The Code of Hammurabi
Babylon (modern Iran). Susain. c. 1792-1750 B.C.E. Basalt.
In this stone is carved with around 300 laws, the first know set of ruler enforced laws. (Stone, carved, laws, inscriptions)
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Current Location: Louvre, France
Size: 7.4 ft tall
Material: Basalt (hard volcanic rock)
-longevity
Form:
- Visual art but also a form of written document helping to preserve history
Function:
- piece of art AND code of law
- hierarchical scale
- enormously important and cherished
- source before biblical texts
| - high relief sculpture of the king Hammurabi receiving the code from the god of justice (Shamash)
- Sitting vs Standing
- despite this, it is clear the artists decision to make both visually the same height to portray equal importance
Context:
- What was happening at the time?
- Art and Societal Control
- Power and Posterity
- Devine elements
| Content: - These laws were written in cuneiform
- Predates 10 Commandments
- Covered in small registers
- right to be king
- ode to glory
- over 300 forms of laws that govern Babylonia
- cuneiform in the acadian language (language very accessible)––wanted for it to be a legacy for understanding
- laws and consequences were very serious
- outlines actions (beginning in a tradition in saying laws are uniform)
- Judah Christian Belief
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Cross-Cultural Comparison
Jayavarman VII as Buddha
Bichitr, Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings
Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
