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Code of Hammurabi

Constitutions, Charters and Statutes

The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed around 1753 BC, purportedly by Hammurabi, the sixth king of the First Dynasty of Babylon. Written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian, it is the longest, best organized, and best preserved legal text to survive from the ancient Near East. Its primary copy is inscribed on a basalt stele 2.25 meters tall.

Facts
Document Type
Legal text 1
Creation Year
1753 BCE 2
Current Location
Louvre Museum, Paris (Department of Near Eastern Antiquities) 3
Original Language
Akkadian (Old Babylonian dialect) 1
Partially Attested
Origin Place
Sippar, Babylonia 1
Roth suggests the stele was taken as plunder from Sippar; its original place of erection is not firmly established.
Classification
Medium or Support
Stone or Inscription 1
Document Type
Document Type (category)
Code 1
Connections

In Era

Source Code of Hammurabi, Wikipedia
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Code of Hammurabi, Wikipedia
  • Lead, first sentence
    The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed c. 1753 BC.
  • Copies, Louvre stele
    Roth suggests the stele was taken as plunder from Sippar
  • Lead, language sentence
    It is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian
  • Code of Hammurabi: Medium
    Its primary copy is inscribed on a basalt stele 2.25 meters tall.
  • lead paragraph
    The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed 1753 BC. It is the longest, best-organized, and best-preserved legal text from the ancient
  • In Era: The Ancient Near East and Bronze Age World, lead paragraph and infobox, date
    Infobox date: c. 1753 BC; time interval--1753 ago
View the Source
2. Wikidata: Code of Hammurabi
  • Wikidata Q93304, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
  • intro
    composed c. 1753 BC
View the Source
3. The Code of Hammurabi, Louvre Museum
A major discovery from the turn of the 20th century
Quote, A major discovery from the turn of the 20th century
The stela has been on display at the Louvre since 1904, where it is one of the key pieces in the Department of Near Eastern Antiquities.
View the Source
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