大约公元前1755年，巴比伦城里发生了一件史无前例的事。国王汉谟拉比把282条法律——关于杀人、偷盗、离婚，甚至房屋建筑质量的规定——刻在了一根两米多高的黑色石柱上，然后把它立在神庙里。他要传达的意思很简单，也很大胆：法律不是秘密，它属于每一个人。
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The place
Babylon
刻在石头上的法
四千年前，一个巴比伦国王把282条律法刻在黑石上，从此改变了人类对正义的理解
c. 1755-1750 BCE (code’s promulgation); discovered at Susa, Iran, in 1901-1902Babylon
故事寓意
“在汉谟拉比之前，正义就是强者加诸弱者的任何东西。在他之后，正义——至少在原则上——被写了下来，公开可见，人人适用。这部法典按现代标准来看并不公平，它区分阶层，对穷人更为严苛，也包含我们今天无法容忍的残酷条目。但它确立了一个革命性的理念：法律先于犯罪而存在，刑罚必须与罪行成比例，即使是国王也受制于某种超越自身意志的东西。这个理念，被刻在一块黑色石头上，用一种三千年后无人能读的文字书写，最终证明了它是不可摧毁的。”
人物
H
Hammurabi -- sixth king of the First Babylonian Dynasty (r. 1792-1750 BCE)S
Shamash -- the sun god of justice, depicted handing Hammurabi the rod and ring of kingshipS
Shutruk-Nahhunte -- Elamite king who looted the stele as war booty around 1158 BCEJ
Jacques de Morgan -- French archaeologist who discovered the stele at Susa in 1901-1902J
Jean-Vincent Scheil -- Dominican friar who translated the code and revealed it to the modern world来源
The Code of Hammurabi (Louvre, Sb 8); Scheil, Jean-Vincent. Mémoires de la Délégation en Perse, vol. 4, 1902 (first translation); Roth, Martha T. Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, Scholars Press, 1995; Van De Mieroop, Marc. King Hammurabi of Babylon: A Biography, Blackwell, 2005; Richardson, Seth. ‘On Seeing and Believing: Liver Divination and the Era of Warring States,’ in Divination and Interpretation of Signs in the Ancient World, Oriental Institute, 2010; Driver, G.R. and Miles, John C. The Babylonian Laws, 2 vols., Oxford, 1952-1955; Charpin, Dominique. Hammurabi of Babylon, I.B. Tauris, 2012; Laws of Ur-Nammu (c. 2100 BCE); Laws of Eshnunna (c. 1930 BCE)