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
familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures many biblical parallels will
occur.

When Anu the Sublime, king of the Anunaki, and Bel [god of the earth],
the Lord of Heaven and earth, who decreed the fate of the land, assigned
to Marduk [or Merodach, the great god of Babylon] the over-ruling son of
Ea [god of the waters], God of righteousness, dominion over earthly man,
and made him great among the Igigi, they called Babylon by his
illustrious name, made it great on earth, and founded an everlasting
kingdom in it [Babylon], whose foundations are laid so solidly as those
of heaven and earth; then Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the
exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness
in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the
strong should not harm the weak; so that I should rule over the
black-headed people like Shamash [the sun-god], and enlighten the land,
to further the well-being of mankind.

Hammurabi, the prince, called of Bel am I, making riches and increase,
enriching Nippur and Dur-ilu beyond compare, sublime patron of E-kur
[temple of Bel in Nippur, the seat of Bel's worship]; who reestablished
Eridu and purified the worship of E-apsu [temple of Ea, at Eridu, the
chief seat of Ea's worship]; wh