Page "Hammurabi" Paragraph 7

Hammurabi is best known for the promulgation of a new code of Babylonian law: the Code of Hammurabi.

One of the first written laws in the world, the Code of Hammurabi was inscribed on a stele and placed in a public place so that all could see it, although it is thought that few were literate.

The stele was later plundered by the Elamites and removed to their capital, Susa ; it was rediscovered there in 1901 and is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The code of Hammurabi contained 282 laws, written by scribes on 12 tablets.

Unlike earlier laws, it was written in Akkadian, the daily language of Babylon, and could therefore be read by any literate person in the city.