In December 1901, an archaeological team composed of French and Iranians conducted excavations at the site of an ancient city called Susa in southwestern Iran. One day, they found a piece of black basalt, and a few days later they found two more pieces. When the three pieces were put together, they happened to be an oval-shaped stone pillar. The stone pillar is two and a half meters high. On top of it are carved reliefs of two people: one is sitting, holding a short stick in his right hand; the other is standing, arching his hands, much like he is worshiping. On the lower part of the stone pillar, there are carved figures like Words like arrowheads or nailheads. After research, this is the legal text recorded in cuneiform writing - the "Code of Hammurabi". The stele is composed of three pieces of black basalt, 2.25 meters high, and the upper circumference is 1.65 meters , the bottom circumference is 1.90 meters. The upper part of the stele is a relief sculpture (0.65 meters high and 0.6 meters wide) of the sun god and justice god Shamash conferring royal power on Hammurabi. Below the relief is the codex inscription engraved around the stele, with 3,500 lines in total, and the cuneiform script is written vertically.
The Code of Hammurabi is the earliest written legal text found in the world. It is an extremely important cultural relic for people to study the ancient Babylonian economic system and social legal system; at the same time, it is also a masterpiece of ancient Babylonian art. Representative, especially because the works of art handed down from the ancient Babylonian Kingdom are very rare, so this stele is even more precious. The stele's carvings are relatively fine and its surface is highly polished. The stone tablet is fully engraved with cuneiform writing, with 280 articles in total, including detailed provisions on criminal, civil, trade, marriage, inheritance, and trial systems. The upper part of the code is a relief of the Babylonian sun god Shamash giving the code to King Hammurabi. The sun god is tall, with a neatly braided beard, a spiral crown on his head, his right shoulder exposed, a robe, sitting upright, and is granting Hammurabi the magic mark and magic ring that symbolizes power; Hammurabi is wearing The traditional crown, with a solemn expression, raises hands to take an oath. The throne of the Sun God is very similar to the pagoda temple in ancient Babylon, indicating that the person sitting on it is the highest god.
"The Code of Hammurabi" is a famous code promulgated by Hammurabi, the sixth king of the ancient Babylonian Kingdom (reigned from 1792 to 1750 BC). As we all know, the ancient Babylonian Kingdom was located in the Euphrates and Tigris river basins, roughly equivalent to today's Iraq. If this code of law is the "real body", how did it end up in Susa? It turns out that more than 3,000 BC, there was a powerful slave kingdom called Elam (also translated as "Elam") in the Susa Basin southwest of Dizful, Iran today. The ancient city of Susa was the capital of the Elam Kingdom. After the Elamites captured Babylon in 1163 BC, they moved the stone pillars engraved with the Code of Hammurabi back to Susa as trophies. The Elamite kingdom was later destroyed by Persia. In the 6th century BC, King Darius of the Persian Empire came to power and set the capital of the Persian Empire in Susa. This stone pillar code fell into the hands of the Persians again.
After the stone tablet was "authenticated," new doubts arose: Why were the seven columns of text on the front of the excavated column polished? According to historical records, after the Elamite king conquered Babylon, he felt that his achievements were extraordinary and he was unwilling to die in fame, so he planned to engrave his great achievements on the front of this huge cylindrical stone tablet. However, after destroying the writing on it, no new words were engraved on it, which is why I don’t know why.
Thanks to the Elamite king's "mercy", the original text of the stele is well preserved, with only 35 lines being worn. Later, fragments of clay manuscripts of the code were discovered in Susa, Assyria and other places, allowing almost all of the worn parts of the stele to be repaired and restored. Otherwise, the reputation of "the world's first relatively complete written code" may be lost to others. This code consists of three parts: preface, main body (282 articles) and conclusion (***3500 lines).
The content ranges from morality to national obligations and all areas of private social life, including frame-up, theft, harboring, robbery, military service, renting land, economic disputes over land, orchards, physical leasing, commerce, consignment, Hostages, debts, custody, marriage, inheritance, adoption, personal injury, medical treatment, hairdressing, construction, shipbuilding, leasing, entrusted grazing, hired labor, disputes about slaves, etc., involve a wide range of areas and provide detailed regulations. Later generations and even modern people are amazed.
Some of the inscriptions in the Code (Articles 66 to 100 of the Code) were worn away in ancient times. According to research, the Elamite king Sutruknathan invaded Babylonia around 1150 BC and transported the codex stele back to Susa as a trophy. Perhaps, in order to engrave his achievements on the stone tablet, he caused some of the original text to be worn out. But for some reason (perhaps because he died soon) he could not re-engrave it. The incomplete inscription was partly reconstructed based on fragments of a codex copy unearthed in Susa, and partly filled in based on clay tablet manuscripts found in Nineveh, the ancient capital of Assyria, and other urban sites in the Mesopotamia. The codex stele is made of hard stone and has exquisite calligraphy. It is a typical official document of the First Dynasty of Babylon. The stele is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.
Historical status
"The Code of Hammurabi" is the first relatively complete written code in ancient times that exists in the world, and it occupies an important position in the history of the world's legal system. It is the first-hand document to understand and study the history of the ancient Babylonian Kingdom. It has relatively completely inherited the original legal essence of the two river basins and developed it to a perfect level. It publicly confirmed the dominant status of the slave-owning class, strictly protected the interests of the slave-owning class, and made relatively comprehensive provisions on various legal relationships, especially those related to creditor's rights, contracts, torts, family and criminal law. Some principles: such as the legal principle that theft of other people's property must be punished, the damage to other people's property must be compensated, the penalty principle of false accusation and perjury, and the principle of severe punishment for judges who violate the law, etc., all have a significant impact on later generations of legislation. The "Code of Hammurabi" was not only continued to be applied by subsequent ancient West Asian countries such as Hittite, Assyria, Neo-Babylon and other countries, but also had a certain influence on Western legal culture through Hebrew law. In medieval Catholic canon law, Some of the legislative ideas and principles originate from this code.