 Our subject in this particular case study is an enormous basalt pillar bearing the law code of Hammurabi. And I brought in these two views to give you a sense of the massiveness of this particular work. It is a steely or large stone with relief carving on it. And you can get a sense from the people in the Louvre of just how large it is. When I say that the steely of Hammurabi with the law code on it was a basalt pillar, it came from a setting very much like what you see here. This is a photo that I took on our vacation in 2016 in Scotland. And you see my son at that time, I think he was seven. He is standing on some of the basalt on the island of Stafa in Scotland. And behind him are lots and lots of basalt pillars. And you can see that these sort of stepping stones that we are all walking on here are basalt pillars that have broken off. But you can imagine that something like the pillar that was used for the steely of Hammurabi would have been relatively easy to quarry because it would have come in a large pillar-like shape and could be just sort of dragged off and used in that state. Here are some more basalt pillars. I'm showing you two views from a mine near the city of Mayen in Germany. And on the left you see a pillar of basalt just out in the landscape. And you can see a portion where it's begun, it's sort of cracked halfway. On the right we're actually at the entrance to what is now a bat cave. But this was a very important quarry for basalt. And you can see that the quarrymen simply took the individual pillars that had formed and just removed them and used them wholesale. So again I think you can imagine the steely of Hammurabi starting out with a shape very much like this. And by the time that we're talking about the steely of Hammurabi at Babylon we're talking about a new civilization, the Babylonians, who clearly did not have the negative association with basalt that the much earlier Sumerians did. And they, in the case of the law code of Hammurabi, are attracted to probably first the ease in quarrying it and second to the fact that it is a very hard material and like the diorite used for the Gudea figures, something that would be eternal. Now we're back to the steely of Hammurabi. And what this is, is a massive basalt pillar that includes the entire text of the law code of Hammurabi, the ruler of Babylon, that he tells us was given to him by the god Shemash. And what we see here on the front of the steely is Hammurabi on the left bearded with a cap that looks very much like the caps that we saw on Gudea. So it's a sign of his royalty. He's wearing very rich robes. Usually if you see a figure with lots and lots, wearing lots and lots of fabric in art, that means that they are at the very least wealthy enough to own that much fabric. So it's a sign of status. He's a bearded figure and he's shown in a stance and in a pose that indicates that he's speaking with his god. You see he has his hand up to his face. Shemash, on the other hand, is seated and wears much more elaborate clothing with layers and layers and layers of fabric. So even more important, even more wealthy if you will. And look at this. Look at the fact that the heads of the two figures are even. So if Shemash stood up, he would tower well over Hammurabi. Size here is something that matters. Size tells us that Shemash is the most important figure here. He's also seated on a throne and the throne is shown with some characteristics of a mountain. He has sort of stones at his feet and this kind of many layered throne. And oftentimes gods were associated with the mountains because the mountains allowed people to get closer up to the heavens and to the realm of the gods. He has beams of light coming out of his shoulders. He has a long elaborate beard which was a symbol of authority. And you might also notice that he has this really sort of elaborate headdress that kind of looks like a twisty soft serve ice cream cone but in fact those are overlapping bull horns and bulls as you might recall from when we looked at Lapis Lazuli and the bull headed liar. Bulls were symbols of power in the ancient Near East. And so bull horns are often associated with the headdresses of rulers. And what's happening between these two figures is Shemash is handing a staff of authority and also a ring of authority to Hammurabi as the two speak. Although the law code of Hammurabi is not the first law code we know of in ancient history, it is one of the most important and certainly the best preserved. We have fragmentary law codes that also exist. We have indications of others that existed but we have the entire law code of Hammurabi. And I've got a couple of examples of laws here. They tend to be sort of eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth sorts of punishments. So for example, law number two, if anyone bring an accusation against a man and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river proved that the accused is not guilty and he escaped unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death. While he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser. So here we have sort of a trial, a trial by water, sink or swim, and a result that would certainly discourage false accusations. Number 57, down below, if a shepherd without the permission of the owner of the field and without the knowledge of the owner of the sheep lets the sheep into a field to graze, then the owner of the field shall harvest his crop and the shepherd who had pastured his flock there without permission of the owner of the field shall pay the owner 20 gur of corn for every 10 gun. And those are probably weights and measures that I don't know exactly what they're for. But this is a good example of what many of the laws are about and it's sort of dealing with everyday business between individuals and reflects the fact that by the time we get to ancient Babylon we have very complex societies with a bunch of different jobs and roles being played by individuals, lots of areas of specialization. And so a law code would be needed to keep peace and order between all of these disparate groups. I think one of the most interesting parts of the law code of Hammurabi is its epilogue. And I gave you some excerpts from that epilogue as a reading assignment to go over prior to this case study. And I want to call out one particular portion of that epilogue and that's the quote you see here on the right. It says, in future time, through all coming generations, let the king who may be in the land observe the words of righteousness which I have written on my monument. Let him not alter the law of the land which I have given, the edicts which I have enacted. My monument, let him not mar. If such a ruler have wisdom and be able to keep his land in order he shall observe the words which I have written in this inscription. The rules, statute and law of the land which I have given, the decisions which I have made, will this inscription show him? Let him rule his subjects accordingly. And you might remember that he also emphasized that he gets the law from Shemash, that he is favored by a whole laundry list of gods including Marduk, the patron god of Babylon. And there's also a bunch of curses that will affect anyone who changes or destroys this law code. And if you think about it, the laws of the ancient Israelites that we learn about in the Bible that were given to Moses, those were given on stone tablets. There's clearly a sense that something as important as law should be recorded on something that cannot easily be destroyed.