Editing Code of Hammurabi (section)

==Early scholarship==
[[File:Cours de M. le professeur Scheil (Assyriologie), la Sorbonne, École des hautes études.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph of Jean-Vincent Scheil at a desk with piles of books and paper|[[Jean-Vincent Scheil|Father Jean-Vincent Scheil]], first modern editor of the Code]]
The {{lang|la|editio princeps}} of the Code was published by Father Jean-Vincent Scheil in 1902,{{sfnp|Souvay|1910}} in the fourth volume of the ''Reports of the Delegation to Persia'' ({{lang|fr|Mémoires de la Délégation en Perse}}). After a brief introduction with details of the excavation,{{sfnp|Scheil|1902|pp=11–12}} Scheil gave a transliteration and a free translation into French,{{sfnp|Scheil|1902|pp=13–162}} as well as a selection of images.{{sfnp|Scheil|1902|loc=plates 3–15}} Editions in other languages soon followed: in German by [[Hugo Winckler]] in 1902,{{sfnp|Winckler|1902}} in English by [[Claude Hermann Walter Johns|C. H. W. Johns]] in 1903,{{sfnp|Johns|1903a}} and in Italian by Pietro Bonfante, also in 1903.{{sfnp|Bonfante|1903}}

The Code was thought to be the earliest Mesopotamian law collection when it was rediscovered in 1902—for example, C. H. W. Johns' 1903 book was titled ''The Oldest Code of Laws in the World''.{{sfnp|Johns|1903a}} The English writer [[H. G. Wells]] included Hammurabi in the first volume of ''[[The Outline of History]]'', and to Wells too the Code was "the earliest known code of law".{{sfnp|Wells|1920|p=245}} However, three earlier collections were rediscovered afterwards: the Code of Lipit-Ishtar in 1947, the Laws of Eshnunna in 1948, and the Code of Ur-Nammu in 1952.{{sfnp|Kramer|1988|pp=51–52}} Early commentators dated Hammurabi and the stele to the 23rd century BC.{{sfnmp|1a1=Johns|1y=1903b|1p=257|2a1=Harper|2y=1904|2loc=the title|3a1=Equitable Trust Company|3y=1910|3loc=the title}} However, this is an earlier estimate than even the "[[middle chronology|ultra-long chronology]]" would support. The Code was compiled near the end of Hammurabi's reign.{{sfnmp|1a1=Driver|1a2=Miles|1y=1952|1p=34ff.|2a1=Roth|2y=1995a|2p=71}} This was deduced partly from the list of his achievements in the prologue.{{sfnp|Finkelstein|1961|p=101}}

Scheil enthused about the stele's importance and perceived fairness, calling it "a moral and political masterpiece".{{sfnp|Scheil|1902|p=12}} C. H. W. Johns called it "one of the most important monuments in the history of the human race".{{sfnp|Johns|1903a|p=v}} He remarked that "there are many humanitarian clauses and much protection is given the weak and the helpless",{{sfnp|Johns|1904|p=68}} and even lauded a "wonderful modernity of spirit".{{sfnp|Johns|1903b|p=258}} [[John Dyneley Prince]] called the Code's rediscovery "the most important event which has taken place in the development of Assyriological science since the days of [[Henry Creswicke Rawlinson|Rawlinson]] and [[Austen Henry Layard|Layard]]".{{sfnp|Prince|1904|p=601}} [[Charles Francis Horne]] commended the "wise law-giver" and his "celebrated code".{{sfnp|Horne|1915}} [[James Henry Breasted]] noted the Code's "justice to the widow, the orphan, and the poor", but remarked that it "also allows many of the old and naïve ideas of justice to stand".{{sfnp|Breasted|1916|p=131}} Commentators praised the advanced society they believed the Code evinced.{{sfnmp|1a1=Johns|1y=1903b|1p=257|2a1=Souvay|2y=1910|3a1=Everts|3y=1920|3p=45}} Several singled out perceived [[secularism]]: Owen Jenkins,{{sfnp|Jenkins|1905|p=335}} for example, but even Charles Souvay for the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'', who opined that unlike the [[Mosaic Law]] the Code was "founded upon the dictates of reason".{{sfnp|Souvay|1910}} The question of the Code's influence on the Mosaic Law received much early attention.{{sfnmp|1a1=Sampey|1y=1904a|2a1=Sampey|2y=1904b|3a1=Davies|3y=1905|4a1=Johns|4y=1914|5a1=Everts|5y=1920|6a1=Edwards|6y=1921}} Scholars also identified Hammurabi with the Biblical figure [[Amraphel]],{{sfnmp|1a1=Johns|1y=1903a|1pp=v–vi|2a1=Prince|2y=1904|2pp=601–602|3a1=Souvay|3y=1910}} but this proposal has since been abandoned.{{sfnp|North|1993|p=5}}