ABSTRACT
The most important discovery relating to Babylonian legislation is that of the " Code of Hammurabi." This name is given to a block of diorite 2-25 metres high with a circumference of 1-90 metres at the base; it was found broken into three fragments among the ruins of Susa in December, 1901, and January, 1902. It is adorned with a bas-relief 1 representing the sun-god, Shamash, lord of justice, dictating to the Babylonian prince the " decrees of equity," the text of which is inscribed on the face of the stone. In the present condition of this monument, erected between the fortieth and forty-third year of Hammurabi's reign (about 2083 b.c.), we can read two hundred and fifty articles of law in forty-six columns, comprising approximately 3600 lines of text. Five other columns on the face have been erased in antiquity-probably at the command of the Elamite king, Shutruk-Nahhunte, whose intention may have been to have a legend in his own name engraved there as on other war trophies. This gap is partly bridged by fragments of ancient copies engraved on clay tablets, Assyrian works of the Sargonid epoch, and by some articles dealing with loans at interest, and trust-contracts found among the ruins at Nippur.
