Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

Second Millennium BCE

The resurgence of Sumer was short-lived. The last of the kings of the

Third Dynasty of Ur fell at the hands of the Elamites, who ruled the

territory east of the Tigris River. The following two centuries wit-

nessed the reemergence of the traditional Mesopotamian political

pattern of several independent city-states existing side by side.

HAMMURABI Babylon was one of those city-states until its

most powerful king, Hammurabi (r. 1792–1750 BCE), reestablished a

centralized government in southern Mesopotamia. Perhaps the most

renowned king in Mesopotamian history, Hammurabi was famous

The Second Millennium BCE 43

I

n the early 18th century BCE, King Hammurabi of Babylon formu-

lated a comprehensive law code for his people. At the time, parts

of Europe were still in the Stone Age. Even in Greece, it was not until

more than 1,000 years later that Draco provided Athens with its first

written set of laws. Two earlier Sumerian law codes survive in part, but

Hammurabi’s laws are the only ones known in great detail, thanks to

the chance survival of a tall black-basalt stele (FIG. 2-17) that was car-

ried off as booty to Susa in 1157 BCE, together with the Naram-Sin

stele (FIG. 2-13). At the top (FIG. 2-1) is a representation in high relief

of Hammurabi in the presence of Shamash, the flame-shouldered

sun god. The king raises his hand in respect. The god extends to

Hammurabi the rod and ring that symbolize authority. The symbols

derive from builders’ tools—measuring rods and coiled rope—and

connote the ruler’s capacity to build the social order and to mea-

sure people’s lives, that is, to render judgments and enforce the laws

spelled out on the stele. The judicial code, written in Akkadian, was

inscribed in 3,500 lines of cuneiform characters. Hammurabi’s laws

governed all aspects of Babylonian life, from commerce and property

to murder and theft to marital fidelity, inheritances, and the treatment

of slaves.

Here is a small sample of the infractions described and the pen-

alties imposed (which vary with the person’s standing in society):

❚If a man puts out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.

❚If he kills a man’s slave, he shall pay one-third of a mina.

❚If someone steals property from a temple, he will be put to death,

as will the person who receives the stolen goods.

❚If a man rents a boat and the boat is wrecked, the renter shall re-

place the boat with another.

❚If a married woman dies before bearing any sons, her dowry shall be

repaid to her father, but if she gave birth to sons, the dowry shall

belong to them.

❚If a man’s wife is caught in bed with another man, both will be tied

up and thrown in the water.

Hammurabi’s stele is noteworthy artistically as well. The sculp-

tor depicted Shamash (FIG. 2-1) in the familiar convention of com-

bined front and side views, but with two important exceptions. His

great headdress with its four pairs of horns is in true profile so that

only four, not all eight, of the horns are visible. And the artist seems

to have tentatively explored the notion offoreshortening—a means

of suggesting depth by representing a figure or object at an angle, in-

stead of frontally or in profile. Shamash’s beard is a series of diagonal

rather than horizontal lines, suggesting its recession from the picture

plane, and the sculptor represented the side of his throne at an angle.

Hammurabi’s Law Code

ART AND SOCIETY

2-17Stele with law code

ofHammurabi, from Susa,

Iran, ca. 1780 bce.Basalt,

7  4 high. Louvre, Paris.

The stele that records

Hammurabi’s remarkably

early law code also is

one of the first examples

of an artist employing

foreshortening—the

representation of a figure

or object at an angle

(compare FIG. 2-1).

for his conquests. But he is best known today for his law code (FIGS.

2-1and 2-17), which prescribed penalties for everything from

adultery and murder to the cutting down of a neighbor’s trees (see

“Hammurabi’s Law Code,” above).

LION GATE, HATTUSAThe Babylonian Empire toppled in

the face of an onslaught by the Hittites, an Anatolian people who con-

quered and sacked Babylon around 1595 BCE. They then retired to

their homeland, leaving Babylon in the hands of the Kassites. Remains

of the strongly fortified capital city of the Hittites still may be seen at

Hattusa near modern Boghazköy, Turkey. Constructed of large blocks

1 ft.

2-17AInvesti-
ture of Zimri-
Lim, Mari, ca.
1775–1760 BCE.