The Code of Hammurabi – The Birth of Law and Justice ⚖️🏛️

Nearly 4,000 years ago, in the heart of ancient Babylon, King Hammurabi (reigned c. 1792–1750 BCE) carved his legacy not in gold or conquest, but in stone and justice. 🏺⚖️ His creation, known as the Code of Hammurabi, stands as one of the earliest and most complete written legal systems in human history — a towering black basalt stele inscribed with nearly 300 laws that governed every corner of Babylonian life. ✍️👑

At the top of the monument, Hammurabi is shown receiving authority from Shamash, the sun god and god of justice — a divine symbol that the law was sacred, not merely human. ☀️👁️ The rules beneath addressed everything from trade, marriage, and property to crime and punishment. It introduced the famous principle of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, ensuring justice through equality of consequence. ⚔️⚖️

But Hammurabi’s code wasn’t just about punishment — it also protected the weak, including widows, workers, and orphans. ❤️ It made the law visible, understandable, and eternal — engraved for all to see, a public promise that power would answer to justice.

Today, the Code of Hammurabi rests in the Louvre Museum in Paris, still whispering across millennia: that civilization begins not with walls or weapons, but with the rule of law. 🌍📜

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