An exquisite object I came across at the British Museum.
This monument was for personal religious devotion. From 1792BC–1750BC.
Ancient Mesopotamians hammer-and-chiseled it. A terrific level of craftsmanship.
The figure on the left is King Hammurabi himself, shown in a classic profile with his right hand raised in a gesture of prayer or worship.
The Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest written sets of laws in human history. King Hammurabi is shown receiving laws from the sun god Shamash. It is now in the Louvre Museum, Paris. (I have been twice, and have missed IT on both occasions — too focused on the art! 😏)
Terrific craftsmanship indeed, both in the detail of the figure and in the writing, which looks as precise as you could get from modern printing.
ReplyDeleteAll the more so, to think that the Mesopotamians were making things like this at a time when Greece and China were uncharted wilderness.
Hi infidel.
DeleteIt is magical. Most Mesopotamians couldn't read, so cuniform was a specialist skill of the scribes. I am going to post more on cuneiform on my blog. They're just so beautiful and easily the oldest script known to man.
The Code itself is generally regarded as the first major step of humanity in separating secular law from purely religious concepts. It includes the idea that a person is innocent until proven guilty. Amazing.
Fast forward to our times, and islamist maniacs in ISIS did destroyed a truly staggering number of archaeological sites in Iraq and Syria, such as Nineveh. History is full of arrogant maniacs throwing irreplaceable objects of history on the fire for a "cultural reset".
The Code of Hammurabi -- every lawyer owes their living to this start of a legal system!
ReplyDeleteEven our religion.
DeleteThe Code "inspired" the story of the 10 commandments and the laws of moses. The Bible is very very deeply rooted in Mesopotamian culture and literature. Indeed, the Bible explicitly places Genesis in the lands of tigris and the euphrates, the great flood of moses comes from an ancient legend of Gilgamesh.
I became an atheist when I realised that most of what we regard as "religious ideas" actually have their roots way back in our own history, legends and stories. :)
Good that such a cultural artifact could survive such a long passage of time, but then I guess that's what makes it a cultural artifact in the first place.
ReplyDelete