Editing Code of Hammurabi (section)

===Relief===
[[File:F0182 Louvre Code Hammourabi Bas-relief Sb8 rwk.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph. Refer to caption and adjacent text|The [[bas-relief|relief]] on the [[Louvre]] [[stele]]]]

The relief appears to show Hammurabi standing before a seated Shamash.{{sfnp|Roth|1995a|p=73}} Shamash wears the horned crown of divinity{{sfnmp|1a1=Van Buren|1y=1943|2a1=Black|2a2=Green|2y=1998|2pp=102–103|3a1=Slanski|3y=2012|3p=106}} and has a solar attribute, flames,{{sfnp|Black|Green|1998|p=183}} spouting from his shoulders.{{sfnp|Breasted|1916|p=132}} Contrastingly, Scheil, in his {{lang|la|editio princeps}},{{sfnp|Souvay|1910}} identified the seated figure as Hammurabi and the standing figure as Shamash. Scheil also held that the scene showed Shamash dictating to Hammurabi while Hammurabi held a scribe's [[stylus]], gazing attentively at the god.{{sfnp|Scheil|1902|p=12}} Martha Roth lists other interpretations: "that the king is offering the laws to the god; that the king is accepting or offering the emblems of sovereignty of the rod and ring; or—most probably—that these emblems are the measuring tools of the rod-measure and rope-measure used in temple-building".{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|pp=22–23}} Hammurabi may even be imitating Shamash.{{sfnp|Charpin|2010|pp=81–82}} It is certain, though, that the draughtsman showed Hammurabi's close links to the divine realm,{{sfnp|Roth|1995b|p=23}} using composition and iconography.{{sfnp|Elsen-Novák|Novák|2006|pp=148–149}}