The Law Code Stele of King Hammurabi

The Law Code Stele of King Hammurabi, 1792-1750 B.C.E., basalt, 225 x 65 cm (Louvre, Paris). Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris

[@africandiycrafts3635]

Although school send me here, I found this quite interesting

[@kekewuzheer95]

RIght?? I actually enjoyed this

[@masheejr2466]

Same

[@possemrs2930]

same this was pretty cool

[@isajanjooa1273]

Same

[@artistjorge]

While my prof may have shown us these videos in my art history class years ago, I genuinely love looking back and seeing these videos. It's fascinating. Ms.Kelly if you see this, you were an awesome professor.

[@user-kw2bn6ll3h]

It's amazing they have over 300 their own law and script used on stele over 4,000 years ago. They're legal precedents, and they take the form of announcing an action and its consequences. I saw this at Louvre about 5 years ago, but I just passed. I wanna look at it in detail when I go again.

[@TheGLpanda]

Great video guys, love the format. Keep up the good work.

[@arig1646]

Wowzers

[@1983amrnijad]

Wonderfull video! Thanks

[@anonymouspsychedelicsuser8109]

who else is watching this for their humanities class lol

[@remasmr4095]

this channel is so helpful I love it so much.

[@MrNinoos11]

Thank you for this amazing post.

[@ghostfin6065]

This is a very interesting video, I really like all the fun facts I have learned

[@roserivera3003]

My professor sent me here too.xD

[@jimmorywitherspoon828]

Awesome narration and very informative.

[@monicab8400]

Did steles normally function as law codes? Or is this just a unique example from Mesopotamian culture?

[@michieldeprez4025]

Because the majority of the population was illiterate, it was usual that in cases of dispute about the law, there would be a hired literate man to read what the codex exactly dictates. To make the information available to everyone, these codices would often stand in the middle of a town square. This is why they chose steles instead of clay tablets, it's easier to make one stele for a town than to have people work on dozens of tablets, and tablets are also easier to falsify, so that two tablets tell different things. As long as the mojority of the country was illiterate, they used these steles.

[@joedellinger9437]

It was found when the French dug up an ancient museum, right? One can imagine some future society excavating the ruins of the Louvre and finding it all over again… We should carve a stone with it translated into modern languages for them to find with it…

[@dav46266]

At 0:19, in the top right corner, is that supposed to say "Babylon" instead of "Babylonia"?

[@smarthistory-art-history]

Good question. Babylon was a city in Babylonia.

[@KCarver]

Another great post

[@jacksonlam7461]

thi9s video is muy cool

[@benzenekim]

How tall is each cuneiform column? About a centimeter?

[@smarthistory-art-history]

I did a rough estimate, there is room for approximately 35 rows of text on the back (that may not be precisely right), divide that by 270 cm (the height) and you get roughly 6.5 cm for the height of each row.

[@rain-ns4fy]

i love this😻😻😻😻😩😩😩😩

[@elizabethlewis531]

Nice explanation for my Middle School Students as we begin a DBQ-Was Hammurabi's Law Code Just?"

[@bee-pg6zg]

Thank you very much for your lesson, it’s really educationally 📝 📚

[@tanmoyprl]

Excellent narration. Thanks for such an informative video.

[@oliverhouse6829]

Wasn't Sumerian the official government language of the time?

[@Mysticatlover]

Sean McCauley the akkadien came after the sumerian language so akkadien was the one at the time of Hammourabi.

[@ericferguson6099]

You guys are great!!!

[@mustafaa1458]

Glad to be from Iraq

[@whipderp8322]

cool!

[@TheSommersj]

Why did the original one go away? Can you repost it?

[@smarthistory-art-history]

Hi John, thanks for being in touch. That was a very old video and resolution of the images and the sound quality was quite poor-so we replaced it. Is there a reason that you need it?

[@TheSommersj]

The new video is definitely better from a quality standpoint, but my reasons for liking the old one better are a bit selfish. I have been showing it to my 10th grade world history class for several years and the kids actually liked the flaws in the old one better. It had a little more banter and they thought the two speakers interrupting each other was entertaining and they paid more attention. I'll take their buy in anyway I can get it. Would you be willing to repost it but make it hidden?

[@smarthistory-art-history]

I just went to look for the old video and remembered that we accidentally erased it when we switched to the new one. I think that's the first time this has ever happened. In any case, please pass along our greetings to your students, and do let us know if there are videos or essays that you'd like us to add. Best, Steven (and Beth)

[@demonic88]

wow great video! can you make one on the poetical stele of merneptah some time please? :D

[@melonn8530]

Ty!

[@kaylanozawa4798]

The oldest and most complete Torah scroll has been carbon dated to around 1250 BCE (wrong date, look below). The Torah is part of the Bible. The Law code of Hammurabi was written around 1771 BCE. Technically, the Torah was around before this law code was created.

[@smarthistory-art-history]

I had understood that the earliest known complete Torah is dated to 1250 C.E. (not B.C.E) and that the oldest known fragments date to about 300 C.E. or about 2,000 years after the stele. See for example: www.asor.org/anetoday/2018/03/Worlds-Oldest-Torah-Scrolls/ That is not to say that older Torahs once existed of course.

[@kaylanozawa4798]

@@smarthistory-art-history Thank you for your genuine reply! My date was incorrect. However, it is possible that the Biblical scripture existed at the same time or before the code of Hammurabi. Take a look at The Silver Ketef Hinnom Scrolls that are dated back to around 16 or 17 century BCE. There is also evidence that the 10th-century B.C. Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon may have reference to scripture and the Passover. It is certainly worth looking into! These are only texts that have been found to date. Much of the texts that existed before are destroyed. However, I think it is incorrect to say that the code of Hammurabi existed before the Bible was written. Yes, the entirety of the Bible did not exist at this time. However, there is strong evidence that the Torah, Biblical values, and the history of the Old Testament existed before and during the code of Hammurabi! Several historians estimate that the Torah was first written around the 5th century BCE.

[@AhatiMaat]

Your comment is wrong on many points...I will highlight a couple...first, the oldest Bible (a Greek word for book) is recognized as the Greek Septuagint which dates to 285 B.C.E. This means the Torah did not exist prior to the Code of Hammurabi because as you stated it is "a part of the Bible." Second, the only proof we have of the laws from Moses is by word a mouth and your Bible. And the Code of Hammurabi is not older than the Codes of Ur-Nammu which existed 2100 B.C. And evidence for these Codes are on clay tablets in museums. Comparing the Torah with the Codes of Hammurabi is similar to comparing Commissioner Gordon (Batman) with Commissioner Shea (REAL PERSON of NYC Police)

[@kaylanozawa4798]

@@AhatiMaat please do more research before replying with misinformation 😊

[@AhatiMaat]

@@kaylanozawa4798 What part is misinformation?

[@daddiehawkie2820]

who is here from corona 😕🤚

[@user-qq7bp1zm9g]

Kihg of Babylon

[@user-qq7bp1zm9g]

God bless mesopotamia

[@nbsaj]

in Iraq

[@user-ro7zt3dd9r]

And as soon as yiu get legal codes, you get lawyers! 😅