The foundation of all law-making in Babylonia from about the middle
of the twenty-third century B.C. to the fall of the empire was the
code of Hammurabi, the first king of all Babylonia. He expelled
invaders from his dominions, cemented the union of north and south
Babylonia, made Babylon the capital, and thus consolidated an
empire which endured for almost twenty centuries. The code which he
compiled is the oldest known in history, older by nearly a thousand
years than the Mosaic, and of earlier date than the so-called Laws
of Manu. It is one of the most important historical landmarks in
existence, a document which gives us knowledge not otherwise
furnished of the country and people, the civilization and life of a
great centre of human action hitherto almost hidden in obscurity.
Hammurabi, who is supposed to be identical with Amraphel, a
contemporary of Abraham, is regarded as having certainly
contributed through his laws to the Hebrew traditions. The
discovery of this code has, therefore, a special value in relation
to biblical studies, upon which so many other important side-lights
have recently been thrown.

The discovery was made at Susa, Persia, in December and January,
1901-2, by M. de Morgan's French excavating expedition. The
monument on which the laws are inscribed, a stele of black diorite
nearly eight feet high, has been fully described by Assyriologists,
and the inscription transcribed. It has been completely translated
by Dr. Hugo Winckler, whose translation (in _Die Gesetze
Hammurabis_, Band IV, Heft 4, of _Der Alte Orient_) furnishes the
basis of the version herewith presented. Following an
autobiographic preface, the text of the code contains two hundred
and eighty edicts and an epilogue. To readers of the code who are