rediscovered in 1901 at the site of [[Susa]] in present-day Iran, where it had been taken as plunder six hundred years after its creation. The text itself was copied and studied by Mesopotamian scribes for over a millennium. The stele now resides in the [[Louvre Museum]].

The top of the stele features an image in [[bas-relief|relief]] of Hammurabi with [[Shamash]], the Babylonian [[sun god]] and god of justice. Below the relief are about 4,130 lines of [[cuneiform]] text: one fifth contains a prologue and epilogue in poetic style, while the remaining four fifths contain what are generally called the laws. In the prologue, Hammurabi claims to have been granted his rule by the gods "to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak". The laws are [[casuistic]], expressed as "if{{nbsp}}... then" [[conditional sentences]]. Their scope is broad, including, for example, [[criminal law]], [[family law]], [[property law]], and [[commercial law]].

Modern scholars responded to the Code with admiration at its perceived fairness and respect for the [[rule of law]], and at the complexity of Old Babylonian society. There was also much discussion of its influence on the [[Mosaic Law]]. Scholars quickly identified {{lang|la|[[lex talionis]]}}—the "eye for an eye" principle—underlying the two collections. Debate among [[Assyriologists]] has since centred around several aspects of the Code: its purpose, its underlying principles, its language, and its relation to earlier and later law collections.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding these issues, Hammurabi is regarded outside Assyriology as an important figure in the history of law and the document as a true legal code. The [[U.S. Capitol]] has a relief portrait of Hammurabi alongside those of other historic lawgivers. There are replicas of the stele in numerous institutions, including the [[headquarters of the United Nations]] in [[New York City]] and the [[Pergamon Museum]] in [[Berlin]].
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