Appendix. The Stele Inscribed With The Laws Of Ḫammurabi.
This monument was found at Susa, in the excavations undertaken by the French Government, by MM. de Morgan and Prof. V. Scheil. It is a column of diorite, measuring about 7 feet in height, tapering slightly from the bottom upwards. The circumference of the base is about 2 yards, and at the summit about 5 feet 5-½ inches. As, however, the stone is not square, it may be described as measuring, roughly, 22 inches broad at the base, and 16 inches just above the bas-relief at the top, where it is rounded somewhat irregularly.
The bas-relief, which is in perfect condition, measures about 2 feet 2 inches in height, and represents Ḫammurabi standing, facing to the right, towards the sun-god Šamaš, who sits on a throne of the usual recessed design. The god is bearded, clothed in a flounced robe, and has his hair looped up behind. His hat is pointed, and is adorned with four (eight) horns, rising at the side, and coming forward, where their points are turned up. His right shoulder is bare, and in his right hand he holds a staff and a ring, emblematic of authority and eternity, or his apparent course in the heavens. His right hand is held against his breast, and wavy lines, probably representing his rays, arise from his shoulders.
Ḫammurabi, who stands before the seated god, is clothed in a long robe reaching to his feet, and held up by his left arm. His right shoulder and arm are bare, and the hand is raised as if to emphasize the words he is uttering. Like the god, he is heavily bearded. On his head he wears the globular thick-brimmed hat distinctive of men in authority for many hundred years before his time, and for a considerable period afterwards.
The inscription, which is in horizontal columns, covers all four sides of the stone, and is divided into two parts, called by [pg 488] Prof. Scheil, who first translated it, the “obverse” and the “reverse” respectively. The former is in 16 columns, after which come 5 columns which have been erased, probably, as Prof. Scheil remarks, to insert the name and titles of an Elamite king, Šutruk-Naḫḫunte, who has his inscription placed on several other monuments of Babylonian origin found there. For some reason or other, the space on the stele of Ḫammurabi still remains blank. The “reverse” has 28 columns of inscription. The columns are narrow, and the lines consequently short, but as the latter are no less than 3638 in number, the text is a very extensive one, and when complete, must have consisted of over 4000 lines.
The inscription consists of three portions: the Introduction, consisting of 4 columns and 25 lines, detailing all the benefits which Ḫammurabi had conferred on the cities and temples of the land; the Laws, which occupy the remainder of the obverse, and 23 columns of the reverse (in all, 40 columns less 25 lines); and the Conclusion, occupying the remaining 5 columns, in which he recounts his own virtues, and in a long curse, calls upon the gods whom he worshipped to punish and destroy any of his successors who should abolish or change what he had written, or destroy his bas-relief.