exemplary of Babylonian visual images. The choice is made not simply on the basis
of the commissioner or patron, since we have seen that the identity of the patron
does not necessarily dictate the choice, nor is the choice made on the basis of find-
spot, since objects sometimes travelled far across geographical borders in antiquity.
One such monument that travelled in antiquity is the stele known as the Law Code
of the Babylonian King Hammurabi ( 1792 – 1750 ) (Figure 10. 2 ). This monument is,
perhaps, considered more exemplary of Babylonian art than any other, and yet it was
found in Susa in Iran, where it had been carried off as war booty in the twelfth century
BC(André-Salvini 2004 ). It was discovered in 1902 at the site of Susa, where it had
been taken, after being removed from the Babylonian city of Babylon by the troops
of the Elamite king, Shutruk Nahunte.
THE PUBLIC MONUMENTThe Codex Hammurabi is not, in fact, a code of laws (Bottéro 1987 ). It is, nevertheless,
a stele that depicts the Law, or rather Jurisprudence, as an abstract phenomenological
concept. It is a large stele, more than two metres in height, and made out of a black
basalt monolith. The larger part of the oblong monument is covered with cuneiform
script. Twenty-three columns of writing appear on the front, the last seven of which
were erased by the Elamites in the twelfth century, and twenty-eight columns of
writing appear on the back. Five columns at the beginning and at the end are written
as a prologue and an epilogue to the list of laws. Here Hammurabi explains that he
was chosen by the gods and recites his military conquests in succession. The gods
also chose him to govern and to regulate the law. Because the laws compiled on the
inscription cannot be said to cover all areas of jurisprudence, and because these laws
are limited to a few areas of life, the stele’s identification as a Law Code is no longer
accepted. The monument is now defined as one that represents Hammurabi as a king
of justice, listing some legal decisions, without being a complete code of laws (Bottéro
1992 : 156 – 184 ).
At the top part of one side, a scene carved in relief appears above the text (see
Figure 10.2). Here, Hammurabi is shown in front of the god Shamash. He enters his
world. The space of the sacred and the profane is merged in ways that are perhaps
more alarming than in earlier works of Mesopotamian kings where there is a
transfiguration of the king into a divinity. Here, Hammurabi has come face to face
with the god. He is smaller than the Shamash figure, yet very like him in many
respects.
Shamash is seated on the right. He wears a multiple horned crown, and rays of
sunlight emerge from his shoulders. He wears a layered garment that reveals a bare
right shoulder and arm that are muscular and strong. Shamash is seated on a throne
that is in the form of a temple structure, and beneath his feet is the scale pattern of
the standard iconographic mountain motif, appropriate for the mountains from which
the sun emerges. With his right hand he gives the emblems of rule to Hammurabi,
who stands before him. Hammurabi holds his right hand up to his lips, in a gesture
of worship. He wears the attire and headdress of a mortal king. There is nothing
about him that would indicate a body that is more than human. Physically, Hammurabi
is mere man. He holds none of the weapons of the warrior king, despite the fact that
the prologue describes his military conquests. Here, the king is mortal, but he is
— Zainab Bahrani —