The University of Chicago Arts Blog

Cast of the law code of Hammurabi; man-made materials. Purchased in Paris, 1931. C478. Cast after the original: basalt or diorite. Iran, Susa. Old Babylonian period, reign of Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC). Excavated in 1901-02. Musée du Louvre, Paris

In 1901 at the ancient site of Susa, located in present-day Iran, Jacques de Morgan uncovered an imposing black diorite stone slab known as "Hammurabi's Code" which he brought back to Paris and now resides in the Louvre. The OI is fortunate to possess a perfect replica. The divine figure sitting atop the stele was the god of light and justice, known as Utu in Sumerian and Shamash in Akkadian. King Hammurabi of Babylon, the man standing, received the rod and ring from Shamash and thus gained divine authenticity to reign.

Three themes related to the stele fascinate me. First, how Hammurabi's complex political and social motivations resulted in the promulgation of human and property rights. Second, how the Elamite King Šutruk-Nahhunte I, who ruled six centuries after Hammurabi and reigned 300 miles to the east, looted the stone with the intent to usurp the cultural, religious, and artistic bounty of the Babylonians. The Iraqi-Iranian rivalries are not new. Third, how the early codification and standardization of rules and measures have influenced our own concept of justice and commerce.