The Code of Hammurabi – Ancient Babylonian Law Code (c. 1750 BCE), Translated by C.H.W. Johns (1910 Edition)
Book details
- Title
- The Code of Hammurabi – Ancient Babylonian Law Code (c. 1750 BCE), Translated by C.H.W. Johns (1910 Edition)
- Author
- C H W Johns
- Publication year listed
- 1910
- Format
- Public domain eBook
- Reading access
- Free online reader; no registration required
- Source record
- View on Archive.org
About this book
The Code of Hammurabi – Ancient Babylonian Law Code (c. 1750 BCE), Translated by C.H.W. Johns (1910 Edition)
Author: Hammurabi
Year: 1910
Hammurabi. The Code of Hammurabi. Translated by Claude Hermann Walter Johns, edited by Charles F. Horne, 1910. EPUB file. Contextual Background Historical Setting (c. 1792–1750 BCE) The Code of Hammurabi was created during the reign of King Hammurabi of Babylon, the sixth king of the First Babylonian Dynasty. His rule marked a golden age in Mesopotamian civilization, during which Babylon rose as a political, military, and cultural capital of the ancient Near East. Hammurabi's empire extended across much of Mesopotamia, uniting disparate city-states under a centralized government. Discovery and Modern Reception The code was rediscovered in 1901 by French archaeologists at Susa (in modern Iran), inscribed on a black diorite stele over 7 feet tall. Though found far from Babylon, the monument had likely been looted during a later conquest. The text is written in Akkadian using cuneiform script and contains nearly 300 legal rulings. Purpose and Structure The code served as both a legal proclamation and a moral-political statement. It begins with a prologue invoking Hammurabi’s divine right to rule (granted by the god Marduk) and ends with curses upon those who would alter or ignore the